Postings Postings Postings

So I finally got all caught up on the postings for graduation, the move to Vermont, and what has happened since. Take a look, and if you want to start from the beginning, scroll down to Robbie's graduation, begin there and enjoy!!

And It Starts...

I was getting the girls dressed for church this morning and put Georgia on the floor. She was so tired and didn't like that at all. I had given her some toys as well but that didn't matter...she wanted her mommy. So she rolled onto her tummy (she can do that now as well as sit up on her own from laying down on the floor) and started slowly army crawling towards me!! It was a really slight crawl but she did finally make her way over to me. She hasn't done it again since then but it was amazing and we're sure that it won't be too much longer until our little girl is crawling all over the place. Who'da thunk? : )

Rochester

So the day after we got to Vermont we repacked our car and headed back down to Rochester, NY to visit Robbie's family. Just like with my family in Pittsburgh, it has been 2 1/2 years since we had seen any of them, and any of them had seen us. They were having a family reunion that weekend so we thought it would be a perfect time to go and visit them. We got there around bedtime on Friday night and just kind of hung out and got ready for bed.

Saturday was the day of the reunion, and because we were all so tired from staying up late with the kids the night before, we slept in a little. And even though we had slept in, and didn't have a whole lot of time before the reunion started, we decided to take the kids to the Rochester Zoo. They had a lot of fun there, especially when they saw the seals and elephants. I think those were the best part of the zoo for them. We saw tons of animals and they even got to ride on a "train."

Watching the Seals.

Looking at the Elephants.

So much happier in the stroller than in the baby carrier.




Riding on the train.

After the zoo we went back to Rob's grandma's house to change into bathing suits, ran to Walmart to get "floaties" and went to the family reunion. One of Rob's mom's cousins was holding it in his back yard, and he had a pool, hence the bathing suits and "floaties." Gwen and Grace couldn't wait to go swimming, so we got them ready right away. Gwen swam for a little while with Robbie, then decided she wanted to get out. I took Grace over just as Gwen was getting out, and Grace got in with Robbie. I convinced Gwen to get back in with me, and wished I hadn't. The pool was freezing!! We were only in there for a little bit before Gwen again decided that she didn't want to swim any more and we got out. They never got back into the pool but they sure had a lot of fun that day. We went back to Rob's grandmas to relax and spend some time with his brother Richie and everyone else before bed time.


On Sunday we left around lunch time to begin the drive back home. It poured most of the way...at one point it rained so hard that we had to slow down in order to see out the windshield. So it was slow going for a little while but wonderful to be in that big of a rainstorm again. It was wonderful seeing everyone again and we'll be back down there for Thanksgiving when everyone we missed will be there.

Multiple Postings

Because so much has happened over the past few weeks, I will be trying to put up a post or two a day to get all caught up on what went on. So, if you keep up with my blog as I post new things, then you'll see them day by day. If not, scroll on down to Rob's graduation and start there. Enjoy!!

2 Years Old!!

2 days after we started our cross country journey, Gracie had her 2 birthday. She is officially 2 years old!! The morning of her birthday I sang Happy Birthday to her over and over again and she kept telling me "No...no my birthday." My family all sang Happy Birthday to her during the day and she still said it wasn't her birthday. Silly girl. We had a little mini birthday party at my grandparents in Pittsburgh for her, but she still wasn't sure what to think. Much thanks to everyone who remembered her birthday and got her a present. She's gotten gifts from various relatives through out the trip, but we still have not gotten her gift for her yet. I would like to have a birthday party at my parents so my sister can include her kids so it may be another couple of weeks but she won't notice if we are really late. Happy Birthday to my sweet Grace Marjorie!!

Sitting Up!!

So I don't know how she did it, stuck in a car seat for hours on end, day after day, but right before we moved and during our move Georgia learned how to sit up. She no longer topples over after a few seconds. She can sit there for minutes to an hour and just play. She's also figuring out how to get onto her back/tummy to roll around from a sitting position, and she's learning how to push herself up from the floor into a sitting position. She's not quite there yet, but she gets half way there. She's also been teething the past few days (during our trip to Rochester) and learning how to wave. She says baba and mama now, and I know that most of the time she is just saying the sounds, but the other day she was watching me get her a bottle and said "Mama Baba" and when she is playing on the floor and wants my attention she'll turn her head to look at me and say "mama" over and over again until I respond (and then she stops). I'd like to think that mama is her first word, but I'll wait a week or two until I know for sure. She's getting so big and I can't believe that she's almost 7 months old!

Sitting up so big!!

Taking a nap on the couch with a toy at Grandpa & Grandma Congdons.

Day 6 & 7 Of The Cross Country Exodus

We left Pittsburgh around 1 pm and headed north to New York. We stopped for the night on the outskirts of Syracuse and we took the girls swimming in the hotel pool. They weren't too sure about it and didn't really enjoy getting in and swimming but liked it when Rob and my brother Matt jumped in and splashed everywhere. They slept all right that night...not great, but all right.


After breakfast the next morning we headed to Vermont. Right before entering Vermont we stopped at a gas station to feed Georgia and realized that they had Dunkin Donuts. Well, I have never gotten used to Krispy Kremes. Never really liked them. So when we saw Dunkin Donuts we had to get one. Oh, yummy yummy boston creme donut. So wonderful. : )


We got to Rob's parents around noon and started unloading most of our stuff. It didn't take too long because most of the stuff we were unloading here was just going straight into storage. After that, my parents took off with the rest of our stuff for their house, and we will be going up there to take care of it all this coming Friday. We stayed down in Rutland to spend time with his parents and to go back down to Rochester, New York to visit with Rob's family down there that we haven't seen in 2 1/2 years. We are back in Rutland now staying with Rob's parents and starting on the job search. When we go up to my parents this Friday we will continue to search for work to bring in some money while we continue applying for a job that Rob can actually use his degree for. It was a hard trip and this is even a harder time for us, completely relying on our families to support us and our kids, and it really brings the spirits down. I continue to try and have faith that this is where the Lord wants us and that a job will turn up and we can finally get on with our lives, but it's hard to have hope when it's been six months since Robbie started the job hunting, and he's only had one interview out of over 100 jobs he's applied for.


Even though we are back with family we will continue to post about things going on for all our family & friends that live far away. We continue to keep many of you who are searching for a job (just like us) in our thoughts and prayers. We miss all our friends out west and we will keep in touch. It's good to be home!!