Capps Preschool

After muuuuuuch discussion about sending Caleb and Amelia to preschool here in North Carolina, we decided it was too expensive.  The price difference between Washington and here was staggering.  So, not wanting Caleb to be behind when he starts kindergarten in the fall, (Yes, kindergarten!!!  Crazy to think he'll be hopping on the school bus in August!), I decided I would just work with them him a little bit everyday.  We signed up for abcmouse.com and they both love working on the computer.  

Today was our first morning trying out this homeschool preschool.

We started with The Pledge of Allegiance, because that's what they did in "real" school.  He told me that we couldn't do some of the fun things they usually did, because "we don't have carpet squares":o)  And then he began to fill me in on their daily schedule, which I don't plan on doing, because, let's face it, we aren't going to do this for 4 hours a day in our preschool:o)

 Amelia was done by the letter B and told me she just wanted to draw a cow.

 Caleb wrote out all of the uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

 And we made our calendar for February.  

Caleb, who usually loves to work on "homework" was done after writing all of his letters (and by done I mean, laying on the table, whining, telling me he couldn't do it, asking me to make dots for him to trace).  Maybe we need to ease into it a little more….or maybe I need to get a little bit more creative.  

Winter Storm Leon

When the news began forecasting snow for the area (8-12 inches) people went nuts.  The kids and I stopped at the store for a few items on Monday (it was 70 degrees outside) and-it-was-a-madhouse!  I only went because I needed a few items, but the rest of the city must have thought it was the end of the world.  After fighting people down every aisle (because once in the store, I realized I might as well make this trip worth while), we got to the registers, only to wait 30 minutes before checking out.  Crazy!!  The weather wasn't supposed to even hit until Tuesday afternoon, but as a precaution, they decided to close schools and all the bases for Tuesday and Wednesday and who knows when they'll even go back.  (We're not complaining, we got 2 more full days with dad)!  

So, yesterday, around 4pm the freezing rain started.  At that time we had been downgraded from 8-12 inches, to 5-10.  We'll take it!  Of course, by the time the State of the Union address came on, we had been downgraded again to only 2-4 inches.  

 When we woke up this morning, this is what it looked like.  

 We ended up getting about and inch and a half of freezing rain and a half an inch of snow.  Not the 2-4 they said, but enough for us to go out and play!

 Amelia enjoying her hot chocolate.

 When we had decided we had had enough, we came in to make chocolate chip cookies!

Not much to do today, but lay around, watch tv, sample "retend" coffee the kids keep bringing us and eat cookies.  

Checking In To QT-1

Today's the day Shawn heads back to work.

(This is my favorite uniform!)

Another New Home

We headed out from Indiana just in time!  We were happy to be away from all that snow and those freezing temperatures.  

 After a long drive, we arrive at the house around 4:30 in the morning.  We dropped off the camper, looked inside (I didn't even care what it looked like, I was so tired), then drove around the corner to the hotel.  After a few hours of sleep, we headed back to the house to get a closer look.

 There was a swing set left here, so we are putting them both together.

 First things first, we had to make a trip to Target for all of the essentials. (Let's not mention all of the trips we've made to Lowes!)

 There were lots of projects going on the entire time Shawn's dad was here with us.

 Busting up the concrete so new could get poured.

 Making a fire pit out of the old concrete.

 Amelia playing in the dog pen before it came down.

 They moved the shed from it's original spot...

 …To where the dog pen used to be.

A BIG thank you to Andy for helping us get so much accomplished!!   We could not have got it done on our own.

Now to the inside.  Here is the living room just as you walk in the front door.

 Dining Room

 Just past the kitchen is a tiny nook area we made into our office.  The laundry is also in that room.

 Our sunroom - or Carolina room, as they call them around here.

(Found these letters at T.J. Maxx and I love them!)

 Flat screen that was left here!

Guest Bath

 Our Bedroom

 Master make-up/clutter area, that I hope to not keep cluttered, but we'll see.  Shawn's closet is back there and my closet is to the right of the bed.

 Caleb's Room

 Amelia's Room

And if all of that wasn't enough, we bought a new (to us) car over the weekend!

The house comes together more and more each day and we are really happy with it.  The neighborhood is great and our neighbors have been so welcoming (snack bags, cookies and a dinner date has already been scheduled for three of us).  I'm really glad we chose to live in the area we are in.  I think it's going to be a great place for the kids to grow up and we've heard great things about the elementary school they'll be attending.

 We ventured out to the aquarium earlier this week.

 Yesterday we woke up to a dusting of snow.  

Our neighbor in the brick house across the street, took this picture of our house.

Shawn heads back to work tomorrow.  It's been so nice having him home for so long.  Now it's time for us to look for fun things to do to keep us busy during the week.  Caleb's already been signed up for T-Ball and there's a reading program I'm looking into for him also.  There are open gym days at the gymnastics place we might attend and MOPS at church.  I think we'll have plenty to keep us busy.  

But right now, I think we all just need a vacation:o)