Snow...????

No, it's not a camera trick, that is a yard full of snow. About five inches, I'm guessing. This weekend, we took a car trip to Omaha to visit family (which is now a lovely 6 hour drive, instead of just 3...blah). The plan was to spend the day at a pumpkin patch, one of my favorite activities this time of year. I guess mother nature had other plans. The kids still had a great time sledding, and playing in the snow. Corrinne must have been really hungry because all she wanted to do was eat the snow.

Even without the pumpkins, we're glad we made the trip. : )

Rainy day FUN!

So I was standing in my kitchen trying to think of something to do with the kids since it has been raining and raining and raining... I looked out my window and what did I see?? Our back patio had magically transformed in to a pool. Sweet! Puddle time!

Wishing I had a camera that took better action shots. Just try to imagine it without the blur.

Rare moment when they are both looking at the camera and standing next to each other.

The water was deep enough in some spots to cover over Tyler's shoes.

She saw her brother do this ONE time and since she fears nothing... tally ho! Yes, she landed on her feet.

I think this is the cutest picture. This is Rinne's reaction to the sound of thunder rumbling...
followed by this... Guess she didn't like the loud noise. What a doll. : )

Both kids got a nice warm bath when we were done. Ty was ready to go in long before Corrinne, however, and the following video was captured. The sound is a bit muffled by the rain. She is saying... "No! I like it!"

It was a great time!

We LOVE moving!...not really.

Here's a short and sweet post, so my sisters can stop harassing me about my out of date blog.

1. May 2009--Matt graduated from dental school!!!! (We're so proud)

2. June 2009--We moved to Columbia for our first job. (Didn't work out)

3. September 2009--We moved to Jefferson City for job #2. (So far, so good!)

4. Kara figured out she enjoys running. (Ran a 1/2 marathon Sept 26th)

And the kids... They've been real troopers. They've been to World's of Fun, had visits from all the grandparents, got a new sandbox...

All is well.

More of Maine

So, we are back in KC now but I wanted to post pictures we took from our last day in Maine.

We went to see one of the lighthouses in Portland and checked out the Atlantic Ocean. Besides being beautiful, it was REALLY windy and much colder than inland Maine where we had been staying previously. But it was Matt's first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean, so that was exciting. I thought it was so awesome to think that we were standing at the edge of the continent. What a beautiful country this is.

We also stopped at the world headquarters of L.L. Bean in Freeport Maine. We took a picture next to the giant boot outside the builidng. Do any of you remember these shoes growing up. We called them "duck shoes" when I was a kid. Well, they still make them and apparently people still wear them in Maine.

I also took a picture of this house to give you an idea of what the houses look like in Maine. Many of them were very beautiful and pretty much all of them had this same colonial look to them and were built over a hundred years ago. We looked and looked for the typical suburban area that we are so used to seeing in the Midwest, but never found it in Auburn. In fact, people looked at us funny when we asked them, are there any "newer" houses around?

For those wanting to know about the job...we are still mulling over the decision. The dental practice was very nice and very busy, but we are a little uneasy about some of the contract details. So... no decision to report today. I am glad we made the trip, though. If you have never been to Maine, I would recommend a visit...Maybe wait till summer, though. : )

When in Maine...

I am sitting in a hotel room in Auburn, Maine waiting for Matt to call me from the dental practice across the street where he is interviewing for a job. So, I decided to post a few of the pictures we have gathered in the last 24 hours. When we arrived yesterday we took a drive up the coast of Maine through the town of Freeport, Maine (home of LL Bean). Cute little town. The nice lady at the information center gave us directions to Orr Island, where we found the Atlantic Ocean and a restaurant where they pluck the lobster right out of the ocean, cook it, and plop it on your plate. Talk about fresh seafood. Matt was brave enough to try it. I couldn't get past the fact that it still had eyes, so I could see the look on the lobster's face when it realized it was being cooked. I had the fried shrimp. Also fresh, and wonderful. After dinner, we drove inland to Auburn where earlier this week they had the biggest snow storm I have ever seen. There was a dump truck and a bulldozer clearing the snow from the parking lot outside our hotel all night. There was so much snow, they literally filled several dump trucks with it. My question was, where the heck were they taking all that snow?? We drove around and tried to get the lay of the land here in town. Still can't get over the 10 foot high piles of snow in front of all the buildings. Well, that's all the stuff I have pictures of for now. Hope to get one of a lighthouse before we take off tomorrow. Maine is beautiful, even with all the snow. I can't imagine how pretty it is when it is green.

Valentine's Party

I admit, it is a couple of weeks past valentine's, but I was looking through my pictures and wanted to share them. The kids were so cute. We gave them their Valentine's gifts and candy in the morning. They were both jumping around on our bed, eating candy, and being kids. Then Matt decided to make our bedroom furniture in to an obstacle course that the kids could climb, starting at the bed and leading to the top of his tall dresser. They loved it. Yes, even Corrinne.

She is a natural climber, and this time no one was telling her no.

What more could a couple of kids want?
After about an hour of jumping, candy, and climbing Tyler declared, "Mommy! We are having a Valentine's party!" I had to agree. It may have just been fun in our pajamas, but to Tyler it was a party. Simple pleasures.

Matt and I got to go to a dance for Valentine's the night before. We got all dressed up, and even had our picture taken to mark the occasion. I, personally, went on two shopping trips to a total of nine different stores looking for a dress to wear. No luck. My friend Jenny came through for me once again, letting me shop in her closet where I found a great dress option. Gotta love good friends. It was nice getting out without the little ones and enjoying some time together. We ate way too much food and had a nice time talking with a bunch of our friends at the dance. For Valentine's this year, Matt went conventional and bought me running shoes instead of flowers and chocolate. Now, some wives may take offense to such a gesture, but it was the best gift I could have received because it showed me that my husband pays attention to what I really want and knew I would be overjoyed to replace my 3 year old shoes with a new pair. What a guy! : )

One more cute picture of Rinne. Sometimes we catch her making the sweetest faces. This is the blissful look of a one year old who just got to eat all the M&M's she could handle. Fun to be a kid.

Let the job hunt...Begin!

Hopefully a couple months from now, the title of my blog will be, "The hunt is over". For now, we are in the midst of picking the perfect job. That starts with our very first out of state trip for a dental job interview...Duhn, duhn, daaa...(That was my suspense music if you were wondering.) So, Matt and I are headed to Auburn, Maine.. Yes, Maine... for a job interview. We decided today to just do it. The tickets were cheap, the opportunity has been made to sound pretty nice, and the town has a Wal-Mart, so I think I can survive. : ) We will be leaving at the end of the month for a quick weekend trip to see if it shapes up to be everything the recruiter says it is. We are still a little skeptical since the recruiter does have some financial motives for getting Matt out there. But, I figured what the heck. It will be a little adventure, and if nothing else it will teach us something we didn't already know about the dental job hunting process. So, if you know anything about Auburn/Lewiston, Maine (pictured above) I'd love to hear from you. If not, wish us luck and we'll let you know how things go in a few weeks after the trip is over.