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Here's a short and sweet post, so my sisters can stop harassing me about my out of date blog.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

A Day in the Life

Yes, it has been a month since I posted something new on this blog. I have been spending my time posting things on a weight loss blog with my mom and sisters. Yay for dieting!

So, I was talking to another Mom today who asked me, 'What do you and your kids do all day?'. It's a valid question, and though it may not be terribly interesting to most people, it makes for cute pictures for the grandparents. And let's face it, that's why I do this blog. So, without further explanation, here is my post of what my kids and I do all day stuck in the house.








After we drop Ty off at school and make a stop at the YMCA for and hour, Rinne likes to come home, kick back and watch some quality TV while Mom gets a shower. Backyardigans is her current favorite right now. Sometimes the box is more interesting than the movie, and she usually ends up sitting in front of the tv reading a book. I think she just likes not have to fight Ty for her favorite chair.

After Ty comes home, we have some lunch and then it's time to get the wiggles out before Rinne takes a nap. It's the best I can come up with when I can't take the kids outside because it's 10 degrees. You've seen the live action living room dancing. So, these still photos are nothing in comparison, but the kids do love to dance together. I love the faces Corrinne pulls. The dancing fun typically ends when Ty decides that wrestling his sister to the ground would be more fun. She's going to be a tough little girl.







Ok...so this post is getting a little long, and I actually don't have any pictures of what happens during Corrinne's nap, because it's usually me trying to clean or prep for dinner, or playing Geo Town with Ty or... It's different everyday. But, I do have a video of my "favorite" time of day... Between the hours of 3 and 6, when Daddy's still at school and Mommy wants to lock herself in the bathroom. This is a pretty much our life in the raw, so only watch the video if you promise not to be judgemental. : )

Here are my cute kids eating dinner. I really do like this stage where they are starting to become friends and do things together.

AND...for the grand finale! This is REALLY the best time of day. Rinne and Ty love their bath, and we recently started adding bubbles for a little more fun. These will make great black mail pictures someday.

Hope you enjoyed your little journey through our day. I'll try for a shorter post next time. : )

Dancing queen

My new favorite thing that Corrinne does right now is her dancing. I finally caught it on video today. She does this any time music is playing, especially if it is a song with a strong beat. Today, I turned on one of our local radio stations that does an hour called the "Lunch Break Bootie Shake". This video was the result. The music that really got her moving was a new Beyonce song. Ty got in to it too. The video is about a minute long and took me over 30 minutes to download, so I hope you get as good of a laugh out of it as I did.