Off We Go...

So, tomorrow we are OFF! Alain, Coby, and I are headed south to pay a visit to Mickey and Shamu. Originally, we had planned to take a trip out to CA to visit Joy and the crew, but since they up and decided to move to Boston :) we had to make other plans! I had earned free Disney tickets by participating in Give a Day, Get a Day earlier in the year, so we decided to Orlando we would go! So, I have just one question...

Mickey Mouse or Shamu: Who will be Coby's Favorite?
	Mickey
	Shamu
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The Day has Come and New Things

The dreaded day has come....

Coby has discovered how to remove his diaper if he is not wearing a onesie or shorts, and oh does he love to be sans clothes. There is something about boys I think that just longs for the freedom of no clothing. While it is sweet, it is not so sweet when it occurs during nap time, especially when there is poop involved (I'll spare you that picture). However, as you can see above, playtime couldn't be better than when doing it sans clothes :)

Life has not skipped a beat since we moved into the new house. While we are finally feeling fairly settled, we still feel like we are moving a mile a minute. With a new house came something VERY unexpected~ a new job for me (jenn). Three weeks ago today, less than a week of being in the new house, I received a call from a friend who was a teacher at Rogers Herr Year Round Middle in Durham. She had called to let me know that she had accepted a teaching position in Chapel Hill and that she very much wanted me to have her job. Just a few problems... the no-transfer policy in durham schools for this year, teacher workdays were to start in just ten days, school would start a week later, and hold on a minute, I had a summer full of travel and time with Coby. While I immediately was tempted to want to go (I have longed to teach at RH for many reasons, mainly the year-round schedule), I truly believed it was not the right time~ just too many obstacles to overcome. Little did I know, it must have been meant to be. After a week of wrestling my feelings, I finally came to the decision (with Alain and Natalie's help), to talk to the principal at RH. Basically, I told her I was interested, but I couldn't start until Aug. 2. Long and short of it, last Thursday, I found out that all of the obstacles were clear, and I was now a teacher at Roger Herr~ what a big God we serve. My pastor growing up said once "finding God's will is not in our ability to follow, rather in God's ability to lead." How true- He kept prompting me throughout that week, and despite my reliance on obstacles to close doors, He opened them for me. It was fantastic! So, part of me is scared to death (I have never taught outside of Neal Middle), and part of me is excited beyond words (I have never taught anywhere outside of Neal Middle); however, all of me is incredibly grateful for the five years I have had teaching with the most amazing team of teachers I could dream of. Now it is time to move on. Let the new challenges begin! I start in just 11 days :)

So, Coby is pretty much on the go ALL THE TIME now. I was trying to get a good shot with him actually looking at the camera, and well... this is the best I got :)

Settling In, a Weekend of Fun, and Coby's Favorites

Settling In...
It has been just over a week now since we closed on the new house. We absolutely love it! It feels SOOOOOO big after spending the past two+ months in an apartment. We love having space and having all of our things in one place again. After a week, all except for the last few things in our bedroom have been unpacked and have a home (correction: most of our walls are still bare also). Alain has kept very busy with his many projects and I am sure we are keeping the south durham lowes in business. All in all, we are happily settling.

A Weekend of Fun...

For the 4th of July weekend, we had the Johnson fam stay with us for a few days of fun. We had so much fun~ a double date night complete with a babysitter, a cookout with family and friends, and lots of "hang time" while we finished unpacking and finding homes for everything. Jessica is a task-master and won't let you quit until the job is done.

Coby's Favorites...

Coby is also enjoying his new digs. His play room is a favorite room for all of us (thanks to the wonderfully comfortable IKEA chairs I got last month in charlotte). He loves to pull out all of the toy boxes and play with EVERYTHING! He has mastered the slide in every direction~ the normal way, climbing up the slide and down the steps, going down backwards, going down on his belly, rolling down sideways-head first of course, and any other possible way imaginable (thank God for foam tile flooring!). Possibly the best yet though was last night... Alain and I were cleaning up the kitchen and cleaning the floors in the kitchen while Coby was busy in his playroom. Alain went towards the front of the house to put some dirty towels on the steps to go up to the laundry room and caught Coby like this...

Coby's new favorite thing to do is to READ! He will bring you book after book to read to him, and as you can see, even when we are not looking, he is diving into reading! Hopefully we can continue to foster this love for books as he gets older!