OUR HOME

WE GOT THE KEYS TO OUR NEW HOUSE TODAY.  We started making offers in September and never thought we would actually be home owners.  We made over 20 offers.  It was an emotionally trying season with lots of disappointments, but today...WE BOUGHT OUR FIRST HOUSE!!!  It's official...and now the work begins.  We have so much to do, but we are so excited!  What a blessing from the Lord!  

I love being a mom!

As I was putting Jacob to bed tonight he asked, "Mom, will you snuggle me for a few minutes?"  How could I resist that sweet face?  So I got Micah all settled in his bed and went back to Jacob's room, crawled up onto his loft bed, and snuggled my sweet little first grader.  His 7th birthday is just 6 weeks away and I am so glad that he still has so much love for his mama.  He is such a joy, and I love that he still runs up and gives me a hug after school everyday and holds my hand on the way to the car (in front of all of his friends).  I don't know how long this will last.  I'm sure one day he'll think he's "too big."  So for now I am taking advantage of all of those special moments.  Those are the rewards for all of the hard work and sacrifices that mom's make every day.  Tonight I feel so blessed!

Facebook

So I have been seriously neglecting my blog the past month or two.  I blame it on Facebook.  It has sucked me in.  Tim set me up on Facebook and I have found that it is so much easier to post a quick one sentence update and a couple of pictures than a whole story.  But I need to be better about blogging because one day I want to be able to look back at all of the detailed memories of times with my family and friends.  Anyway, for those of you who want an update on our house situation...the hunt is still on.  We have been making offers for about 6 months now and have had lots of disappointing setbacks.  We actually were days away from getting our keys to one house and lost our funding due to the freeze on the state budget funds.  We did get our deposit back, but lost $500 because of a pest inspection and appraisal that we had done.  That was a bit discouraging.  We currently have offers on 2 homes, both a bit out of our price range, but we are just going to keep trying.  I will keep you all posted!  

House Hunting : The Emotional Roller Coaster

Ok, so I am freaking out right now.  Yesterday we walked through a house that I fell in love with. It is BEAUTIFUL and HUGE, but in our price range which is just crazy.  It's on a quiet street in a neighborhood not too far from Jacob's school.  It seemed like a long shot, but we put our offer in anyway.  I cannot stop dreaming about this house!  So today, our agent said that there is only one other offer in but that the lady at the bank really wants to work with us to get our offer accepted. There are still some other things that would have to fall into place, but our long shot offer now seems like a possibility.  I don't know what to do other than pray, which I know is the best thing to do.  I just have my hopes up and I don't want to be totally disappointed.    Now we just wait and see, which is so hard.   I'll update as we hear more.

AIRPORT FUN

Micah loves airplanes.  He is a huge fan of the cartoon Jay Jay the Jet Plane and he sleeps with some sort of airplane every night (sometimes it's a little metal airplane....sometimes it's a cute little green airplane named Snuffy that Daddy made out of legos).    He also carries around a little airplane with him wherever he goes.  So today was an exciting day in the life of Micah.  He got to go to the real airport!  Tim flew to San Diego this weekend for a conference.  We decided to park and walk in with Tim when we dropped him off and Micah was just amazed at all that he saw.  He got to see giant "Snuffy and Jay Jays"  and he got to ride up and down a big escalator.  He said he wanted to "go inside of a little Jay Jay."  Here are some super cute pics of Micah's exciting day.

Lake Tahoe Retreat

Tim and I spent Tue - Thurs of this week in beautiful Lake Tahoe.  Every year we get to go on a "pastors and wives" retreat and stay at The Embassy Suites Hotel.  We went with Nate and Carmen and had a great time hanging out with them.  We are so thankful that God brought us to Emmaus!  We also got to sleep in and eat a yummy buffet breakfast both mornings.  We had the whole afternoon free on Wed, so we went out to lunch, walked around the little shops near our hotel, and went to see a movie (and of course got a huge tub of popcorn with extra butter -  our favorite)!  Tim and I had so much fun together -  it was refreshing to get away from the daily routine and talk, laugh, relax.  I am so thankful for Tim.  He is a great husband and I love that our relationship continues to grow and deepen.  As wonderful as it is to get away, it is always great to come home.  We were greeted by two very excited little boys screaming, "Mommy and Daddy are home!" over and over.  We have a great little family!

Tooth #2 and a cutie little brother

Jacob lost his 2nd tooth tonight, once agian while brushing his teeth.  This time we were ready for it and it did not go down the drain.  He asked me to post a pic on our blog as I was putting him to bed, so here is my cute little toothless boy.  He was so excited to put another tooth under his pillow.  He actually put himself to bed early tonight!  

I also had to add a pic of Micah because he wanted a picture taken of him too after he saw Jacob getting his taken.  He kept touching his teeth tonight as if he might loose one at any moment. So cute.  I love my two little guys.  

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Carob Cookies

I am always looking for yummy gluten free, sugar free recipes.  I found a really good one today and altered it a little bit.  They turned out so good I had to post the recipe.  My mom really loved them too.   

Recipe

1/2 cup brown rice flour

5 T barley flour

1/2 cup + 1 T carob powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t sea salt

1/2 cup + 1 T honey

1/4 cup + 2 T veg oil

1 cup crunch peanut butter (natural with no added sugar)

1/2 t pure vanilla extract

1/8 - 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut (optional)

mix wet ingredients together.  mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.  combine ingredients.  stir in coconut (optional).  bake at 350 degrees for 8-11 minutes until cookies are set.  leave on cookie sheet for 2 minutes.  transfer to cooling rack.  enjoy.

Daddy Love

Tim and Jacob were both so tired last night that they fell asleep on the couch together before 8:00pm.  They were so cute and cozy that I had to capture the moment.  There is nothing better than a good snuggle on the couch.

Halloween

Friday was orange and black day at Jacob's school.  It was also Halloween, so Tim bought some orange and blue (they were out of black) hairspray and did Jacob's hair for school.  He loved having crazy hair!  One of my favorite things about Jacob is that he gets so excited about all the little things in life.  He is full of joy and enthusiasm.  He is such a fun kid!

For some reason, the orange hairspray looked a bit pink...but Jacob didn't care.  Micah thought brother's hair was funny!
All dressed up in costume.  Jacob was a skeleton pirate and Micah was a doggie.  This was not Micah's original costume.  He was supposed to be Buzz Lightyear, but refused to wear his costume.  I think he might have been afraid of it.  Finally I pulled out all of the costumes we have from previous Halloweens and he reluctantly settled on Jacob's old doggie costume. Micah sure has a mind of his own.  
Our church put on a Great Pumpkin Festival and the boys got to play lots of carnival games and watched "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"  on a big screen.  They had a blast.
Micah and Kyri -two cute little puppy dogs.  "Woof ... Woof"
Tim and I even dressed up.  A butterfly fairy and a monk - nice!
All in all, a good day.  Tim's favorite part of the day...he and a bunch of people went to Chipotle at 9:58pm and put foil on themselves (like a burrito) to get free burritos or bowls.  He was so excited about his free meal...we are totally addicted to Chipotle!!!

Jack-O-Lantern Cucumber

I cut into a cucumber last night and had a good laugh.  It totally looked like a face.  It even has two little front teeth!  It was so weird that I had to take a picture.  

THE PUMPKIN FARM

"I went to the Pumpkin Patch with my class.  We had so much fun!  We went on a train ride and we went to the pig show and we had apple cider and played on this little wood thing, and then we went on this little train car and we jumped in the hay and had lunch.  I went on a hay ride then got my pumpkin.   I got my pumpkin from the ground.  The best part of my day was going to pick my pumpkin."  - Jacob

REUNION WEEKEND

Saturday morning cartoons at the hotel...breakfast at Black Bear diner...a walk across the Sundial Bridge...reunion lunch at Simpson...catching up with old friends...bounce houses...showing the kids where we met and went to college...showing Jacob his first home...dinner at Chipotle (again)...Jacob and Micah running around a giant field waving glowsticks with all of our friends kids...a cozy family snuggle under the stars waiting for the fireworks to start....fireworks!?! (they couldn't have 4th of July fireworks this year because of the fires, so they did them this weekend instead)...watching the fireworks through the eyes of a 6 year old and a 2 year old...hanging out by the fire pit at Sea and Bannings house and making smores...laughing with friends...visiting our Redding church, Risen King, on Sunday morning...lunch at Discovery Village with lots of friends...definitely a weekend to remember!

celebrating the completion of Forest and Stacie's adoption paperwork...now they just have to wait to get a call to go get their sweet little baby in Ethiopia
the girls...best friends since freshmen year of college...Dana...Amy...Stacie...Me 
reunion lunch at Simpson...Stacie...Forest...Dana...Me...Tim
Amy (my roomate for 6 years)...Jill and her sweet little Abby
hanging out waiting for the fireworks show to start (so glad my mom came with us)
SeaJay...Dana...Me
Our little family...notice all the glow sticks (thanks so much Aims)
Family Pic with Sara, Ari, and Braden (we are so glad you found us in the dark Sara)
smores by the fire pit in SeaJay and Banning's amazing backyard 

10 YEARS

We are in Redding this weekend for our 10 year Simpson College (now University) reunion.   Last night we met our best friends at Chipotle (Yummy Yummy)!  It was so fun to see everyone and to watch all of our kids running around and playing together.  I love my friends and am so thankful that after 10 years we still have really close friendships.  After dinner we took my mom and the boys back to the hotel.  We are staying at the Red Lion, which holds special memories for me.  When I arrived at Simpson, my Junior Year, our dorm was not completed.  A ton of us were put up in the Red Lion hotel for over a month which was so much fun...maid service, room service, best friends to hang out with...what more could a college girl ask for!  Anyway, we got my mom and the boys settled in and headed over to Sea Jay's house to hang out with everyone.  First we had to make a quick stop at Discovery Village (our favorite hang out spot when we lived here).  Tim got a coffee and as we were leaving we ran into a bunch of other Simpson Alumni.  It was fun to catch up.  We made our way to Sea's house and while to girls chatted and caught up, our husbands did what all grown men love to do...played video games on the Wii.  It was getting late so we decided we should go back and go to bed, but we wanted to take a drive through Simpson on our way and reminisce about the good ol' days.  We saw that something was going on in the gym and thought we'd check it out.  We ended up staying until midnight and watching the current students put on an "Air Bands"  show.  We could not help feeling like it was just yesterday that we were the ones doing all of this crazy stuff.  The school has changed so much though!  Curfew is only effective for freshmen!!!  It  seem like the "no spaghetti strap" rule is no longer in place and some of the air band music was a litte questionable.  Interresting.  When Tim and I drove away we both agreed that our college experience was one of the most formidable and exciting times of our lives.  Ten years have flown by and it seems like just yesterday that this cute bleach blond transfer student walked up to me in the parking lot and said, "I've seen you all over the place, but I haven't met you yet."   Who would have known that 10 years and 2 kids later we would be back at the place we met, feeling like no time has passed.  I wonder what the next 10 years will hold.

Fire Station Playgroup

                                                        squirting water was the best part
                                          sitting on a giant boot in the firefighters "home"
                                                                    ring, ring, ring
                                                          Aaron's driving the truck
                                                                           Group Picture

Thursday was such an exciting day in Micah's little life.  Our playgroup got to take a tour of the Lincoln Fire Station and it was so so fun.   Micah and all of his little friends got to climb in fire trucks, squirt water out of the big hose and knock over cones, ring the bell on an old fashioned fire truck, and see where the fire fighters live when they are on duty.   The kids loved every minute of the morning!  I am so thankful that Micah has a group of friends from church that he gets to play with every week and that I have wonderful mommies to spend time with.  

MY HERO

Tim came home tonight and saved the day!!!  He dug into the yucky sink pipe and miraculously found Jacob's tiny tooth.  He is totally my hero!

Toothless

Tonight I was brushing Jacob's teeth and I heard a strange little noise.  I looked at Jacob and his mouth was bleeding.  All of a sudden I realized that the little sound I heard was Jacob's first tooth falling into the sink and that to my horror...it went down the drain.  I felt awful!!!  His first tooth and we lost it.  I think I was a little bit more bummed than Jacob.  He actually handled it pretty well.  We decided to just write a note to the tooth fairy and put it under his pillow.  He wrote a note that said, "Dear Tooth Fairy, My tooth fell out when I was brushing my teeth, but it went down the drain.  Love, Jacob."  He was so excited to finally have a missing tooth.  He has the cutest little smile with one gap on the bottom :)  I love my Jacob.  This is just a reminder of how quickly he is growing up.  He seems so big to me sometimes, but I am really thankful that he still loves to snuggle and is not embarrassed to give hugs and kisses to Tim and I.  It is a blessing to be Jacob's mommy.

The Latest...

I am really behind on blogging...so here is the latest with our family in no particular order...

• Jacob's tooth is so loose tonight that it is about to fall out (he is so excited about his first loose tooth)
• we went house hunting again today and are about to put offers on 2 more houses (we were denied on 2 out of 3 of the other ones we made offers on...we are still waiting to hear back about the 3rd)
• Micah and I went to the Pumpkin Farm this week with his little playgroup and had a wonderful time (he got a cute little metal school bus that he has been taking everywhere and even sleeping with)
• Micah learned how to pedal on his trike and is now riding all over the place on his own
• Tim is working like crazy to finish up two online courses that he is taking to maintain his pastoral license 
• My naturopathic dr said that I can retake the food allergy test and that she thinks my allergies may be gone by now or at least not as severe.  (I made the yummiest sugar and gluten free banana blueberry muffins this morning)
• My progesterone is low, so I have to take some herbs to help balance me out  ( I still don't feel like I have a ton of energy, but I am slowly getting better)
• Tim and I just finished watching season 1 or Heroes tonight (love that show!!!)
• Jacob loves playing soccer
• My mom comes to visit in 2 weeks and I can't wait to see her!

...Just a few little tid bits about our little family... 

House shopping

Well, we are looking into buying our first home and today was an exciting day.  We got our loan approved yesterday, so today we went to look at a bunch of homes in our neighborhood.  We want to stay close to where we are now so that Jacob doesn't have to switch schools.  Out of all of the homes we looked at, we only liked 2.  I have to say, some of them were in pretty bad shape.  It is exciting to think about owning instead of paying rent.  We've been told not to get too attached to any one home because it is hard to get an offer accepted on a short sale (both of the ones we like are short sales).  

After we were done looking at houses we were all really hungry, so we headed out to our favorite Friday evening restaurant, Chipotle.  Then it was off to the Nugget market so the boys could get chocolate chip cookies :)  When we got home, we all got our "jammies" on and snuggled on the couch together while Tim read a couple of books to the boys.  What a great day!!!

Mommy mishap

I totally screwed up today as a mom!  My day was going just fine.  Micah and I went grocery shopping this morning, I made him lunch and then put him down for his nap.  I  made lunch for myself and had just sat down to eat and watch the rest of the VMAs that I recorded last night when the phone rang...

caller: "Is this Kerri Loomis?"

me: "yes"

caller: "This is so and so from Foskett Ranch Elementary School..."

my first thougth:  "Oh no, did Jacob get hurt at school...is he sick!"

caller:  "Did you know that this was an early release Monday?  School got out at 1:30pm today! Jacob is in the office, can you be here soon to get him?"

me:  "Oh no, I forgot, I'll be there in two minutes!"

So I have to wake up a sound asleep little Micah and rush over to Jacob's school.  I am at least 20 minutes late (up to this point I have been at the gate waiting for Jacob everyday so that he doesn't get scared and wonder where I am).  I feel terrible and like the worst mom in the world.  I never wanted my child to be the one that was forgotten, sitting in the office waiting to be picked up from school.  So Jacob is happy to see me and so gracious, although he says, "I hope you don't ever do that again."  And of course I promise that I won't, and tell him that even mommy's make mistakes and I am very sorry.  The worst part of the whole thing is that he cried after school because he didn't know what to do or where to go.  Thankfully his teacher saw him and helped him get to the office.  

Not my most shining moment as a mom.