Woznation

We cant thank Brian enough for finding us an awesome rental house.  There were a few places I saw online that seemed ok from the pictures, and then Brian would check them out and give us a big fat ‘NO’.  I was starting to get nervous and wanted to pick a reject, until we saw this place and Brian gave his approval.  Thank goodness we listened and waited to him.  This place is perfect for us for the next year while we start to search for a long-term home.  Here is a tour of the new place —

View from front door, south side of the house, facing the street:

Looking back at the main room from the piano:

Turn the corner to the dining room on the west side of the house:

Walk straight into the kitchen, with a window on the north side of the house:

‘Eat-in Kitchen’, the kids love it 🙂

Turn into the play room on the north side of the house with sliding doors out to the back yard:

Looking back at the playroom.  Man we love this space.  It keeps the main family room free of the kids clutter and gives them a room where they can throw balls, build and knock down towers, scream, dance, and do whatever they want!!

If you head up the stairs, there are two rooms on the north side of the house.  Evie is on the east:

Wil’s room is on the west:

Then directly across from Wil’s room, on the west side of the house is a guest room:

Down the hall, on the east side of the house there is a guest (kids) bath:

Then the master bedroom is the entire south side of the upstairs.  We are able to have our bedroom set and office-area up there.  It also has a nice sized walk-in closet and master bath:

Blank walls.  Still working on filling out the space –

Master bath:

We arent totally in love with the curb appeal of this house, but thats the least of our worries:

Most of the yard was fenced, but Phil needed to put up some stakes/fence on the sides.  Its been working out great.  Its amazing to be able to open the door and let Barney out to run around:

I left out a few pictures of the garage, laundry room, and downstairs bath (which is so awesome to have, given we only had upstairs bathrooms in the row house).  There is much more livable space, but slightly less storage, other than the garage. I love living in a neighborhood where the kids can run around in the back yard or outside on the sidewalk without me worrying about them. I love having a garage/drive-way so that I always have a close place to park and unload groceries and kids, especially on rainy days. Living in a house is getting me that much more excited to start looking to buy a home soon!

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend in Chicagoland!!  The kids had only been here for a week before we had a wonderful long holiday weekend together.  The weather was great, and we really enjoyed spending time as a family after nearly a month of living in different states. We love being close to good friends in the area, too.  Unlike when we moved to Baltimore and knew no one and had no clue on what to do or where to go — our friends here have been so awesome about making us feel welcome in the area and helping us find things to do.  On Friday, we went to a cook out at Kursten’s.  There were tons of kids there, with lots of children-friendly games and plenty of adult beverages and activities as well:

Then on Saturday we went to the Barrington parade, where we happened to set up shop only a block away from Jared and Karen.  Its so great to run-in-to good friends 🙂  Wil and Evie loved the parade — people threw out candy! (Unlike the towson parade last year!) and they had lots of characters, music, firetrucks, etc.  It was a good parade.

After naps, we shucked corn and ate watermelon – two July 4th staples in this house.  Then hung out at a new playground (can I just quickly mention how awesome the parks are around here?!  Great playgrounds and clean air-conditioned bathrooms! Amazing!).

Once we got Evie to bed, Wil and I snuck back out to the fireworks.  We had only attempted the fireworks once before, and Wil was a bit too young to really ‘get-it’.  But this year Wil had tons of energy and was really excited.  We got there a bit early and fought off a lot of bugs.  Wil kept asking to get back in the car and go home, but I made him stick it out until we saw at least the first 5 minutes. I was worried we were going to have another fireworks ‘flop’.  But once they got started he loved it! We figured out we would be able to see them from the car, so we watched the rest bug-free and with radio.  It was truly awesome.

Holidays are getting much more manageable and exciting. Especially my one-on-one time with Wil this year.  It gives me a glimpse of future holidays when all the kids are old enough to enjoy things.  I can’t wait!

Wil is 4!  He’s BIG, as he’ll tell you.

3 didnt really do him justice anymore.  He’s definitely a 4-year-old and so so so great and wonderful.  Hes such a good big brother to Evie.  He has more patience with her than I do!  He likes helping her and playing with her.  And he’ll help me decipher what she’s saying — One time at Busias, Evie came up to us, repeatedly asking us the same thing, but we couldnt make out what she wanted.  And Wil comes over and says ‘Evie wants to hide’.  Haha.  Sure enough, thats exactly what she was asking to do.  We’re still working on his speech.  We have yet to set up his therapy in IL – but hes working really hard at home.  I understand him 95% of the time, but it takes new people a little while to catch on to his pronunciations.

I got the idea to start a yearly ‘interview’ with Wil to see how he answers certain questions and how they will change over the years.  A few days after his birthday, I asked him the following questions, with his answers (and my clarifications in parentheses):

1. What is your favorite color? yellow
2. What is your favorite toy?  race car (a little white matchbox race car that he just recently became attached to)
3. What is your favorite food? cookies
4. What is your favorite show? robots (Transformers Rescue Squad on Netflix)
5. What is your favorite thing to wear? new ball shirt (We just recently incorporated a bunch of Luke hand-me downs, lots of ‘new’ items)
6. What is your favorite animal? a doggie
7. What is your favorite song? jingle bells
8. What is your favorite book? car book (no idea what he is talking about?)
9. Who is your best friend? Evan (Wahh – his friend from Baltimore who he hasnt seen in two months.  Then he asked when Evan was coming over to see his new house.  This made me sad.)
10. What is your favorite game? race car
11. What do you sleep with at night? race car
12. What do you want to be when you grow up? space shoes (He watched a Transformers where they all had space shoes? and is now requesting them every hour — I guess he wants to be some sort of astronaut transformer?)

So there we have it.  We’ll see how he answers them next year.  Onto his actual birthday —

We started the day off with pancakes and candles — and made a special crown for him to wear (a leftover craft from Liz! Thanks Liz!)  We went and checked out a new playground (they are all new, considering we moved in 4 days prior to his birthday), then played with water guns in the backyard all morning.

That afternoon we had tickets to go to Legoland!!!  Wil spent many hours playing legos at Mimis house in June, so we thought this would be the perfect place.  Phil was able to meet us there straight from work.  They had displays of giant lego creations, a few small carnival type rides, a big indoor playground, and a small movie theater for 10-minute lego movies. Both kids had a great time (until we left, when Evie had an epic meltdown, go figure).

When we got home, we skyped with all the grandparents, opened presents and had ice cream.  He loves the remote control car from Wendy and Nate, the spiderman glasses from Busia and DziaDzia, and the ‘gears’ from Mimi and PopPop.  Thanks to everyone who sent things for his birthday.  He had an awesome day!

Thank goodness for Busia’s house!  I was so thankful to drop them off when Char got home from work – and then I would go work myself for a few hours and pick them up before bedtime.  Mark and Char always had tons of water toys to play with on the deck (swimsuits were optional for the kids – so there are not many pictures to share!)  Char and I also had some fun afternoons at Bryan Park Pool and going on an adventure hike out at Griffy lake.  Mark and Char also took the kids to the play ground and chocolate moose.  I also have a few pictures sprinkled in from Ross and Nicole’s wedding over Memorial Day when Em and Sam were here, and a few from Evie’s birthday that I didnt have for the other post. Lots of fun was had by all!

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I really dont think I will ever be able to repay my parents and the Wozniaks for letting us crash with all of them in Bloomington for 4 weeks this summer. I guess thats what parents are for — but I’m sure they are just as excited to go back to regularly scheduled visits. Everyone was exhausted! Our home base was “Mimi’s House”, as the kids called it, and we hopped back and forth daily so we hung out with everyone. The kids had a blast.  I liked to use the phrase “Razzle Dazzle ’em” because I felt like we were constantly trying to distract them from the whole mess of moving.    We had a constant parade of toys – birthdays – grandparents – holidays – desserts – pools – playgrounds.  It was non-stop.  I dont think they even had a chance to think about their home/friends/school in Baltimore (which is bittersweet, but I’m glad they werent sad).  They were completely out of routine — I relaxed a lot of rules, but then there were a bunch of new rules as well. Everything was different than ‘normal’.  So by the end, I dont think any of us were the best versions of ourselves, but we made it through.  And I’d much rather the kids be grumpy from too much fun, than from living in a hotel room in Chicago waiting for our rental house.

At Camp Mimi’s we had all sorts of fun. We went to Wonderlab and the Library.  Walked to the playground nearly every day.  Hung out with Andrew and Jessie (and Killian).  Watered the plants.  Played in boxes.  Went to see Grandma Bear (and saw Aunt Sue who was visiting from France!).  I also took them up to Indy for the day to see Celia at the Zoo.  And they had their first Jiffy Treat experience.  Like I said, they had more than enough activities to keep them busy.  And with the extra help, I was able to finish up some high priority projects at work, which I definitely could not have done watching the kids on my own.  Thanks to Mimi and PopPop for finding the energy to keep them happy for 4 long weeks! And for putting up with me, when I was tired and grumpy, too 🙂

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Wendy and Nate were going on a weekend get-away and Mimi and PopPop watched Luke and Elise for a few days.  So we had all 4 watkins grandkids hanging out.  They dont get to see each other that often, so it was non-stop playing for 4 days!  I was exhausted!

We had lots of leftover birthday cupcakes:

Read lots of books with Mimi:

Waited for PopPop to get home:

Went to the mall on rainy days:

Went to the park on sunny days:

Played lots of ‘mousy’ with Elise:

And did lots of bubbles and popsicles outside:

The highlight of the visit was the firetruck at PopPops office!  Dad was getting a certificate of appreciation and they wanted to do a photo-op in front of a firetruck, so he had them come by the office while the kids were in town.  Major grandpa brownie points.  The kids had an awesome time getting an upfront and personal experience with the firetruck.  The firemen were so nice and let the kids do all sorts of fun stuff:

Playing with the hose:

Sitting in the driver’s seat (Wil was actually the first person to sit in the seat, and pushed the horn and made the siren go off, so they had to turn it off for everyone else, haha):

Climbing on the back:

and new hats!

All the cousins had an awesome time the whole week.  And the best news of all – at the end of the week – the 5th watkins grandchild was born.  Cole was born on June 5th.  We are so excited to meet him next month.  Congrats Maggie and Phil – Cole is so lucky to have you!

Happy Birthday Evie!!

We had a little party at the playground on her birthday.  My sister and her family were in town, and Andrew and Jessie came over, along with all the grandparents of course.  We made a big fuss of her birthday all day and told her we were going to have a special party after dinner.  I made cupcakes, and all the kids got balloons. Evie loved opening presents – except the clothes, which she tossed out of the bag like tissue paper.  We’ve celebrated enough birthdays that Evie knew exactly what she was supposed to do when we lit the candles on her cupcake.  We just had to make sure she waited until after we finished her birthday song.  She had a wonderful time.  Thanks to everyone who helped celebrate with us!

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I’m currently hanging in Btown while Phil is living in Chicago on Jared and Karen’s couch.  Most of May was spent freaking out over rental properties, getting things organized at work, packing, and I dont even know what else.  Its kind of a blur.  Lets see if I can recall anything….

In early May, Phil and I worked on closing out things at work.  I am actually staying on as a ‘casual’ employee which means I am no longer faculty, but can still work on and bill for ongoing projects.  Im glad to have some continuity in my career, and I enjoy my work, but am a little stressed out on how im going to get things (anything?) done without childcare for the next few months.

We finalized a rental house on May 20th after 3 weeks of looking. Our buddy Brian is a realtor in Chicago and was basically our savior throughout the whole process.  Since Phil and I were way to busy to actually go SEE any of the houses, Brian just did everything for us.  I really dont know how we are going to repay him.  He found us a great place and I’m so so thankful to have a house!  But the rental isnt available until June 16th.  So Phil is crashing with friends for a few weeks. And I’ll stay in Bloomington switching between the grandparents houses.

My last day in the office was May 15th.  Then I spent the week packing.  Phils last day was the 23rd.  We were already planning on going to a wedding in Indiana over memorial day – so we packed up the essentials: kids, dog, clothes  – and went to say with the grandparents.  But we didnt get nearly enough done before we left – so both Phil and I flew back to Baltimore for a few days and then met with the movers on the 28th. It was the longest we spent away from the kids together – I just wish it was for a vacation, rather than packing! But we got everything done and drove back to Bloomington overnight in time for Evie’s birthday.

So yeah –  Right now Wi land Evie are loving spending time at both grandparents houses.  My sister and her family were even here for a bit – and the cousins stayed at Mimi and PopPops  – so all 4 cousins got to hang out for 5 days.  Then my parents went up to MI to meet Phil and Maggie’s new baby, Cole!  The 5th Watkins grandchild! He is seriously the most precious thing ever.  Phil is coming down on the weekends to see the kids,  and we’re just going day by day until we hear when the movers can get our stuff to Chicago. Currently our move-in window is June 22th-June 26th. Until we get the call from the movers – we’re just hanging out in Btown!

Here are some shots of our last weeks in Baltimore – I’ll have more posts of our adventures in Bloomington in the coming weeks.

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There are so many thing that we are going to miss about Baltimore.  Phil and I absolutely loved living in a big city, where we could walk to many great restaurants, parks, and professional sporting events.  Everything we wanted or needed was within about 5 miles of us.  We had amazing jobs, colleagues and friends. Some of my favorite memories include:

• Walking to M&T stadium in sub-zero weather with Phil at the end of November for our first Ravens game.  We created our own little pub crawl stopping at various bars to warm-up on our way.  We sat next to come of the craziest fans, and had an amazing time.
• Dropping of Wil at school on Thursday mornings, then walking to Firehouse coffee to meet up with Laurel and Christina and their little ones.  Then after running errands, we would all pick-up the older boys and head to the tot-lot with Fionnuala and anyone else who could make it.
• Waiting for Phil to get home during the week, then walking to Patterson Park, where we would sit on the rock, pick flowers, walk around the duck pond, or stop by the garden.
• Meeting up with Phil’s friends for happy hour down in Canton — or meetings up with Phil on Fridays at Stackhouse for a beer before getting home to get the kids — or Phil hopping down to Roman’s after putting the kids to bed. So many good bars in Baltimore!
• Coming home from work, seeing Liz and the kids on the stoop doing chalk and the kids running to greet me.
• Going for runs after work along the promenade, through fell’s point, butchers hill, patterson park, canton – and all the other small little neighborhoods that made-up southeast Baltimore.
• Having the ability to go to the aquarium, zoo, or science center with the kids on 15-mins notice.

Of course city living had its drawbacks, too.  I’m pretty sick of living in a row house.  Its only 11 feet 9 inches wide and the walls were caving in after 4 years.  We were simply outgrowing the space.  And even though the park was close, there is no substitute for having your own outdoor space, and our stoop wasnt exactly the ‘outdoor space’ I wanted.  Row house living also provided many neighbors – not all of which were that great.  Some were crazy, some were on drugs, some were crazy and on drugs.  Some left food and bulk trash in the alley which led to a huge rat problem and many patches in Phil’s tires.  There were cops on our street probably every other weekend for some sort of disturbance.

So we are looking forward to our new space: A big back yard for Barney and the kids –  fewer neighbors, fewer rats – less trash, crime, and police sirens.  But I know we will miss being so close to all the fun things we enjoy doing. Most of all we will miss our friends.

date night

After a long, long winter — Its finally gorgeous around here!  We have been outside as much as possible — We went on multiple trips to the zoo, went to a friend’s birthday party, and trips to the park nearly every evening.  Phil and I also were traveling a bit.  Evie and I took a girls trip to Bloomington to attend Phil and Maggie’s baby shower!!  Maggie is due at the end of May and is doing great.  I was so glad to see her and Phil as they get ready to welcome baby watkins.  It was also a really fun opportunity to get some one-on-one time with Evie outside of our normal grind.  She can be quite pleasant when shes not tormenting Wil!  While I was in Btown, Phil held down the fort with Wil and Barney.  Wil had his last gymnastics class, and they hung out at Dimple’s house and the park a lot.

After I got back, Phil had another trip to Chicago.  After multiple trips and multiple job offers, Phil has accepted a job in the Windy City!  We are beyond excited to get back to the midwest, closer to friends and family.  Even though Phil and I both have wonderful jobs in Baltimore and we have made so many wonderful friends here, it was hard to be so far away from everyone back home.  We have always kept our ears open to possibilities that would bring us closer, and this opportunity for Phil seems like a perfect fit!  We are still hammering out all the details, but it looks like we will be there in early to mid June.

Time to start packing!

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