We moved!

So we did it. We moved to Memphis. I'm exhausted! Tim drove out with his friend Tyler and both cars. They had Anderson and surprisingly, the busiest kid in the world did great. The whole trip (a 24 hour total drive), he watched 45 minutes of one movie. He just sat in his seat and watched the window. Tim said he kept asking if he wanted to watch a movie and he would say no. I guess he just needs to be strapped in once in while. We also blessed Ivy before we left on our last Sunday in my parent's ward. It was nice. Because things have been so crazy with Tim's job and selling our house, I haven't been able to really enjoy Ivy yet. Now that things are starting to calm down, we get to play and enjoy having a little baby in the house again.
While unpacking, it was like Christmas for the kids all over again. They re-discovered their long lost toys and were happy...for about 2 seconds. There are too many other things to mess around with and play with in a new house to worry about those boring old toys. Finally I ended up saying, "Don't touch anything that is not a toy". I'm sure you can guess how long that lasted.

Tim, Tyler and Andy stopped at Cadillac Ranch on the way. Crazy.

This was our backyard last week. Now the trees are getting green leaves. This is a sight I've never seen before as a AZ lifer. It's so pretty and green. It's been in the seventies if not lower since we've been here. Definately will take some getting used too! It snows a few times in the winter which I've never done before. Anderson and Minnie actually have not even seen snow yet. It's going to be crazy!

This is my view as I sat in Relief Society last week. The Memphis Temple is a smaller one built on the grounds of the church building. You have to make an appointment if you want to go other than the already set session times. I can't wait to go. It's awesome to be able to go to church every Sunday and see the temple right there. Our ward was super nice, and much smaller than we are used to. We already were invited to someone's house for dinner and made a few friends. Seriously, how or what do people do when they move somewhere and don't have the church? How do you meet people? Who do you call for help? I am so thankful for it and wouldn't know what to do without it! Especially now that we will be relying on ward members and visiting teachers and home teachers much more:)

Later AZ

For the last 6 months, Tim has been working 2 or 3 days a week. It's enough to keep our benefits (THANK GOODNESS considering I had a baby during this time) but also enough to make us (more me) go crazy stressed. We have had D-land passes for the past year and would go when Tim had to go to Irvine for work. This way, we tagged along on a work trip to minimize the expenses. Last week Tim only worked 2 days. So Tuesday afternoon, we decided we needed one more Disneyland Trip. We left that evening, pricelined a hotel for $35, and went to Disneyland Wednesday and Thursday. You know you have taken your kids to Disneyland too much when 1) you only take one picture the ENTIRE trip (this Goofy one was from when we went in October...the one of Minnie below is from this trip) 2) your kids have opinions and where they want to go and what they want to ride 3) your 3 year old doesn't ride ONE ride the entire day...and is totally fine 4) you recognize the "day workers". It's been 15 days in the last year or so. I think we've had our fill for a while.
So Tim finally got a job in Memphis, TN! He is transfering within his company there but will be doing some of the same work and some different work too. Also, we sold our house and close in a couple of days. I cannot believe it is all lining up with each other. Tim and I and Ivy will go out there in a week or so and find a house to rent and then as soon as we can get all of the logistics taken care of, we are moving. We've wanted to move away for a long time, which we understand is probably not the desire of most people. So we are giving it a shot.

We told Anderson we were moving to Tennessee and he said, "Do they have a playground there?" He will miss his cousins but will be able to make some new friends too. Little Minnie (who rushed into Terrible Twos the day she turned 2) said, "no, my Tennessee". Typical 2 year old. She finally let me put pig tails in and they lasted a good 20 minutes. I guess she likes having a clown wig in her face all day long.

We are excited and a little nervous, but looking forward to change and the new things to come!

Andy

The other day I rushed through Target to get some well needed groceries and supplies, first time with all 3 during the day by myself, and had to stop at the bathroom for Minnie. In stores, church, or any public place she likes to pretend she has to go potty to be able to flush the toilet and wash her hands. As I'm getting her on the toilet for her false alarm, Andy spots something on the FLOOR in the corner of the BATHROOM STALL. He says something about nuts, bends over, and before I can stop him, eats some stranger's left over nuts from the bathroom stall floor at Target. As I sternly told him, " Don't eat food from the ground, it will make you sick" I thought I can only imagine what the lady in the stall next to me is thinking. I always tell him that and he NEVER gets sick. My kids must have the best immune system of all time.

Well Needed Good News

We got some good news last week!! Tim passed his Professional Engineering test and he is

now a licensed PE (Professional Engineer) in California! The reason he took it in California is to get it early. In Az, you need 4 years post graduation and in California you only need 2. Woo Hoo! I needed to hear some good news:)

Ivy...3 kids

This is Minnie's pirate face...not sure why but she thinks anything that looks scary is a pirate.
Ivy looks a lot like Anderson did as a baby, so we are trying to imagine what he will look like as a little girl :)

I kinda hate taking pictures of little babies before they can smile, they look so serious and concerned...

I can't believe we have 3 kids. Ivy has been pretty good. Someone told me the 3rd kid has to be good and easy or else everything else would go down fast. Between nursing, taking Minnie to the bathroom, making sure Anderson is within sight, sleep deprivation, and c-section recovery, I feel like if I make it through the day and everyone is alive and fed, that I did ok. I usually leave the house at least once a day and my kids are definately used to it. Since I can't drive for a bit, and try to keep Ivy home for the most part, I don't want to get my kids dressed because then they want to leave. So we stay in our pj's and watch movies all day and play. I'm sure I'm not up for mother of the year, but like I said, surviving is key right now! I do have awesome sisters and family who help take Andy and Minnie so I can sleep and they can play with someone other than me with a baby attached to my chest. I know it's only been a week and a half but, when do they sleep through the night again? :)

Ivy Mae Vanderwalker

Baby Ivy is here. She was born January 5th at 7:45 and was 6 lbs 12oz. How is it that I gain 40lbs with Anderson and Ivy and they weigh 6lb 5oz and 6lbs 12oz and I gain 30lb with Minnie and she is 8lb 1 oz. Weird. Surgery went good, recovery is rough as always but I'll survive. Thank goodness for Tim and my parents who help out a lot. We've been home for a few days and the exhaustion is beginning to set in. Andy and Minnie love baby Ivy and Anderson begs for her to open her eyes so he can see them. We are all doing well and enjoying the new baby.

Sunbeam

Oh boy. Today was Anderson's first day in Sunbeams class, and lets just say he was less than thrilled. He loves nursery and all week we kept hyping up the fact that he was going to primary and going to be a big boy, blah blah blah. He just wants to play with trucks. Surprisingly though, he went without a fight. We teach the class behind him so we were right there to witness him in all his wiggly glory. Overall, he did better than expected, except...in the middle of class he had his first potty accident in forever. Seriously it's been a LONG TIME and I was surprised. So I had to head home and change him for the last little bit. We made it through though. Since I am a terrible mom and don't have one picture of Anderson on his blessing day (which is totally ridiculous considering he is my first child), I decided to take one today for his first day in primary...
and to document the last Sunday these 2 have before another one joins the bunch. I had pretty strong contractions on New Years Eve. I had to call my sister to ask how far apart they should be before I do something about it. They lasted a couple hours then stopped. Too bad, adding one more child to the tax return would have been mighty helpful:) Oh well, Wednesday it is.