Question and Answer

Q: How are you?
A: Great. This is also Maggie's new favorite phrase taught to her by Andy on the way to Wal-Mart to buy groceries. She will ask this quite loudly and then wait for you to respond. She will also respond to this question with an equally loud "FINE", herself.

Q: What are Maggie's favorite things to do these days?
A: When Maggie first gets up in the morning, she will go through her list of relatives and ask where they are and what they are doing...this can often go on for a while and occurs several times a day. Another favorite, ring around the rosy. This can also go on for a while. She loves to color and her new favorite show on TV is Curious George on PBS.

Q: Has Maggie started daycare (we call it school) yet?
A: Why, yes, Maggie started school on Wednesday and it is going quite well. She took a nap yesterday and really the only thing she needs to work on is drinking out of a regular cup. The two-year old classes do not use sippy cups. Maggie is still learning the cause and effect relationship of walking around with an open cup of grape juice.
She had a great time yesterday and didn't even blink an eye when I dropped her off this morning.

Q: Any plans for Labor Day weekend?
A: Gran and Lulu are coming to visit. We can't wait to show them our house and play.

Q: Have you finished up everything from moving back to Atlanta?
A: Yes, today we were finally able to get our car tags. This was attempt number three for getting car tags. Georgia is quite possibly the hardest/most strict state to get a car tag in, especially when you have already lived here before.

Q: Are there any new pictures of Maggie?
A: Of course, and here they are:

Living in the burbs

I finally got around to taking some pictures of our house today. Maggie and Jack Pete are in some of them, unintentionally.

Our neighborhood is great. We can't express how much at home we feel both in the house and the area. We are over a mile back into the subdivision and our house looks out over the Yellow River in the backyard. It is a very quiet community and you can hear a pin drop once it gets dark.

We are really enjoying living in Lilburn and the commute isn't bad for Andy either. He can usually get to work in a little under an hour and in the evenings it takes a little over a half hour. I will let you know about my commute next week, hopefully.

Some of you know that we made the decision for me to go back to work full-time. We were able to get Maggie a spot at the daycare where she was previously and we were able to meet her teacher and classmates on Monday. I think she will really enjoy it and Andy and I can't wait to see what she learns.

So, here are the pictures. We are officially open for company!

Katie

Maggie's room (which we were able to paint)





























Sitting area outside master bedroom















Master bedroom





































Eat-in kitchen




















Dining Room



















Front yard (view from dining room)



















Foyer with formal living room in rear



















Family room


















View from family room to foyer
















Another view from the family room
















View of the backyard from the kitchen




















Kitchen
















Downstairs

Getting Settled

Finally...
















I don't even know where to start. We are still trying to get settled. We have gotten a lot done thanks to help from a lot of people. Our house now looks more put together and Maggie's room is every little girls dream room. I'll be sure and get some pictures of it soon.

It took us a little while to get connected back to the internet. We had all sorts of trouble starting with our computer dying, learning how to use a MAC and the cable company misspelling my name. Anyway, we are online and Andy was able to get TiVo connected tonight.

We absolutely LOVE our house and neighborhood. Andy has really enjoyed his first few days with his new position and he is handling his commute pretty well.

It's just Andy and I, Maggie and Jack Pete now. Gigi, Uncle Trey and Angie left this afternoon after a very busy 48 hours helping us put things in order and decorating.

Here are some pictures from the past week and a half and I'll get some pictures of the house soon.

Katie

Maggie and her friend Sammie. Sammie lives on the same street with Gigi and Papa.















Andy swinging with Anna and Maggie.















Maggie on the swing at her great-grandparents house for Mammaw's birthday.















Maggie enjoys her first Frosted Orange from The Varsity. That was for you, Papa.

Moving Update

Andy here, sorry there are no pictures. But I did want to give an update on our move.

My friend Jeff and I left Las Vegas on Sunday morning with a moving truck towing Katie's car and driving mine. The first four hours in the Nevada and Arizona mountains were very slow. I was beginning to wonder if I would be sane be the end of the trip. Three days and 1800 miles later, we finally made it to Mississippi tonight. Not many problems except for the bird that flew directly into the side of my car on the interstate. He didn't make it out of Oklahoma unfortunately.

We'll be in North Mississippi until Thursday morning. Tomorrow I will be reunited with Katie and Maggie. I can't wait. I haven't seen Maggie in over two weeks. Katie and I, along with Jeff and Amanda, will journey to the new house in Atlanta on Thursday. Truck unloaders will be there on Friday.

I start work in Atlanta on Monday.

THANK YOU JEFF FOR DRIVING WITH ME!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's our update. Sorry if there are typos, I'm too tired to proofread!

~Andy

Hellos and Goodbyes

I'm not sure where the month of July went but we spent most of it either on an airplane or packing boxes. Whew...

So, the last you heard from us we had just returned from a trip to Mississippi and were preparing for Maggie's last few days in Vegas followed by our trip to Atlanta.

Maggie had fun at her last playgroup and gave everyone hugs and kisses before she left. Her last plane ride from Vegas was very uneventful (we will never travel on a plane without a car seat again) and Maggie was able to approve of our new house in a northeastern suburb of Atlanta- Lilburn.
















Papa, Gigi, Uncle Trey and Angie picked Maggie up in Atlanta and I'm not sure Maggie has even had time to realize that Andy and I aren't there with her. It's been 10 days since we have seen her and we miss her TERRIBLY!!! However, packing our house up has been a lot quicker, organized and easier without having to worry about her.

While Andy and I continued our trip in Atlanta we were able to catch up with some friends who we hadn't seen in a while and even went to a late movie!!!

Andy's best friend, Jeff, is headed to Vegas tomorrow to help Andy drive across the country with all of our stuff and two cars. The movers are coming to load all our stuff on Saturday and we are all headed out on Sunday!

So, it may be a little while before I can update again, but we are still here...just really busy.

Here are some pictures from Maggie's last days in Vegas and our friends in Atlanta...

Maggie...our little traveler

Traveling is pretty much all we been doing lately. We were in Mississippi July 11th through the 17th and we are heading out again tomorrow.

We had the Mississippi trip planned for a little while but the trip this weekend is to go to Atlanta to look for a house. Yes, as most of you know, we are headed back to Atlanta!!!! I wish I could express our excitement, but just know that we are very, very excited.

I actually took Jack Pete to the airport this morning for his move back. Andy thinks it's funny that JP was the last one of us to get out here and he gets to be the first to leave!

Anyway, right now our plan is to pack up the moving truck the first weekend in August and head back.

So, back to our trip to MS. My ten year high school reunion was last weekend so we made a trip out of it. We had a great time and it rained EVERY day we were in MS!!!! We loved it. Maggie had a great time playing with her family and is still asking where they all are. So, it's a good thing she is heading back to see them this weekend. Maggie is actually going to stay in MS while Andy and I pack all of our stuff up and we'll see her once we actually move back to Atlanta. It's going to be a long two and a half weeks without her but it's just the best solution for us all.

Here are some pictures from the trip and I'll try to update sooner next time.

Katie

4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July by not going outside unless it was to get in the car to go somewhere else inside!!! We are under an "Excessive Heat Warning" until tomorrow night. Right now (it's 1:15), the temperature is already 111 and will get hotter before the day is done.

Back to our holiday...

Tuesday night one of Maggie's friends, James, spent the night while his parents enjoyed a night out with some friends from out of town. She and James had a great time and after he left yesterday morning, she kept looking for him around the house. We did a little shopping at the mall yesterday afternoon and called it a day.

Here is a video of James and Maggie "talking" to each other after dinner on Tuesday.


And here is our little firecracker on the 4th of July in 2005 (3 mos old) and 2006 (15 mos old):

Fire Stations and Birthday Parties

We had a busy week last week after being out of town over the weekend. I was making two birthday cakes for a birthday party on Saturday, and I had to do a trial run of on of the cakes (a car). On Friday, as a part of playgroup, we toured one of the new fire stations in the area and Maggie came away with a cute little hat and coloring book. She was pretty amazed with the fire station until they put her up in the big truck. She stayed up there for about 1.5 seconds before she got scared. Oh well.

Saturday's party went great. Andy and I got both cakes there in tact and Maggie ran around for about 4 hours. The birthday boy, James, had a great time too and enjoyed his cake and presents. Pictures are below.

Katie