Update and Pictures

I am sorry that I dissappeared.  Things have been going crazy around here.  We did not get that trailer I was talking about in my last posting.  A week before move in they pulled out because they did not actuallly own the property but their son-inlaw did and for some reason they decided to sell instead of rent.  We were crushed.  We started looking at craigslist and came across a few we called on and one of them was particularily interesting.  My husband called and talked to the landlord on the phone for quite awhile and were going to look at it the next evening after my husband got out of work. 

The next day my mom and I were sitting around thinking about the house and decided we should drive by the neighborhood and see how it was.  Once in the neighborhood we decided to drive by the house (you see where this is going right?).  Once by the house we thought maybe we could peek into the windows as we pulled up we noticed that the door was open so we went right up and there was the landlord.  They were finishing some painting and things but showed us around and we loved the place.  I told him that I really liked it next thing I knew he was pulling out the paperwork and telling me where to sign as my mom was saying she'd write a check for the amount of the deposit and I could pay her back when Hubby got out of work since it was payday.  A lady walked in and we found out she'd been there everyday that week trying to get it.  She even brought cash.  We had swooped in on her (sorry!).  I signed then even though I knew I should have waited for my hubby but we would have lost it to her if I hadn't.  Hubby was a little upset with that but once he saw the house he forgave me.  We really needed it.  Living in a four bedroom house with eleven people is a bit much.

We moved in a few days later and love it!  There are some problems.  We have a bug problem with both roaches and fleas we are in battle mode and I've had them out to replace the bathroom floor since it was sinking in.  Our dog also got out of our fence somehow and was missing for few agonizing days.  Some people had saved her from a car on the busy road in front of our house and then a few days later turned her in to the pound.  We are so happy to have her home!!

Things have been a little tight around here.  That first payment we made left us barely any money for gas and it was only the deposit.  The next paycheck was our rent and again barely any money for gas.  This last paycheck was once again the rent with barely any money for gas.  Our car started making a lot of noise so we had to fix it.  Sunday we took it apart and found that our driveline, bearing, and some other part needed to be replaced.  My parents helped us and my brother and husband spent two days fixing it.  I can't wait for things to normalize.

I'll be posting some more later. Until then here are some pictures for you to enjoy :D

Our Kitchen

Beautiful moon the night before the Super Moon

Pumpkin at the beach

Here's my little Monkey

The shells along the shore

Beautiful waves

More shells on the seashore

Sand Angels from Pumpkin

See the little sand crab? At least that's what we think they are

Sand crab again

sand crab

sand crab upside down

lots of sand crabs

Uncle buried Pumpkin in the sand

Looks like trouble is brewing

Mount Nephewmoore

Beautiful sunset

The sunset kissed clouds over the ocean to leave you with.  How awesome is our God?

Sister's wedding and our own home

Time is just flying by me. I can't believe how fast it has sped up in such a short time. Last month my mom and I took my three boys to Seattle for my sisters wedding. We went a week early to help her with some final things. Flying with the boys went well. They were really good and no ear problems at all. I brought along Brens machine and I'm really glad I did because he needed it a few times while we were there. The wedding itself was beautiful and I am so happy for my little sister. I believe that she really has found her other half. My sisters and I sung Johnny and June for them at the reception which was scary and a mess but the meaning was important since it's a song that she loved. I got to see my best friend in Wa and we got a little hanging out done we really wished it could have been for a longer period of time but weddings are busy. I really liked meeting her son and niece they are both so cute.

Ok so now for the huge news: we have our own place! Ok well not yet but our move in date is for May 1st yay! It's a trailer but hey it's a stepping stone in the right direction. It has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a deck, a firepit, a large yard, it's a little secluded, it's three miles from the beach, it's closer to my church, MOPS, and bible studies, and it's affordable yay again! Oh and they allow our pets. I can't wait. This does mean I need to pack again but it's worth it I'm going to be alone with my family again. I'm going to have my own room with just my husband and my own kitchen the boys get their own room I'm so excited I just can't stop wanting to bounce around! Ok I need to breathe lol. Isn't God good? He heard my small cries...ok my loud begging and whining which was probably like a mosquito or fly buzzing in his ear lol, anyways he heard me and he provided. The people I will be renting from are very sweet and their daughter homeschools and is in my group. They also are Christians woot. I can't wait!

My lack of posting has been kind of a testament to how boring life has been since my move here to NC.  At the holidays we really got out and then just as they were begining to wind down we became sick, really sick.  So our days became home based...and without already having friends or any family here besides us, it became quiet and not very entertaining.  The next thing we knew we had three people working and all needed cars or rides so we began to play a car switching game.  My brother gets the van no contest because he's the driver for two other people at this job.  It was a condition for him getting the job.  My sister and Hubby have to share the little blue car...thats where the fun begins.  They need to work out rides and times between themselves and then any appointments or shopping my mother and I might need he car for.  It gets difficult some days.  So that really ended my socializing and friend making 'sigh'.  I knew we needed a car and fast but money was tight.  Well we got our taxes back and my hubby got a permament job (yay, woot, woot, happy dance) so things were looking up.  All we needed now was a car.  This brings us all the way up to this last Saturday.  We found a car on Craigslist and went to look at it.  I am always nervous but my family talked me into buying it so here it is our Nissan Quest van.

We need a new windsheild...that seems to be a pattern for the used cars we buy lol

This is where the cd player must have been since there are cd buttons...and no player.  Luckily we saved ours from our car in CA so we will just hook that up here.

My radio set up...yes it's a tape player

My miles on it.

The driver's seat.  All the seats in the car are this nice.  The backs of a couple have some spots but I need to steam clean and wash this thing any ways so no big deal.

My favorite part of my van!!  The sun roof...moon roof which ever it is.  Ps it actually opens either by popping open or actually sliding open with a push of a button yay.  Oh and that's a little bit of damage there behind it.  Looks like they attached something there and then removed it.

The sun roof or moon roof?  What is the difference?

The driver's seat :D

The front of the van

The driver's side

Driver's side

The back of my van

More on what's been going on here later as for right now I have to go try on wedding shoes for my sisters wedding.  I'm a bridesmaid :D

Thanksgiving, Flotilla, and the Hanging of the Greens

I am still happy to be out here!  I think it's beautiful.  I haven't really made any friends yet but I'm hoping to nurture some aquantences into friends.  It all takes time.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!  Pumpkin woke up with a tummy ache and a hard time breathing.  I put him on his machine and soon after he threw up in it poor little man he spent the day eating crackers and drinking ginger ale.  It was the first Thanksgiving without my dad and we really missed him it was also his birthday :(.  My brother drove up from Florida and brought his girlfriend.  I was really happy to meet her she seemed really nice.  She took over the kitchen and made a really great feast for us all and many pies!  I can still taste the Waldorf salad mmm.  

Pumpkin on his machine the last one he looked like he was going to fall asleep moments later is when he got sick :(

The day after Thanksgiving we had a little party for my brother Nate because his birthday was on Tuesday and he had school and Nick would be going back home so we rented movies, played some card games, and ate some ribs (Nate's favorite). 

My brother Nick

On Saturday we went to the Christmas Flotilla Festival were I had my first boiled peanuts and funnel cake which both are really good.  The funnel cake was a bit sweet and had a lot of oil so I couldn't eat much.  We were covered in powdered sugar by the end but enjoyed ourselves.  We were going to let the kids play on the five bounce houses they had set up but they wanted $10 per child so we decided the beach would be a better option.  Afterwards we went home and came back for the Holiday Flotilla Parade and fireworks.  We were a little late and had to walk a mile but it was worth it.  I can't believe how great the fireworks were and hope that they were only a glimpse into what we can expect for the Fourth of July!  Monkey, Mr A and Pumpkin made a new friend who shared his light sword.  After the parade but before the fireworks my brother and his girlfriend headed home but took a little friend with them...one of my sisters little kittens.  It was old enough to go and they loved her.  We are glad she went to a good home.

Monkey giving the beach a spiky hair dude as he calls it lol

On Sunday the boys and I began our first ever celebration of Advent.  I googled a lot of my ideas and bought a wreath with some cinnamon pinecones, plastic holly, and ribbon to go on it.  I got my purple and white candles (couldn't find pink) and we prayed and sung over our candle.  Then we read some from the bible about hope.  It was really fun.  I realized while singing, that my boys do not know Christmas songs off the top of their heads...I'm going to have that remedied by the end of the season lol. 

Yesterday Mr A and Monkey had their concert at one of the churchs we have been visiting on Wednesday.  It was a lot of fun we got to help decorate the Chrismon tree which I had never heard of before, see the hanging of the greens, the Advent candle being lit, and the singing.  It really helps put you in the spirit and I would recommend attending a hanging of the greens
service!

We have been doing our school work and are now an official school I filed the paperwork a couple weeks ago so yeay.  I had to name our school so I chose Whole Heart Academy.  I think that about sums it up lol.  I believe in order to reach our children and teach them you need to reach their hearts. 

Today is the first day of December so we get to begin our count down calendar and our Advent
box yeay (ps I still need to find one O.O don't tattle lol.  I have a twelve days of Christmas one already that has different objects in them to remind us of Jesus but that one has to wait a bit still. 
This brings us up to this weekend and I am excited to say we have three holiday parades to attend!  Thats one every night this weekend yeay!  Did I mention how much I love the holidays?  Especially Christmas!  I will post some pictures of them as soon as I can.

So what are you doing for the holidays?  I'd love to hear all about them and if you do any Advent activites.

In Love,

Noelle

I have arrived in North Carolina :D.  I'm sorry that I have not posted much about our packing and getting ready and then getting here but things were really crazy.  We were quite surprised at how much was left in the house even though we thought we were done with most of the packing things just kept crawling out of the cracks!  By the time we had both of our families stuff on the semi...we had filled it!  How embarrassing!  We thought we would have only filled it half way but nope.  In our defense it was both families things and all eleven people's bikes and the yard tools.  Lets also not forget to mention the quad, pocket bikes, and go cart.  We also loaded up all our trees hehe.  We hope they make it out here we had just bought them this past summer so we weren't willing to let them go!  We headed out on Sunday about 2:30 pm way later than we thought we would. It felt like we were all packed up for a vacation I know that sounds crazy but looking around our empty house it still didn't feel real to us.  We all caravaned our way out and didn't make it to far all the loading and packing for two days began to wear on us and we were at a hotel just four hours down the road.  We would drive for as far as ten hours would take us and we would stop at a hotel after that every day.  We had driven as far as we could and were in Texas all the hotels several towns over had filled but we found one that was available so we pulled in.  It looked really old and we were a little concerned so we sent my hubby in to look at the rooms.  He came back to let us know that the people were unfriendly and the rooms were small but they were clean.  We all piled out of the cars and my dad parked the semi on the side road were they had told him to.  We had all brought our stuff up and sent the boys off in search of dinner it was around ten at night.  The girls had gotten the dogs out of the car and were taking them to the bathroom when the owners wife saw them and became quite angry with us.  Here is where some explaining it in order.  Every hotel we stayed at we could have brought the dogs in for a fee of ten dollars a dog but we had four with us so we alternated who would sleep in the car or semi with them for a night.  At this hotel we had gotten use to doing that so we didn't even mention that we had dogs after all they didn't go into the hotel and we scooped our poop so no need right?  We also mentioned that we had eight people people because some sleep in the van and/or semi also not something we thought they had to know right?  Well the lady freaked out at us saying we lied and had to many people and animals and how would she pay her bills.  We tried to explain to her what we were doing over and over and how many people would be in the room but she wouldn't have any of it she just said we were bad people and kicked us out.  We felt bad for not having told them since they obviously wanted to know but again didn't see why they had too.  (It was no wonder the hotel was empty even though every hotel several cities over were full except one more..)  We found the next hotel who luckily just had a company pull out and two rooms available phew.  We took the time to explain what was going on this time and they looked at us like why would we care and told us it didn't matter (just like we thought hehe)  Anyways that was a long night we finally just had cold cereal because nothing was open by the time we found this hotel.  The next day was my birthday which no one remembered and I was sad :( when we pulled into a hotel that night my hubby and I went for a drive to find dinner and I told him he was in trouble he couldn't for the life of him think why.  When he finally got it he apologized and bought me some Oreo Cakesters and my family all sung happy birthday to me.  It was Friday afternoon when we finally pulled into our new home and began to unpack.  (I know not much of a break huh).  That night my brother arrived from Florida with a few friends and we spent the next day unloading the truck. 

We have kept quite busy trying to get our house in order it is a lot smaller than we were led to believe but it is nice.  Our neighbors are all college kids so every weekend we are surrounded by partiers but luckily they are pretty good about being respectful.  I am missing our fenced in backyard we now have to take our dogs out every time and with little dogs that can be a lot.  We also have to have the time to sit outside with the kids so that they can play which makes outside time a lot less.  I really miss just letting them out to play.  We also haven't put up their swing set yet so we only have a few toys and their bikes.  I think they really like it though.  We went to the beach twice now and Pumpkin says he loves the sand...not the water the sand.  Randomly he will announce to us that he loves the sand lol.  The other boys really liked swimming and collecting seashells.  We also make some sand castles and buried the boys in the sand.  It was really warm the first week we were here this week however has been chilly but still not bad at all.  For Halloween we trick or treated at the mall, went to a church festival and went trick or treating around a block in a local neighborhood.  Pumpkin thought a haunted house we stopped at was cool as were leaving I couldn't find him because he stayed behind to look at it all!  The family there thought the kids were the cutest.  Monkey was to scared to even get candy so I had to drag him and help him (it really wasn't that scary and the people were really nice they even removed their masks and stepped back so he could get some) after Pumpkin stayed back though Monkey went back in and became more brave (hey if little brother can do it so can he right?).  They were surprised at how empty the streets were just like I was for a bit there I thought maybe they went out later or I was in the wrong spot but they thought maybe it was because it had rained earlier.  I felt bad that they put in so much work and not many had shown up.  I think my little ones made it better for them because it took me forever to get them away they were ooing and awwing over everything!  In case your wondering our little men were baseball players and Pumpkin was a cowboy.

This brings us up to today.  We went to our first MOPS group out here (I have really missed going!)  I was really nervous and unsure but the ladies were really great and I just loved spending the time with them.  I can't wait to go back next time.  They invited me to a couponing class for the ladies there on Friday so I am hoping to go to that (more for social than anything I really don't coupon I should but I get embarrassed taking up the time to pull them out and have them scan them etc. but who knows maybe this will get me into it).  Tomorrow I will go out for our first park day with the homeschool group here in town and Friday we will go see their Co-op classes in action.  Tonight we will be going to church at the one down the street.  They told me on Sunday they they have hand bells and chorus for the little ones and I think they would really enjoy that.  As of yet I haven't picked a church and will do a little bit more shopping around for the one I am suppose to be at.  It's one of those things that you just know when your home you know?

The fall colors are really beautiful.  The whole area is beautiful!  Did I mention that the people here are so nice?  It actually weirds out my hubby being a CA born and raised boy, to see how the east people are.  He's liking it but it is weird for him.  He was asking people in the store where something was and they walked him over to it and told him all about it much better than the it's somewhere over there response we use to get.  No offense to those in CA but if you come over here you will really feel the difference.

Thats it for now pictures will come soon I hope you all are doing well and had a great Halloween!

In Love,

Noelle