Spiritual little Adeline

I wanted to write down two little stories so I don't forget them.

Like I said in the previous post, Adeline wants us to tell her a story every single night. She will request a princess story, doggy story, pig story, camping story, etc. Two nights ago she requested a doggy story. Prior to telling her a story I let her know that if she didn't go to bed like a big girl, I would have to take her tea set away that she just got that day. She has been obsessed with it. But night time has been really hard lately and she will whine until about 10pm. So I had warned her of that earlier because I am at loss of how to get her to bed. Anyway, so I told her a story about a doggy named Charlie that was really excited one day and he was at home by himself. He jumped up on the door and opened it on accident. He ran outside into the neighborhood and ended up getting lost. After awhile of not finding his way home he decided to say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help him find his way home. After he prayed, he walked down the street and was able to find his way home.

After I finished telling her this story she said, " If you take my tea set away from me I will have to pray to Heavenly Father and he will help me find it mommy!"

*

Yesterday in the morning I was getting ready and Adeline and Norah were both laying on my bed. Adeline jumped down and got out a church picture book out of Abe's bag that Abe's mom gave us. She started showing Norah all the pictures in the book and was telling her the stories in the pictures. One of the pages she pointed to Jesus and said, " Look Norah, this is Jesus. And this is a girl and she is sick. Jesus is going to make her better."

She is the sweetest little thing.

Settling In

Beware, this is a massive post!

The last month has been absolutely crazy. It seemed like we had so much going on before our move. We were able to hang out with our friends and say goodbye, but I wish we could have spent more time them.





Abe graduated from AFIT (Air Force Institute of Technology) with his Masters. I’m pretty sure he was very relieved to be done with school. The last couple of months he was very busy with his classes and trying to get his Thesis done. Way to go Abe! I brought all my camera gear so I could get some good pictures of Abe. I recently got a 70-200 2.8 telephoto lens and was excited to use it. As soon as we got there, I realized I forgot my flash card and it was too late to go back and get it. Luckily I had my crappy point and shoot. Abe’s parents were able to be there which was neat. Their main purpose for visiting us was for Norah’s baby blessing and so that Abe’s dad could help us drive out to Boston. It was so much fun spending time with them and that they could be here for these major events. Abe’s good friend Rob also game out for Abe’s Graduation and Norah’s blessing. We are so blessed to have such supportive family and friends.







We were able to attend our neighborhood Easter egg hunt before we left. It was a lot more fun than last year. Adeline was practically running around grabbing eggs and was so excited. We also went to another Easter egg hunt that my friend hosted a couple days after our neighborhood one. It was pretty funny because every time Adeline would pick up an egg she would shake it before she put it in her basket. If she didn’t hear anything, she would put it back and move on to the next one. I had to assure her that they still had candy in them. At the other hunt there were some that only had a tattoo or a sticker… so I think she thought this Easter egg hunt was the same and wanted to make sure she got a lot of candy.






Most of my time before we left was spent packing and cleaning. After deep cleaning my entire house from top to bottom for 8 hours straight 2 days in a row, I had wished I hired a maid. It was really sad seeing our moving truck drive away and saying goodbye to our house. We were lucky enough to get really good renters and hopefully they will take care of the house.




On our drive out to Boston, we stopped at Niagara Falls. It was pretty interesting having Abe’s dad, me, Abe, Adeline, Norah and Chloe all in one hotel room. We probably should have got 2 rooms… maybe next time. We went to look at the falls at nighttime. I actually liked it better at night because of all the lights. It was freezing cold and windy, so we didn’t stay long. Adeline enjoyed seeing the waterfalls. It was funny because when we were driving there we told Adeline that we were going to see a Waterfall. She said, “No, I don’t want to”. A couple minutes later she said, “Okay… but I don’t want to go down it!”. What a silly girl.



When we got to our TLF (temporary housing) at Hanscom AFB in Boston it was about 10:30pm and we showed up to a tiny place. There was one bed, a little sitting area and a tiny kitchen. NOT ideal for a family of 4 plus a dog. Oh, and Abe’s dad that first night. Things were quite tight. We ended up staying there for 10 days because the housing office on base was being a little bit difficult. All four of us would take naps together in the same bed everyday. Adeline was such a good sport and ran around all the houses we looked at saying which room was going to be hers and what color we were going to paint her room. If it weren’t for her, I’m not sure if I would have been able to hold it together. The housing office finally offered us a house on base and we accepted it even though we really wanted a new house. They told us they had no idea when the new houses were going to be done. We were going to wait 30 days to see if one popped up, but it didn’t seem very promising. 2 days after we signed a 1 year contract the new houses opened up. To be honest I cried when I found that out because we are living in a tiny town home built in the 1950’s. However things happen for a reason and I am going to make the best of the place we are living in. The bonus is that we make a lot of money living here because it is so “cheap” (for Boston), so I shouldn’t complain. We have never experienced living on base before, so this is all new for us. There are going to be many benefits for living on base.

We are adjusting living in a new place. I am excited to get to know the area because there are so many things to do and see. Abe is back at work now and that has been weird since he was around so much. I can tell that Adeline has been affected by the move now. Ever since we have moved into our house, she hasn't been the happy, silly, obedient** girl she usually is. We are constantly on her to eat, go to bed (that has been a nightmare), listen, etc. She is still happy, but I can tell she is struggling. I need to give her some extra special attention or something.
If anyone wants to come and visit us, we would love to have visitors!







Just an update on the girls-



Adeline
*Loves stories. She makes us tell her stories every night before she goes to bed. I have found that I do not have a very good imagination anymore and can never think of anything to say. Mine are pretty lame. Adeline on the other hand tells pretty good stories.

*Still loves talking. She loves to talk to people when we are at the store and tell them about her baby sister, or her dog Chloe. She can be a pretty good icebreaker.

*Sings all the time. I am always amazed at her imagination because she makes up most of the songs that she sings and they are hilarious.

*Thinks she can go to the bathroom anywhere outside. Today she ran up to me at the park and asked me to help her because she was going to go poo poo in the grass. Uh, that is not okay Adeline.

*Calls the Easter Bunny the “Super Bunny” no matter how many times you correct her.

*Loves princesses and Dora

*A couple of months ago Adeline ran out of pull ups for night time so we decided to let her wear underwear at night. She has done great and hasn’t had one accident at night.

*For some reason she started calling us “mom” and “dad” all the time. Not a big fan. I feel like she is an adult now

*Two days ago we finally threw away her pacifier. I hate to admit that she still had it when she went to bed, but she loved it. She had two of them and one of them had a little hole and it stunk. I told her it was time to get rid of it and threw it away. She said, “I will get my other binki, it’s ok”. Well, we never found that pacifier so we officially got rid of them. I have been warning her the binki fairy may come and take away her binki’s to give them to the little babies that need them, so I told her that’s what happened to the other one.



Norah
*Is a little tank. She has the most darling chunky thighs. It’s quite a change since Adeline has always been a little waif.

*Loves her hands and is always sticking them in her mouth.

*Has gotten pretty good at grabbing things and putting them in her mouth.

*Smiles ALL the time.

*Laughs out loud.

*making lots of sounds and loves hearing her own voice.

*Loves when we sing to her or tickle her.

*Such a happy little baby. She is a little spoiled though and wants to be held or needs someone to pay attention or talk to her.

Sorry that this is a novel. Now that we finally have internet, I will try and be better about updating my blog.

Twilight Zone

Sorry for my lack of posting, but the last couple of weeks has been very crazy. We spent a lot of time hanging out with our friends, had a visit from Abe's parents, our friend Rob, Abe's Graduation, Norah's Blessing, packing, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.... and now we are on our way to Boston. It is a weird feeling being completely homeless. We passed our house off to another military family that will be renting from us. We have been very fortunate to get renters in right away and they seem like they are going to be a perfect fit. It was really sad saying goodbye to our house and our good friends. It has been an emotional week. Luckily we have been preparing Adeline for this for several months, so she seems excited about moving to Boston. She has been sleeping in a sleeping bag for 2 weeks has has been handling this extremely well. Now lets cross our fingers we can find a house in the next week! Pictures and more adventures to come once I can find all my camera cords and stuff!

Oh my....

what a poser! I had all my studio stuff set up from a session I had the other day and took some pictures of Adeline. She loves having her pictures taken right now, can you tell? I have more pictures on my photography blog, nicolebarkerphotography.blogspot.com

Gap Clearance Center

Goodbye Gap Clearance center! Today my friend Brooke and I went to the Gap Clearance center while our husbands brought the girls to the Cincinnati Children's Museum. I am going to miss this place so much. You can get the BEST deals.

For $97 I bought:

*4 girls dresses
*3 kid shoes
*6 pajama SETS
*5 Shirts
*3 tights
*5 pairs of socks
*2 pairs of kid jeans
*1 kid jean skirt
*1 kid coat
*2 Mens shorts

What a deal!

Highlights from the past week or so...

**ABE defended his thesis!! From what I hear, he did a great job. What a relief for him to get that over with. Now the final countdown begins for graduation and the big move!


**ADELINE had the privilege of using a mini cart at the grocery store. I thought it would be a nice treat for her. I was regretting my decision by the end of our grocery store experience. My heals were a little sore from being rammed so many times and I'm pretty sure she almost knocked down 10+ displays at the store. When she was getting close to hitting an old person I would hold the front of her cart to stop her. Immediately she would start jumping up and down screaming to me "let go. Let me do it myself!"


**ADELINE learned how to push the pedals on her tricycle. Hooray!



**WE met our friends at the neatest park on base to play and have lunch. I love this nice weather!


**ADELINE had her last day of gymnastics. She keeps telling me that we will have to find a new gymnastics in Boston


**ADELINE'S first experience to Chucky Cheese with her friend Kyle. She would not let go of me for the first 1/2 hour because she was so afraid of Chucky. She got over it and had a great time.


**I was able to help throw my cute friend a baby shower and I loved how it turned out!!


**NORAH has been a little angel baby. Not as fussy and sleeping WAY better. Love it.


**NORAH has been loved, and tortured by Adeline



**NORAH has been LOVING her little activity center and will lay under it and smile forever. It melts my heart.

**ADELINE has been doing great in keep her diaper dry at night. She accomplished having her diaper dry for 10 nights and was able to pick a toy of her choice for a prize. She almost has another 10 nights already.





**ADELINE got her plate in the mail that she made


**I have been enjoying my two little girls so much. I feel so blessed to be able to stay at home with them!!

Baby So Elegant

I am going to order this darling bracelet for Norah's blessing. I think it is so cute! If any of you are in need of a cute baby bracelet or a pacifier clip, check out babysoelegant.com. A talented girl in my ward has this little business and there is lots of cute stuff!