halloween part 1

here are some pictures from thalia's first (second) halloween. i say that because last year, she was only 8 months old...i put her in her hot dog costume, took a picture, and we went to bed :o) this year we (aunt jillian and i) actually took her around the neighborhood in her outfit! she was SO adorable!! she said "trick or treat" at almost every house, and said "thank you" at every house. everyone thought she was so cute. aunt jillian told thalia after the first house "let's go get more candy", so after every house thalia would say "more candy?" i was cracking up. she did really well...although i must say: we need to pick thalia's halloween costumes a bit more carefully next year. in michigan, it snowed on half of the halloweens i experienced. well here, poor thalia was sweating to death in her chicken outfit, because we went start trick or treating, it was 75 degrees!! some snotty neighbor lady made a comment...but we didn't let her ruin our night!

we also learned a lot about thalia this weekend. she likes candy corn, AND chili cheese fries...and her new things are "i do it" and "i see". i swear she is turning into a toddler right before my eyes!!

other than having a fantastic weekend with aunt jillian, i am feeling much more sane the past few days. this moving stuff is way harder than i thought it was going to be. i mean, i didn't think it was going to be easy...but definitely not this hard either. on top of that, work has been really crazy busy. the next week or so is going to be the calm before the storm for sure. i was going to say that i wouldn't get into the details...but that wouldn't work for most of you, would it? :o) so here is the run-down of the next 6 weeks (or so):

nov 3 head to michigan to help get ready to move

nov 7 yiayia and papou in michigan

nov 9-13 movers come to pack and load

nov 16 close in michigan

nov 21 great-great grandma touse's 100th birthday

nov 23 close in north carolina, hopefully install new carpet

nov 24 movers come to unload, hopefully drive to michigan (yes, it will be late)

nov 25 andy's wedding

nov 26 thanksgiving

nov 27 thalia's first red wings game

nov 28 my 10-year high school reunion

nov 29 back to north carolina, with gampa in tow

nov 30-dec 4 repaint house, complete 2 research projects

dec 2 gamma comes down

dec 9,10 gone for more research, yiayia and papou come out
dec 14 final day of research

whew! anyone else tired? ;o) at this point, i am trying to get through one day at a time. your prayers will be most coveted over the next month or so.

anyway, since the time changed last night, thalia is about ready for bed. without further ado, here are the pictures...more to come tomorrow when i get to work. enjoy!

ready to go
first trick or treat from joey

putting the candy in her bag

cheese!

trick or treating with aunt jillian and nuhnit (nugget)
three blue-eyed beauties
i told you she likes candy corn...i'll tell you a funny story about it tomorrow
"thalia, what'd you get?"

more to come! thanks again for your love and prayers! i know its the only reason i am still standing!

much love and (hoping for) more sleep!

c, c, and t

one for the ladies

aunt nikki enjoying a laugh with thalia...courtesy of aunt jillian

had to share!

thalia, chris, and i met up with aunt steffie and uncle barrett and went out to dinner with our aunt and uncle in royal oak last night. we had a really nice time. throughout the meal, thalia was taking her napkin and wiping up water that she had spilled on the table while she was drinking (she is a mini papou!). toward the end of the meal, she turned and saw the wall was dirty (quite scuffed and nicked), so barrett turned her high chair around and she started WIPING THE WALLS of the restaurant!!! in this first picture she is very concerned about the condition of the wall:

then there is this one...i told her to say "cheese" and this is the face she made while she said it!

i can't stop laughing looking at it! hope it brightens your day too!

here is one from our flight home the other night. somehow all of thalia's lovies ended up in the car...well then of course we had to take them ALL on the plane!

monkey, kitty cat, and blanket...all along for the ride

much love and quite a bit more sleep,

c, c, and t

one for uncle tobes

so that uncle bar doesn't get all the attention...here is some face time for uncle toby

update

just wanted to let everyone know that chris and thalia are both feeling better from their health scare last week. thalia got new antibiotics and her swelling is completely gone. the bite site is still a little red, but not too bad. now that that is over, we get to work on more molars! chris' leg continues to be quite a bit swollen but he is pretty sure the overall swelling is starting to go down. apparently the three bite sites look like huge pimples, which i told him not to mess with. he went to our primary care doctor yesterday for a flu shot...she swabbed one of the sites that had burst to see what kind of infection it really was (the ER docs just figured MRSA). both of them are continuing their antibiotics as prescribed to ensure nothing comes back.
thalia and i had a relaxing weekend watching football:

and what a great day it was: Michigan and Texas won, Notre Dame and Ohio State lost!!! AND Butler won, making them 6-0 for the first time in almost 20 years!! It's pretty neat seeing that, because when i was there, our football team wasn't very good. I'm still a Bulldog through and through though!
Aside from football watching, and still trying to teach Thalia how to do "Hook em Horns" with her fingers, we have had some big milestone moments over the past week. Thalia put her own socks on this morning. Last night, she helped me unload and load the dishwasher! She is also starting to speak in sentences (Thalia sit down and color; Walk Nugget outside; Martha is downstairs...its really quite impressive).
Tomorrow Thalia and I head back to our ypsi house for the last time. we are going to be spending a few days there, trying to go through most of our stuff and get rid of what we can before the move. when we do move, after thanksgiving, i am going to be swamped with work, so i am trying to get a lot done before then. let me know if you are in need of dishes or silverware!
we had the inspection on the house in NC yesterday...it went well but there are some things that need to be fixed. while i was there, i got to figure out where most of our furniture is going to go! that made me feel a bit more at ease about the whole thing.
alright, back to work for me. thanks again for all your love and prayers...it has been a long road, but i can see the light. hope you have a great week!
much love and not much sleep (molars)
c, c, and t

just crazy

well, what an adventurous couple weeks we have had! i think i mentioned that i was in orlando most of last week for a national business meeting. it went really well...my team played a pretty big role in the meeting and we were well received. may not seem like a big deal, but we have one of the few teams that is able to do things like this to help our brand teams. it was great getting to be a part of it.
then after being home for less than 6 hours, we hopped on a plane to go to the balloon fiesta in albuquerque. what a group we had! i think there were at least 21 people with us everywhere we went! what a sight! but we had an amazing time with yiayia and papou and the aunts and uncles...even "uncle" dom came in from phoenix! pictures are soon coming of all the balloons and people. one morning we got to go down to the "field" and be right next to all the hot air balloons as they took off...hundreds of them! it was quite the experience!!
while we were there, we found out that we sold our house in michigan!! it was only on the market for 4 days!!! we close on november 16...which is just so close! since we sold that house, we made an offer on a great house in cary that we loved. it is right by martha momma and uncle ronnie, and it has a huge yard and a playset! we close on that house on november 23. the next few weeks are going to be quite the whirlwind! but i have chris, who is doing an incredible job of taking care of things in michigan, and a ton of people who are helping us every step of the way.
then when we got home, chris and thalia both got bit by something...maybe a spider. i don't know, but anyway, both of them ended up in the urgent care because of the swelling! chris had three bites on his shin, thalia's bite was up by her temple. the doctors gave them both antibiotics and we are hoping the swelling will go down. this morning, thalia's eye was pretty swollen. but she seems to be in a good mood, and was running and laughing with her friends at school. i'll keep you posted...just another crazy thing happening in my life these days!
here are some pictures from the past week or so...
aunt jenny got thalia this great cheerleader outfit. it comes with a white turtleneck, but it was too warm for that. thalia is mad because texas was losing.
not to worry...texas won!
she has been loving wearing this hat for some reason
this is thalia's new friend nugget (aunt jillian's dog). thalia has been taking nugget out for walks with martha momma...she'll hold the leash and everything. its quite the sight. not to worry...if thalia wants to get a dog, she can go over to most of her aunts' houses to visit!!!
that is about the best update i can give at this point...i am emotionally exhausted. but it will all be over soon, and we will be a family again! thanks for your continued love and prayers. we couldn't do it without you!
much love and little sleep,
c, c, and t

quick update

hey friends,
my apologies for my lack of updates. things have just been a whirlwind lately! after spending three days in orlando, chris, thalia and i all hopped on a plane and flew to albuquerque for the balloon fiesta. what a fun time! it was even better that so many of our family and friends got to join us. it has been a wonderful weekend of adventures and laughter and food!
things are going surprisingly great on the home front. i'll let you know more when things become more finalized...but God definitely has been listening and answering our prayers!
stay tuned for more updates and lots of pictures. in the meantime, check out the 19 month hippo!
much love and some sleep,
c, c, and t