New home

Here are some pictures of the house that we are buying in Nederland, TX (from our trip over Spring Break).

Front of the house...pretty pink flowering bush.

Front door from the inside.

Tree and landscaping in the front yard by the street.

The "front living room"

We're not sure what we are doing with this room yet...it will probably end up being one of those "catch alls" for stuff that we would have put in a basement (since we won't have a basement again!).

The master bathroom vanity.

Master bath shower...love the tile!

Master bedroom...smaller than the one we have now, but I'm hoping that our smaller furniture will make the room look a little bigger overall.

Bedroom #2...which will be Gabrielle's room since it's already painted pink.  I think that we are going to try to transition her to a "big-girl" bed when we get there, so I'm open for any suggestions that any of you might have on that topic too!

Hallway bathroom vanity...more red paint!

Hallway bathroom tub...with jets (fun!).

Bedroom #3...we're going to plan on painting this a neutral color in plans that we'll eventually need another bedroom for baby #2.  (Did I mention that we had a consultation with a fertility doctor in Beaumont--only about 20 minutes from this house?  Things look good!!!)

Hallway between the bedrooms/bathroom.

The dining room that will be transformed into an office space and a place for my piano probably too...perhaps some place to put some of Gabrielle's larger toys too--who knows!

THE KITCHEN!!!!!!

A flat-top stove again--yea!

The breakfast nook where we'll put our table and chairs.  AND, notice the cabinets in the back.  I think that my scrapbooking will end up here, along with a lot of other things.  There's a whole separate pantry, and cleaning closet, so hopefully this will be a place for "my" stuff!  :)

The windows in the breakfast nook.

A view of the kitchen from the other direction.

The livingroom/den area--I love the built-in book shelves!  

Too bad Nick's going to have to get a flat-panel TV, huh?  :)

Storage closets in the back of the den--probably for Nick's guitars and a few of "his" things.

The covered porch in the backyard.

Some of the cool plants that I'm going to have to learn how to take care of...and I don't have a very green thumb, so wish me luck!

The shed that they were in the process of redoing.  I really hope that it will be good since we've got a lot of things that probably won't fit in the house.  Otherwise, I'm sure we're going to have to do some more ebay selling.  *sigh*

Gabrielle loving their trampoline (which I'm sure won't stay...bummer)!  Guess we'll have to get a play area/swing set for Nick to build for her to play on back there!

Fun times visiting Port Arthur

So we went on a house-hunting trip over our Spring Break here (mid-March).  That way I wouldn't miss any days teaching music at our church's Preschool, and Gabrielle wouldn't miss any of her days going to "school" (Kid's Day Out) either.

On the airplane trip...cameras can be quite a source of entertainment for a two year old!  :)

Daddy ready to get off the airplane too...after several delays, our flight that was supposed to be a little over an hour was closer to two hours.  Gabrielle was CERTAINLY ready to get off our laps!

The super-cool park in Port Neches, TX (about 5 minutes from our new house).

Lots of cool slides that Gabrielle had a blast on.

For some reason she likes to turn on her side when she goes down (her teacher said that she does that at Kid's Day Out at church too).  Funny to catch her doing it in action!

Check out how big this place is...Nick is standing on part of the playground on the right side of the picture with Gabrielle on his shoulders.

This is an incredible view from one of the top of the slides.  Trust me, it was a super-neat slide that was really long.  But, it was dark in there...a little scary that I thought I was never going to get out of there!

Gabrielle enjoying some of the crawling tunnels.

Of course trying out all the swings.

The water in the outdoor pool at the hotel was sooooo cold that we only dangled our feet...Gabrielle was ready to jump in, but I was hanging on to her for dear life.  Sometimes her independence is great, and at times like this, it scares me!

Enjoying a cup of ice and water.

Two bridges that take you from Port Neches/Groves area across a river to the neighboring town to the east called "Bridge City".  I didn't take any pictures in that town, but you could tell that they had gotten hit pretty hard by Hurricane Ike last year, and were still in the process of rebuilding lots of things including businesses and homes.

A straight-on view of the bridge as we were driving back west to our hotel.  

I think it looks worse than it really was, but Nick was driving, so I think that helped my fear of heights not be so bad.

A wonderful view of the sunset over a marshy-area as we were driving.

Long time, no post...again!

Sorry that I've been "gone" from here for a while...please don't give up on me.  March was a super-busy month with Nick flying back and forth to Port Arthur, TX for work during the week.  Along with that, we are trying to sell our house here in Odessa (translate...me getting stuff fixed here and keeping it spotless for showings during the day).  And, we went on a house-hunting trip, and found a wonderful house in Nederland, TX (that post to follow).  

So, enough of my ramblings...

here's some of what you've been missing lately...

Gabrielle enjoying her toys.

My cutie-pie.

Playing the piano-book.

Exploring EVERYTHING!

And enjoying every bit of life 

(except for the time-outs...those aren't so fun).

Grandma Charleen's 100th birthday

We headed up to Kansas again this past weekend to celebrate Nick's grandma's 100th birthday.  She was doing really well, and here's some of our adventures that we packed into two days of travel and just two days of visiting.

Being silly in the car.

Playing in the outdoor area at the McDonald's in Burkburnett, TX after a quick lunch.

Check out that crazy hair!

Daddy and Gabi say "cheese".

Nick and Gabi exchanging sun glasses before we take off to visit a few friends in Cheney (and drop off some Mary Kay purchases too).  Pizza at D'Marios was delicious!!!  Then we had a quick stop at the hospital to visit the Anderson's and their new baby, Carter (congrats again, guys!).  Can you believe we even made time to stop at Guitar Center (for Nick) and Pier 1 (for Debbie and I)?

Spending some time with my family in Salina at the mall after we met up with the Knopf family for church on Sunday morning.  Nick got some cargo pants at Old Navy for just $3.50 each, I found a shirt at JCPenny for $4, and my mom found some black pants for $5 that she needed for an up-coming work trip.  

Wow--bargain shopping galore!

Nick's aunts and uncles on his dad's side of the family and some other people (we didn't know who they were!).

His grandma and her boys (from left to right are Nick's uncles Merle, Bruce, and Dean, and Nicks' dad, Chuck).  Can you believe that she has only been living in an assisted-living place for a few years?  And, I really can't fathom what she's been able to see our country go through in 100 years either--whether that be the wars, the economy, or even technology!!!

Being silly on the trip back to TX--if you look closely you can see that the cap is on the Dr. Pepper bottle.  I think that she really wants to be like her mommy--guess I'd better watch what I do and say even closer now, huh?  :)

Construction Zone

So for Valentine's Day we gave Gabrielle an assortment of dress-up stuff.  A couple of skirts, some jewelry, and a construction hat/goggles set.  Here she is enjoying herself as a construction worker--too cute!

Nice!  :)

Don't miss the cute smile at the end of the video!

Happy Valentine's Day (a little late)!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This year we gave Gabrielle some pretend dress-up stuff including some plastic necklaces, bracelets, and rings. She loves to put them all on, and then take them off and put them all into a small purse of hers. We also gave her some play clothes, but those weren't the hit that I thought they might be.

Comparing our pretty rings.

Checking to make sure it fits right.

Now, that's a lot of accessories! Not to mention that the construction hat goes just perfectly with the princess shoes and all that jewelry!

Playing the piano with mommy.

CHEEEEESE!

Gabrielle has figured out how to get her clothes off...which usually happens in the evening. Hopefully this will be something that she only does at home! What a good ending to a wonderful day.

Hangin' with Haley

Haley Hart came to play one day last week while her mom was recovering from a hysterectomy. The girls had a great time together, and there were only a few times that I needed to remind both of them to share. They are getting better at playing together, and trying to wait until the other one is done with a toy (of course, there's always room for improvement too!).

Checking out all the books in Gabrielle's room.

"How do you spell 'piano'"?
Seriously, how early do they start texting now-a-day?

Hello?

Making some food in the play kitchen.

Wonderful day at the park

We've had several really nice days here in the last few weeks. On Friday the 6th we all went to the park to play and then enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading home. We had lots of fun!

Whoa! It's sure bright out here!

Me just testing out the equipment...
And having fun in the process!

Gabrielle LOVES slides.

And, going face first too.

I know that this looks like she hit the ground, but she didn't...she's just having a hard time getting up after going down the slide face-first. :)

There we go...getting up and going again!

Trying out the balance-thingy with daddy.

Swinging with daddy.

Checking out the solar system play area. Seriously, there were all the planets circling the sun and a space ship too. Neat!

This playground is right beside one of the hospitals in town. So, naturally, Gabrielle wants to check everything out...even the stuff that isn't playground equipment (like the walkway up to a backdoor to the hospital...nice!).