Old house, new house

Here's one of the last photos of the kids in the old house, which I found on my camera yesterday (I don't even remember taking it):



Now that we are at the new house, I'm starting to realize how little space we had at the old place. Before, Annie and Ivan would be crabby after a couple hours inside, but now they are totally happy running from room to room, outside and back in. It also helps to have all the rooms on one floor, unlike the old house, since the kids aren't old enough to go up and down stairs by themselves.

In short, we are happy here and are looking forward to making a go of it in our new town. By this time next year, I hope we know whether we want to stay a while, at least long enough to start the kids in school. If not, we'll be off to somewhere new to try again.

New Year's Day

Today Steve made pork chops and sauerkraut for the whole family. While the grown-ups cooked and ate, the kids quickly formed a little pack of craziness that zoomed in and out of the house.

Here is a game that Annie, Sydney, and Anneliese invented. Anneliese waits at the bottom of the slide to "catch" Annie. Then Annie zooms down the slide with Sydney close behind.



Here is the payoff:



After a couple minutes of that, it's back to the top of the slide to do it again!

Meanwhile, here's Ivan with his current all-encompassing obsession: trains. He demands the track be set up each morning as soon as he wakes up, then plays with it until Annie tears it apart. (Which usually isn't very long.)

First haircut

Andi gave Ivan his first haircut last week. Ivan happily drew on the patio with chalk while Andi maneuvered around him. Annie desperately wanted in on the action.



What a helper.



Here is the "after" picture. He was demanding lunch so I didn't have time to get a very good shot.

Christmas pics

Christmas with toddlers is much more fun than Christmas with babies. Annie and Ivan still didn't fully understand what was going on, but they quickly learned the awesomeness of presents and new toys.

Annie and Ivan helped me trim the tree by piling ornaments on the floor. This "helping" continued until we took the tree down and they could no longer pull the little balls of the branches.



Annie's mean case of Christmas morning bed head.



New trikes.





Making muffins.



Christmas breakfast with four generations.

December festival

Grandi took the kids (and some grown-ups) to a holiday festival in Laguna Beach. Ivan's favorite part was hiding in the planters.




And here are Annie and Grandi in the "snow." (They are actually bubbles, it was barely below 70 that day.)

Good bye, 2009

New Year's Day is winding slowly to a close, the holidays and a busy December are behind us. As much as I love the smell of evergreens, the glitzy decorations, the endless sugar cookies, and even the cheeziest Christmas songs, it's nice to be able to turn my attention to other things. Like, for example, updating this long-neglected blog.

Movin' on up

About two week ago, we decided that it was finally time to move to a bigger house closer to LA. Our plan was to leisurely check out neighborhoods and get a feel for the rental market, with an eye toward moving in the next few months.

Seven days later, we had found a house, put in an application, gotten approval, paid the deposit, and booked movers. We will be in the new house by Christmas.

I'll admit that I'm a little type-A, and have trouble taking the laid-back approach. This time, though, it was Steve who was out there pounding the pavement, looking at new towns and new houses. I found myself wondering: who is this strange, fast-acting man? I have to say that I really dig him, because he found a great 4-bedroom house with a yard, in a historic town that still has a drugstore with a real, live soda fountain.

What do you think the odds are that Steve's new-found fervor will last through the packing portion of the move? (I'm putting my money on "slim to none.")