IT'S A GIRL!

We went for our ultra sound yesterday and found out we are having a baby girl! We are so excited to add her to our little family. Nate still doesn't understand that we're having a baby, but we are excited b/c of how much he loves babies and know he will be a wonderful big brother. Everything looked good w/ the baby and she seems to be growing fairly well, although a little on the small side. Nate was really small though, so I am not worried. Other than that we are just waiting for Christmas. Sorry no pictures, I am in a hurry tonight. I'll try to update w/ some pictures later.

We're alive

So things have just been busy lately. We moved into our new house! We love it. The only thing is that Nate didn't adjust well. He is finally starting to sleep better for us, but it has been a challenge since the move. We are finally getting settled in though. A couple weeks after we moved in, Rice came to stay for a week. We really enjoyed her and all the things she did for us. If Nate woke up in the middle of the night, grandma got him and let us rest. Also she made dinner, did laundry, unpacked boxes. A HUGE thanks to Grandma Rice!

Nate is loving day care, he has a best friend there named Jacob who is about 6 months younger than him and Nate asked "where's Jacob" ALL THE TIME! Even when he is with Jacob. Nate is really starting to be quite the Chatty Kathy if you will. Sometimes that boy never stops talking. He loves animals and can make quite a few of the noises they make, he loves Handy Manny and Mickey Mouse too. I've decided that I can't take him shopping for presants anymore b/c we went and got Charlie a hat for his birthday and Nate tried to tell Daddy what it was. It's a good thing daddy doesn't know Nate language too well b/c he thought he was saying "hot" not "hat". So the surprise didn't get ruined after all! So the picture of the shoes is b/c I have apparently taught my son well, He puts his sock inside his shoes and then took them to his room and this is where they were "put away". I didn't tell him to put them away, he just did. Nate has a shoe fetish, he LOVES shoes. If they are off, he wants them on, if they are on, he wants them off. He wants to take your shoes off too. Also the pinata was something that my sister Vicky had, so when we went to my mom and dad's for a visit, we got the kids together and did the pinata, at first Nate didn't know what to do w/ it, but after he saw the other kids hit it, he was a little better at it. Luckily nobody got hurt either.

Charlie turned 30 last month. Happy belated B-day honey! I used to think 30 was so old, but I guess it really isn't. He is doing great at his job and already got the MVP award, amongst many others. In fact, they went to a little "award ceremony" for lack of better term, I can't remember what it really was, but anyway, Charlie went to it and when he walked back into work that day he had won/received like 4 prizes! The other bank assoc. that were with him said it was the "Chuck show". I am very proud of Charlie and the hard we he puts in for us.

So most of you should know by now that I am pregnant. About 15 weeks, I thought I was further along, but the Dr. moved my due date back to May 1, I thought I was due on April 20. Oh well, the baby will come when it comes. I haven't been too sick this time. I did get nausous, but not too bad. As long as I eat, I am okay. I feel like all I do is eat, and the weird thing is that last Friday at my appt. I had lost a pound! What? How did that happen, I am growing out of my clothes, I eat all the time....Nate does keep me running though. Anyway, we should find out what we're having in Dec sometime. It is really exciting b/c Charlie's sister Shoady is expecting their first child and is due around April 17th, I think is her due date. So these 2 will be really close in age and G&G Rice are just tickled pink about the babies.

New House!

Front of house
Master
Master Bath
Living room/ dining in back
Main Bath
Kitchen
Dining to living room
Kids room
Kids room

Back yard
Back yard

So we are buying a house! We signed the offer yesterday and if everything goes well we will close on Sept 25. It is 3 bed 2 bath 2 car garage and all brick. It has a beautiful yard that is privacy fenced and has a nice shed out back for all my junk! We are so excited!

Visitors

I don't know what is up with the pictures not moving, sorry. Enjoy them how they are, I guess...

So we have had quite a busy couple of weeks. Rodger, Charlie's dad, came to visit for a week. We had lots of fun with him. I got Charlie and Rodger to play Bananagrams with me. I love that game, it is kind of like scrabble, and Charlie doesn't care for it all that much, so it was a real treat to get to play for a few nights while he was here. Also Rodger took care of Nate most of the week while Charlie and I worked. They had lots of fun. Nate got a new chair from G&G Rice. Thanks! Nate loves it and we love watching him play and sit in it. He is just getting so big. Dad also spoiled Charlie and me by taking us out to dinner, buying Charlie a new DVD player, ours broke, and he got me a new skillet which I SO needed. Thanks for spoiling. We are glad you came to visit.

So I got a new job with Arvest Mortgage Company and I love it. I started on the 14 so I am almost done 2 weeks and I think it is going well. I am at a call center where people call in about their mortgages and I answer the questions. It has been a great learning experience since Charlie and I want to buy our first home soon. Now I understand a whole lot more than I did even last week. I like the people and the drive is only 7 minutes. Nate had to switch babysitters b/c our last one would be way out of the way. We were sad b/c we loved her so much, but the new girl seems good too. A great thing about the new daycare is it is right across the street from my work. So it takes no time to get him and get home.

Charlie is doing great at his job and he is really loving it. He has a customer base that only wants to see him and is making great strides in his sales. He was number 1 in sales last month and he is the newest one there! We are so proud of you Charlie.

Nate is doing great. He is now 20 months old! I can't believe how time flies. He is starting to make "sentances" with 2-3 words alot more often now. His favorite word right now is "look". He even got a lady to "look" when there was nothing to look at. It was really funny. His favorite thing lately is taking baths. Pretty much every night, unless we get home late. He loves bubbles in the bath and requests them every time. I now need to take up stock in bubble bath.

The Happenings of Life

So lately things have been a little stressful and hectic around here. As some of you know I have been doing temp work for Walmart since last July, well now my assignments are up and I have been looking for full time work for about 2 months now. I have had probably 8 interviews, and no job offers. It is stressful and depressing. This coming week, I do have a second job interview with Arvest Mortgage company. Charlie works for Arvest in a bank, he is a deposit counselor and he loves Arvest. So hopefully they will love me and I can have a job. I only have 2 weeks left of mine, so we are praying that I will get a job before then. Also I have a job interview for a teller position at Arvest this coming week, so please pray for me to get a full time job, time is running out FAST. I've been at this for over 10 weeks now. Finding a job is one of the hardest things to do, especially now days. So that is what I've been up to.

Charlie is doing great at his job, he told me he has opened cd's for people with thousands, I think like $100,000 or more and a couple this week. Arvest gives incentive pay and those accounts really bring in the money! We like that. Also, we get to see Charlie earlier in the evenings most evenings now that he has this job and not a teller, so we love that too!

Nate is getting so big! Some of his favorite new words are: No (who would have thought) I love, (he doesn't know how to say "you" yet, that puppy and alot more. He is now telling Tangent, the dog, "no" if he doesn't like him doing something. He also does this to mommy and daddy if they touch the ottoman, Nate has claimed that as his seat. In the pictures, you will see Nate eating. We have discovered that he LOVES sour cream. So he is eating Empanadas and sour cream in the one pictures. I tried to get him with a hat on, but he hates hats. It has been over 90 degrees for 2 weeks here, today it is only 84 degrees and we are thankful. Nate has been mad because I won't let him go outside, but it is just TOO HOT! I thought I moved out of the Sunshine State, maybe I took it with me.

Memorial Weekend

Grandpa and Nate

Nate at the zoo
G&G with Nate, Charlie, Alexis, and Spencer in the background

So as you can tell, I am not very good at blogging anymore. I just hate making time for it b/c I feel there isn't much time for making time. Anyway...For Memorial weekend we went to St. Louis with my parents and my sister Vicky's family. It was a fun weekend. We went to the temple, zoo, science center and an art museum that the kids didn't like b/c you couldn't touch anything. Nate loved the zoo. He liked the hippo's, there was a big hippo that liked the attention so he would go into the water and put his HUGE face against the glass where the kids were. I thought it was pretty awesome too. Then we went to the penguin house, which stunk really bad so I walked really fast through it and waited on the outside. Charlie and Nate stayed in there, it was FREEZING in there by the way, and Nate loved it. They watch the penguins jump and splash and swim and have a great time. We also watched some bears wrestling, that was pretty neat too. I am not very good at remembering to take pictures, sorry. So here is what I have. Below are the bears wrestling and the girls were trying to see the hippo in the tank. You can't see the hippo very well in the picture, but it was big.

Catch-up Time

Shoady and Juan



We have been busy here lately. We had Shoady & Juan come and visit at the end of April. (Charlie's sister and her husband). I have been busy trying to find a permanent job b/c I am temping at Walmart home office and that runs out in July. That will be here before I know it. So wish me luck on the job search. Charlie has been in training for his new position for the past 2 weeks and will have 1 more week with help and then be on his own, I think. Nate got last week and that was no fun at all. We did a good job of not spreading it around the house though. This week I got cold sores ALL over my lips. They looked like Angelina Jolie's lips, not exaggerating! They are still really sore, but are getting better. We too Nate's pacifier away exept for nap and night time, and church b/c he is SO LOUD! I don't know what to do about that. The picture right below this is from when he got Pink Eye. My poor baby!

Grandma's visit

So, long time coming...Charlie's mom came to visit in March for 10 days. She was great. She watched Nate while Charlie and I had to work. They wore each other out. We went to a BBQ of some friends on the Sunday she was here. At the BBQ Charlie got to see Scott Jones and friend of his from Idaho and they were able to play guitar together. They had a dune buggy that Nate loved to sit in and "drive". Grandma helped Nate "ride" the 4 wheeler too. They never actually went for rides on them b/c they were both not working. But as you will see, Nate was in heaven! Grandma and Grandpa Rice (we were sad b/c Grandpa Rice could not come) got Nate a Little Tikes police car and he loves that too. Grandma taught Nate how to "put gas in the car" by putting your finger in the spout and making a sound with your mouth that sounds like running water. We are so glad that Grandma was able to come play with us for a while. Next time try to bring Grandpa too though!

Fireman Nate

So on Friday Nate got to go to a birthday party for Bennett, a boy from church that turned 2. They got to go to a local fire dept. and play on the trucks. The fire dept. said they are the slowest in all of our town. Nate thought it was so neat. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't know about the party until that afternoon and I was already at work. So these pictures are curteousy of Miquilin, Bennett's mom. Nate got to go on top of the fire truck with one of the dad's. (no way was I climbing up there!) He thought that was great too, but I don't have a picture of it darn it! We then went to the church for pizza and Nate ate the whole slice by himself, higglety pigglety! It was a great day for Nate. FYI- I asked how much this certain fire truck cost b/c they were bragging about all the "bells and whistles" on it. They got a great "deal" at just over $650,000! Man those things are expensive!

Nate tried to jump off of this part of the truck, giving mommy a heart attack!

Charlie and I are doing well also, life is busy and hectic. A couple of weeks ago Linda, Charlie's mom came to visit and we (Nate especially) had a wonderful time. Nate wore grandma out and grandma wore Nate out. When I find my camera cord, I will post some pictures.

Did somebody say...PROMOTION!

So we found out today that Charlie got a promotion to be a deposit counselor. While he did not get the Assistant Manager position, this is still great news! He will have a sit down job, which is great for his feet. (He has MAJOR feet issues) Now maybe we'll be able to go on family walks. He will work 8:45-5:45 which will put him home earlier, better incentive pay, and a raise! We are very excited and proud of him. He's only been with the company 8 months and things are going great! Good job Charlie, we love you!

Hide-n-seek

Lately Nate has decided that hiding in/under/around things is so much fun. He is into everything. He empties out my cupboards so that he can play in them. Our cupboards don't have handles and are cheap, so child proofing has been hard. We had to get creative and we put velcro on them to keep Nate out. So far, so good. He pretty much went from crawling to running in a matter of days. He is at such a fun stage. We love to play with him. This week he has taken a big interest in playing with balls. He has 5 teeth and another one on the way. His doctor says he's too skinny and needs to be putting on the weight. He has been eating like a horse, but he never sits still long enough for any fat to stick. Who wants to carry around a little chub that makes your back hurt anyway.

Charlie is doing well with his job at Arvest Bank. He had the opportunity to interview for an assistant manager position on Friday, and we should know the results by this Wed. Also, he is interviewing for a deposit counselor position tomorrow. Hopefully he will at least get one of the jobs. I'll keep you posted. Also, we got a new desk for our office and now Charlie and I can both be on our computers at the same time. This is great, that way I can try (no promises) to blog more often than once a month. It is a bit overwhelming to work full time, keep a house, take care of Nate and find any "me" time. Charlie doesn't make it home until 7PM most nights and then I am so tired that I go to bed by 9. My job is going well too! I survived the 800+ layoffs that Walmart home office made, that was a nerve racking week. Life if good, but busy. If Charlie gets the assistant manager position, I might be able to quit my job and stay home with Nate. We don't know what the pay is, but hopefully it would be enough for that.

His & Hers

HIS and HERS
This is just like 25 things about me,except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you AND your spouse!! And of course,tag people!!!

1. What are your middle names? Ann and William
2. How long have you been together? 7 years, married 6
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? 6 months
4. Who asked who out? I asked him out for a double with my sister Rebecca.
5. How old are each of you? I will be 25 next month, he is 29
6. Whose siblings do you see the most? Mine. His sister is in Florida
7. Do you have any children together? Yes, Nate is 15 months.
8. What about pets? Yes, Black Lab mix names Tangent
9. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Making time for us, he doesn't get home until close to 7:00.
10. Did you go to the same school? No, our schools were rivals!
11. Are you from the same town? No, me Republic MO, him Willard MO.
12. Who is the smartest? Charlie!
13. Who is the most sensitive? Definetely me.
14. Where do you eat out most as a couple? Applebee's, cheap and good!
15. Where is the farthest you have traveled as a couple? Bahamas
16. Who has the craziest exes? Neither
17. Who has the worst temper? I guess Carley
18. Who does the cooking? Carley, but when Charlie cooks it is really good
19. Who is more social? Carley
20. Who is the neat freak? Neither, we just do the best we can with the time we have.
21. Who is more stubborn? Carley, I have to get my way pretty much all the time.
22. Who hogs the bed? Charlie, I have to move him over sometimes
23. Who wakes up earlier? Carley, 6AM
24. Where was your first date? Movies, we saw "A Walk to Remember"
25. Who has the bigger family? Carley, 3 sisters, he has 1 sister
26. Do you get flowers often? No.
27. How do you spend the holidays? With family, sometime in MO/AR, sometimes in FL.
28. Who is more jealous? I don't think we are jealous people.
29. How long did it take to get serious? About 1 month, after that we hated being away from each other.
30. Who eats more? Charlie
31. Who does the laundry? Mostly me, but Charlie helps sometimes
32. Who is better with the computer? Charlie, no contest
33. Who drives when you are together? 99% of the time Carley, I get car sick way to easy.


I am tagging Heather and Shoady.

The weather outside was Frightful!

So as many of you know, we had a huge ice storm a couple of weeks ago. These are the photos we took of the ice. You will need to pay attention to the details like the amount of ice sickles, the ice on the roofs of the cars, and tires. It was like 3 inches thick, some places on the cars were more than that. We had to take a hammer to get the ice off of our SUV. Who would have thought. We lost power for about 36 hours, luckily my sister Vicky had power and we stayed with her. We did have roof damage, but that has since been remedied. We have now thawed out and spend some wonderful days in the 60's and are waiting for Spring!

The busy life

So, since moving to the great state of Arkansas, life has been busy. Charlie is doing well at the bank and loves his job. He will hopefully be able to enroll in school soon, and finish his degree. He is going to go into financing, which the bank will pay for some if not most of!

As for Carley, she was moved into a marketing position with Walmart and so far is liking it. I looks like the data entry is not going over as well as can be, but she is working on it. We'll keep you posted on that.

Nate has finally started walking!!! He is now 14 months old and has 4 teeth. He is a little ham around the camera, so I don't get the good action pictures that I really want. Nate loves the dog and the dog loves Nate, especially at dinner time when Tangent gets to "clean up" Nate's mess on the floor.