Bittersweet Goodbye to My Apartment and our Move to Our New Home

On Saturday we finally moved out of my apartment and into our new home - something we have been looking forward to doing and that I've been saving money for years to be able to do.  It was FREEZING outside (27 degrees!) and snow/ice was still on the ground from the day before, but we did it (mental note - NEVER move in December again!).  Looking around the new house, it's hard to believe that everything fit into a 2 bedroom apartment!  I like how my friend Cherie, said it when I pointed this out: "You're just good at organizing" :)  We have most of the boxes unpacked except for a couple, which is mostly my scrapbooking things, which I still need to figure out how to store and where to make my 'scrapbooking station' that isn't in the way of everything (at the apartment I used a closet-unfortunately, the new house doesn't have a closet I can use for it).  Side note: packing all of my scrapbooking stuff made me go through everything that I have, so my creative juices are flowing and I can't wait to start scrapbooking again - yahoo!  Sean says I have too much scrapbooking stuff, so I need to make more things to prove to him that it is all an investment in preserving memories:)

Today my mom helped me clean the apartment one last time and we did the final walk-through -- it was surprisingly hard saying goodbye to it! (Ok, I admit, I teared up when I closed the door for the last time and drove away).  I worked really hard (both in college and in my career) in order to have a place that Ethan and I could call home and be completely ours.  When I was pregnant with Ethan, I made a promise to myself and was determined not to be another statistic - so I worked hard to be successful and the apartment was a small physical proof to us that I was not yet another number. 

We created so many memories within those walls - I know all of the stories behind every stain in the carpet (the orange soda stain from when I was laying in the chair and accidentally kicked the small table, the Hawaiian Punch stain-almost overlapping the orange soda stain-from Ethan jumping around and knocking over the same small table)... no matter how much I scrubbed at those stains, they wouldn't go away!  We created new traditions and kept some old ones, we had dance-offs with each other with music blaring (sorry, neighbors!), Sean told me he loved me for the first time, and Ethan lost his first tooth there. 

I took pictures of the apartment-before I started packing about a month ago and then today I took some of the outside of it - I will post them when I get a chance.  Ethan and I are staying with my parents tonight through Wednesday night, as being here cuts 45 minutes off of my commute, so I'm using their computer now.  (Our computer isn't set up yet and we don't have Internet yet at the new house.)

Now, don't get me wrong, I am very happy with our new home and look forward to making new memories in it just like we did at the apartment, but it is sad closing a chapter in my life.

Elf on the Shelf!

Last week when we got home from school/work, Ethan insisted that we had to "find our elf!" and that his friend Tyler found his elf on the bookcase. At first, I had no idea what he was talking about, but then (as he was searching EVERYWHERE) I vaguely remembered seeing an Elf on the Shelf book and doll at the bookstore last year.  That night, I went on Amazon and bought one to surprise him.  It came in yesterday and so last night after he went to bed, I set up the Elf with the book for Ethan to find this morning.

He was SO excited when he saw it!  We immediately sat down and read the book, even though we were running 20 minutes late already.  We learned that the Elf will report to Santa every night about Ethan and will return again in a different spot.  AND, we absolutely cannot touch him because then he would lose his magic! 
While I was getting ready, he drew two pictures of the Elf and he told me he named him Max. 

While I was getting ready and Ethan was inspecting our new guest:

Ethan:  His skin doesn't look real, Mom
Me: Well, he is like the toys in Toy Story - you know how they come alive when Andy and other people are away?  He is like that.
Ethan:  Oh, ok.

A couple minutes later as we are leaving and I'm locking the deadbolt:

Ethan:  Mom, Max is moving around in there now because we aren't there.

So cute! 

Ethan's drawing of Max

New Recipe

Monday was a big day for Sean at work, so Sunday night I made his favorite dinner and surprised him with his favorite dessert! (Thanks, Joni, for sending me the recipe!)  So here is the recipe for the dessert, as I had never made it before:

Pretzel & Raspberry Salad

Base:
2 cups crushed pretzels (not too fine)
2 Tbs sugar
¾ cup melted butter

Mix and pat into 9x13 pan – Bake 425 degrees for 5 minutes. Cool completely

Filling:
1 8 oz package cream cheese softened
1 cup sugar
1 small can crushed pineapple

mix well.  Fold in – 19 oz cool whip, spread on crust; refrigerate

Topping:
2 small pkg raspberry jello
2 cups boiling water
1 large bag frozen raspberries

Mix in bowl; cool in fridge. Then pour over filling and set.

SURVEY SAYS: It's definitely a keeper!  It took a really long time to make, though - so this one will only be for special occasions.

New Recipe

Creamy Petso Chicken and Bow Ties

2 tablespoons of butter
1 pound skinless boneless chicken breats, cut into cubes
1 can Campbells Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup prepared pesto sauce
3 cups bow tie-shaped pasta, cooked and drained.

1.  heat the butter in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until it's well browned, stirring often.

2.  Stir the soup, milk and pesto sauce into the skillet.  Heat to a boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Cover and cook for 5 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.  Stir in the pasta.  Cook until its hot.

SURVEY SAYS...  It's a keeper!  It was so good the boys asked for seconds! I can't take the credit for this one, though - Sean cooked it, I just picked out the recipe:)

Sean

As I have briefly mentioned before, Sean has been leaving early Monday mornings and not coming back until Saturday nights for a project in North Carolina (this crazy traveling started two days after we came back from our honeymoon). 

When he actually is home, he is still sometimes sucked into working:(  I look forward to when this project is finally over! (however, the deadline somehow keeps getting pushed back...)

Sean working away...

(please excuse the mess-packing has begun!)

Black Friday 2010

Friday morning I was surprised to find post-its that Sean had left for Ethan and I to find.  You can't really see them very well in the picture, but he wrote "I am grateful for my beautiful wife!" and "I am grateful for my awesome son!"

Later on, I came home from work and found even more post-its added!  Ethan added "I am grateful for my awesome Dad" and "Mom you are awesome, Love Ethan and Dad" and then pictures of each of us.  So cute!  I love these little surprises that they leave for me:)

In the evening, we went to the Air and Space Museum - it was so fun to see all of the airplanes, astronaut stuff, and to go to the Observation Tower.  Afterwards, we met up with Sean's sister, Aubrey (who is in town from Utah) and her boyfriend, Ryan.  What a great visit!  We are trying to convice Aubrey to move back to VA... that would be so much fun!

Thanksgiving 2010

Per tradition, we went to my parents house for Thanksgiving.  My aunt and uncle came from South Carolina, Meg and Bobby, my grandparents, and our crew all enjoyed each others company. 

Picture coming soon - I forgot my camera and had to use my mom's