I can hardly believe that Allyssa is now two years old.  It seems like yesterday I was in labor and then held this precious little baby girl in my arms.  Time sure passes in the blink of an eye.

This morning, Allyssa and I slept in a bit (OK as usual), arising around 11 or so.  While I made homemade pancakes for breakfast, Shane helped Allyssa as she chose her outfit.  I think those overalls are getting a bit short on her and may have to be put away soon.

After brunch, we be brought out her presents.  She enjoyed opening her gifts without a doubt.  From mom and dad she received Thomas & Friends Water Tower Figure 8 set, the Figure 8 Expansion Pack, Rosie, Annie & Claribel, a musical caboose, as well as Thomas.  She also received a Winnie the Pooh matching game.  There is just nothing for games out there for two year olds.  Most of the “little kid” games are all for ages 3+.    That’s okay, she’ll have hours and hours of fun with her Thomas trains.

We didn’t do her shopping until Friday.  Yes, she was with us, but that allowed us to find out what she liked.  And when it was time to actually purchase, momma distracted her by taking her to other sections so we could “look around”.  Daddy would then purchase the items and put them in the trunk.  It worked rather well, once we could get her distracted.

Just before we left on Friday, the mailman had arrived.  The timing was great since that meant that Allyssa received her cards and gift cards before we left. She enjoyed having her cards read to her and looking at the pictures.  With her gift cards she picked out a table for her Thomas things which came with track and some Thomas like train pieces.  The size of the track and such matches the Thomas things she received today which is the main reason it was selected.  She also picked out a slide.  This is a Little Tikes slide which can be used indoors or outdoors, but since we have a secluded outdoor area with nothing for her to play with that is definitely going outside.

This may make it easier to have her go outside to play while mom and dad stay inside, and watch her through the wall of patio doors.  So far she hasn’t liked being outside if mom or dad aren’t with her.  And even if we have to go out with her some of the time, she has things to play with rather than looking for someone to always play with.  Like when we take the ball outside to play.

When we were visiting family in March she received her birthday gifts from grandma.  She received a twin stroller and a diaper bag for her babies.  She had received twins as big as she is from grandma about a month before.  Grandma keeps her very well stocked in dolls.  She already has a barbie doll as well, but she’s still too young for that so that one is up and way until she’s older.

We tried to find out what Allyssa would like for supper, but we don’t think that Allyssa was understanding us.   She wasn’t hungry at the time, and everything we suggested she kept saying no.  While I was at the store picking something up, I also picked up a balloon for her.  She loved it when I walked in with the balloon.  She certainly managed to tangle herself up in it quite well, but she was definitely having lots of fun too.

When I returned, Shane had decided that everyone should go out for ice cream.  He had gone online and found an ice cream place nearby that we hadn’t been to yet.  So we went.  It wasn’t that far, but it would be a bit of a walk if were to attempt to walk to it in the future.  It’s about a mile or so.  After ice cream we drove around a bit, attempting to get to know the area a bit better.  This particular time we went east, and learned we only want to go so far east in this area.  But if we hadn’t tried we wouldn’t have known and now we do.

Allyssa slept through part of the drive, but when we returned home, it was definitely nap time.  Everyone laid down, apparently we are all tired from our SCA event yesterday.  Not that it was a hardship to have some extra sleep.  After our nap we had supper which was enjoyed by all.

While we didn’t follow the traditional order, but she did receive a birthday cake.  After supper I made some pineapple upside-down cake.  That was chosen since Allyssa love pineapple in general.  For some reason I think she was too full to truly enjoy her cake though since she didn’t eat it all, but she certainly had a lot for supper so it is understandable.

Just one extra note, you can click on any of these pictures to see a larger view.

Well, as Shane mentioned, he’s going back to school online.  I wish him the best of luck with that.  I know it will certainly keep him busy.  He’s made a schedule up, and it does show time for Allyssa and I, but like all schedules we will see how well it actually works out.

He talks about doing dinner, but he enjoys that (usually) and find it relaxing.  But don’t worry he doesn’t do all the cooking.  I make the lunches for the 3 of us since he works and will be going to school from home.  While some might thing that lunch is a lighter meal, it’s still important to keep it balanced.  My theory is that we’d be better off if lunch is a bit heartier and dinner a bit lighter since most don’t have a lot of physical activity in the evening.

Shane has also started doing weekly fighter practice for SCA.  This is once a week on Wednesday.  Allyssa and I go as well, we talk to others and watch him get hit with sticks.  It’s good to get to know the other SCA folks in the area.  And we have several events we are talking about going to in the near future.

We have found two parks in the area which Allyssa enjoys.  Of course we’ve also found out that as long as the park has slides it will be one that she enjoys.  She is a huge fan of riding the slides.

I have found a cross stitching shop in the area.  It wasn’t easy but I have finally figured out how to find shops when you new to the area and have no idea of what they are called.  It’s hard to do an internet search for them without a name, and harder still to do a yellow pages search because often the shops are so poorly categorized on the online yellow pages.  I was on a website of a company that dye their own fabric colors for cross stitch.  They are a wholesale company so when I asked them about shops in my area they were able to give me the name of two within 21 miles of me.  So now I know how to look for shops in the future.  Go to the wholesale suppliers and ask them who is in my area.

Why worry about giving a local shop?  Well I try to support the local shops whenever possible.  I have a simple view of things.  If I don’t do my part to support my local shop, when I need to pick something up quick they won’t be there.  The day after I received the information about local shops, I went to the closest one and checked them out.  It was good to be in a shop dedicated to needlework.  Not one where it’s just shoved off into a small corner of the craft store, which keeps getting smaller.

I finished the birth announcement I was working on for Allyssa.  Please click on the image to see the entire piece.  Now I’ll have to clean and mount it.  Of course, since that one is done, I had to start another project.  This new project is one of Santa looking at signs to check his directions.  It’s on a black background and is originally from an old postcard.  I have an entire book of Santa’s from old artwork it’s called Santa Remembered from Leisure Arts.

Allyssa is growing in leaps and bounds, but lately it’s been hard to get her to sleep on her own.  She wants to be attached to momma when she sleeps.  She just doesn’t want to let go.  Lately it’s been if she won’t let go at nap time, we get up.  It makes her more tired in the evening, but she has to learn that she can’t stay attached to momma.

When she falls asleep at night, she also wants to stay attached also.  This makes things hard for momma.  While I don’t mind taking an afternoon nap with her (actually I usually enjoy a good afternoon nap), I like to get up for a bit after Shane and Allyssa are in bed.  It’s a good time for me to have some private quiet time.  It’s my ME time, and I have learned that I need it.  If I can’t have my me time for I get more irritable and much easier to annoy.  I have also found that if the housework isn’t done before they go to bed it’s not going to get done that night.  My time is for me, not for housework.  (Doing housework during that time is a sure fire way for me to get extremely annoyed.)

Well that’s all my thoughts for now.  I’ll try catching people up again soon.

Remember that post back on the 6th of December titled Moving Again that made you think we were moving? That one was just about our blog moving off of Blogger and onto our own WordPress installation – like that really mattered to you, right?

This time, the title “Moving Again” means we are physically moving, south, past our hold home in Trempealeau, past La Crosse, heck, even past the state line. Though we don’t know exactly where we will be living as we are in the process of finding a place now, I will start working for Verizon Wireless in Schaumburg, IL on January 12th, and we will be moving during the first week and a half of January.

There is a fun story in this for all of you to enjoy. Originally, the in-person interview for this position was set for the morning of December 29th. Then it appeared the person who was supposed to interview me was going to be traveling that week, so they asked if I could come down on December 22nd. We made arrangements to stay with Laura’s cousin Jean Ann in Lake Villa and ventured south on December 21st – with terrible road conditions the trip would take us over 8 hours. It was hoped that the trip would be worth it.

Monday morning we set off for Schaumburg, IL for the interview, and after getting caught in traffic we were unable to make the interview, which was rescheduled for Tuesday morning. We had already planned to meet my Aunt Joanne and Uncle Bob for lunch so we kept those plans, then went shopping afterward. Joanne was having so much fun with Allyssa we offered to make room in the car so she could spend more time when the rest of her party headed back home. It was nice to see Allyssa take to Joanne so well that Laura and I could go and do some last minute shopping.

Tuesday morning we left an hour earlier and arrived almost an hour early, having no problems with weather or traffic. All was looking well until I received a phone call that the person interviewing me could not get out of his subdivision and could not make it. Needless to say, I was very frustrated and decided to head back home to spend the holiday with family. We again met with Joanne and Bob for breakfast at Walker Brothers, the world’s finest pancake house. During breakfast, I received a phone call wanting me to agree to meet for an interview on Christmas Eve, which I was just not going to do. I had family stuff planned – so I declined and we headed to Holmen, WI.

On the drive home I again received a call asking if I could come back down on the 29th for the interview – the day it was originally scheduled for. I agreed and we made plans to stay in Lake Villa Sunday night and drive in to Schaumburg on Monday morning. This time, everything worked out well and the interview started on time, but went long. I left the Verizon office around 11:30 thinking the interview had gone well . Laura and I spent some time around Carpentersville, IL where I grew up, and even stopped for lunch at the Village Pizza Pub, home of my favorite pizza as a child – and it was just as I remembered it.

After leaving and getting on the highway to head home, I received a phone call shortly after 2:00 informing me that I was being offered the position, and that they wanted me to start on January 5th, but also gave me the option of January 12th. I chose the later date to give me time to finish up work I had back home and give us plenty of time to pack and move.

So that’s where I am at today – finishing up the work I started before this 1600+ mile trip during the holidays and planning how we will make the big move – yet another one in the winter. You probably won’t hear much from me until we get settled in the new place in Schaumburg, so I am wishing you all a Happy New Year – I know mine should be a little better with a full time job and steady income for a while.

No, don’t get excited, yet. This post isn’t about moving back to the La Crosse area. It has only to do with moving our blog yet again. I grew ever tired of Blogger constantly being down, and after using WordPress on a few other projects, have decided to install the software, add the plugins and themes I want, and run the thing on my own servers once again. With this move we also have a new look, though that may not stay forever – you know how fickle I can be.

With moving to a system that won’t be down when I want to post, maybe, just maybe we will update you more often. Of course, having Blogger be down when I wanted to post isn’t the only reason I haven’t posted anything lately. Mostly it’s because I am lazy – come on, you knew that already. Also, since leaving my full time job back in August (you knew that too) I find myself not wanting to be around the computer much during the day, and spending too much time with Allyssa.

I know, you can never spend too much time with your children, but when you don’t get your work done, you don’t get paid. And when the first of the month rolls around and you don’t have the income to pay the bills, you will understand what I mean by “spending too much time with Allyssa”.

The sad thing is that I don’t really spend too much time with her. I am spending too much time moving web sites around, playing with new software and trying new ways to generate income that I just don’t seem to get the work done. That’s going to change, which likely means not very many posts from me – but what’s new?

Ok, yes, I know it has been a long time since our last post – what, like 4 months now? Well, I don’t see your blog so what have you to complain about? At least we try!

Today I moved the entire blog back to Blogger because WordPress wouldn’t let me track how many of you are actually reading this blog. With this move I have made the site more friendly and updated the look. I hope you like it.

Now, how did I find time to do this? Simple! I left my job to go back into freelance work. TravelNet was working me to death and I just couldn’t do it any more. A lucrative project came up that will keep me busy for a few months at least, and I had to take it. So now I get to sit at home again and just have fun – when I am not working. My last day was August 28th, just before Labor Day weekend.

So, now that I am not so burned out every evening, perhaps I will find time to update this blog more often. And just so you don’t forget what she looks like, here’s a picture of Allyssa with my Dad and Roseanne at Steve’s Wedding Vow Renewal back in June.

A world of firsts lies ahead of Allyssa and our family as she approaches her first birthday next month. We’ve already had so many, the first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas, her first booster shots. Here we have another first, her first Easter – and there she is on the easter egg hunt with dad with her first easter egg – imagine that, it’s purple! We are at Grandma’s today with the rest of the family for easter, even if it is only Saturday. We’ll spend tomorrow with Laura’s family.

And Allyssa is really getting into it, reaching out for eggs that she finds. Ok, daddy found it and pointed it out to her, but she was having a ball trying to get it. It was also fun to see Allyssa find all of her eggs first (with daddy’s help). At mom’s, she has these plastic eggs filled with money and candy, and each grandchild gets the same number of eggs, each with their own color. It’s not really a contest to see who finds them all first, but NYAH, Allyssa won!

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games, she also took some time to hang with her cousin Heather. Look at her expression – “we come all this way only to have you ignore me and talk on the darn phone?” Come on Heather, hang up the phone and have fun with the family. Your friends will see you on Monday!