Big changes....

Also in November, Tim and I made a very hard decision. We have made the decision to move back to Pennsylvania. Its a tough one... We have met such wonderful, amazing people here and have had such a spiritual awakening! I'm especially happy for Tim that he has come to know Christ. He's learning everyday and its  been wonderful! We can't wait to continue to learn and grow in a new church back in PA. While we are leaving simply wonderful family and friends here, we are also excited to be back "home" and enjoy time with friends back there. Its a very bittersweet time for us, especially since the big move will happen right before Christmas. We'll definitely have a Christmas tree (when you're dad is in the "biz" you really have no excuse), but other than that and some presents underneath, I believe that will be the only decoration adorning our house this year. I will be heading back this week on my own for a few days to begin a new job. I am very excited to begin my new position and feel that it will be a great fit for me.

We are basically starting over again and have been given a second chance. Not many people get the chance to do it all over and we are blessed to be able to do so.

We will forever be grateful for the time we have been able to spend with my Mom, Larry, and Kyle. We had some awesome family time together! There were tough times, but overall it was a truly wonderful experience. We are SO blessed to have such an amazing family!

Stay tuned to see what's in store for the Klinger Family next!

Where did the time go?!

In November we had the official opening of the Ritzy Roost, my mom's new upscale furniture consignment and merchant marketplace. I couldn't be more proud of my mom! She has wanted to be able to do this for a long time and finally realized her dream. The place looks absolutely amazing! I'm told that my pictures do not do it justice, so I'll just direct you to the Ritzy Roost website (www.theritzyroost.com) to check out the pictures there. Our friend Linda designed the website and has added the wonderful pictures. She's done such a great job!

Also in November we celebrated Tim's and my birthdays. For Tim's birthday, Larry scored us some fantastic tickets to the NASCAR race in Talladega. I am so happy that we got to go experience this racetrack. Especially for Tim, who has always wanted to go there! Below is me at the race. Its really the only picture we took. The cars were going MUCH to fast at this track to get any suitable pictures.

For MY birthday, my husband decided he would give me the gift that keeps on giving... a higher insurance premium! LOL! Unfortunately on my birthday morning, Tim was involved in a car accident downtown that resulted in thousands of dollars of damage and almost totaled my car. Eeek!

Needless to say, I will never forget this particular birthday!

Ghosts, and gobblins, and witches, Oh my!

In early October the boys were able to make a nice visit back to PA with my dad. Tim, Kyle and I drove the boys to Atlanta and met my dad who them took them back to PA for a long weekend. It was a whirlwind trip for them, but they loved riding their 4-wheelers and seeing their cousins Reese and Hank, as well as their buddy James. Not enough time to fit everyone in during this visit, but they had a great time!

Above is Chase and Kyle passed out in the car on the way to Atlanta. Only an hour drive for us, so I knew my dad was in for a long night of driving with 2 anxious boys in the car!

Here are the boys with Hames on their 4-wheelers during their trip. They just love the great outdoors!
It snowed while the boys were in Pennsylvania also. This was the first official snow fall of the year and it came in early October!  Somewhere I have a very sweet picture of the boys outside in the snow in their underwear. If I could find it in the depths of my hard drive I would post it. Alas it is not meant to be. Ian and Chase would probably harm me in my sleep if I did post it anyway!

On October 3rd Tim, the boys, and I visited the Cotton Pickin Festival in Gay, Georiga. What an adorable town it is and such a scenic drive from LaGrange! We had a very nice time. It was very family oriented with a lot of activities for the kids to do and some great food as well!

Here is Chase tackling the rock climbing wall.

Really though, the only difference between a festival in Georgia and one back home is the food and the music.  Here they serve a lot of biscuits and gravy and fried chicken, and back home they serve a lot of peirogies and monkey bread!

This is a picture of one of the many bands that played for the crowds.

And of course in October there was Halloween! Down here in the south Halloween is not such a big deal. The schools don't have Halloween parades or parties. There is trick or treating in various neighborhoods. But the trick or treating we attended was the one put on by the local businesses on the square downtown LaGrange. Our church, FLF, also participated. I honestly did not get any good pictures of the boys in their costumes. Ian was "Jason" and Chase was a pirate again this year. This year was the first time since the kiddos were born that we were able to do costumes on the cheap!  Below is a picture of the girls from church, Deena, Tracie, and Judy handing out candy downtown.

We also had a lot of fun carving pumpkins before Halloween. This year I enlisted Tim to help with some non-traditional, "designer" pumpkins. He's so good at that kind of stuff and they turned out AWESOME! Just how I pictured them (or copied them from Country Living magazine, lol!)

 

 

 

 

Izzy was a big fan of the pumpkins as well!

Throughout October we continued work on the Ritzy Roost. Getting it ready for the big opening on November 1st!  It is now up and running full steam ahead! It looks amazing! Check it out at www.theritzyroost.com

Long time comin

Well this post surely has been a long time comin! I have two entire months of catching up to do! I guess we should go back to September....Chase, my dad, and Larry all had birthdays in September. My dad and Larry share the same birthday, September 4th. On "Pop's" birthday we celebrated with dinner, ice cream cake, and some very special presents.

Here are Larry and Kyle posing with "Tiki Guy." Tiki Guy will move into his new home in the Tiki Hut out back by the pool this spring.

Ian and Chase also crafted Pop some special gifts out of clay. They had some much fun doing this! Here is Larry, Kyle, Ian and Chase posing with the "Pop" clay design. 

My dad and Connie were able to come down for a visit right before his birthday. The boys had such a good time staying at the hotel with them for a few days and swimming in the pool and hot tub.

Chase's birthday was September 23rd and he woke up to find that the "birthday fairy" had arrived.

What a neat tradition we have started! Chase thought it was awesome of course and wanted to keep his birthday fairy balloons for weeks!  That evening we had Chase's favorite dinner, Spaghetti, and mommy baked him his favorite cake, funfetti! Our friend and neighbor, Miss Sue, joined us for dinner that evening. Chase and Ian both just adore Miss Sue and she does them as well. The boys love to ride their bikes at her house because she has a nice slopping brick path leading from the bottom of her driveway across the back of her house and to the big pavilion in the backyard. So they start on their bikes or scooters at the top of the road and zoom down the driveway to the backyard. Such fun!

Time off

I've been saying for weeks now that I'm going to update my blog "tomorrow." Well that obviously hasn't happened. Even now that my blog has officially  been "pimped," (many, many thanks to my friend Linda for doing that!) I still haven't gotten around to it. Now especially with the kiddos in Pennsylvania for fall break, Tim and I have been spending a lot of time cleaning and organizing, and just enjoying being together sans kids. So I thought I'd pop on here real quick before Tim and I head out for the day. We are planning on going to brunch and then maybe the Hummingbird Festival in Hogansville. Its actually a pretty chilly day here in LaGrange. Nowhere near as cold as back home with it being somewhere in the 50s here today. Still chillier than I was hoping for the festival. Maybe we'll just run to Angel's Antiques in Opelika. You never know what treasures you'll find there. And there is also this fantastic little store that opened recently nextdoor to Angel's call "Resurect." Its wonderful and has all these perfectly worn and rusted pieces, any one of which I'd love to have in my home!

So continue to stay tuned. I will have pictures of the boys football season and some more of the Ritzy Roost as well. Also some new and exciting things happening over there.

Have a wonderful fall day all!!

Blog

My blog is about to get pimped! Expect some new, exciting changes to the blogs as well!

I am so not good at this

• but I'm an excellent procrastinator! We have been incredibly busy around here with school, homework, football practice, Tim's new job and house hunting. I'm exhausted. I long for those lazy fall days back in Pennsylvania where we came home from work, at dinner on the couch and then just collapsed there the rest of the evening, lol.
  
• The boys are doing really well in football. Chase has been playing quarterback in flag football and Ian is an offensive and defensive lineman on his tackle football team. I never realized just how cute little boys look in football uniforms with pads and helmets. I also never realized how much "stuff" they need just to wear that uniform and all the work that goes into getting into said uniform! First there are all those pads! My word, there are pads for every part of the body (which is good I guess), there is the mouth piece that has to be boiled and formed to your kids mouth (who knew?) and all the extra stuff like special socks so the cleets fit properly, the special "silky" shirts (as Ian calls them) to wear under the shoulder pads. Then we have to round up a shirt that is big enough to fit over all of that for practice. Whew!
  
• Of course Chase is quite the cutie out there running the field with his flags strapped to his sides.

• Its exhausting, especially when we have two kiddos going to two different fields on the oposite ends of town on the same night. But its also a lot of fun. I've met some really great and helpful people while sitting on the sidelines and it sure does tire the boys out, which makes for a much easier bedtime.
  
• We have also started work on my mom's new store, The Ritzy Roost (www.theritzyroost.com), an upscale furniture consignment and merchant marketplace. Its a very exciting time for all of us, Mom especially. I will be opening up a booth there and plan to sell mostly coastal/cottage chic items. So I have been trying to get items together for that (believe me I have plenty of stock already sitting in my Mom's basement just waiting for its spotlight). I also have some other things in mind to carry in the store, its just a matter of getting my Tax ID and really exploring the wholesale market out there. Mom and the guys spent a lot of time at the store this past weekend ripping out carpet and getting walls ready to paint. Of course Chase was about the hardest worker of all! He loved it!
  

• Over labor day Tim and I headed to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the race on Sunday night. We've been to many races at this point, but our seats for this race were the best! Gotta love the smell of gas and burnt rubber, not to mention the insane noise from the roaring engines! I just love it! Many thanks to Coca Cola for that!
  

• Well that's a little update for now. Tim is about to walk in the door and we are headed to look at yet another house and then off to football practice as long as the thunderstorms hold out.

Its been awhile...

I had every intention of adding another post before this, but just hadn't gotten to it until now. Again, we had a lot going on lately. Last weekend we attended a camp-out with our church. Now I'm not a camping kinda gal, and in fact we didn't spend the night. Honestly we live too close to the campsite to NOT come home for a hot shower and comfortable bed. However, we had a wonderful time and I fully intend to spend the weekend at the campsite next year. The boys had an absolute blast. On Friday night we had a low country boil. For you northerners this is shrimp and/or crab legs, smoked sausage, potatoes, corn on the cob, onion and peppers just boiled together in a big ole pot. I did not partake because its a bit too spicy for my sensitive stomach, but I heard it was pretty awesome! On Saturday Mom and the boys headed to the campsite early while Tim and I stayed behind and made cupcakes, then headed out a little later. The boys were in the water (our campsite was right on the lake, Gorgeous!) for 6 straight hours. Fishing, boating, jet skiing, just playing in the water with their friends.

• We had a fantastic dinner at camp Saturday night with Jeff making some delicious dishes. I'm still craving teriyaki chicken wings and I've already made the black eyed pea dip. So yummy! We wrapped up the camping weekend with church at the campsite on Sunday morning. How amazing it was to look out over the lake as we sang and Terrin gave his sermon. The whole weekend was just fantastic!

• This week Tim started his new job at Coke. The job is going well for him. The boys and I missed him a lot on Thursday as he left the house at 4:30 am and didn't return home until 8 pm due to a late meeting. Thankfully that isn't typical.
  
• Also this week, the boys started football practice. We are going to be crazy busy running two kiddos to opposite ends of town for practice and games 4 days a week for the next few months. They both really enjoy it and are doing well, so very much worth it. Chase, appropriately enough, plays for the Steelers!
  
• This week my mom found a space to open her new store "The Ritzy Roost." I am so proud of her and just so excited! Its something she has always wanted to do and it just finally fell into place. The store will be an upscale furniture consignment as well as will have booth space for vendors to rent to display their own merchandise. I am going to be one of those vendors! I'm really excited about this. This also has been something I've always thought about doing, but it never seemed right. I'm planning to carry more shabby/cottage chic items. Some new items, a lot of old lol! Tim has already been busy planning some things to make as regular merchandise.
  
• To wrap up the week, we are expecting the arrival of my Dad and Connie tomorrow afternoon for a short visit. Looking forward to showing them around town and I know the kids are anxious to see Mimi and Pap.
  
• So with that said, I am headed to bed early tonight. Stay tuned...

Peace

• So you may have noticed that I have changed the title of my blog a couple of times already over the past couple of days. Well its about to change again. I have been searching for a name that represents our family, the place our family is at at this point in our lives, and also my love for home decorating (which we all know I will be incorporating into the blog once we find that "perfect" place). I have finally decided on "Peace At Home." It just works. I believe that we are finally at a place in our lives where we are all finding peace. Over the past few years we have experienced a lot of unrest. We had deaths and illness in the family. We had financial unrest. We had just weren't sure of our place. Finally we decided to put it in God's hands and see what happened. So here we are in Georgia. We took a leap of faith or maybe not, maybe we just knew it was what needed to happen. Since moving here we have spent so much quality time with Mom, Larry, & Kyle. We've met some wonderful people, and have become a part of an amazing little church group. This is not to say that our move was without stress. We still have stress, we're human. We just have a lot less of it now. We are slowly but surely learning to give up control and let God take over as was intended. We are At Peace.

• That's it for tonight. I have lots to update on, just haven't found the time yet. Stay tuned!

Lots of updates

• Well first things first, I think I fixed my blog layout so that its readable again. Its not exactly how I wanted it, but it'll do for now.

• So the first day of school has come and gone. So far so good. The boys really like it and everyone at Hillcrest has been wonderful thus far. There are so many things that are different than what we are used to in PA. One thing that is pretty much exactly the same is the dreaded fall fundraiser. Ugh... The items that we are selling this year are of much better quality and selection than NLH, but its the same old song and and dance as far as the "Mega Event" goes. If the kiddos sell "X" amount of items they are eligible to attend the Inflatable Event." Of course we'll make sure this happens, but that means selling our butts off this year as we have 2 kiddos to send this year.

• As I said, school seems to be going great. Ian has a lot of homework already. Tim and I both can't believe how much they kids here are expected to know. Thankfully, my brother Kyle has been an awesome help to Ian. He spent a few hours last night going over Ian's math with him and they are back at it again already this afternoon. Chase got his "site words" before kindergarten even started. I'm sure he'll do great, he's very eager to learn. Today when I picked them up from school and explained to Chase that he only had two more days until the weekend, he said "aww well I don't really care about the weekend, I love school, that's why I want to be there all the time!" Gotta love that! They are both making lots of new friends and even have a few here in our neighborhood. One of the most interesting and exciting things about our new school is that the parents are encouraged to stop into the classrooms anytime to visit. I can walk the boys to their classrooms in the morning without buzzing in or signing in at the office. All my girls from PA reading this, hold your horses.... I've signed up for the PTO! I know, I know but I figured I'd try to get as involved as possible and try to participate more in the school activities, at least until I start working again :)

• We started attending a new church two weeks ago and like it very much. We are blessed to know the people there and are so thankful for all of their support. Check it out online if you get a chance www.familylifefellowship.net.

• And for the most exciting news of the week, Tim got a call today in regards to a big interview he had earlier this week. He is now an employee of Coca Cola! We are all very proud of him!

• I'm off to prepare for dinner and ice Tim's celebration cake!

• Hopefully my blog layout will not stay this way. I was trying some new designs and now its just stuck like this. I'm not sure what I did or how to remove it yet. All I do know is that its entirely too late tonight to worry about it any longer. Kids first day of school tomorrow! Gonna be a looong day!

Woah what a day!

• We had two major events happening today in regards to the boys. Early this afternoon my Mom and I took the boys to the Rec Center to register them for football. For Chase, this year and next will be regular old flag football with the exception of MANY more practices a week. However, for Ian this year will mean an "evaluation day" and following that "the draft." Now this isn't (and I mean no offense at all here) your regular old "Mo-Valley YMCA flag football." Nope, they take their football seriously here in the south. I'm excited I must say. I have absolutely no doubt that Ian will do fantastic. The kid is a powerhouse. He is a bit reserved and shy until he gets comfortable, but look out after that! Chase is chomping at the bit to get involved in sports. He is so high energy and an incredibly tough little bugger as well. Starting in a few weeks until the end of September we will be very busy bees around here, buzzing from one 2-hour practice to another, but we'll love every minute of it I'm sure!

• Also on the agenda today was "meet the teacher day" at the boys' new school. What an experience. First of all, was the dreaded paperwork. Instead of getting the big packet of information and forms to fill out sent home with your child after the first day of school, you complete these forms at the school before being assigned to your teacher. Filling out paperwork for one child is plenty of work, but paperwork for 2 kids means entering into a whole other realm of hand cramping, lol. After the forms were complete we paraded around the cafeteria from station to station (much like back "home") making sure all forms were completed and signed off on. Finally, we made it to the "teacher assignment" table. There we found out that Chase, entering kindergarten, would have Mrs. Batchelor and Ian, entering 4th grade, would be assigned Mrs. Roper. We met with the teachers and visited the classrooms. Both teachers were very nice and we met some wonderful people today. The school is great. Much larger than we are used to, but packed full of great and helpful people. I honestly did not see anyone today without a smile on their face. I am very comforted by this and the fabulous faculty we met today. One of the things that happens here that we are not used to in Pennsylvania is the posting of the "required school supply list." This list is broken down into grade levels and includes supplies necessary for each student as well as an "optional but not necessary" list to be purchased by parents and sent with your child to school on the first day. Now most of us moms know that it really isn't necessary for us to send in anything other than the required items,(Lord knows we're busy enough), but we will most definitely send every darn thing on that list! Can't hurt right :) All in all a great day (except for that family trip to the grocery store where my mom and I ended up gathering the groceries while Tim dragged hyped-up kids out to the car to wait, lol).

• We ended the day with a nighttime dip in Ohmi & Pop's new pool, relaxing with some refreshing adult beverages (grown-ups only of course!).
  
• Stay tuned to tomorrow's blog post, hopefully with pictures. Ian is getting his hair cut off... his request. Could prove interesting...

Almost time...

• For the start of a new school year! Four days to be exact. I can't believe we've already been in Georgia for almost 3 weeks and the boys start school at the end of the week. Chase will be starting kindergarten this year, so it will be an entirely new experience for him. I think he'll love it. Ian is a typical 9-year-old with a love/hate relationship with school. Just hoping for really great teachers for both of them to hopefully ease the transition.

• As the days go by Tim and I are both getting more acclimated to the area, learning what is where and how to get there. The one thing we all are loving is the weather! For those of you who know me well, you know that I am ALWAYS cold. So I love being able to walk out into the sunshine and feel instant warmth. It is strange to walk OUT of the house to get warm (central air everywhere here), but its wonderful.

Tonight we enjoyed a lovely dinner with our neighbor Miss Sue, a true Southern Belle. She has been a blessing to my Mom, Larry, & Kyle, and is proving to be one to us as well. Chase has really taken a liking to her, inviting her outside after dinner to "watch him ride his bike." Priceless!


Well I think that's about it for today. Again, I will continue to try to update daily, but at this point it might be more like several times a week, lol.


Goodnight!

New Beginning

• This is the beginning of many more posts to come as our family settles in the south. Eventually this will be a place where my friends and family can come to for updates on happenings in our lives and hopefully some great photo ops along the way (as soon as I figure this all out). So follow us on our adventure of starting a new school (kiddos of course), new jobs, new home and best of all, junking in the south! Stay tuned...