Random Pix

Some random pictures from recently ...

Emma's Jewels of woods group at the mother/daughter tea.

Emma getting an award for her art project.

Getting ready to go biking.

Emma using her spy kit binoculars.

A hike with Auntie Jane, Cousin Sally, and Auntie Laura.

Ems and Sally.

Soccer Pix

Here's some pictures from one of the days of soccer.

Emma was so proud to be in the "big kids" group!

House Update

So here's the latest on the sale:

• The appraisal was done ... it appraised out fine, so we're good there ... a Praise God!
• We've heard back from the buyers regarding things that they'd like done based upon the physical inspection. There's quite a lot of things, but most of them are very minor, kind of nit-picky repairs. The plan is to offer them some cash at closing to fix those things.
• Apparently the buyers are having some issues locking in their interest rate. They got some bad advice from their lender and missed a lower rate. Fortunately, they easily qualify at the higher rate, but this is still a bit of a concern.

So the prayer requests: that there would be no snags with the physical inspection $$, that the buyers would get the rate they want and this wouldn't be an issue.

Thanks for caring!

Emma's Birthday Pix ...

Opening presents ...

Earings that Cousin Sally picked out.

I told Emma she was getting a rock from us ... so that's what she unwrapped ... attached to it was a clue to a treasure hunt to find her present.

Reading clues ...

More clues ...

And the payoff!

School related pix ...

These pictures are from school things ...

Emma's musical ... she's sitting with her good friend Olivia.

Buddies ... Emma's two best friends Hannah (on the right) and Olivia.

During the mom's tea at Timmy's school they made hats!

Some Pix From Vacation

Okay, we'll get you going with some pix from the weekend in Chicago. I have lots of others that I took off the camera last night, but I'll get to those as I have time (and remember)!

By the lake, about a 15 minute walk from the house!

Buckingham Fountain ... right across the street from the lake.

Scooting over to the fountain/lake.

Dinner in "our" house.

Cyndie took this from the El ... that group of houses is the neighborhood where we stayed.

I think this mirrored bean thing is called the Cloud Gate.

The face fountain that the kids love.

In Grant Park.

The front of "our" house.

Some Videos

This one is Timmy singing at the Mom's Tea at his Pre-School.


Emma at her musical (k - 2nd grade). She's in the front in a brown shirt.

Remember that in order to see these, you have to go to wildwooddevries.blogspot.com!

Winding down the school year

So we're back in the swing of things. Everyone slept well in their own beds again. Emma has this week, next, and a half week the following left for school. Timmy is done. So now that we've passed Memorial Day, we're thinking about finishing up school and looking forward to summer vacation.

Current plans for the summer:

• Trip to the Kansas lake cabin of my aunt and uncle in late June - haning out, fishing, swimming, relaxing.
• Visit from Auntie Jane (Fourth of July time frame).
• Neal and Cyndie get away* for their 15th Anniversary!!
• Visit by CA friend the Armstrongs - in town for a convention, we'll hang with Sheryl and the kids and see a bit of Greg (hopefully) too.
• Day Camp for Emma - Timmy is still a year or two away.
• Emma trip to Auntie Jane's - long weekend, cousin Sarah and Emma's first big girl trip to stay by themselves with Auntie Jane.
• Go to the lake, swim in Grandma and Grandpa D's pool, play outside, be kids, sail (for Cyndie)!

*We just figured out that we'll be able to take a trip ... thanks to Grandpa Fred and Grandma Cathy for volunteering to watch the kids. We did this for our 10 year anniversary (actually during year 11 since Timmy was born during year 10) and went to Cancun for a week. Last night we started looking online for possible destinations. A lot of it will depend upon the house sale finalizing. But needless to say, we're psyched!

Between now and the end of the school year we have soccer and not much else.

Final Vacation Post

Well, we're cleaning up and on our way out the door. The sprinkles of rain held off until quiet time ... perfect. Hopefully it'll clear up well and then we'll be able to drive home in the clear.

We walked over to Buckingham Fountain and Lake Michigan this morning. Happened upon a pretty cool Memorial Day program in the park that we listened to for a bit. Then, of course, had Indian one more time!

It was a great weekend to get away, and a fun time was had by the whole family.

Last Day on Vacation

It's our last day and we're taking it pretty low key. It's pretty cloudy and cool out (it's supposed to rain mid-afternoon), so so far we've had a big, leisurely breakfast, packed a bit, played hide and seek in the house, and played Junior Monopoly. Now we're going to have donuts, hot chocolate and coffee, and then likely hit the local park and walk around the neighborhood on our way to lunch at the Indian place. We had considered walking over to Lake Michigan, but decided against that due to a lack of enthusiasm on the kid's part and the impending poor weather.

It's been a great vacation ... home exchanges always work really well for us to get away. It's really nice to have the house to relax in ... certainly a hotel room would not be as convenient!

Day 2 Ending ...

So dinner is finished ... chicken nuggets (home made), watermelon, and corn on the cob ... the perfect trifecta for Timmy, who ate everything without having to be reminded to finish his dinner. I think Emma ate four or five slices of watermelon.

This afternoon we hit the local park (even closer than "our" park in SoCal) for an hour or so. Now we're on our way for a walk and to find a place for dessert ... though I don't think I need any, I'm stuffed!

I talked with my friend Paul on the phone today ... he said the realty sign at our house there has a "Sold" sign on it. I'll believe it once the cash is in our hands ... until then, we're just praying for no snags!

Zoo Happenings

Just back from the zoo ... it was fun, but cool. It was probably 70, and would have been great if not for the brisk breeze. The kids really enjoyed it though. Now it's quiet time and then probably the local park. I think we'll put off the beach until tomorrow (and possibly warmer temps).

Highlight of the zoo:

Emma - Zebras
Timmy - Lions

Morning Anecdote

So we're on the El yesterday ... it was fairly crowded, so we're standing up. Cyndie has already cautioned the kids to hold on tight. So Timmy says, "Look, I don't have to hold on!" and he lets go ... just as we're coming into the next station, train braking. Needless to say, Timmy ended up on the floor, and Cyndie and I ended up with a bit of a chuckle.

Off to the zoo!

Day one, Day end update

So we're having a great time here so far. After quiet time, we walked up Michigan Avenue to Millennium Park where the kids played for about a half hour in the weird face fountain thing. It was probably only in the low 70s at the highest, so they didn't last long. After that we went and looked at the mirrored bean thing, then headed home. It took a bit to catch the El since we didn't have any cash on hand. In the end we got donuts at Dunkin Donuts and then road the El two stops right to "our" house.

It would appear that the folks that we're exchanging with are Christians ... at least there are lots of Bibles and VeggieTale movies ... the kids enjoyed a Larry Boy cartoon while Cyndie and I made dinner. Then it was a bath and bedtime.

Tomorrow we're planning on the zoo!

Since I know you totally care ...

The Indian place was very good*! We had the buffet ... $37 including the Masalla Tea, Naan, tip ... very nice. The Butter Chicken was the best!

*Cyndie tells me it's a good thing we don't live here because we'd go broke eating there all the time. It's literally a 3 or 4 minute walk from the house we're staying in. I'm sensing at least one more trip for Indian while we're here.

On the way back we found a little park we hung out in a bit. Now it's quiet time, and then off to Buckingham Fountain and Millennium Park.

Arrived

So we've arrived at our home exchange locale. We're just south of the loop in Chicago, right in the heart of everything. The house we're staying in is a row house ... really skinny, but long. When we first got here, Timmy wanted to go play in the yard ... only there isn't one! There is a local park, and what appears to be an elementary school right across the street. The kids are exploring all the new toys (the folks have kids similar in age to Emma and Tim). More updates (possibly) later. For now, we're going to round up the kids and walk (1/2 mile or so) to the local Indian place which is supposed to be Chicago's best!

Timmy had his last day of school Thursday, and we signed a bunch of papers for our escrow and had some notarized. Things are moving along!

Spring baby, big time!

So, I'm driving to work this morning, and it's just a beautiful day. It was in the low 60s, the sun was shining, there was a nice breeze, the air was moist but not too humid, and everything was green, green, green; trees, grass, bushes, flowers, even the weeds!

On days like this I'm struck by the difference between Orange County and here. The OC is basically a desert, so the only green is grass, and then only where it's watered. Here, with all the moisture (rain, dew, humidity), stuff just grows. Everywhere.

Amazing stuff.

Soccer Update

So Tim and Emma had their first soccer thing yesterday. It's more like a soccer camp than a team. They did different drills and were often split into 4/5 year old and 6/9 year old groups.

Timmy did okay, but said he'd rather play soccer at home. I think he got a bit bored by waiting in line and likes the higher action when it's just me or Uncle Gow and him playing. I also think he's just not used to new places and lots of people (there were around 30 kids). I think Timmy would have more fun just playing games and not doing drills!

Conversely, this was right down Emma's aisle as she really likes the drills, but isn't as into the games (those where basically her words). She did well, even starting to learn how to head the ball. Probably the highlight of her experience was when they passed out the t-shirts, shorts, and socks that they're supposed to wear ... she definitely likes new clothes!

Happy Birthday to Emma

Emma is the big 7 years old today. She was in a great mood when she woke up! She's very excited to bring cookies to school to share with her class and with the teachers. Then after school a friend is coming over for a short play date, then we'll have dinner with cousin Sally. It should be a full day.

Some quotes from this morning:

Daddy: Do you feel older this morning Emma?
Emma: Yes, a year older.

Later ...
Emma: I think I'm taller today.

What's going down

We had a busy weekend and it will only continue on today!

In and amongst all the house sale stuff (that's in the last post) ... we had a bunch of other things going on too.

Friday was another 24 marathon ... we're down to the last two episodes, and pushing to get them in before Laura and Gow leave for a week! I think that will happen tonight.

Saturday was Emma's breakfast/pajama birthday party. The cousins* were all here in their jammies for pink pancakes shaped like 7's. We played games, opened presents, and basically enjoyed the beautiful day. We gave Emma a new bike (she still had the one she got from Grandpa and Grandma D which she had learned to ride on). She did a treasure hunt to find where it was hidden.

In the evening we went for a picnic with our friends the Holtes to the state park we're going to go camping at in a few weeks. It was pretty there, and will be a good time, but MAN was it windy!!

Yesterday was church, then Emma had a swim party followed directly by a area schools art show where she won a prize (yeah Ems). Then the babysitting co-op that Cyndie belongs to had a get together at our place, so there were around 30 or 40 folks out in the yard enjoying the nice weather and the woods. Good stuff. After that the kids hit the sack, and I went and played wiffleball at the church open gym. Whew, it was a full day.

Now today is school, then Emma's last Jewels of Woods meeting, then Tim and Emma both start 4 weeks of soccer (M/W for 1.5 hours). It's a good thing we have a long weekend coming up!

Power of Prayer

Just a quick note to talk about prayer ... it works. I was thinking as I drove into work this morning how visibly God has responded to our prayers. I think I mentioned in a post a week or two ago that Cyndie and I were convicted that we really hadn't been praying about the sale of the CA house enough. So we decided to really lift that up in prayer and ask God to bring the right buyer so that we can get the place sold. Well, since that time the statistics prove conclusively that God answers prayers:

Prior to Increased Prayer:
Time on the market: Approximately 3 months
Number of offers: 1 or 2

After Increased Prayer:
Time on the market: A week or two
Number of offers: 9

That's pretty amazing ... a miracle even!

So the latest is that we've accepted an offer for full asking price (we credited them a bit for closing, but because our agent is representing both sides she's cutting her commission by a point which basically evens that out). We have another offer that we got after we were in escrow that is above our asking price. That is going to be our first backup offer.

God is good. Please keep praying that everything goes smoothly and we have the house sold soon!

Quick Friday Post ...

Just dropping a quick note before I hit the sack (late tonight ... we did 5 episodes of 24 after the kids went to bed).

We accepted an offer on the house! It's for just under our asking price ... we're pretty happy with it. Now the big prayer is that there are no snags during escrow ... which, according to our agent, is not uncommon during these strange financial times. Basically, until roughly two and a half weeks into escrow, the buyers can walk away for any reason! So we would appreciate your prayers on that.

To top that off, we received another good offer tonight! God is definitely hearing the prayers of his people.

Crazy Storm

Man, we had about an hour or two last night of just a crazy storm. It was pouring down buckets of rain, there was lightning flashing every second or two (with the accompanying thunder), and the wind was just whipping the trees and rain around ... it was pretty awesome. We had forgot to close one of the windows in the guest room, and when I got in there, there was water dripping* of the window sill and the floor was drenched. Good stuff. We sat there and watched it for a while ... very awe inspiring.

*I think "dripping" is a bit tame of a word. It may not have been "pouring" off the sill, but man, I think I could have filled a coffee cup in less than a minute based on what was coming off there!

Today is day one (of two) for Emma's school musical. I think I'll try to catch that tomorrow.

We're still working offers/counter offers on the house ... keep praying with us!

Coming at you on a Wednesday

Had a minute or two, so I thought I'd drop a blog post to effectively kill the time ...

• Cyndie started sailing last night ... this was just a practice run before the season starts two weeks from tonight. The crew of the 2nd Wind was looking good sporting new "2nd Wind" caps, gifts from Cpt. Jack!
• The kids and I walked the lake trail and were going to play at the Lake Geneva city beach ... when who should we encounter, but Auntie Laura, Uncle Gow, and Cousin Sally ... it's a small town!
• Emma won some sort of award (the letter was a big vague) for some art work she did at school. We'll go to the awards show on Sunday afternoon in Elkhorn to see what's up. Yeah Emma.
• Timmy was up much of the night last night with a fever. He still has it today. Fortunately it's just that, and not a flu.
• Emma and Timmy are going to do a short season soccer thing starting Monday until the end of school. Timmy, especially, was excited by that.
  

Progress

So, we've been pretty disappointed with the lack of good offers on our Fountain Valley house. But then after talking to some friends who recently sold their house, we realized that we really haven't been doing a good job about praying about the house selling, and really laying it out to God. So we started doing that regularly, and guess what, we've seen some movement!

Yesterday we got three offers on the house. Now none of them were what I'd call "great", but they were offers and there's something to be encouraged by. We countered back to all of them today, so pray with us that we'll get on contract very soon and get the thing sold.

Recent movies ...

Saw a couple of movies lately, here's the scoop ...

Juno (4.8/5)
An excellent movie, one of the best I can remember watching. My favorite part of it was the dialog which was tight, understated, but witty, and just very memorable. It was a serious movie ... it was well made and addressed real world issues ... but managed to do so while keeping a light atmosphere. It was offbeat and quirky, but not weird. I love Michael Cera ... he's so subtle and real, but not boring. It left me feeling good and uplifted and wishing the movie would keep going and going. Definitely one of my all time favorites.

Nick and Nora's Infinte Play List (3.7/5)
Kind of a fun, strange movie about an evening out for a group of high school kids. It was interesting and entertaining. It had some fun dialog. It wasn't quite tight enough to merit a higher school, but was a fun watch. My new favorite actor, Michael Cera, of Arresting Development fame, was the lead. I guess I don't have a lot to say about it, but it was a nice, if a little vulgar, movie.

Movies I've seen recently:
Juno - 4.8/5
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist - 3.7/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5

Weekend in Summary

Had a great weekend with lots of family and relaxing. Here are the nuggets:

• My sister Jane rolled into town in Thursday night late. Her late arrival gave Laura, Gow, Cyndie and I enough time to watch 3 episodes of 24 Season 6 ... getting us near the half way mark.
• Did lots of relaxing together as an extended family. Emma (especially) and Timmy really enjoy spending time with their little cousin Sally. They're progressing in their ability to enjoy her company without totally invading her personal space!
• Friday night we went down to Antioch, IL to see my aunt's art show and spent some time exploring a nature walk near the show.
• The Crystal Lake cousins came up early Saturday to hang out a bit.
• Cyndie went to a friends birthday party on Saturday night and enjoyed hanging out with a bunch of lady friends.
• Sunday was mother's day ... Cyndie got to sleep in a tiny bit (the best we could do with me having to leave early to get to church for worship team). The day was filled with more relaxing and hanging out with family.
• Cyndie's looking forward to starting sailing again this summer. The first event (actually a warm up before the first event) will be Tuesday.
• Emma lost another tooth (and was distraught when she literally lost it). Things worked out in the end, and the tooth fairy brought her a summer outfit!
• Next weekend is Emma's birthday ... 7 years old and soon to be a second grader!
  

So that's the extent of it.

What's up ...

So, not a whole lot interesting going on ...

• Worship team practice last night.
• Cyndie found a couple of good deals on some camping equipment at a friends garage sale.
• Cyndie is hosting a table for the MOPS mother's day brunch today.
• My sister Jane is arriving tonight to be here for the long weekend. The kids (and us too) are very excited.
• Tonight will be a continuation of the 24 season six marathon for Gow and Laura and I. We're shooting for 3 or so episodes after the kids hit the sack and before Jane arrives.
• Cyndie and the kids did a bang up job cleaning out the jacuzzi yesterday. It gets a weird buildup of minerals, so we drained it to start fresh for the summer. They were interrupted from refilling it by a torrential downpour. As the kids said, at least they were wearing their swim suits!
  

Man, I Just Can't Get Enough of This!!

I could start my day off like this every day!

Go Royals!!

Royals success

I know all of you care ...

I just love looking a the American League Central standings these days. Seeing the Royals up top of the division is something that I cannot get enough of. For my birthday, I got a subscription to MLBtv so that I can watch all the Royals games. I've totally enjoyed seeing them be so successful, especially given their extremely poor track record the last 15 years.

Last night, Royals ace Zack Greinke tossed another* complete game shutout. His ERA is 0.40 ... he's allowed 2 earned runs in 46 or so innings pitched, and leads the league with 55 strikeouts. He is just insane right now!

*Yes, that's his second shutout of the year. In fact, here's the league leaders in shutouts:
Zack Greinke 2
Everyone else 0

I think it will be a great summer to be a Royals fan, and believe me, us diehards deserve it considering the quality of teams we've had to endure recently.

Nearing school end, kinda

So, we appear to be in the home stretch for school. There's roughly a month of classes remaining for Emma (and Timmy a week and a half less than that). That must mean summer is almost here! I wish the weather could stay like it is now ... it's mostly beautiful (with the occasional rain to add variety) ... usually in the high 60s or low 70s ... with a pleasant amount of moisture in the air and not much for bugs. Contrast that with later summer when it will be a humid high 80s and the mosquitos will get you when you go out in the evening. Ah well, we'll enjoy it while it lasts!

We don't have a ton of plans for the summer ... hopefully a trip to KC to enjoy some time at my aunt and uncle's cabin that we really like; a weekend camping trip; a few things like that, but mostly we'll be relaxing and enjoying the Wisconsin summer!

Speaking of school, we found out yesterday that Emma's old school in SoCal is closed for the next 1 - 2 weeks because two students came down with the Swine flu. Craziness. I haven't been following this closely, but what's the difference between this and the "normal" flu. Normal flu kills people too. Whatever. I understand that the big discussion there amongst the Moiola parents is whether this unexpected vacation will add time to the end of the school year or not.

As for the weekend. Cyndie had a successful time at her scrapbooking retreat. She's caught up* through most of 2006.

*Is it really caught up if you're not all the way through the present? Perhaps I need to use the English language a bit more properly.

The kids and I hung out with Gow, Laura and Sally a bit. The adults of that crew are making our way through 24, season six. Over the weekend evenings we got through the first 9 or so episodes. Saturday morning we ventured over to Kenosha to tour the Jelly Belly warehouse there (and of course try the samples). Afterward, we had a picnic at Lake Michigan which was a lot of fun!!

So, the week beckons again. Lather, rinse, repeat.