A brief update...

Well, it is Saturday night and we are officially exhausted!

Overall the move went fabulous! The packing men did a fine job, they were gone by noon on Wednesday. They sort of crapped on the moving men as they left 3/4 of the POD untouched because they ran out of room in the garage to put things in order to sift through the POD, so the moving guys were stuck with some unfinished business. But you would never have known. The moving men (Jeff and Tim) were awesome. Very prompt (they were there by 8am on Thursday and 730am Friday), hard workers (you should have seen these guys carrying huge items up and down stairs strapped to their backs, very crazy), nice/humerous/considerate men! They were absolutely great to work with. They had all our stuff packed up in the truck by 1215pm on Thursday, and were done unpacking everything by noon on Friday.

We spent Friday afternoon and evening getting the bedrooms semi-ready so that they could be slept in and what not. We had Time Warner Cable, the movers, and American all here at the same time around 11am installing cable/phone/internet, delivering appliances, and unloading a truck. It was a bit chaotic and cold. We had the doors open all morning while they were moving the stuff in, so it got a bit frigid in here. Cable went smoothly, can't say the same for the appliances. They damaged our refrigerator when they used the fort lift to move it, but still delivered it for some reason, so we are currently using a damaged refrigerator that they can't replace until Thursday! Not so happy with that!

My mom and Bill were here on Friday to help watch Rowan while we directed all the people around our house. They spent the night and left before lunch today. Ed, Sue and Dusty came up late this morning to help with some other things like mounting the television, hanging blinds, finishing kitchen un-packing, among many other things. Karen and Doug stopped in this morning on their way up to visit Grandma and Grandpa Blodgett and deliver our pooch! Gizmo stayed with them the last few days to accomodate the moving process, and he joined us this morning, thanks to Karen and Doug!

My mom and I made a trip to WalMart last night to get some food and other things we needed. Ed only had to make 2 trips to Menards in the last 2 days surprisingly! We learned where several eating places are here in Neenah in the last few days, and have much more to learn in the days/weeks/months to come!

Sorry that wasn't exactly a play by play of the move, but we are here and 90% unpacked, there will be photos and more updates to come in the next week. But I am too tired to deal with transferring pictures tonight, and I have to work tomorrow night, so my first commute to St. Joe's! Stay tuned....

Moving Day!

The day we have been waiting for since the end of May 2009 has finally arrived. Yesterday our POD arrived which was an emotional reunion with our lost belongings, like X-box 360, my tools, and other not so important things. Megan is at home supervising the packing and moving process, while I’m at work posting on the Blog because our computers have been disconnected. Rowan and Gizmo seem to be unaffected by all of the packing so far, but when toys start to be packed away it could get uncomfortable.

As for our neighbors, friends, and family we leave behind this is not a goodbye, or a farewell but an open invitation to come and visit us any time. There are plenty of fishing lakes, air shows, and golf courses for the men. The women have many beaches, outlet malls, and The Appleton Mall. So countless activities, and great company, here in the Fox Valley area.

While this move will be a major change for my family, I’m lucky to be making this adjustment with my best friend, an amazing daughter, and a loyal dog. Thank you for all of your Support and please stay in touch with us:

The Smith’s
1573 Remington Road
Neenah, WI 54956

Rub a Dub dub, Rowan's in the Tub...

Apparently I like to take pictures of Rowan in the tub! She is super cute all soaking wet!

Moving update...

(Sorry, this isn't a new photo, new ones to come once we move!)

Let's see...

Well, we finally had our 2nd radon test completed and it failed at 6 (which we hate to say we were hoping for, just an expense we were hoping the builder would have to deal with), so the builder agreed to put in a radon system prior to closing.

Now we are in the process of setting up a date and time to do the final walk through with the builder prior to our closing. Just waiting for the confirmation that all work is complete in the house.

Then next week Thursday the 25th is our closing date.

Before that though, our POD will be delivered on Tuesday, the moving company and truck will be here Wednesday packing everything from the garage, POD and house that is ours. And Thursday loading it all into the truck and Friday delivering to our new residence in Neenah!

The time sure has flown by, but boy are we excited to move on and into our first house as a family!

Car Trouble...

No photos for this one, just need to vent about our car issues in the last week.

Started last weekend, I thought the Camry wasn't quite sounding right, so we took it in on Tuesday when Ed was working from home due to the snow, and dropped a few hundred dollars on a new water pump. Something that should last 100,000+ miles on a Camry, but apparently we just got a bad one.

Then Friday morning when I was driving home from work, started to notice a suspicious sound when I was braking, so took that in for inspection while I slept between working. Turns out we had to drop another few hundred on a new set of brakes. Lovely.

So we thought we were done, both cars in the shop in one week....

but No... this morning I went out to clean snow off my car and warm up before heading out to lunch. 2 hours later, went to start car to actually leave for lunch and it wouldn't start! Good thing Aunt Jill was here visiting, she helped me jump it and get it started. Took it to Tires Plus to have the battery looked at, and not only did we need that but a few other maintenance items totalling another few hundred dollars!

Awesome! Aren't we spending enough money next week when we close on the house, why does God think we should drop more this week! Well, we are hoping this happened so we don't need to search for a mechanic immediately when we move next week!

Happy Valentine's Day...

from our Little Devil...

she does look rather devil like in this picture... up to no good! But darn cute!
We had a busy Valentine's Day..

We started by going out for breakfast with Nana and Papa, then out to Mukwonago for lunch with the Schuett Family, Crystal and Jennie! Granted there were probably plenty of other things we should have been doing to prepare for our move, we wanted to spend some time with our friends who we won't see quite as frequently once we move. It was a nice little visit. The kids played very nicely, only a few take downs for Rowan from Breyson!

Hope everyone enjoyed their day with the ones they love!

Princess Party...

Tonight Rowan attended a Princess Birthday Party for her friend Maya who was turning 4!

So Rowan got to wear a princess dress, and do many princess like things. Because Rowan was a bit younger than the other girls, I got to do most of the activities for her. We decorated a glass slipper, we made candy necklaces, we played dress up (Rowan loved the play make-up table, might have to put that on the xmas list for 2010), we danced to princess music, we ate ice cream like princesses, you name it, these girls did it. Thanks in part to Lisa, the ultimate party planner. I think I might hire her out for Rowan's next party! She decorates to the hills, so creative and thoughtful! The older girls stayed and watched Cinderella in their pj's, but Rowan and I headed home as she doesn't sit still for movies and it was her bedtime anyways! But she had a blast, she played so hard she fell asleep in the car on the way home!

Thanks Maya for letting the 'baby' come to your party!

Valentine's Week...

Rowan has received so many gifts this week for Valentine's Day, we might as well have made it a week long holiday, even though it isn't a holiday truly! And as you can see, she was fine with just the bubble wrap, who needs pictures of the actual gifts! She received many wonderful things from her Grandparents and Great Aunt! Books, pillows, balloons, puzzles, trucks, and best of all, more Baby Signing Time DVDs, mom and dad were ready for something new to watch!

Rowan thanks all of you who showered her with your gifts of Love!

Such a Helper...

While I was sleeping today, after working last night, Rowan helped Daddy make cupcakes! She did help do some mixing too, but mostly taste testing! Somehow she even managed to get frosting in her nostril, that takes talent!

The Beaten up...

Rowan and I went to Mukwonago today to have lunch with Andi and the boys. Let's just say Rowan came home with a few bruises and a few new tricks of her own thanks to Breyson!

Actually there were no bruises, but that is surprising since Breyson was constantly pushing her or tackling her, or whacking her on the head, you name it, he did it to her! The difference between a boy and a girl I guess. And he has learned the dreaded M word (mine). Thankfully Rowan didn't pick up on that while we were there, but everything Rowan played with, Breyson wanted! Their interactions these days are comical and very different than they used to be! A lot of learning is in the future for both of them!
Rowan was very interested in Sawyer still, but didn't want to hold him, she was too busy for that! He is getting so big so fast!

More Snow...

Snow seems to be inevitable in Wisconsin, therefore another day of it, isn't surprising! So we made the best of the few inches we got and went outside to play (after shovelling it of course). Rowan is getting better at walking in her snowpants and boots, and keeping her mittens on too!