Trick or Treat!

This year Maggie really understood Halloween. And by understand, I mean, she realizes that she is going to get to wear a silly costume and get tons of candy. She was a "ballerina fairy" complete with pink hair to match her outfit. I think the fading bruise on her forehead is a nice touch, don't you?

I picked up this costume on clearance at The Children's Place outlet in Gatlinburg 2 years ago for $1.99, and Zayli used it last year. Best $2 I ever spent, except for maybe the princess costume that I got for the same price and she wore last year - which is now in her dress-up clothes and she wears it all the time... Anyway.

We took her to two events this year. Thursday our apartment complex had a "Trunk or Treat" party, where everyone brings their car to the community center and the kids can go from car to car collecting candy instead of going apartment to apartment. Tyler took Maggie, she had a great time, and got a bunch of candy. Tyler forgot the camera, so no pictures from this.

Friday CBC had their annual Fall Festival. I've never seen so many people there!!! Maggie had a great time running around with her friends. Didn't collect as much candy as I thought she would, but she had fun nonetheless. Plus, we stayed until the very end, and then just got to go around to the remaining buckets of candy and picked out a couple of our favorites.

Me and Maggie on the apartment steps. I found some awesome rub-on eyeshadow at Wal-Mart that looked kind of like a peacock, and you can't really see if in the photo but I fanned the back of my hair out like a peacock. Any excuse for crazy make-up!
Maggie and Daddy. She was NOT interested in having her picture taken again, she wanted to go to the gym and see all the fun stuff and eat dinner.
Sitting with Ellie and the other Maggie S. from church.
Here's Miss Bonnie, her Cubbies teacher at AWANA. Maggie loves Miss Bonnie, and asks each week if she will get to see Miss Bonnie at Cubbies.
Jumping in the moon walk. This one snapped right as she landed, look at her fun ribbons!
Fishing for treats.
And everyone remember this one from the past two years? Still her favorite booth. I had to escort her away before all the water was splashed out of the pool!
Maggie and Zayli.
A short video of Maggie and Zayli dancing, they were so sweet. We let them eat quite a bit of candy, so they ran around the gym nearly the entire time.


We got home pretty late, and she still needed to have a bath before bedtime to get all that pink out of her hair, but she zonked right out once she went to bed. I guess she didn't have too much candy!

Maggie's First Goose Egg

I'm not talking turkey, I'm talking giant welt on the forehead. Friday night, about 10:30 as we were finishing the move to the apartment, I hear crying in Maggie's new room. Serious crying. I run in, and there she is with her hand on her head, hiding a huge pink and purple welt on her forehead. It was late and we hadn't put her bed together, so she was just going to sleep on her mattress on the floor, and we put it by the window. She had run into her room to slide on her bed to get Lambie, and whacked her noggin a good one on the sill. We put an ice pack on it and gave her some Tylenol, and she was ready at that point to go to bed, moving wasn't fun anymore. Thanks, Jen, for helping me not freak out.

The next morning it had swollen up about 1/2 inch tall, 3 inches top to bottom, and 2 - 2 1/2 inches from side to side, and it actually was an egg shape with the wide part up at the top and the narrow part going down to about the bridge of her nose. This is the next morning. She would not hold still for a good shot (she was distracted by the empty house - we finished cleaning early Saturday morning).And tonight with some real attractive green/brown bruising that goes all the way down between the sides of her nose and her eyes on both sides. You can still see some of the swelling.
Is she her mother's daughter or what! Look at her ham it up for the camera!!!

We're Moved.

Our house closed, on time, Friday. We moved out Friday night (not sure why we always get the short end of the stick when it comes to moving - we moved in on a Sunday). A BIG HUGE THANK-YOU to everyone who helped. I did not take pictures of the move itself, I thought it would be rude to not be working, because we have TOO MUCH STUFF!!! Did you read the previoius post where I said we filled up a 14-foot moving van the prior weekend already? We filled, packed, stuffed a 24-foot van Friday. Like jammed to the gills, not getting anything else in there, please will someone put some stuff in their trunk we've got too much junk! Ok, moving on. I will not bore you with all my freaking out.

So here are some pictures from the week prior to the move. Oh the boxes EVERYWHERE.
Living room with boxes taped up and ready to be filled with stereo equipment.
The rec room piled up with our stash of liquor boxes (for packing, not from our stash), various and sundry items packed and ready to be packed. Also known as: a ginormous mess in every room.

This is photo evidence of a tradition Tyler started when he moved out of his parents house. In every place we've ever lived, once it is empty and cleaned out, we lay on the bedroom floor and stare at the ceiling. We go over the memories we made while we were there. Like the Mountlake Terrace condo: we started our newlywed life there and where the bus line was right outside our building that we caught each morning to get to work in downtown Seattle. The Everett condo that was brand-new and so nice but Tyler decided to go to Belmont 4 months after we moved in and changed our lives forever (for the good!). The Bellevue apartment that had the great kitchen, that was our introduction to Nashville. The blue rental house, the first stand-alone house we ever lived in, so much fun with friends.

And now our "red house" as Maggie calls it. I have not been real emotional about selling this house just because we always said we'd sell in 5 years, and it had been 5 years. I knew we wouldn't live there forever. When Tyler made the call to sell, I made a list of pro's and con's of the house, and I was content with his decision and looking forward to moving on. But on our way out as we went room to room reminicing, I cried in the powder room off the master bedroom. It was where we found out we were pregnant with Maggie. One of the best days of my life. Her room we can recreate and God-willing we'll always have her; but the little bathroom we won't have again. I do still have the positive pregnancy test in my sock drawer, so I'll be alright.

It was a surreal feeling Saturday morning as we drove away, knowing we won't be driving on these roads on the way to our house anymore. And I am OK with that. I am looking forward to our new adventure.

Quick Update

We're busy packing boxes in the Spaid household. This weekend we decided to rent a small moving truck for a pre-move move. We moved all the stuff out of storage that we had culled out of the house for staging and all the stuff in our attic to the garage we rented at the apartment complex. Wow. It was a lot of STUFF that we don't really NEED to keep. I am glad the new house we are building doesn't have a lot of storage now, whereas before I was sad about it. I'm thinking after we move in to our new house we will have a rockin' garage sale.

And, we had our "electrical" meeting this weekend. Basically we just pointed out on the map where we wanted the recessed lights in the kitchen, confirmed where we wanted ceiling fans, phone jacks, cable, and confused the site agent thoroughly with Tyler's questions about the surround sound system we are putting in the living room.

Maggie has been such a good girl with all of this. She plays nicely when I am unpacking things at the apartment (We were able to get in early), and did great last night while we unloaded the truck. It was getting late, so I let her watch Barbie Nutcracker on the portable dvd player. She did start crying at one point. She was sad that she couldn't dance in the cab of the truck along with her movie!

Before I Forget to Write it Down

I've been thinking I needed to do a post on the cute things Maggie is still saying. So here goes:

1) When learning her AWANA bible verses, she calls the bible reference the difference. For example, "Mommy, I already said the verse. I just wanna say the difference now."
2) I love you really much, I miss Daddy really much.
3) Pisgetti.
4) Moo-sic instead of music.
5) Frosted mini-wings.
6) Sleeping BLeauty.
7) When I was a little girl I ... (as if she isn't still mama's baby!)
8) "Well, maybe some other time?" When I tell her no or not right now.
9) She still uses an f-sound instead of th. "I'm free" instead of "I'm three." "I'm looking for somefing."
10) "What is your birfday called?" when asking what your birth date is.

New House Progress

Monday I got to go to the "Design Center" with our builder to pick out our colors for the walls, cabinets, vinyl floors, carpet, counter tops and exterior. Tyler and I went in quickly on Sunday to make sure we agreed on everything since he couldn't be at the actual meeting, and we pretty much agreed on everything.

Here's what we chose:
Maple cabinets, countertops, floor. It looks pretty close to the right colors on my laptop, but it may not be the right shade on your computer. It's all shades of warm brown/tan tones. The carpet is a two-tone short shag.
Tyler insisted on red brick outside. And I love the black shutters, so this was what we picked. We couldn't afford 100% brick outside, so the front will be brick, and everything else will be siding. I will miss having an all brick house... but the inside is SO worth it!

Thankful that anything to do with the crawlspace falls under "man's work"

The man that did our home inspection said "have crawlspace evaulated for mold/mildew". Mold!? We were a little scared that any profit we made on our house would be eaten up by mold remediation. Thankfully the company we had come out and look at our house said our problem was a 1.5 on a scale of 1 - 10, and he did not see any of the bad black mold, just some white powdery mold which I guess is a better kind to have. He said we didn't need professional clean-up, but that we needed to wipe down all the joists under the house with a bleach solution. So that was great news for us. Not so great news for poor Tyler. He got to spend all day last Saturday under the house wiping everything down.
I'm so glad Lowe's sells those full-body throw-away suits. I did not want to have to put those nasty clothes in my washer. It took him nearly all day to get it done. Maggie thought it was great fun to yell at him through the vents and the floor to figure out where he was!

Sunday he and Seth laid down a vapor barrier in the crawlspace, which will help prevent any mold from returning. We thought it would take another 4 hours, but they got it done in and hour and a half. Yay!

We love you, we miss you

Tyler's Grandma Pearl passed away this morning (10/9) after a long battle with congestive heart failure. I am so glad we got to see her one last time this summer when we went to Missoula {picture above was on her 80th birthday}. We are sad that she has passed from this life to the other, but rejoice that she is in the arms of her Savior in heaven above. Her last years on this earth were not her best, but she has all of eternity to dance, and sing, and rejoice in the God of the Universe.

"...and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away."Revelation 21:4

We love you, Grandma!

Bless My Heart

*NOTE* this post is long. I haven't posted any updates for a while, so I've got a lot to say.

When you move to the South, you learn a couple of things. Humidity exists on a daily basis, you must learn to live with it. Strangers will talk to you in the elevator, and expect you to reply (none of this "I don't know you so I am going to stare at the door like I am by myself" business like we do in Seattle). Barbeque is sacred. And, "bless his/her/your heart" is a thinly veiled way of saying "what an idiot". See aptly named title for this post, above, and read on.

The past two weeks have been filled with a lot of work. Work that I really did not need to add to my plate what with needing to pack our our move and all.

I found "new" furniture for Maggie's new room in our new house while Tyler's parents were here. It was a good deal for a 4-drawer dresser, nightstand, 3-drawer dresser with bookshelf above, a desk with a bookshelf above that and chair, and a full-size headboard. It just required a paint job. And right there is where I got in over my head.

The craiglist posting picture. 1980's Broyhill oak furniture. Good stuff at a great price.
I knew it would be a lot of elbow grease, but the pieces are very sturdy and should last her entire childhood. Tyler let me get a paint sprayer to help me do a better job with the painting. And right there is where I didn't think about:
- how long it takes to clean out said paint sprayer when I am done for the day (one coat of paint takes about 20 minutes on several pieces, cleaning the sprayer takes about 45 minutes)
-the paint dust that it would create
-that I would get paint dust all up in my hair. Every time I finally get it all out of my hair, the weather has cleared up and it's time to do another coat. I have not mastered the art of remembering to wear a head covering while painting...
-paint dust all over the patio in the small sections not covered by drop cloth
-paint dust on Tyler's car. Thank goodness I did not actually spray Tyler's car, and the dust washed off! It was a tense 20 minutes.
-the non-standard size of the brass pulls which I wanted to switch out for some shade of silver (the internet is so awesome - after 2 hours driving back and forth from Lowe's and Home Depot I found the random size I needed online in 5 minutes)
-the fact that I can't hardly spray with Maggie outside. She likes to be right next to me, and I don't want to have to clean up 2 people every time. So every nap it's a mad dash to put on my paint clothes, make sure the furniture it positioned just right, the paint sprayer is ready to go, etc. Inevitably, something is wrong, something needs to be wiped down/sanded/moved/cleaned.

Anywhoo - - I have the nightstand, bookshelves, and dressers completed. They look awesome!!! I will not post a fully completed shot of everything until we are in our new house in February. Right now I have to finish her headboard and desk. I am thinking I am going to have to buy a glass top for it, I don't think the painted top will hold up to a toddler's activities. Not sure what to do on that front... But here are some pictures of the progress. I will spare you photos of my paint-encrusted self.

Mid-way through. I think the dresser took 5 coats of enamel to be even. When all is said and done, I will have used 3 gallons of paint on these!
I had to move the bookshelves quite a ways away so the dust from the 2nd set of items didn't pill up on the surface of their layer of paint. It's been quite the ordeal. Surprisingly, the paint dust is not sticking to the house. That I can tell. Or will own up to. We close on this house and have to move out in 2 weeks. See that paint overspray on the patio? That'll scrobb off, right?! =)
Though I definitely got in over my head this time, I am now armed with a paint sprayer and lots of experience. All projects in the future should be quicker.

The best part about all this? I let Maggie paint the chair. By herself. When we got the furniture, she asked if we could paint all of it pink. I said "No." I do not want to have to paint over pink furniture when she turns 10 and decides it's no longer cool. But a pink chair? It would be a great little accent piece for her room. I explained how we needed to cover up all the wood, and she did a really great job! Every once in a while I would come by and smooth out the glops, but other than that she did almost the entire first coat herself. I did, however, paint a second coat the next day during her nap.
Can you tell this is a "don't take my picture, Mommy!" photo?
So that's one big project I've been working on the past 2 weeks. We've had so much rain that it is hard to get them done. I have to keep bringing them inside to stay dry.