Recent Pictures

Fun in the tub:



Elise with a babushka:

Cardboard City and the Big Move

Last week was an eventful week (and I quite frankly was too tired to think about anything other than sleep!). Here's the summary:

Cardboard City: On Monday, the movers came to pack up all of our stuff. After just 3 short hours, almost all of our belongings were packed into boxes. I'm not sure how things will look when we're ready to unpack, but the men were efficient.

Over the River and Through the Woods: Paul was off to NYC on Monday night (through Wednesday night), so Elise and I headed to my parents' house for a couple of days. After all, living in Cardboard City is hardly exciting for any of us! Elise was excited to see Grandma, but when Grandpa got home, she was ready to send him packing. Just wait until Christmas with all of the yummy treats. Grandpa will be her very favorite.

The All Clear: Elise had an appointment with the opthamologist on Wednesday morning. Dr. Tisch is so great. She's quick and knows how to get a child's attention so that she can see what she needs to see. I was really impressed and Elise did really well. She said Elise's eyes still look good and she doesn't see any signs of lazy eye or cross eye. We are really thankful!

The Big Truck: On Thursday morning, the moving truck arrived at 8:30a. It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated over the 2 1/2 years! We were fortunate to have a sunny, dry day, but it was cold. The guys left at noon after having filled the moving van 3/4 full. We then had to finish cleaning and packing our cars....there was barely room for Elise and Briscoe, but somehow we managed to squeeze them in. Then we were off to Paul's parents.

Post-Move Hangover: Okay, so it wasn't really a hangover, but there's a certain feeling of having just done something big and then not having anything to do. There's no unpacking to be done (yet) and while there's plenty to do here, there's no particular urgency. I feel unproductive, but it's nice to have some down time.

The Latest

Many of you have been asking for an update of what's going on with our house, moving, the baby, etc. Here's the latest:

Selling the House
We are tentatively scheduled to close on our house (condo) on 12/15. I say "tentatively" because it may have to be delayed due to a "hiccup" our buyers have experienced with the sale of their cottage up north. Hopefully everything will be signed and sealed before Christmas. On a side note, Paul and I signed the closing papers yesterday morning.

Moving
The moving company is coming to pack all of our belongings on Monday (12/11). They will then come back on Thursday (12/14) morning to load the truck and take our stuff to storage. We're taking a bit of a gamble, moving without having a firm close date, but as I told Paul, I am not interesting in moving during Christmas and I'm tired of being in limboland as it relates to moving (or not moving).

We have corporate housing set up in Schaumburg, IL beginning in January (and until then, we'll be mooching off our parents for a warm bed to sleep in and food to eat). We'll likely be in the furnished apartment for 2 or 3 months, or until we can find an alternative housing arrangement (hopefully a house).

The Baby
The Baby will be 17 weeks old on Monday. Elise and I heard the heartbeat again on Thursday....it's really a sound to behold! My OB said she thinks the baby is a boy....she said (unscientifically) boys tend to have slightly lower heartrates than girls. We'll know in early January if she's right. My Grandma says that she'll believe it's a boy when she sees it. It's a well known fact that Bonner girls don't know how to make babies with handles (my Grandma has 7 granddaughers and 2 great-granddaughers, 0 grandsons).

I'm starting to put on a little bit of weight now and even have a little bump. This of course means that my clothes aren't fitting like they should and I'm in the weird stage where normal clothes are too short/tight but maternity clothes are much too big. I'm feeling a lot better for the most part, though I have my good days and bad days, but am still being monitored for a thyroid condition (hyperthyroidism) and this is always a bit of a concern.

The Girls
Elise and Briscoe are doing fine. Elise loves seeing all of the Christmas lights and trees and gets excited when she sees a clown (aka Santa Claus). Neither understands that we're moving. This next week should be interesting as all of our belongings are being packed up by strangers. I'm guessing Elise isn't going to like that too much. In addition, she's got a bit of a cold and was pretty cranky today. Let's hope that doesn't continue through the week, especially since Paul will be traveling Monday afternoon through Thursday morning. I think I'll be ready for a long nap by the time he gets back.

Contact Info
The best way to reach us right now is via email or my cellphone (our current home phone number). We don't have a new address yet, but our mail will be forwarded (place TBD).

My Day in Court

Today was my day to report for Jury Duty. After getting up at 6:30a, I trudged downtown for the 8:30 reporting time. The Jury Room was crowded and at 9:00 they called the first panel of potential jurors. Without fail, I was called. The bailiff took us up to the 14th floor where we awaited entry (for 45 minutes) into the courtroom. While we were waiting, the bailiff made an off-hand comment that Jeffrey Feiger had been spotted in the building. What he failed to mention was that he and his lawfirm were representing the plaintiff of the case! After introductions were made, we were told that the trial was expected to last 2 weeks....not good considering we'll be in the midst of moving next week.

The first round of questioning potential jurors must have taken at least an hour and a half (the judge, plaintiff and defendent attorneys each taking 30 mintues). The trial was a wrongful death civil suit, which resulted in very interesting questions. Of course, you can always tell when people are saying things or making things up just to get out of their civic duty. I was called up to replace one of the 3 original jurors, but was quickly excused by the judge because of moving. Needless-to-say, with everything going on, I was happy and made it home by 12:30p.

I was really impressed with the judge today and how she not only handled the explanation of the case, but also how she put things in layman's terms so that we could understand what was going on. I was also impressed with the way she handled the attorneys involved. At some point in my life, I'd actually like to see a trial through to the end. This just isn't the best time for a 2 week trial.

Feiger, by the way, looks exactly the way you'd expect. He is probably best known for his defense of Jack Kevorkian, the doctor who was convicted of assisting terminally ill patients commit suicide (physician assisted suicide/euthanasia).

Caught Red Handed

On our way to The Henry Ford Museum, Paul was caught by a Dearborn cop going 64 (m.p.h.) in a 45.....a wee bit too fast. Because of his stellar driving record, Paul was issued a citation for 'impeding traffic' rather than speeding. The result....$125 less in our bank account. When asked if he'd like to comment on his ticket, Paul replied,

I didn't do it...the speed limit is obsurdly low for a three lane highway.

It could have been worse. If he were cited for speeding, it would have been $160 plus 4 points on his record. Ouch! Looks like I'll be the designated driver for the remainder of our time in Michigan (and for the record, I've never been caught speeding and have never been issued a citation).

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Since we're still in Detroit and had a quiet weekend at home, we decide to take Elise to The Henry Ford Museum on Saturday. While I'd like to show you pictures, I can't because we forgot our camera. Bummer! Elise was thrilled to run around and exercise her vocabulary (Train! Car! Motorcycle! Airplane!) She also ran up and down the steps and played with the Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs in the kids area. It was surprisingly very kid friendly, although it's tough to hold a 2-year old's attention span while trying to walk through a museum. Nonetheless, we ended our tour by looking at the Weinermobile and treated Elise to a $2 wax mold as a momento. She wasn't as impressed as we were. Funny how things that seem cool as kids really aren't that cool afterall.

Weird

Paul was playing with Elise while watching an episode of Smallville. At one point during the show, things started to get a little scary (something about Lex Luther) and as Paul was searching for the remote to change the station, Elise's response was:

Weird.

Perfectly appropriate response. Enough said.

Turkey Day 2006

With my parents out of town for the week and Beth, Jon and Libby in from Memphis, we decided to join the Kurt family for Thanksgiving dinner. We had such a great time! Here are the highlights:

• There are probably very few places we could go where we would immediately feel like part of the family.
• The food was fantastic, especially the turkey. I also thoroughly enjoyed the mashed potatoes and the cranberry fluff (jello). There was enough food to feed an army (of which I made none) and enough dishes to prove it!
• It was so nice out that the kids took a long walk outside with Papa Kurt while the ladies cleaned up the kitchen.
• Elise was very excited to play with her 'cousins' and had a blast running around Papa Kurt's house. She immediately claimed all the toys as 'mine' and was reluctant to leave them behind for next time.
• The Kurt family loves to dance. Who would have thought?! We brought along our PS2 and Dance, Dance, Revolution Game and Dance Pad. They immediately claimed it has 'theirs' and wouldn't let us take it home with us. :>)
• Soon after leaving for the evening, Elise fell soundly asleep and we had a very relaxing and quiet ride home. A perfect ending to a perfect day!

O Christmas Tree

Last Sunday, we decided to bring up our Christmas tree from the basement and begin the arduous process of putting the three pieces together and 'fluffing' the branches. Paul was kind enough to carry it up and build the tree, while I fluffed. After three hours of assembly, we finished with a beautifully fake tree (sans garland and ornaments).

Little did we know that we'd receive a call from our realtor on Tuesday with a new proposed close date for the sale of our home....December 7th! We're pushing for a week later, but if we would have known that putting our Christmas tree up would sell the house, we would have done it about 4 months prior. Christmas in July, right?!

Elise's New Do

Elise had her hair cut today and did great. She sat still and was very patient. As a reward, Lisa (the stylist) gave her a sucker. She was thrilled.


On a side note, she was sitting on the floor playing just now with her zoo animals. As I was working on the computer, I heard her talking to the zebras and lions and other animals and I heard her say, "I'm a big sister." We have a book that we've been reading to her that she really loves that talks about how there'll be a new baby in the house. It's been really cute to see how she incorporates what she's learning into her playtime. Now, if only I could get her interested in babydolls.