The Fraker's Acres: April 2009

I can not tell you how happy I am to NOT be moving anymore! We would have been up a creek without the good old Penske truck, but I have to admit, though I love the speediness it delivered us to our new destination, I don't want to see it in my driveway for a long time, unless it is delivering lovely pieces of leather furniture!

The kids were more than awesome the whole time we were packing, unpacking, and getting organized. I am so proud of them. They are brave, positive, and happy kids. We love them TONS!

They played and played and played......good job them!

Spending the first night in the new house in their tents. Great idea Grandpa!

The kids painting....and yes, Ida's room is pink! She is IN LOVE!

The whirl wind!

The VERY tearful good bye! The kids handled it really well. I was a mess taking this picture. You can tell I couldn't hold the camera steady. Man, we love Josh and are SO proud of him!

My favorite things about the house....so far....I have a feeling there will be MANY more to come!

1. Mike and Liz Fraker family live right around the corner! They are THE BEST!

2. The clothes line in the HUGE backyard!

3. The screened in back porch!

4. The SPACE!!! This table used to take up half the space in our dining room and now it doesn't even make a dent in the living room!

These are the thank yous I am giving to the ladies at KEANS who have helped me so much with my doll sales. I am taking them to Spring Fling on Saturday for them. A HUGE thanks to my friend Chalae for letting me raid her pantry and bring home these WONDERFUL bottled goods.

My dad brought the Rice Krispie Treat for my birthday cake. Thanks Dad. The kids and I made the other cake. It is a lot for 1 big person and 2 little people to eat.

NEXT HOUSE PROJECT: Paint the moldings and window trim white. I will post pictures when that monstrosity of a project is done.

We're not moving to Kansas, or, I guess, out of Kansas, but we are moving! Josh was offered a job as an air traffic controller about a month ago in the Lansing Airport where he is currently working. We were ECSTATIC! A better job without the move, right? Wrong...enter said move. About two weeks ago the FAA called him explaining that his job in Lansing Tower would not be available until next year and offered him a position at Detroit Metro or Grand Rapids Gerald R Ford. We were shocked for two reasons: 1. We love our family and wanted to move back to be by them so bad and Detroit Metro would allow us to do that. 2. We TOTALLY did not see this coming! Oh, they also told him that we needed to make our decision by that afternoon.......oh, one more thing, Josh would be reporting to Oklahoma for his 3 month training on APRIL 29th! Drum roll please.................... Detroit Metro here we come! We love our family too much to pass up an opportunity to be closer. So, the twister has struck......find housing for Josh in Oklahoma and for me and the kids here, sew dolls for the Spring Fling, pack, Emerson's birthday, Easter, Josh's birthday, My birthday, move, unpack, buy a lawn mower, buy tissue, put my dad's number on speed dial.....:)

So, I am pleased to present our new house! We lucked out and found this place in the same town as Josh's brother and family. We love them so much and can't wait to be neighbors. I am going to need all the help I can get while Josh is away and they are just the people to call on. Too bad my dad and sister can't live by us too, that would be AWESOME!!:)

We are going to miss the wonderful friends we have made in Lansing. I am TERRIBLE at saying good bye, especially with people I love so much. These good byes are going to be hard.

Emerson turned 4! Each year I take a picture of the kids on their birthday when they are waking up. I think Emerson has gotten used to it by now, he was SOOOOOOOO excited to wake up and see the camera staring at him........that meant his birthday was officially here! We love this little guy.

The birthday decorations! I have to brag and say that Emerson thought the ugly lion I made him was cool. It was a happy mommy moment.

Quality control checking out the birthday cake. They didn't want me putting all my effort into making Emerson his giraffe cake if the cake wasn't up to par...luckily, it passed.

Emerson and the giraffe head cake. He was very specific about what he envisioned his cake to look like. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that he didn't want legs or a tail. Just "a neck, head, ears, and antennas" to be exact.

Waiting for daddy to get home from work.

The party goers.

Making sure everything works. Emerson got a tiger/stick game (i.e. "the Diego game) from his grandma White and it was the hit of the party. The kids loved it! You hide the tiger and use the stick to find it, kind of like hot/cold game. When you are headed in the right direction the stick lights up and gets brighter until you have almost found the tiger and then it starts beeping. The kids played and took turns like pros. It was so fun. Grandma White is getting a whopper of a Thank you!

EASTER

The Easter Bunny ate all his carrots like a good little bunny, thank you!:)

The kids found their Easter baskets the minute they walked down the stairs. He must have been too tired from the birthday party the night before to think of a better hiding spot then under the computer desk. Next year will be a different story now that we know the kids have superior skills in finding candy, presents, toys, treats,.......wait, we already knew that!

After the Easter basket fun was over we got ready and went to Josh's Aunt Cindy's for the Easter feast. Aunt Cindy and family moved out into the country on a nice piece of land next to a cow farm. When we got there and opened the doors to get the kids out, Ida shared her thoughts, "P U! It smells stinky like a cow's poop!" Poor Josh, the country boy at heart, was a little deflated after that comment. I can't tell you how nice it was to breathe stinky, country air! Ida will convert. I just have to teach her that lovin' the country doesn't mean losing your fashion. You can sport J Crew and muck stalls. See, she just doesn't know yet!:) HA!

Auntie Liz (who will be our neighbor VERY soon, YAY!) brought some fun activities for the kids. We had a blast!