Thank goodness for family :)

So many of you know that Matt, Sam, and I have been staying with my mom. We had originally moved in because we did not want to renew our lease at our old apartment since we thought we may have been moving out of state for a few months. We were interested in going month to month, but they were going to charge about $1899. Talk about highway robbery. So, we moved in with my mom until we found out something concrete about Matt's job. We still haven't, but we are now at the point where we are comfortable signing a lease with a modest apartment.

Sunday morning, Andy Bales of the Union Rescue Mission came to give a report to our church. I was so convicted by some of the stories of people who had ended up on the street and had found hope in the URM. I turned to my mom and thanked her, telling her I don't know where Matt, Sam, and I would be without her. After church, we went over to Angela's house, and I thought about how lucky I was to live near family and to have the support and guidance they give. Here are some pics of the afternoon at her home.

My mom holding Lauren and Sam and Ryan and Aidan with their helmets.
Angela makes sure that Sam does not push the truck into the street.
I wish I had a tree to hang a swing on, but Auntie's house will do.
When Ryan saw Sam, of course he wanted to join in the fun.So they enjoyed it together.Sam did the only thing he knew what to do with the skateboards Ryan and Aidan got for Christmas: pushed it.
There is good news in all of this though. We found an affordable apartment in Walnut we are set to move into on January 7th. We did have a deposit on one set to move in December 26th, but the people decided they were not leaving. Is that even legal? We are finally getting back on track as a family and Matt and I can't wait to get all of our stuff out of storage. He has forgotten what our drinking glasses look like and we really want our winter clothes we put there. :) If you want our new address, email me and I will get it to you. Hopefully we can stay in this place for more than a year!

What do I do all day?

My sister sent me this email. At the beginning I was laughing and at the end I was saying "Hallelujah!" Basically, the article is a lady asking what her friend with kids does all day. If you or someone you know has kids, you will appreciate (and maybe even learn) what we do all day. BTW, it is NOT watching soaps and relaxing on the couch. Sorry about the fuzziness. I don't have time to sit at home and try to format this correctly. HAHA.

Playing or Working?

As I sit here watching Sam, I still cannot believe where Matt is. Monday he started a new part time job he got through a friend. If you can believe it, some company is paying Matt to test out video games. Now, I find this highly annoying. Admittedly the pay is low ($9/hr), but seriously? SERIOUSLY?! Not that my part time job is horrendous or difficult, really quite the contrary, but I wish I could find a job where I could... say... walk. I love to go out walking. I also thought, "Ok, this is going to be good. Now after playing a game 8 hours there is NO WAY that he will come home and head for his XBox as soon as Sam is asleep." Wrong again. Monday he couldn't wait to plug it in since he had been playing (yes, I did say playing) PSP all day. Sigh. At least he is doing something he loves and is getting paid for it. Isn't that the whole purpose? Well, I on the other hand, have got to change a poopy diaper. (grumbles)

Let's Go Outside!

So Sam has figured out that if he grabs your hand, he can basically lead you (or pull you) wherever he wants to go. Well, it seems the only place he wants to go is out the front door. It is pretty annoying because a) the weather has been getting cooler b) Sam is getting quicker c) Sam is getting more brazen d) outside requires a jacket and shoes e) Sam knows no time of day. But how can you resist when your little boy wants to go outside and explore? You can't.

So yesterday he picked a good time to grab my hand and I had time to grab my camera. Here he is on the way out the door.
Not sure what he was looking at here, but I loved the lips. He has started to say "wow" not really knowing what it is though.
I was trying desperately to get this with him looking at the camera. It WOULD have been a perfect Christmas card with the red and green leaves.
Ok, so Sam of course finds the only thing that could get him into trouble: mushrooms.
It was such a nice day, and it is always sad when we can't go outside, especially for Sam. Pull your fingers away from his hand, and you get a face similar to that shown here:
Ah, you gotta love these times. I know I will miss it when he no longer wants to hold mommy's hand and take her with him... so for now, I will savor every moment.