Some Serious Fun

Every year the excitement builds for the huge competition between the men of the church. I am not talking about a football game, a basketball tournament or even softball. I'm talking desserts.

When we first heard about the Annual Heritage Baptist Church Spaghetti Dinner and Men's Dessert Contest, we were figuring that there were a few cakes or pies and the occasional chocolate chip cookie or brownie. Little did we know that our men possess quite the talent at making desserts. Buckle your seat belts Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart and Rachel Ray!

Taigen made a batch of Sand Pudding and cleverly put it in a sand bucket and put a sand shovel in it. I thought it was a great idea! When I came downstairs for dinner at the church, Taigen gave me a serious look and said, "I don't stand a chance!"

I thought, "Sure, he's just being modest about it all. Surely he'd win in the creativity category." I said, "Why?"

He replied, "These guys take it seriously. There are some awesome entries in there!" And there were.

We started off with a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs (nicknamed "Power Balls"), salad and garlic bread. While we were finishing up dinner the judges went in and "had" to examine and taste the entries. What a job!

There are three categories: Best Looking, Most Creative and Best Tasting. The best tasting dessert was made by a man in our church who is a taxidermist. I would have never guessed he had it in him, but his dessert was out of this world. I pictured it on the left. It was a divine black forest brownie creation and it was RICH. I loved every bite.

What blew me away though were the following two creations. One by Marshall and Shaylen's Sunday school teacher and the other by our head deacon. They were incredible. They won hands down. The baseball field won for best looking and the castle won for most creative. Aren't these just great?

A dessert contest! Who would've thought. It made for some serious fun!

Time Outside...Finally

Yesterday the weather was nice enough to take the kids outside and let them play in the driveway. They had a glorious time. The sun was shining and it was nice and warm on my back!

Marshall and Shaylen were pretending to fix their bikes and cars and also pretending to be driving on the road. It was cute to see them wave hello to each other as they passed.

Well, so much for the nice weather. Today it has been snowy and rainy. Spring will come eventually to New England.

More Pictures

Since I am already on the computer and posting pictures, I thought I would also give you a look into our living room. Aside from the leafy wallpaper, a few coats of paint and a lack of curtains, I love it. It is bright and cheery and perfect for having people into our home.And here is a picture of the half bath on the first floor.

A Sneak Peek

Here are the first few pictures of our new house. The guest room was going to be used soon after we moved in so I really focused on getting it ready ASAP. If you want to see more of the guest room, you'll just have to come and stay in it yourself! You're more than welcome.

The guest room bathroom still needs a mirror (someone from church is giving us their old one, isn't that sweet?), and we need to have a larger hot water heater installed before you can soak in the 70 gallon tub...unless you want only 30 gallons of hot water and 40 gallons of cold! Brrr!

We are so thankful that God has given us this beautiful room. We have already had the opportunity of using it twice!

Dinner Table Humor

Last night we cleared the table and started loading the dishwasher. We had promised the kids a cookie for dessert. When we took away her plate, Shaylen said, "Are you going to get us new napkins?" (Hers was a bit marred from the baked ziti.)

Taigen told her "no".

She replied, "Now...I know that cookies have crumbs in them, so we will need napkins."

"Snow" Much Fun in March

Yes, this picture is of our Saco, ME driveway..in MARCH. Before we moved, Taigen needed to clear a pathway from the shed so that things could be easily moved from shed to moving truck. While Taigen did that, the kids were able to go out and enjoy the mild weather. It's hard to believe that the snow was almost as high as they are tall, but it actually was higher. (It's hard to tell in the photo, but the snow is up to Shaylen's elbow.) The melting and rain has caused it's level to go down some. We've had a doozy of a winter here in New England, and I've loved every flake!

A Couple Pics

We finally got our computer back and so many of you have gotten our updated email and address. Thankfully, the Geek Squad was able to fix our computer for no charge (other than the diagnostic fee!). That is a huge blessing.

Here are a couple of pictures to tide you over until I have some time to adequately post something of significance. To the left is a picture of one of the two brownies our friend Amy Meroff made for us. They were delicious and the moving crew enjoyed them as well!

The following two pictures are to give you a better perspective to what we woke up to on Saturday, March 22nd. Thankfully, Jason, Joni and Janelle came to help us. Jason got our computer all set up and helped move heavy items. Joni did the entire dining room, including the hutch! Janelle conquered the kids' closets and rooms. What a huge blessing they were/are to us!

Marshall in the basementThe living room

We're In!!!

Well, we're in, but things are not quite set up yet. Let's just say that we're functioning within the house but accumulating quite the mountain of cardboard in the garage. Taigen was able to clear out at least one side of the garage so that the van could fit in. There is much more to do.

We had a huge crew from Cornerstone in Scarborough to help us load up the two, yes two trucks up in Saco and another huge crew down here to help unload. The ladies of our church came at two o'clock and scoured the house so that when we got the keys after our four o'clock closing we could come and unload. The place looked great and smelled great too.

The kids have transitioned really well. Marshall was a bit fearful in his new room the first night but once Taigen found his really bright nightlight, all was well.

Our computer didn't make the transition well. It wasn't recognizing the USB ports or the LAN connections, so I am temporarily working from the church's laptop. We're hoping Best Buy's Geek Squad can fix it soon!

We are still accessing our email from the old email address, but eventually, when we have our computer and Outlook Express again, I will send out a mass email with our new email address.

Thank you for your prayers.

Looking Ahead

The next time I will post something for the blog, we will be in our new house!!! The computer is going to be packed up late tonight or early tomorrow. Check in next Monday for an update! Thanks for your prayers.

Almost There

We got our radon removal system installed last Tuesday. After he left we had to place two containers out to re-measure our levels in the basement. We were able to send those off on Saturday. We got the results back today and they are well below the EPA's standards. Praise the Lord that this will be acceptable to our buyers and we can proceed with our Friday closing.

We have final paperwork to get all in order, but things are looking great for our four o'clock closing in NH as well. Thank you for your well wishes and prayers. We start loading the moving truck at 2 o'clock Thursday.

Only a Few More Days

We were thrilled to get into the car on Sunday night and know that it was our LAST Sunday commuting to and from Maine and spending the whole day away from home. What a wonderful thought. We have last minute paperwork and packing to get done. Pray for us.

If You Give A Munchkin A Muffin

Julia Pileggi after enjoying one of my chocolate chip muffins! I could just gobble her up!

Bare Necessities

Earlier this week Joni gave me a call and asked if I could use some help on Friday. Could I use some help? Of course I could!!! Marshall and Shaylen were elated to have Enzo and Julia come up and play with them.

As usual the basement and living room looked like a bomb went off with toys scattered every which way. What was abnormal was that the rest of the house matched it. We tackled and evaluated the necessity of every thing in sight. If it wasn't needed, it got boxed up.

After school, Janelle came over and joined the chaos. She boxed things up and wiped things down and we all tried hard to keep an eye on the kids and keep Julia out of things that weren't child-proofed.

My cardboard jungle is growing by leaps and bounds but I am a whole lot more prepared for moving day. Thanks Joni and Janelle!

Marshall and Enzo are enjoying the sound of spatulas on my steamer and also love watching the end of one spatula go flying every so often.

Enzo brought one of his hats and Shaylen loved wearing it all day.

Wrapping Things Up

We have just been able to settle the closing dates and times for our homes! We are so excited that things are finally coming to a neat conclusion.

We will be able to close on the Saco home at 12:00 p.m.(in Saco) and on the NH home at 4:00 (in Portsmouth).

Thank you for praying.

Gas Removal

We told the kids yesterday that the man was coming today to install our radon removal system. Shaylen asked what radon was. How would you explain it? I said it was a gas that we couldn't smell or see that was bad for us. They've never heard the term "gas" before so we knew it was safe from snickering.

This morning when I woke the kids up, I told them that the man was already here and working in the basement.

So, at breakfast Marshall prays, "Dear Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for the man who is here to take the gas out." To which Taigen replied under his breath, "Maybe he could do that for Shaylen." It was hard to contain the laughter.

Hallelujah!

Marshall and Shaylen love listening to the various Classical Kids' CD's during quiet time. They play quietly in their rooms and I place a CD player in the hallway for them to be able to listen. The past couple of times that they have listened to "Hallelujah Handel", they have sung along at the end. Of course, we can hear everything that transpires upstairs because we have the monitor on. This is what I captured today. The high voice is Marshall and the low one is Shaylen. (She can sing on pitch, but she has to flip her voice up into her higher register.) It's so cute to listen to them try and sing this classic!

New Dictionary Entry

mooner clips- formally "lunar eclipse"; noun. the obscuration of the light of the moon by the intervention of the earth between it and the sun.

Today Shaylen and I were singing "The Wonder Song" which says,
"Oh who can make a __________? (you get to fill in the blank),
I'm sure I can't can you?
Oh who can make a _______________?
No one but God 'tis true."

I had taught it to the kids a couple of Wednesday's ago while we watched the lunar eclipse. We had come home after church and it watching it only added about ten minutes before I got them in bed. I figured, "Why not?" I was emphasizing that it was God who made the sun, moon, earth and stars move the way they do.

Marshall came down the stairs today and heard us singing. He said, "Mommy! I know that song! We sang it while we watched the mooner clips!

New Dictionary Entries

flablulous- adj. formally "fabulous"; def. exceptionally good or unusual; marvelous; superb. Shaylen said tonight, "Mommy, this dinner is flablulous." (We wondered if flablulous is what you get when you eat too much of the fabulous food)

inside and out- idiom. formally "inside out"; def. with the inner side reversed to face the outside. Marshall was putting his pajamas on all by himself and was having difficulties putting on his shirt because they were "inside and out."

neighbor's hood- noun. formally "neighborhood"; def. the area or region around or near some place or thing; vicinity. Shaylen was making up a story about her favorite stuffed animals: "Brownie" and "Snoopy". Snoopy found his way to his "neighbor's hood". Fortunately for Snoopy, he asked for directions (not your typical male dog) and ended up back in the suburbs safely.

The Silent Enemy

Many of you have probably read that the inspector found higher levels of radon in our basement here in Maine. Apparently, a "safe" level of radon in a home must be lower than 4 pCi/L (pico curies per liter).The EPA recommends that you do something to reduce your home’s indoor radon levels if your radon test results are 4.0 pCi/L or higher. Our levels were at 12 pCi/L. The levels of radon can be adjusted through what is called "radon mitigation". I am not a radon specialist, but then, neither are any of my readers, so you'll be more willing to forgive the laymen's terms, right?

I guess radon is a silent, invisible and odorless enemy that creeps into basements and crawl spaces and increases your chances at lung cancer. Before you all panic, our lives are not in jeopardy. It is after years and years of exposure to higher levels of radon that cause the problems. Another thing to keep in mind, winter is a time when radon levels are usually higher, according to the radon specialist that was in our home on Tuesday. So, our levels are most likely lower in the summer when the home is aired out, the snow pack is gone from off the ground and our heat is off.

Like I said in a previous post, we are waiting for our radon mitigation to be done on the 24th and are on a short list in case they have cancellations.

We had the inspection of our home down in NH and surprise, surprise, they found high levels of radon in that basement too! So after numerous phone calls from us to our realtor and from our realtor to the buyers' realtor, we came to an agreement for them to pay for our new basement to have the radon safely ventilated out as well. That can be done after we move in though.

Until then, we are packing up the house and wrapping things up. My house is not spotless. In fact, it looks kind of bare and our guest room looks like a cardboard jungle. This too shall pass. Only 30 days!

Surprise Surprise...More Snow

We have throughly enjoyed having a very snowy winter this year. We were concerned about still being in Maine when winter hit and having to commute down to NH, but thankfully, most of the major snowstorms have hit on either a Monday (Taigen's day off) or Saturdays (a day when Taigen is able to do stuff from home). I just looked at the local news website and found out that Portland has gotten almost 100 inches of snow this year! The piles on the sides of the road (I believe true Mainahs call them "snow-combin's") continue to rise. I have no idea how high they are, but they were above my waist as of the last snowstorm.

We got hit with another snowstorm today starting at midnight and it has been snowing all day. I'm loving every flake.