Slush sledding

If you remember, back in February Mel and TJ's little girl Allison had wanted to go sledding with us when she saw the snow. Well, the next day (Saturday) it was scheduled to snow again so we told Mel that we would gladly take Allison out. Next morning: no snow. Nic and I were so disappointed because we really wanted to take her. We called Mel and we told her that we would take her anyways and we would be bound to find some snow. We went to Simplot Hill (which is a huge hill in Boise that J.R. Simplot allows people to go ice blocking on) and we found some snow. . .well, it was actually slush but it was still something we could slide down. We unloaded Allison and she was way excited! We took some pictures from our little adventure. What we didn't capture was how wet my pants were-it looked like I had an accident :(

After sledding, we decided it was still too early to take her back home. I called Mel and asked her if it was okay if we took her out to breakfast and let Mel have some time to herself-she had no problem with that! So, "Uncle Nic" and "Aunt Elaine" got to play "mom and dad." It was so much fun. We went out to IHOP and then shopping at Target, where I spoiled her like crazy-only with books though. That little girl is so stinkin' cute! It's been fun seeing her grow up. Here are the pictures from our slushing adventure. . .enjoy!

My Birthday Month

March was a very busy month for us, mostly because we were celebrating my birthday every week it seemed. For my actually birthday (March 1st) we went out to breakfast and then went home and had a lazy day. That night we went over to by BFF's house and had some dinner, cake and played a mean round of Guitar Hero! Melanie and TJ introduced us to Guitar Hero and we can't get enough! Once we get settled in our house, we will be buying a Wii-they are so much fun! Here are some pics from that evening:

A week and a half later, my in-laws had a birthday party for me at Chuck-E-Cheese (CEC). It brought me back to the days of when I first moved here to Boise. Actually, Nic and I both have had our birthday parties there for the last three years. It just makes sense to us. All his siblings have kids and all our friends have kids, so we figure why not go where you can always be a kid (the adults have a blast too).

A week after the CEC celebration, me and my girls went to Mystique Salon and Spa for a morning of pampering. We had so much fun-just relaxing, beautifying and laughing. I don't have any pictures of us enjoying ourselves (we lost Nic's digital camera); however we found it and I thought I would show some pictures of my hair. It's super short and I LOVE it!! When I showed my stylist a picture of the hair that I wanted, she about freaked out! Her and the other stylists just kep saying: "You always go shorter and shorter." They really get a kick out of whenever I go in because I always do something different. So, here you go. I hope you like them.

16 more days until we sign our life away. . .

Nic and I went to look at our back door today. When we originally looked at the house, the back door was busted. It had two locks on it that wouldn't come off and also made the door non-functional. Nic tried busting it off with a crowbar but that didn't work. Then our realtor took a look at the one that busted off and noticed that it had a screw. "I think we may just be able to screw it off." We tried it, and sure enough it came off. We all felt pretty silly for not looking at that before. After we were done we decided to take some pictures so you all could see what it looks like. When we were upstairs, I did my little happy dance and taking in the moment of being in our (soon to be) home. It was kind'a surreal. We are definetly excited! When we do get moved in we are definetly going to paint, paint, PAINT!!!! I hope you enjoy!

We are proud to welcome: Ginger!

So, I finally posted some pictures of the new kitty addition to our family. We named her Ginger. We probably shouldn't have named her (you get more attached that way), but I was just tired of calling her 'kitty.' She is so adorably cute! She has markings just like her daddy/uncle, just the opposite colors. She is becoming more moble-walking everywhere and curious as to everything that is going on. Sometimes when the other cats start running around, she gets a little freaked out, but she will just find herself a little corner and observe the madness going on around her.

Here is Ginger and Ebony:

Ebony is turning out to be quite the little mommy. She will let Ginger run around, but if feels she's gettting into too much mischief she will either pull her into the bed and start giving her a bath. It's funny to see Ginger try to resist her, it kind'a reminds me of The Lion King when Simba is getting a bath by his mom-really cute. She's also very protective of her. If some of the other cats start batting at Ginger (not hurting her, just playing roughly) Ebony will run over there and meow at them like she's telling them: "Back off, or you're going to have to deal with me." She will stand over her too when Ivory and Pooka chase each other around. Such a good mommy.

Here is the happy family: Ivory (daddy/uncle), Ebony and Ginger

We are going to wait until she's either 3 or 4 months old before we adopt her out. If you adopt them out too early, they suffer socially: they can be extra whiny, still try to nurse-the list goes one. I'm kind'a sad though; I don't want Ebony to have any withdrawals when we give her away. Nic assures me she will be fine (becuase this is what cats do) but I just think of how I might feel if someone were to take my baby away. I know, I know, it's not the same but I'm sensitive, or pathetic. You decide :)

Update: House Situation

Okay, so the house situation is taken care of, well. . .almost anyways. Our landlord agreed to pro-rate our rent for us. We will move everything out on the 11th and spend the 12th (Saturday) all day cleaning. We will be living in Nic's sisters' house. They are prepping it to get ready to sell so we will pack our necessities in a suitcase and use an air mattress for our bed. I was worried about the cats because we couldn't take them to my SIL's house. Tried a couple of friends with a garage, but they weren't able to board them either. Knowing how stressed I was about this, Nic found a kennel that will take all of our cats (including the kitten) and for a cheaper rate then our vet would. So, worst case scenario we will only be "homeless" for (at most) 8 days. I can't wait until we are settled into our new home! "Our home" that is just so weird to say. Thanks for my wonderful friends with words of support, I appreciate the calm that you guys give me when it's needed (I'm prone to freak-outs).

Oh yeah! Ebony and her baby (which we have named Ginger) are doing well. I will post pictures hopefully in the next couple of days.

Our Future Home: One step closer. . .one more dilemma

A couple of weeks ago Nic and I submitted an offer on this house and it was quickly accepted. It's 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath with 3,143 square feet. The inspection is FINALLY set for tomorrow (it's bank owned and they were dragging their feet to get the utilities turned on), so we're one more step closer to calling it our very own. Our realtor told us that we probably won't close (the earliest) until April 10th or (the latest) April 20th. Now, here's our dilemma: we asked our current landlord if we could pro-rate our rent for April. He could only charge us the first two weeks of rent and Nic and I would repay him the last two weeks by doing repairs (mostly painting) around the house. We've been good renters and we have never had any problems with our landlord; in fact when we told him that we are looking to buy he said we could work something out since we were more than likely be out before our contract runs but now he's singing a different tune. He told us that if we stay for anytime in April that we would have to pay the FULL months rent, unless we are out by April 1st because he had some people that we're REALLY interested in the property. That only gives a week and a half to finish packing and getting the house cleaned and then we would have to find a place that could accomodate us, our stuff AND our cats. I wasn't stressed before, but now I am. Maybe, I'll call our land lord and negotiate with him. AARRRGGHH!!! I'm so frustrated! But everything will work out. . . . .right?

The ABC's of Elaine Irene

A: Attached or Single: Attached. Been Married three wonderful years.
B: Best Friend: Obviously Nic, but my best gal-pals are Emily, Melanie, Sheena and Hillary.
C: Cake or Pie: pie, especially if it's pumpking. . .YUMMY!!!!!
D: Day of Choice: Saturday. I can sleep in and hang out with the hubby.
E: Essential Item: phone and internet
F: Favorite Color: dark blue
G: Gummi bears or worms: gummy worms
H: Hometown: Merced, CA
I: Indulgences: shoe shopping!
J: January or July: that's a hard one. I'll say January. It's the month of new beginnings (plus my anniversary!)
K: Kids - hopefully soon!
L: Life is incomplete without: familia
M: Marriage Date: January 8, 2005
N: Number of Siblings: 3-two brothers and one sister
O: Oranges or Apples: Us Cali girls LOVE us some oranges!!
P: Phobias or Fears: not being able to have kids
Q: Quote: "I quit exercising because everytime I would run, I would set my shorts on fire"
R: Reason to Smile: I have a wonderful husband, family, friends. . . I'm sure I could list more.
S: Season: I love all seasons equally! :)
T: Tag Six: Sheena, Emily, Hillary, Rebecca, Tori, Leia
U: Unknown fact about me: I can't believe I'm going to say this, but. . .until my sophomore year in high school I carried the corner piece of my favorite childhood blanket with me. If I hadn't lost it, I probably would still use it for comfort. . . so sad, I know.
V: Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: I love me some meat!
W: Worst Habit: Bitting my finger-nails. . .trying to break the habit.
X: X-Rays or Ultrasounds: X-rays. Ultrasounds tend to scare me-they usually mean they're still trying to figure out what's wrong.
Y: Your Favorite Food: it always seems to change.
Z: Zodiac: Pisces