Family Picture

As always, we're short on time around here. Our move went off successfully, with nary a hitch to be found. We are getting unpacked, and slowly settled. So far, the boys are adjusting well, and when I attended our new ward today I felt welcomed and loved. I had Angela take a family picture of us on Thanksgiving so I had something to stick into Christmas cards, so here's a preview. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and I'll try to find time for a better update later this week.

Haircut

I got my hair cut last week. I mean, I really, really, got my hair cut. Above, I posted a before shot, taken several weeks ago (as you should be able to tell, by my burgeoning belly). My hair was the longest it had probably ever been, reaching somewhere near the center of my back. The problem with having hair this long is that it takes absolutely forever to blow dry, hardly holds a curl, and causes headaches when I try to put the whole mess up in a ponytail. Angela has a stylist that she has raved about, so when I decided it was time to at least trim my tresses, I called up this stylist to make an appointment. Many women spend years searching for a stylist who will look you straight in the face and say 'This is what you should do with your hair' based on lifestyle, face shape, and hair type. Luckily, this woman is 'that' kind of stylist. As soon as I sat down in her chair, she informed me that my current style wasn't very flattering, and recommended a drastically shorter 'sexy, swing-y' style, as she called it. With misgivings, I gave in, sure that Ammon wouldn't be pleased when he saw my much-shorter style that evening. Jennifer, the stylist, gathered my long hair at the nape of my neck, and proceeded to cut directly across the bottom. I glanced backward at the huge handful of hair she was placing in the garbage, and felt all blood drain directly from my face, settling somewhere in the vicinity of my kneecaps. After a quick wash, and many more snips of the scissors, this is what we ended up with. Although I was very nervous about it, I think it turned out well, and even Ammon grudgingly agreed "I guess it's kind of sexy".

Moving Forward

Well, as most of you know, we're currently living with Ammon's parents, and have been since we moved here in early July. Once he finally got a job in October, the plan was to stay here long enough to pay off some serious debt and save up a small nest egg, which would have us living here into the middle of January. I had researched apartments online, and based on a recommendation from Jan (Ammon's semi-adopted sister in law, who lives in the area) had decided on an apartment complex, researched the cost, and picked out the floor plan we'd be interested in. In the interest of having everything in line for our move in January, I called early this week to see if this apartment complex anticipated having an apartment that we could use available in January. They said that they did, but if we signed a lease this month instead of waiting until January, the rent for the EXACT SAME UNIT would be $110 less for the length of the lease. Also, the security deposit in November is only $150, and we were thinking it would be several hundred. Well, I was really excited, but didn't think Ammon would go for moving so soon, since it would mean we couldn't pay off the credit card as fast.
Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles, he agreed to move right away! I set the wheels in motion yesterday by driving down to see the apartment (which isn't a palace, but for the length of a 12 month lease, and the price, it will do) fill out the application, and set a moving date. As long as nothing falls through in the meantime, which I'm trying to prepare myself for, we'll be moving on Friday after Thanksgiving. That will give Ammon Saturday and Sunday to help me unpack before he has to get back to the grind. Mary and I spent today sorting things, since we have stocked up on a LOT of food storage since we have been here, and won't have room for it all. We've sorted out what is going and what is not, and next week we will start sorting furniture and boxes, since this apartment is fairly small and we won't have room for all of our belongings. I'm incredibly excited, and ridiculously giddy to think about getting all of our things out of storage and feel like we're really making our own way. This move to Ohio just got a whole lot more permanent!!

Fall in Ohio

I have been remiss in posting photos lately, so even though this post will be kind of a cop-out as far as text, here are the photos I have been promising. Enjoy!!

Our small city branch hosted a Halloween party and chili cookoff the Saturday before Halloween. Ammon was chosen as the judge for the chili cookoff, and even though I offered numerous threats, promises, and pleadings, I still failed to win the contest.

This picture really doesn't mean anything, other than to show that my kid is just darn cute, even if he has his mouth full of breadstick.

Kadon as Merlin. I made his cloak myself, something I'm very proud of!! The stick in his hands is meant to be his wand.

The kids on Beggars Night, on Angela's front porch.

This is one of the days I took the kids to the park. It was freezing cold even in the middle of the day, but they still had a great time and I couldn't resist getting a photo of them on this enormous tree stump.

Brotherly Love

A few days ago, I laid Brooklyn on the bathroom floor while I took a quick shower. After I finished cleaning myself and getting dressed, she seemed fairly content, so I thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity to get the beds made and do some general cleanup in the bedrooms. After several minutes of cleaning, I noticed that there was disturbingly little noise from the bathroom, and that Kadon had disappeared. I nervously stepped around the corner, preparing myself to witness Kadon either mauling his sister or getting into trouble. What I saw was much sweeter, and much calmer. As you can see by the photo below, Kadon was laying on the floor next to his sister, with his arm protectively around her. As I watched, she spit out her pacifier and started to fuss, to which Kadon responded by gently putting her pacifier back in her mouth and putting his arm around her once again. Sometimes my children amaze me with their gentleness and love for one another when they think no one is watching.

Brrr

That's right, brrr. BRRRRRRRR. Autumn has officially set in here in southwestern Ohio. The fall colors are in their glory, there is a thick blanket of leaves on every surface, and the air has that certain bite to it. I find it ironic, now that I'm finally feeling up to more physical activity, that the temperature has taken a drastic drop. Now that my burgeoning belly has been emptied, my gruesome incision (seriously, it's about six inches, pretty nasty) has healed, and I'm even getting a reasonable amount of sleep (a 4 week old who routinely sleep 8 hours? How'd I get so lucky?!), now that I'm finally feeling like a normal person, the weather turns cold enough to make me think twice about venturing outside. However, in the spirit of perseverance, I forced myself to take the kids to the park today. I got some glorious pictures of the fall colors, and some cute pictures of the kids to boot. They had a marvelous time running around the playground, and after I added two extra blankets, socks, and a hat to their sister, she had a nice nap in her car seat. I even got a little bit of reading done between sessions of pushing them on the swing. Little boys can't get enough of being pushed on the swing, but what else is there to do on a lazy autumn day?