MooneyWeb

Where did the past 2 months go??  It’s been crazy but exciting times for the Mooney family.  I’ll just go in the order of the events because there seem to have been a lot in a short span.

In October we took advantage of the Halloween season to the fullest.  We went to a pumpkin patch with our MOMs club, Veturiccio Farms and then hit up the pumpkin patch as a family at Schnepf Farms.  The kids love Schnepf Farms, there were hay rides, amusement park like rides, the pumpkin patch and yummy food.  Makenna this year was brave enough to go on the Roller Coaster.  In fact, she insisted and made the height requirement with the help of her bow.  I couldn’t go on it because I was pregnant but daddy enjoyed two separate rides with the kids.  Noah is an old pro at rides like this.  Makenna on the other hand, found it a bit scary but was proud of going on it.  We carved pumpkins, cooked pumpkin seeds and other Halloween treats.  Of course, we also went trick or treating.  Noah was Captain Hook this year.  Makenna couldn’t decide….Cinderella or Snow White??  So, she got both.  She wore Cinderella to the MOMs club Halloween party and Snow White trick or treating.  Since we were still in the apartment, we went to the Russo’s house this year to trick or treat.  The kids were troopers and were out most of the night getting their candy.  We also took the kids to see a Dora play at the Phoenix Children’s theater.  Considering they still love and watch Dora religiously, they really enjoyed the play.

Our move was delayed for two weeks because the cabinets were delayed.  We were frustrated when we heard about it but it was all worth it. We were forced to pack up the garage a majority of our items were being stored in because it was only available to us until November 1.  But thank goodness for Pack Rat, it worked out well for us.  We also ended keeping the apartment until the last day possible. We got the keys to our new house on November 10.  I forgot how much work moving is!!  Or it might be the fact that we have soooo much stuff!!  Right now we are just about settled in.  The kid’s rooms need some work and the office has not been unpacked. But all the main areas: kitchen, great room and playroom are organized and lived in.  We even have some curtains
up!!

A week after we moved into the new house I had my ultrasound.  We (Steve, Makenna and Noah) headed into the ultrasound thinking we were going to find out, girl or boy.  And oh my, did we get more than we bargained for!!  It was a typical ultrasound to begin with.  He said we wouldn’t find out the sex until the end of the ultrasound.  But as soon as he started the ultrasound the baby was presenting herself…yep, he said it was a GIRL!  This was no surprise to me.  So we all settled back into the routine of  the ultrasound.  He started taking measurements.  He showed us the arm, the face.  Then he regrouped, put more jelly on my belly and backed up.  He then said, uhhhh, it looks like I’m going to have to redo all my measurements.  I say, “Why, did you lose them or something?”  He moved the ultrasound head on my belly for a few seconds.  He looked at the screen, then at me, and said: “Do you see that?”  I said, “See what?”  Steve’s attention had now turned from the kids back to the ultrasound tech/screen. Then the ultrasound tech said: “There are two of them.”  I’m pretty sure I said “What?” and I think Steve let out a little laugh.  “Yep, there are 2 of them, let’s see if we can find out what this other one is.”  After a little moving around he said: “Looks like this one is a boy.”  So, it’s fraternal twins.  Everyone asks what our reaction was when we tell the news. Really, no reaction…more surprise and processing the information.  Anyone that knows us, is aware what a difficult time we had having Noah. Two years of trying, two years of fertility treatments that included six IUI’s and three full rounds of in-vitro.  The last round they implanted three embryos and we got Noah out of it.  Then we were shocked to find out we were pregnant with Makenna and now this.  It’s amazing how things turn out.  If you had told me five years ago that we would have four kids I would have told you that you’re crazy!

In other news, Makenna has started her first preschool class.  She is going to the same teacher as Noah did last year through Gilbert Parks and Rec, one day a weeks for 45 minutes.  She LOVES it and looks forward to her class all week long.  She has moved up to a gymnastics class on her own.  She really loves her class, although about halfway through she always looks for daddy and
mommy to come say hi.  But she really enjoys the bars and the trampoline.  Noah moved up to a novice boy’s class and is having a lot of fun with it.  He is also still enjoying preschool.  He really loves his teacher, Ms. Barb.  He also finished up his soccer season and he seemed to enjoy running around on the field this year.   We also started him in a multi sports class that is at the same time and place as Makenna’s preschool.  He’s learning more soccer, tee ball, and basketball.

Other than that, we enjoyed Thanksgiving this year with Steve’s parents in the new house.  We are getting ready for the Christmas season.  Enjoy the pictures from October and November.  We actually lost our battery charger in the move for a while so the November pictures are lacking a bit.  Hope everyone is having a great start to the holiday season.

October pictures

November pictures

Ultrasound pictures

I’ve neglected MooneyWeb for 2 months, but am finally finding some time to update it. I think I repeatedly say this, but life has been crazy and a lot has happened since my last update.
Our house officially sold and we have moved into a 2 bedroom apartment. Moving seemed a bit hectic as it was just Steve and I, though we had a little help from a friend. But I am glad that is over! Or, it’s not really over yet…our closing day for our new house is October 31, so we get to do it all again in about 4 weeks! But this time friends, if you live in AZ, I’m calling on you for help!!

Some would think that selling and buying a house is enough exciting news for a summer. But we’d like to let you in on some more exciting news… WE ARE PREGNANT!! We are currently 3 months along and baby Mooney will be making his/her appearance at the end of March. We are all really excited. Makenna would like a little sister and Noah would like a little brother. We’ll see what happens:) This pregnancy has definitely made me very tired the last couple months and morning sickness has definitely been worse than the first 2 times and I’m turning to my maternity clothes a little earlier. BUT, I’m entering the 2nd trimester and am starting to feel much better!

Noah is loving preschool and his teacher, Miss Barb. We got to see Noah sing in preschool with his class, on Circus day, and you can tell how much fun he is having. He started up his fall season of soccer and it’s amazing how much difference a few months makes. He’s listening to coach (dad), running up and down the field, he seems to be a bit aggressive on the pushing side but it’s a contact sport, right?? He’s been on a waitlist to move up a level in gymnastics for a few weeks. Noah is very excited about the new house and wants to drive by it and see what’s going on with it all the time.

Makenna is Makenna. What can I say? Talkative, girlie, and always has an opinion. She’s watching Noah do all his activities this year, preschool and soccer and says: “I get to do that when I get bigger.” She is still enjoying gymnastics and is actually ready to go to a class all by herself when there is an opening for her. She claims to be excited so we will see how it goes. We started a potty chart for her that she filled up and she was so excited to go to the store and pick out her first Barbie! Pretty soon we will have 2 potty trained kids!

I’m going to sign off now. Enjoy the pictures from August, September and our new home progress!

New House pictures
August pictures
September pictures

Holy Cow!! It’s the middle of August and I’m doing the July Mooneyweb post. I know I’ve said we’ve had a crazy busy month before, but the last 6 weeks for us has been CRAZY!! I am tired just thinking about it and even looking through the massive amounts of pictures we have was exhausting. So here goes…

We started off July by heading to Minnesota to visit Auntie Karen. She kept us busy there and we had A LOT of fun! We went on a steam boat ride for lunch, took Noah’s favorite dog, Tucker, to the dog park, walked down the street for a great view of fireworks, went to the Minnesota Children’s museum, and took the train the a Minnesota Twins game…all in the span of 4 days!! It was a very memorable trip and it was great to see Auntie Karen.

Directly from Minnesota we headed to Seattle. For the past 6 months, my brother’s and I have been planning a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. Unknown to her, Justin and his family flew in from S.C., my Grandpa flew in from CA, and we flew in. We had a friend of my moms’, Mrs. Grytting, plan a 2 day trip with my mom so we could arrive undetected and plan the finishing touches of the party. Kelvin planned a delicious gourmet buffet and several friends traveled from afar…CA, OR, and Spokane for the surprise. When my mom arrived at her house, 70 of her friends yelled out “Happy Birthday” for the surprise of her life. This was then followed by Justin and my Family surprising her just after she realized what was happening. It was great seeing just about every family member and friend we hadn’t seen in a while.  It was also great pulling off the surprise. We stayed in Seattle for 10 days and did a lot of activities. We went to Children’s museum in Factoria, Museum of Flight, Pacific Science Science Center, went on a duck boat tour, the ladies got a pedicure (it was Makenna’s first and she loved it), the guys went to a Sounders game, and we topped off the week with lunch at the Space Needle. The kids had a great time with their cousins… until next year.

It was nice getting home after being gone for 2 weeks. But it was time to get ready for Noah’s birthday party!! He turned 4 years old and it was the first time he requested specific people to be at his party. His theme was transportation (cars, trucks, boats and space ship). Not only did he turn 4, but he starts his first year of preschool this week!!

Right after vacation we also had to get the house ready to put on the market…we moved some furniture, deep cleaned, planted some flowers (so much fun in 100+ degree weather), finished up some random projects that had been neglected and got the carpets cleaned. Our new house won’t be ready until Mid-October/beginning November and we know how horrible of a market it is these days. Well, we put the house up (for what we thought was an aggressive price) on August 4th. 36 hours later we had 2 offers at full asking price!!! Crazy, I know. So, we have accepted an offer and are currently in escrow. Our house closes on Sept 19th which means we had to go apartment hunting to find a place to stay for 4-6 weeks. We’ve found an apartment and have slowly started to pack up our house.

So, other than all I have mentioned above, the kids finished up a music class through the city, they also finished swimming lessons (Makenna did 2 sessions in classes all by herself), and Noah met his teacher that he will be having for preschool and I’ve some how gotten the position of President of my MOMs club. My mom also visited for Noah’s birthday and brought Julian along with her. We went to the AZ Museum of Youth, we saw Cinderella at the Mesa Dinner Theater, and Julian even got to join Noah for a gymnastics class. There has also been some excellent progress on our new house; they’ve poured the slab, started framing and windows are in!

I’d write more about how the kids are growing but I’ll let you take in our active month of July and catch you up in the August update that is just a couple weeks away. Sorry for the mass amount of pictures, but it was really hard to cut it down (especially with pictures from 4 different cameras in Seattle):

July 2011
Minnesota 2011
Seattle 2011
Noah’s 4th Birthday
New house Progress

 
Here is a combined May/June Mooneyweb update, what can I say, time just got away from me.
 
First a bit of news, we’ve bought a new house!  We’ve been talking about doing it for a while, “buying our forever home.”  We went back and forth on the possibility of buying a lot and building a custom home or finding a model in a community to build and we’ve been randomly looking at new homes for the past few years.  On the way back rom soccer one day we decided to check out a new build, barely a mile from our current home.  We loved the community… it’s a gated luxury home community and it has a small park.  The “look of the houses” are unique in that not every house looks the same (rare in AZ suburbs).  Then… they had a model that literally encompassed every random requirement we had in our “forever home.”…. A circular grand entrance (Steve), a Jack and Jill bathroom (Ragan), a “Great Room” with no formal living room (Ragan & Steve), single floor (Steve), Huge lot (Steve) separate dining room (Ragan and Steve), and nice size bedrooms and kitchen (Ragan and Steve).  The Casita and 4 car garage was just a bonus and I just love the look of the house on the outside with a courtyard.  So, bottom line, we are really excited to get this started.  We have had our design appointment and picked everything, floors, lighting, grout color, wall color, countertops, carpet, cabinets and every fixture you can think about. Construction on our house is scheduled to begin on June 27.  So check out our pictures to track the progress on our new build.  Oh, and we are hoping to put our current home on the market in the next couple months, so if you know anyone looking to buy in Gilbert!!!!
 
Besides the new home purchase we are keeping quite busy.  The kids finished up their preschool  and Messy Squishy art class.  They finished up their farm class and we started and are almost finished with a parent/tot music class.  We have had some fun Mom’s club activities;
bowling, picking fruit/vegetables at Schnepf farms, the AZ museum of natural youth (dinasours), Toy Town and splash pads. Not to mention some fun family activities like going to the Train Museum on “National Train Day.”  Avo visited from Seattle and we saw “Seussical” at Mesa Dinner Theater and dinner in Apache Junction at Mining Camp restaurant. Other than all that, swimming has been a major activity this summer too!
 
Makenna is doing great, growing and getting more mature every day.  I know I’ve said it before but she is such a “GIRL.”  She loves her purses, dolls, picking out her clothes for the day (always a dress), and SHOES.  She has a fascinating ability to match and if she doesn’t have shoes to match she let’s us know. She is doing pretty good with potty training and has starting going poo poo on the toilet!!!  Not quite fully trained yet but she is getting close. Her reward for pooping on the toilet is a choice of getting her nails painted or a candy treat.  Using painting her nails as an option really got her motivated!  She started out the summer in a parent/tot swim class and has moved on to tadpoles, a class without mom/dad.  We were nervous on how she would do on her own but she liked her teacher, Shawn, and surprised us a few times by actually agreeing to put her head underwater.  She does ok with her water wings on but would rather wade in the water and sit without getting her face and hair wet (just like her mom).
 
Noah is doing well too.  He is getting taller and also more mature.  We watch him and try and figure out what he’s going to be when he grows up.  He is so interested in EVERYTHING.  I can’t tell you how many times he insisted on seeing the space shuttle take off (thank goodness for the DVR).  If he see’s a fire truck, he wants to go on it.  If he hears a train, he wants to go on it.  If he sees an airplane, he wants to touch it. The fires on the news in AZ fascinate him as he wants to see the airplanes fly over and put out the fires. He’s also doing swim lessons and has become VERY impressive.  He can jump in, and swim across the pool.  He has no fear and loves going under water.  He did great in swim lessons but as Steve says, “Noah’s biggest problem in life is he is always going to want to have as much fun as possible.” What does this mean?He may not be the best listner in class because as he’s always trying to have fun and make others laugh.  In fact, I am pretty certain he would have been moved up to the next level if only he could listen.  We are working on it and he improved by this last week of lessons.
 
So that is just about it. Hope everyone is having a fun and safe summer.  Enjoy our pictures and video’s that are posted below.
 
May Pictures
June Pictures
New Home Collage
 
Makenna and Noah ABC’s:

 
Noah Swimming:

 
Hope everyone had a great Easter! 
 
This month our old neighbors, the Del Carlos visited from Indiana.  Chloe has gotten so big and Makenna loved playing with Piper!  Steve’s Aunt Phyllis and Uncle Jeff visited Mary and Pat from Montana.  We celebrated Easter this year with Mary and Pat and Steve’s Uncle Dick. 
 
Noah and Makenna have kept busy this month with preschool, a farm class, art class, gymnastics, soccer, and some fun Mom’s club events.  We combined our Mom’s Club Service project this year with our Easter Party and had the party at an orphanage.  There was an Easter egg hunt and the Easter bunny visited.  Noah was a little apprehensive about the Easter bunny and Makenna wanted nothing to do with him:). 
 
Noah is maturing so much lately.  His teachers say he is listening very well in class and we are starting to have some real conversations with him where he has a real opinion.  The only way I can explain this change is that he is coming out of his toddler years and growing into a preschooler.  He’s asking questions, trying to figure things out and communicating right back with us.   He still has his “boy side” as he has constant energy and get’s a bit out of control sometimes.    
 
Makenna is also growing before our eyes.  The way she speaks and articulates herself is amazing for a 2 year old.  Steve was putting on her pretty pink Easter shoes and she said “I want to wear my orange shoes” as they matched the orange flower on her dress.  We were watching Prince Williams wedding and as Kate walked down the aisle she pointed at the TV and said “look at her dress mommy!”  I explained that Kate going to be a princesses and shortly thereafter Makenna went and got her princess dress and insited on putting it on.  Even going to the store with Makenna can be entertaining, “mommy, those shoes are sooo cute.”  Seriously, where does she get these things??? If you know me at all, you know it’s not from me!
 
Enjoy our April pictures:
 
April 2011