Ella Corin

I found this picture of Ella and I just thought it was really cute! She is hiding under Isaiah's bed in Fort Wayne with her graham crackers and cup. She is so fun right now. She is saying new things every day and REALLY wanting to be big! I will admit that I had a moment of sadness today thinking that she is the last one we will have in this phase. It is really fun watching them learn and discover things for the first time.

School carnival

I got a sucker!!!!!

Survivor Tribal War paint! Even on their legs!

Alyssa and her new buddy!

Milking the cow!

Not quite sure about the "cow's bottom"!

Alyssa also won a cake at the cake walk, so the night was fabulous for all!!!

Update

Ella on moving day! In the midst of 4 strange men moving all of our belongings into the house, Ella caught a nap in the sun room!

Isaiah was most excited about the refrigerator that he could get ice and water out of when we first took them to the house.

Rockin' on the front porch.
Alyssa on "grown-up" day at school today. They were supposed to dress like what they wanted to be when they grew up. Alyssa chose to be a rock star! Do you like her outfit?

A few pictures from our first week in our house. We moved in Friday and things have went great. We are still unpacking and arranging, but are feeling somewhat settled. And, we LOVE our new house. The playset will get put together this weekend, and the kids will really feel like the backyard is theirs! Alyssa had her first play date today with a friend from school. Oh, to be in kindergarten again and have a "best friend" 2 days after meeting them!!! We are blessed. And, Isaiah is making friends at his school. Unusually enough, both kids have made friends with girls who have boy names. Alyssa's friend is Riane (pronounced like Ryan) and Isaiah's friend is Elliot (yes, it's a girl). We just found that odd! Anyway, we are very good and not too homesick yet!


One funny real quick, we have met a lot of transplants into the area so far, but also have run into a few "locals". We were in Wal-mart yesterday and this lady who was about 65-70 stopped to comment on Ella and said "Woo-eee, I would get her in the floor and waller her to death." If I ever forget where I have moved, I will just take a trip to "the Wal-mart" and I am sure I will be reminded!!!

Tasha and Uniqua

Isaiah has a very active imagination sometimes. Most recently, he has told me that he has 2 girlfriends--Tasha and Uniqua from the Backyardigans. I crack up every time he tells me that. He often follows it up with "Mom, why do the Backyardigans have to be pretend?" Well, today while we were waiting for Alyssa in the carpool line he was really in his own little world. Tasha and Uniqua were each sitting on his lap, they broke up, then got back together, then they were all riding on his motorcycle . . . the motorcycle then turned into a speedboat and they all took a ride. I was cracking up. He would just randomly spout off things they were doing. Hilarious! Go, imagination, Go!!

They talk funny

As soon as we arrived in JC, we went to the front desk at the hotel. Alyssa tapped me on the shoulder and motioned me to bend down. She whispered in my ear "mom, that lady has a Tennessee accent." She better get used to it, huh. I just thought it was really cute!! Any bets on how long it will take for our little ones to sound like locals. I am giving it 6 months!

Hello from JC

We have arrived in Tennesse as most of you know and we are slowly, but surely learning our way around town. Alyssa and Isaiah started school today. It was a morning of mixed emotions. We wanted to get them started in their new routine as quickly as possible, but it also seems very fast and weird to be sending them off in a place where we know NO ONE! Anyway, Alyssa was somewhat apprehensive and got a little teary-eyed this morning (thus no pictures of her on her first day in kindergarten in TN) and Isaiah practically ran into his class. So, we are off and running in our new schools and I really think the kids are going to thrive! We only have 2 more nights in the hotel and we close on the house tomorrow evening! We can't wait to get in our house and have all of our furnishings delivered. It will then really feel like home. Although, I will miss the free continental breakfast that I don't have to cook. And, I will admit, it has been rather nice not having to clean a house or do laundry for a few days!!! Real life is waiting in 48 hours though!!! We love you all and can't wait for everyone to visit. The views are just amazing!! I hope I never get used to it! Thought I would share some pictures.
Papaw, Grammy and Zach got Alyssa a makeup kit for her birthday present. She LOVES it, can you tell?

Isaiah on his first day of preschool in Johnson City!

I caught him on the "burger" of "cheeseburger"
Marissa and I on our last night in Fort Wayne. Marissa and her husband, Will, and many of the True Life kids grilled out for us at a local park to send us off. It was a real blessing!

I had no idea that I would literally feel like these were my children. They will tell you that I lecture them just like a mother! HA HA.

We have arrived in Tennesse as most of you know and we are slowly, but surely learning our way around town. Alyssa and Isaiah started school today. It was a morning of mixed emotions. We wanted to get them started in their new routine as quickly as possible, but it also seems very fast and weird to be sending them off in a place where we know NO ONE! Anyway, Alyssa was somewhat apprehensive and got a little teary-eyed this morning (thus no pictures of her on her first day in kindergarten in TN) and Isaiah practically ran into his class. So, we are off and running in our new schools and I really think the kids are going to thrive! We only have 2 more nights in the hotel and we close on the house tomorrow evening! We can't wait to get in our house and have all of our furnishings delivered. It will then really feel like home. Although, I will miss the free continental breakfast that I don't have to cook. And, I will admit, it has been rather nice not having to clean a house or do laundry for a few days!!! Real life is waiting in 48 hours though!!! We love you all and can't wait for everyone to visit. The views are just amazing!! I hope I never get used to it!

Party times

This is our last weekend in Fort Wayne and we decided to go out with a bang. We had a large party last night at our house in order to see a lot of our friends before we left. We had about 60 people there and it was a GREAT time! Today we had a birthday party for Alyssa and Isaiah at the YMCA. I had promised them we would celebrate with their friends in Fort Wayne before we moved to TN. I had no idea we would be moving a month before their birthdays. Oh well! Both parties were great and we were so glad to be able to spend time with so many people we love! Here are some pics from the kids' party today. All the girls!

Transformers cake! Thanks Grammy!
Hannah Montana! (Grammy again)
Check out the piece missing. I cut the cake and dished a piece out before I remembered that we had to blow candles out and sing! I am such a winner, aren't I! I am glad my kids know by now that mom is just a little slow sometimes!!!

All the boys!

For Ginny!
For Ginny too!
Parachute fun!
Action shot
Ella hung with the papaws for most of the party! She is FINALLY getting over her stranger/separation anxiety!

Heartbreaking Day

Today was one of the hardest days I have had in recent months. We have really struggled with what we were going to do with Asher upon our pending move. He is completely blind and 99% deaf and has recently shown some aggression toward the kids because he is frustrated that he doesn't know which way they are going. We were hesitant to move him to a new environment under the circumstances and with a one year old who is in love with "Aaa-fer" we just weren't sure what to do. Ok, so maybe we knew what to do, but have not been able to take action. So, we made the heart wrenching decision today to have Asher put down. I am crying writing this right now. It was one of the hardest things I have ever went through and I think I will always wonder if we did the right thing. He was our "first-born" and definitely a big part of our family. We will miss him so much!

Labor day fun

We had a jam-packed weekend for labor day weekend and we are all struggling to make it through today. But, it was a GREAT weekend. My friend Marissa's wedding was Saturday. It was a long day for mom, but the wedding happened and it was beautiful. See the picture of me and Kaitlyn Meneely (our friends Alan and Beth's daughter--she is like a daughter to us too.). On Sunday, Tim led his last week of music at SWCC and it was his last Sunday there as he heads out of town on Sunday. It was a very emotional morning, but great to know that we are loved! We then headed to our friends' house for some fishing, swimming and skiing. Tim and the older 2 kids camped out all night at their house. It was quite the adventure, I hear. Ella and I came home and got a great night's sleeep in our very own beds:-)

Finally, we spent the afternoon yesterday with my friend Renae and her family at her husband's family's lake house on Lake James. It was a GREAT day and we all had a wonderful time. After the crazy weekend, Isaiah looked like this and Ella was fired up and ready for more!!! Hope you all had a great "last hurrah to summer" weekend! Bring on the fall and football season. We are READY!!!