moving weekend

moving weekend turned out to be a little more interesting than a moving weekend typically is. the closing on the 22nd went just fine. we got into the new house that day and spent the rest of the day cleaning and getting things ready for our belongings to arrive the next day. eric headed back to the city that evening to finish up packing and to be there when the moving company arrived the next morning. luke and i were staying with the orozcos so we had cozy beds to sleep in. that night we had a huge thunderstorm and it created many power outages around the area. we were unaware that our new neighborhood was one that was hit until about 10 o'clock the next morning when i headed over to the new house with frank and kathy. when we walked into the house we were greeted by smoke alarms going off and no electricity. as i tried to figure out why the alarms were going off, frank discovered that we had 5 inches of water in our basement! whoa! talk about a big "welcome" to home ownership. coming from a city condo where we hardly had any maintenance to do, we knew we'd need to learn about sump pumps and the like at some point, but we didn't expect it would be on day two!

thankfully we had many people pitch in around us and help us figure it all out. and also thankfully eric's step-dad tony had a generator that he brought over and plugged our sump pump in so we could start pumping the water out of our basement. it worked rather quickly and by early that evening all of the water was out of our basement. the electricity still wasn't on, but the water was out. in the meantime, the movers showed up and moved all of our stuff into the house on a very hot day without any air conditioning. poor guys.

the power eventually came back on sunday afternoon at about 2:00. that was a full 36 hours without power. we met our next door neighbor through it all and he said an event like this hadn't happened in the 17 years he lived here. so that was encouraging. in hindsight there were many bright spots that occurred during this crazy time and we knew God was watching out for us and protecting us through it all.

- if it had to happen, the timing of it couldn't have been better. the previous owners were out of the house and they had that basement packed with stuff. we hadn't moved anything into the basement yet so the basement was completely empty besides a few paint cans. if we had moved in the previous day we would have had a ton of stuff in the basement.

- we learned early on that we didn't want to put anything in the basement until we have shelving units that keep our belongings off the floor about 6 inches.

- we also learned that we'll probably be investing in some sort of back-up sump pump as one of our first major home purchases.

- moving to be closer to family was a great decision! everyone pitched in and helped us out so much. from figuring out how to get the smoke alarms to stop beeping, to getting the generator up and running, to washing our sheets and cleaning our windows, to taking care of luke while we could focus on the house, to just being there as support. great decision!

now, here's a fun video of luke coming into his new house for the very first time. pardon the mess. it does look a little better than this now, but it'll be a work in progress for awhile. :)

georgia in july

before i get too far in to this post (it's a long one), i first wanted to post a quintessential "summer in georgia" picture. here is luke enjoying some yummy, homemade peach ice cream at the local thomas peach orchard. this is basically a right of passage when you're a southerner (luke is half southerner, half yankee after all)! :)

we took our 2nd annual trip to helen, georgia with our southern family in mid-july. we stayed for a week and enjoyed some fun family time, pool time, a tubing trip down the chatahoochee river, a trip to nearby cleveland, georgia (home of the original cabbage patch kids), feeding the goats on the roof, panning for gemstones, and getting boiled peanuts. we ended our stay with a few days back in athens at gram and gramps' house just hanging out and visiting the fire house and seeing our favorite firefighter in action. oh, and before we could leave georgia, we got in a few hours with luke's great aunt carla at the airport (in passing). whew. that was a busy trip! we sure had a lot of fun.

playing and having fun with cousins ella (almost 5) and anna (9).

group shot in helen's historic german area. we missed makayla all week. she was off having fun without us at a girl scout camp.

in front of the helen's town center fountain.

family pool time.

luke spent much of the week pushing this doll stroller around the grounds of the timeshare. ella decided she was tired of that seat going empty and it was her turn to ride!

skipping rocks in the shallow part of the chatahoochee river. we actually tubed down the river earlier in the week and had a blast. luke did great and enjoyed the free ride! wish we had pictures of that, but we didn't want to risk loosing our camera.

snack and tv time with ella!

story time with gramps on the porch. goodnight moon. good night luke.

outside babyland general hospital in cleveland, georgia. home of the cabbage patch kids.

luke got his very first baby doll while we were there. luke wants to introduce you to his buddy, bo duke! is it a coincidence that bo duke has blue eyes and is wearing stripes? i think not! is it also a coincidence that luke and bo duke share the names of the duke brothers from the dukes of hazzard? i think not! (thanks mike, for helping to name the newest member of our family!) luke and bo duke are the perfect pair!

posing for a shot on the cabbage leaves.

we visited a local spot that featured goats on the roof and panning for gemstones. ella's working hard to feed one of those hungry goats.

outside of fred's peanuts where mommy got a bunch of boiled peanuts and we all enjoyed a peach iced tea slushie! that was a big hit for luke.

back at gram and gramps' house in athens, luke enjoys his favorite past time of riding on the pink and purple barbie big wheel. he got up enough courage this trip to ride the big wheel up the drive way and then go flying down as he held his feet up.

visiting our favorite volunteer fire fighter at the oconee county fire department.

driving the big rig.

having a heart to heart with our local hero. thank you gramps for your service.

to round out our trip, aunt carla flew into the atlanta airport the day we were leaving so we got to spend a few hours visiting with her.

what a fun trip! we look forward to it again next year!

pretending to sleep

one of luke's favorite things to do these days is to pretend he's sleeping. he'll be in the middle of doing something and then all of a sudden lay down and start making snoring noises. it's pretty funny. i spend a lot of my day pretending along with him and this time he got daddy to play along. eric does a little more convincing of a job than luke does. :)

sweet mandy b's decorating class!

many of you know that i have a love of all things sweet. many of you also know that i have a love of a local chicago bakery, sweet mandy b's, that specializes in all things sweet, especially cupcakes (see: luke's 1st birthday party). well, my friend, christine, clued me in on their special decorating classes for tots. luke and i went to a class today and learned how to make a cookiewich, a whoopie pie, banana pudding, and a dirt cup. it was a pretty successful class and the best part is that we took home everything we made! yummy!

luke and his friends olivia and chase busy at work.

mid-session taste test. luke loved the icing (just like his momma)!

luke and olivia drooling over all the cakes at the counter.

our last official weekend in the city

back in late may we decided to buy a house in the suburb of schaumburg, illinois (about 25 miles outside of chicago). this decision came after many months of discussing the next step for our family. we took time in early spring to tour some suburbs and decide on one we'd eventually like to live in. after a few months we decided upon schaumburg. schaumburg is where eric's dad and step-mom live as well as his sister and her family. this location also allows us to be much closer to eric's mom and step-dad and his brother's family too. so, we put our condo on the market in early may and even though our condo hadn't sold, we found a new home a few short weeks later. now, we just need our condo to sell!

we are set to close on our new home on july 22nd, but we'll be busy the next couple of weekends visiting my family in georgia and then we move! so, this was technically our last official weekend in the city. it was a special one because it included a visit to our favorite summer breakfast spot, julius meinl, as well as 4th of july fireworks on our rooftop deck. both of which are chicago traditions for our little family that we'll dearly miss. not to mention all of our friends that we've made over the 11 (me) and 14 (eric) years that we've lived in the city. we're excited for the next chapter but also sad to say goodbye to the end of our time in the city. this is the place where we met, fell in love, got married, experienced young married life, and then brought our first child into the world. we have so much to be grateful for to the city of chicago. but we are looking forward to having the extra space, a yard for luke to play in, free parking, and being closer to family. thank you, chicago, for the wonderful memories!

last time at our favorite summer breakfast spot. we started making this a tradition last summer when luke was a baby. it just kind of stuck!

one satisfied customer.

dinner with an old friend

tonight we had the pleasure of getting together with our dear friends kim, marc and their 3 year old son, dylan. they just moved out of the city into a nearby suburb and we went to see their new home and catch up. luke and dylan had a nice little dinner together after playing outside in the july 4th weekend heat (see: luke's red cheeks and sweaty head)!