What you dooey-en ???

That's how Xander asks "what are you doing?" We don't know why. But it's cute. So here is what we have been "dooey-en" since my last post.

~We have set up bird feeders around the back yard. One of them is even home made! We have 3 different Cardinal couples that frequent our outdoor dining spots. We also have seen a blue-jay a few times as well as some orioles. Most of the birds though are rosey finches, house sparrows, mourning doves and of course the grackles and brown-headed cow birds. We also have a squirrel diner and a cute little family with two new youngsters. They are so fun to watch. Oh, and don't forget about the "Easter" bunnies that stop by....and now there are two baby bunnies! The new binoculars that Tracy got me for Mother's Day are being used several times a day, as well as the bird books that help me to identify the birds. It's my new hobby. :)
(I have more pics and will post soon)














~I have hosted a bunco party, a baby shower and a Glitter Toes party here at the house. (will be adding more pics soon)





~We got a new (to us) vehicle since both the Explorer and Malibu were on their last leg....errrr....tire? We got a Jeep Commander and we absolutely love it. It has everything we ever dreamed of (and more!) having in a vehicle. Then our neighbor across the street backed into our Malibu. Twice. So, he bought the Malibu from us....so now Tracy is driving the Explorer which is reaching the end of it's road. So we will be needing another new vehicle soon. Which kinda sucks. We haven't had any car payments for 10 years....and now we are going to have TWO! UGH! Wish us luck on that. LOL
(will post pics soon)

~We went to Texas for a whole month! Well, Xander and I were there for a month but Tracy only got to stay for a week. We stayed with Joy and her family. It was so great to see Joy again. I hadn't seen her for a whole year- since we moved away. She has been through so much this past year and I wasn't able to go out there to help her during all of her chemo and surgeries so I really needed to go out and spend some time with her. It was awesome! We all got sick though so we didn't get to go out much to visit friends. :( But I was there to spend time with Joy and her family anyway, so that was no big deal. Joy is doing so much better and is gearing up for reconstruction surgery next month.
(I have lots of pics to post!)

~Tracy is remodeling the upstairs hall bathroom. (Xander's bathroom). It started with two of the shower tiles popping off...which was unusual and it looked like they had popped off before and the sellers just used some Elmer's glue to put them back up. Nice. So, we decided to go ahead and just re-tile the shower. Well, you know how plans go....once the tile was down, the whole wall was rotted out.(We have a sky light in the bathroom and it had leaked (before we bought the house) and the sellers "repaired" the leak (which could be a whole other post!) but didn't repair any of the damage....and basically hid the damage. So, Tracy ended up replacing the drywall, the studs, the insulation....everything. So, it's a gut-job. But he is doing a great job. It's not finished yet, but I will post pictures of the completed project when it's done.
(more pics coming....)




Sorry these pics are so small....they were taken on Tracy's iPhone and emailed to me while I was in Texas...so it's the best I could do.







So, I think that's pretty much the main happenings around our house. What are you "dooey-en"?

Our Easter, in an eggshell.

So I am finally getting around to posting about Easter at our house. I'm not doing so great with updating my blog. I will try to be better. But with the great spring weather we are having, we spend most of our mornings, days and evenings outside. Xander loves being outside.
OK, so on to the show...er....blog post.

Happy Easter, Xander!


This is what was waiting for him when he got up. His shoe is tied to a very very very long string. I got this idea from Roots and Wings Co.- it's a blog that I love.

RootsAndWingsCo



So, he got to follow the yarn all over the house. He thought it was so fun!


Over the shark tent:


Into my craft room:


Through his story box:


Downstairs into daddy's office:


Through the bathroom:


And finally, the Easter basket is found.....
In his ball pit!



Ta Dah! That's what he said when he found it. LOL


Then came the Easter egg hunt in the back yard. It was fun to watch him run around the yard, looking for the eggs. Some of the eggs were the talking eggs.
You can see them here
No, I didn't pay that price for them. They were about half that price at Target. It made it fun to hear the eggs calling from different areas of the yard. The other eggs had hotwheels cars in them. One had M&Ms. Here are some pictures of the hunt.








The best part of the hunt was that we actually have a rabbit that frequently stops by our back yard so Xander thinks that is the Easter Bunny who hid the eggs and brought him a basket and hopped through the house with the yarn. It's awesome.


Later that day we went over to our friend's house. Liz and JP and, of course, Simone, Xander's girlfriend. We had a great dinner of salmon and asparagus. I made some desserts....ok, so it was more like TOO MANY desserts. But I wanted to try out all of the fun things I had found on blogs!
I made the carrot boxes (I filled them with candy and they became place cards for the dinner table) and Easter S'mores from the RootsAndWingsCo blog. Holy Yummy, Batman! The S'mores were awesome! I also made some chocolate eggs filled with chocolate mousse. Making the eggs was harder than it looked like it would be and much much messier than I had anticipated. Oh, and they turned out huge. LOL
I also made chicky cupcakes and mini bundt bird nests. Here are the pictures:






It was a great Easter and it was great to spend time with the Legerskis.

How long can I call him BABY?

So, Xander turned three on Saturday. Where has the time gone? Every time I looked at the clock on Saturday, I would reminisce about what I was doing at that time three years ago. Nine AM - laying in the hospital bed with contractions. 11 AM - the Dr. finally shows up (Five hours after I checked in to be induced). One in the afternoon - Dr. broke my water. Seven PM - Dr. decides that I need an emergency c-section since I haven't dilated more than 3cm. 7:38 PM - My baby is here and he is the love of my life! (you know, besides Tracy)



And now my baby is THREE! So much has happened in the last three years. But it has gone by so fast. Our heads are still spinning but we are so in love with this little person who has changed our lives.


We started the day by hunting (or as Xander says, "I'm a detective looking for clues.") for his presents. I hid them around the house the night before so he wasn't overwhelmed by a pile of presents...this way, he found them one at a time, got to open each one, enjoy it and play with it for a while and then look for another one. I forgot about taking pictures until half way through "the hunt" so this is the first picture I got.


Found another one!


And another!



Later that day we went to the Durham museum; one of Xander's favorite places here because of all the trains. Also, right now they have a huge display of vintage pedal cars. His absolute favorite part of the museum is the gift shop. He chose a Steam Engine Train Toob. It's just a clear tube with lots of little train cars and a steam engine inside. He loves it.
Then we got home and the mail man came! A present from his best friend in Texas! Thanks Ian!


That evening, his little girlfriend, Simone, came over to help him celebrate the big day. Thank you, Simone!


We had a great time. I made a big cookie for Xander instead of a cake since he won't eat cake. Or ice cream. Oh, and I burnt his cookie. I'm such an awesome mom. So he didn't end up eating the big cookie either. He opted for one of the regular sized ones that I didn't burn. LOL He loved blowing out his #3 candle...Tracy kept relighting the candle for him to blow out. I also made one of those giant cupcakes. That was fun. But if you ever make one, have a plan for cutting it up. Once you cut through it, each side falls over and then you just have a big mess. I will need to figure out the best way to cut it up. If you know how, let me know!


Xander is three. Can I still call him my baby?

Our move to Omaha

Tracy's client in Dallas was Washington Mutual and they went out of business and were purchased by Chase bank. So, without a client, Tracy wouldn't have a job, essentially. So as the account was coming to a close, Tracy was scoping out new accounts. With the economy the way it's been, we didn't feel like we could be picky or choosy. So the first one that came up was the one we took. Hello Omaha.
I was so sad to be leaving my sister in Dallas and all the friends that I had made there. But you gotta go where the job is.
We decided that it would be a good idea to rent once we got there so we could take our time getting to know the area and get a feel for where we would like to buy a house. So, I had this brilliant idea. I thought we should rent a loft downtown. It was an ideal time. We needed an apartment to rent, I always wanted to live in a loft, we didn't have a dog (which was always Tracy's excuse for not wanting to). So Tracy set out to find a loft. He found a great one right in the old Market. Unfortunately, the one he found was not the one that was available. He toured an upper level loft...the building has 6 floors. We got one on the ground level. The cherry hardwood floors apparently weren't on the first floor. We, instead, got industrial berber. With lots of gross stains. Lots of other perks came along with the first floor. We got people peeing on our windows, we got to go outside at 1am to break up fights that were right outside our bedroom window, we got to hear AND feel the front door to the building close every time someone went in or out. WHAT WAS I THINKING????? So, within the first week of living there we started looking for a house. At that point, we didn't care where we lived....as long as it wasn't on the first floor of the Joslyn Lofts!
Luckily, we found a great house in a great neighborhood in a great ward and it's close to Target. So, I'm happy! LOL
Here are some pictures of the new place. Of course, this is the sellers furniture but they show the house.

Here is the front of the house:



The entryway, looking back at the front door:




The entryway, looking in to the living room:


Living Room:


Dining area (it's an eat-in kitchen):


From dining area, looking into the living room:


Looking into the kitchen:


In the kitchen- yes, we will be making big changes in the kitchen soon:


There is a 1000 sq. ft. finished basement which we love:


There are a lot more pictures but I don't want to bore anyone. I think sometimes pictures that are of interest to us, are not so interesting to others. LOL