Our Temporary Home

Ok, I thought it was about time to give you a little tour of our temporary home.  We are living in my parents' 5th wheel travel trailer for the time being.  We are trying to pay off a couple of things and save a down payment so we can buy a house.  The housing market here is crazy because of the oil boom and a normal person can barely afford to rent anything.  We have decided that buying or even building are much cheaper at the moment, so we just have to get our finances to a place where we can do that.  We are hoping that means we will be here for a year or less.  The 5th wheel is very nice, but a tad crowded for a family with a toddler so we are all having to adjust and learn how to live in such close quarters.  We are very grateful that my parents are letting us borrow their house on wheels for the time being.  So, on to the tour!

 Bathroom.  The sink is to the right behind the door

 The main room.  Couch on the left, dining table and Chloe's toys straight ahead and to the left Chloe's "room"

 Chloe's room.  Crib and clothes in drawers underneath

 Kitchen

 Hallway.  The bathroom is to the right and our bedroom is straight ahead

 Our bedroom

 Outside and view of our little yard.  We are very fortunate to have a little grass and fenced in area for Chole to play.  I would be insane if not for this little blessing

 Looking towards the rest of the campground

Wall to wall campers and cars.  The little back row we are on is filled with a lot of permanent residents.  They have made this their permanent home and have cute little yards and stuff.

I guess that's about it.  If I left anything out or you are curious about anything that comes with living in a campground just let me know!  I will keep updating as we get a little more settled.

Easter 2013

We have been in our new town for about a month so I figured it was about time to update things around here.  The internet at our campground is pretty iffy some days so it has taken me a while to find a day where I had enough signal to actually get something posted.  Stick with me while I take a few days to get us all caught up and keep checking back.  I will update as often as I can.

Our first post is about Easter.  Yeah we are a tad behind....

So this Easter was a tad different.  We spent the day unloading the moving van into storage and settling into the trailer.  We did manage to squeeze in a little Easter egg hunt for Chloe thanks to Mimi and Pawpaw.

 Checking out her finds

 Under the chair!

 I see it!

 Hiding in the grass

 Such a cutie pie!

 Stretch!

 Look at all of them!

 Wait, there are yummies in here!

 After a long day moving and hunting eggs there is nothing better than a long nap!

Packing

Well, the packing and chaos is well under way at the Mann house.  Chloe and I have been working hard and might actually be ready to load the truck on Thursday!  So, what does a little girl do all day while Mama is packing?

 Helping clean out the pantry

 Playing with the pots and pans!  (excuse the mess, we are packing after all)

 A special Oreo treat!

 Putting some dirty clothes in the hamper

 Playing on the patio

 One on one time with our special friends

 Reliving her babyhood

 Climbing on boxes

Playing with river rocks

She has been such a sweet little girl during this time.  I was very unsure how I was going to get us all packed up and ready to move with a toddler and Clint at home very little during this time, but it has worked out very well.

Deep Cleaning

I have been cleaning and organizing getting ready to pack and move.  It is a little more of a challenge with a toddler who thinks she needs to "help" or play with everything that I am working on.  I decided to pull out the oven drawer one day and rescue all the toys and things that had gotten lost under there.  Apparently Chloe thought it was just her size.

I finally had to make her get out so I could put it back.  She just wanted to sit there and have a conversation with me all day I guess.  I am sure this is just the beginning of fun pictures that involve packing and moving....  Hopefully I will have time to post between now and then!

A Mann Family Update

It has been a while since I have posted a general update about the goings on in the life of the Mann Family.  I guess it is that time!

Clint is busy, like always, between his two jobs.  He works six days a week and comes home to a wife and baby that are super happy to see him every night.  As soon as he gets home he goes right to work being a Daddy and he is super good at it.  Every night when he comes in the door Chloe greets him with a little squeal and a giant grin.  Who could resist that?!

I am busy being a Mama and trying to stay ahead of the messes that Chloe makes on a daily basis.  Some days I am more successful than others.  I have sent my resume in to a company that hires Virtual Assistants.  I am hoping that I will be able to get on with them so I can work from home and bring in a little extra money to help the finances out. A few prayers in that direction would be greatly appreciated!

Chloe is growing like a little weed.  She has changed so much since Christmas.  She is all of a sudden becoming a little girl in all  her actions and attitudes.  She is getting an opinion about things and starting to talk a little. She is learning something new every day and it amazes me the things she notices.  I will have to do a more thorough update on her in a few days. 

Chloe and I will be heading to Amarillo in a few days to visit family.  My sister and her family are moving from Hawaii and spending a few weeks of vacation in Amarillo so we are going to go see them.  It has been about a year and a half since I have seen them so it should be lots of fun!

In other big news we will be moving in a few weeks.  Clint got a new job in the Midland/Odessa area.  We are excited and nervous all at the same time.  That town is booming at the moment due to the oil business so, houses are really hard to find and the ones that are available are super expensive.  We are searching on a daily basis trying to find something that we can afford and that is safe.  It is all the harder having to do it from so far away.  If we can't find a house before we get there we will be staying in my parent's 5th wheel.  It is super nice, but super small when you have an active toddler.  Prayers for a house would be greatly appreciated as well!

So, I guess that is about it for now.  Life is about to get a little busy with boxes, packing and new experiences so stay tuned!

A Little Update

Whew! its been a busy few weeks at our house!  Where do I start?

Baby:

We hit 30 weeks yesterday. Wow! How time flies!  Only 10 more weeks and I don't feel prepared AT ALL!  I need a more recent picture but here we are at almost 28 weeks.

Shes growing!  I don't think she ever sleeps.  She is so active during the day especially when I am working.  All her flips and kicks are kinda distracting while I am at work. They have gotten a little painful at times too so I know she is getting stronger.   I have started craving sweets a little more lately which is probably not the best thing, but they sure do taste good!  I have started having a hard time sleeping and getting comfortable at night, which my Dr. tells me is nature's way of preparing me. Chloe does not like to be squished either so if my pants are too tight, I sit too close to the desk or lay the wrong way she lets me know for sure!  We go back for our last ultra sound in a week.  I am pretty excited to get to see her again.  It has been quite a while since we have looked in on her.

Work:

We finally settled on a day to be my last day at work.  I will work through the end of October, which is about 2 weeks before the baby is due to arrive.  I have been working really hard trying to get some projects done there.  I have a certain number of things I want to get done so I feel like they are kind of caught up before I go.  I don't know if all the projects will all get done but I am giving it my best shot.  It is bittersweet to be leaving.  They are a great group of people and I have really enjoyed working there.

The Apartment:

Oh where to start with the apartment.... A couple of weeks ago we had record breaking temperatures here in Houston.  The temperatures were 105 or higher for several days and since we are in the middle of a really bad drought right now, there were no clouds or raindrops to cool things off.  Those kind of temps make a pregnant girl go a little nuts.  Saturday morning of the heat wave, our air conditioning decided to stop working.  After a call to our emergency line and a visit from the maintenance man it was decided that they could not repair the unit over the weekend so they gave us a window unit in the mean time.  Poor little thing couldn't keep up with the temps and we were forced to endure a long hot weekend.  Monday finally came and they said that we needed a whole new unit which, thankfully, was installed that day.  Yay!!  I was one happy girl!! 

 Poor Lucy was so hot!

Now I am deep in the process of getting us ready to move.  Our big move is just one week away.  September 16th.  We are moving to a two bedroom apartment in a little city called Texas City.  We are all so excited to be moving out of the big city and a little closer to some family.  We will have to drive further to work but, Clint doesn't mind and I only have to do it for about 5 weeks so I think I can handle it.

 Ahh the joys of moving.

Well I guess, that is about enough for this post.  Don't want it to get too long and I am hungry again so I guess I better find some cereal or something. Yummmm....cereal....