Winter Fun

Vera, mom and dad all had fun playing in the snow this winter.

 We went to Adam's parents' house and went sledding down the hill.  We also hooked the sled to Uncle Brian's Mule and cruised around the yard.  Mom, dad and Vera all took a turn.  Vera even went by herself and she loved it, though she's so lightweight that she bounced around a lot!

 A few weeks later, we had another big snow.  Uncle Brian let us borrow his snowmobile and Vera and dad had fun crusing around after work one day.

Vera and dad went sledding and snowmobiling with Brian and the boys at Mike & Rosie's house another afternoon.  The first thing Vera told me when she came home was that she fell off the sled and bonked her head!

Vera and dad went out and built a fort on our front porch another day after school.  (See background)  Vince was entertained for a good while by watching out the big window.

Since 6 Months...

...a lot has happened.  I'm a little behind, but slowly getting caught up.  Mr. Vinners is now 8 months old and a very active little boy!  Like I said before, once they hit 6 months, they just aren't like babies anymore.

 At 7 months, Vince flaps, kicks, and jabbers all the time.  He chews on absolutely everything, and he really loves anything that is not a toy.  Like, say, paper when you're trying to take his picture.

He has some serious fuzz head, with some really long, original hairs at the crown.

But he is generally very happy!

Still loves bath time!

One evening after working at the new house, we relaxed in the chair and took some selfies while we waited for dad to come home!

He loves to eat!  There isn't any baby food he won't eat.  He also had puffs and yogurt puffs for the first time.  Vera, as usual, loves to help.

Happy Valentine's Day to my two sweeties!  This was on the morning of our move!

He loves to hang out in Vera's bed!

This was the day after we moved.  Vince fell asleep on Adam's lap after church.

At 8 months, things are even busier for the wild man.  Taking the picture is a big challenge...and yes, we do change the boy's clothes on a regular basis.  Just a coincidence that 7 & 8 month pics have the same outfit.  

He still has major fuzz head.

Doesn't he just look rotten?

We thought he made a pretty cute baby chef!

Especially when it fell down over his eyes.  Vera and I laughed and laughed.  He, in turn, laughed too.

Dad got the brainy idea to give Vince a bath in the sink (on nights when Vera takes a shower, in an effort to save time.)  Vince thought it was great fun.  I'm not sure it was a time savings, based on the water and bubble clean-up afterwards.  

Right as Vin turned 9 months, he learned to army crawl.  For the last month, Adam and I both agreed that it was time for him to learn something new, though we were ok with his immobility.  He was getting bored with sitting and playing; therefore, he was whiny and required a lot of attention.  In one week's time, he totally mastered the army crawl and is everywhere.  It only took him about a day to find the house plant and electric cords.  Today, he found his way to the play area downstairs.  It's really great.  When he's in there, he's happy as a clam and can't hurt anything.  He thinks he's big stuff!  Vera, on the other hand, has just a taste of what it's going to be like to have Vince in her stuff.

Scarlett's Baptism

Right after Christmas, Scarlett Rose was baptized.  She was a beautiful little baby in her gown, and she was as good as gold (like usual) on her special day!

After mass, we enjoyed a delicious brunch at the Otte home.

All the kids, minus Nora Lou.

They were eager to help Scarlett open her gifts.  Steve and Lindsey were so patient with them.

A New House

We got the keys to our house on January 31.  It was a chilly Saturday afternoon when we got the call that we could head to our new house for the first time.

I had boxes and bags prepared for that moment.  We loaded up the car, and headed over.  Both kids came with, and we spent the first hour walking around and looking at the empty rooms that we would very soon paint, clean and fill up!  

Here are the pictures of the first time walking through the house...

Vera's room.  She was pretty excited about the tree.  She also insisted on wearing the princess skirt to the new house.

Trying to touch the leaves was also a big deal.  We can remember how tall she was when we moved in, based on this picture.

Master bedroom

Master closet

Basement storage area.

Laundry & utility area

Vince's bedroom

I started scrubbing and cleaning downstairs right away.  We had a few short days to get the basement cleaned and prepped for painting and carpet cleaning.  That evening, we went to Greenville and grabbed some drive-thru dinner and brought it back to our new house.  We ate downstairs at our table.  Our first meal was Hot Head Burritos for mom & dad and McDonald's for Vera.  Impressive dining, huh?

The next weeks were busy and exhausting.  Many evenings, our routine went something like this:  Bathe the kids and put on PJs right after work at 3pm.  (Vera thought that was the coolest thing!)  Eat a frozen casserole dinner and head to new house by 5.  Work until about 8.  Come home in the dark and (freezing!) cold and put the kids to bed.  Adam and I were so ready for that routine to end.  We were tired--it was a lot of logistics and planning to keep up with--in addition to working full time and having 2 small kids.

But the kids were troopers.  Vince napped and played in his "cage" each evening.  We wheeled the Pac & Play from room to room as we worked.

Vera played too, but she mostly watched movies on this portable DVD player.  It was awesome because it kept her occupied for large chunks of time.  Without our DVR, she was pretty limited on movies.  I think she's watching Elf, the Christmas movie here.

With the help of a family friend, the entire basement was painted in about 1.5 days.  It would've taken Adam and I an entire week to paint ourselves!  Adam painted this green wall in the kitchen, and he painted three walls in Vera's room.  He painted.  I cleaned.  Mikey painted closets.  We would've never been able to clean the entire house without the help of our family, especially my mom and Rosie.  

Moving day was Valentine's Day, February 14.  I can best describe the day as a whirlwind.  We got started around 9:45.  Vince went to Kelly Smith's house, and Vera stayed with us to help.  It started to snow right away, and the first hour wasn't bad.  By 11, it was snowing and blowing hard.  Around noon, we had white-out conditions.  I remember walking from my car to the house with my hands full of things, and I couldn't see anything.  Everything was white.  It was very dangerous to be out; Darke county was on a Level 2.  Our saving grace was a covered trailer to keep things dry, and a very short distance to move things.

The pictures don't justify just how much the snow was blowing.

Obstacle course!

We had awesome help getting everything moved.  It was hectic, but we had everything moved by 1:00.  Most of our help was gone by 2, and Adam and I spent the rest of the day finding a place for boxes and random things.

That evening, Adam helped Vera put up her Doc sticker.  She couldn't wait.  She got the decal from the McCutchins family for Christmas, so it had been a long wait to put up.  It turned out really cute.

Our first night in our new house went well.  Everyone slept all night in their own beds.  On Sunday morning when I woke up, my comment to Adam was that I couldn't believe how quiet the house was.  There was no train noise, no traffic noise.  It was weird, but very nice!

The next day, Sunday, we went to hand over the keys to our old house.  (Every "transaction" that took place with our old house involved bitterly cold temperatures--closing and exchanging keys!  So we drug the kids along in the frigid temperatures to hand things over.)  I walked through the house alone on Saturday afternoon and snapped a few pictures.  It was so weird to walk through and reminisce.  I had tears in my eyes as I took pictures of the empty house.  It was good little house for us, even if it is time to move on!

Although we didn't have the greatest weather to move, the subsequent weekends weren't any better.  It was bitterly cold and very snowy for two straight weeks after we moved.  I guess that's February in Ohio!  

We are starting to settle in.  Though it doesn't feel like home yet, we are starting to feel more comfortable.  Our garage is still a disaster and we have plenty of boxes to still unpack.  Soon enough, I think it will feel like we've always lived here.