Big sigh.

Thanks to all of you who said a special prayer, crossed your fingers, kept us in your thoughts, sent good vibes and karma our way, and aligned the planets and moons properly.

OUR HOUSE IS SOLD!!!

What a relief!

Oh what fun it is to play with a spoon and dog bowl in the gravel.

Spring Begins

If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.
— Anne Bradstreet

Because I am too busy picking up Cheerios left behind.

Here are all the excuses for no recent posts:

1. Alli won't sit still for any pictures. She is way too busy expanding her vocabulary, "reading" her books, singing songs, saying 'no' and testing her boundaries.
2. We are too busy keeping our house absolutely spotless for any last minute showings. It has been on the market for about a month. We've had quite a few showings, but no takers.
3. Dan had board exams to study for. Well, the exam is over, so I guess that is no longer an excuse.
4. We've been travelling. Dan & I left Alli with Grandma Sally and headed off to CA in late February. Our first trip sans child. We had a nice time. It rained pretty much every day, but we got to experience green grass and trees with leaves. It was good for the soul.
5. We then travelled to Pgh for job interviews and house hunting. I officially have employment waiting for me when we move. I will be doing inpatient cardiology with the CHF (congestive Heart Failure) team at one of the big hospitals focusing primarily on transplant and ventricular device patients. I am very excited. They seem very in tune with providing a Mom-friendly work environment and hours, or at least that is the song and dance they presented at my interview.
6. We have been busy trying to buy a home. We have a contract on a great house in Pgh, but it is contingent on the sale of our Iowa home. Anyone want to buy a home in Iowa? It would be a great investment property. :)
7. We are too sick with Spring Fever.

I am making a public committment to post on a weekly basis. I assume you all miss us!

Wintertime Blues and Reds

I have officially had it with winter! I'm sure there are many of you who echo that statement. Dan & I both have had a cold that has lasted for more than 3 weeks. Three miserable weeks of sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever...yeah yeah we've been hitting the Nyquil pretty hard. The below freezing temps and grey days haven't exactly helped our attitudes either. At least back home the sun still shines when is 3 degrees outside. Despite my fear of skin cancer and wrinkles, I'm considering making a trip to the tanning salon a few days a week. I think it will help my jan/february blues. Does sunscreen work in tanning beds?

Every spare moment not working, blowing our nose or sulking, we have been packing up the tremendous amount of crap that we have managed to collect over the last 5 years of living in this house. Wow, how did we get all this stuff? Maybe I am more like my Mom than I thought;) We are about to put our house on the market and have been watching WAY too many HGTV shows. We have pretty much redecorated the place just to stage it for showings. Ridiculous? Maybe, but with a slow market and our impending move, we have to do whatever we can to maximize the chance of selling. Wish us luck in finding the right buyer soon.

This little gem of an amarylis has been my little ray of sunshine though. I love gardening and seeing this beautiful flower sprout out of the bulb over the past couple of weeks has been fantastic. Get yourself one.

Whole lot of goofing off!

Bathtime fun with Daddy. Maybe she could get a part in a production of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas!

She says "yeehaw" everytime she rides her horse. (Pretend you don't see all the clutter behind her. Just part of our latest adventure: "Sell our house so we can move to Pittsburgh")

No she does not have cancer and is not getting chemo!

However at the time of the photo, she was sick and had a fever. We were home sick, dressing up with the handkercheif (do-rag, or is it dew rag?) and playing in the Dora kitchen (Thanks Uncle Coley and Aunt Lisa). And in hindsight, she does look a little like a heartbreaking child cancer patient. But she is not.

A compostion only her Daddy can appreciate

Alli created this composition completely on her own. This is Alli's cute little stuffed bear hiding inside of an external fixator designed for the lower leg with a grocery sack on top of its head and a variety of imitation bones scattered about. Unless you are a podiatrist or have ever severely broken your ankle requiring you have one of these things attached to your body with rods driven into the bone, you probably can't appreciate the artistic beauty of this layout. However, I am sure that just about anyone can appreciate the nuttiness of having this stuff just laying around for our kid to play with.