New Recipe Love

We tried a new recipe last night. Pork Steak Casserole in the slow cooker. I didn't have mushrooms, so I didn't add them.  It was so good though! Even Eric liked it which is amazing.  It's for sure a winner and I'm adding it into the rotation. YUM!

Still waiting to leave

We planned on leaving Sunday, but after 4 hours of packing we ended up with the Excursion quitting on us 2 blocks from the house. Whoo!  I helped Josh pull it home and then he used the truck to pull the RV back home.
The Diesel Truck Specialist came to pick up the Excursion on Monday and called Tuesday to let Josh know he could come get it. On the way home, Josh noticed it wasn't running quite right so he turned around to take it back. Of course it was running fine once he got there. The guy wanted to take a look anyway so Josh left it there.
Josh is working 12 hours today, so even if he can pick it up I doubt we will drive the camper out tonight. He won't get home until at least 9 and it will be 2 hours down to Hidden Acres where we are hooking up.

Colleen lost her first tooth!

Posing with her gap and $2 bill.

We were starting to wonder if it would ever come out, but we finally got it pulled today.

She originally wanted to tie a rock to it and drop it over the banister, but she got scared at the last minute. After I cut the string off her tooth, I gave it a good tug and felt/heard it crunch. Then I gave it one more good yank and it finally came out! We are all so relieved! It has been causing her pain for weeks and it just wouldn't come out. She's so giddy she keeps twirling around and laughing. LOL

A Tour of the RV

 This is facing the "front" of the trailer with the front door to the right (past the kitchen sink). The "master bedroom" takes up the front end of the trailer. It is a queen sized bed with storage above and to the sides. The side tables are created by the storage space underneath and the left side has a laundry hamper built in. If you lift up the end of the bed, there is storage under the mattress.
The TV in the entertainment center can swivel around to face the bed. Also, it came with a sound system and DVD player.

 The kitchen sink is *large* and nice and deep. I'm thrilled with it. The stove is typical for an RV and the oven is tiny, but I should be able to use my 2.5 qt casserole dish in it.  The fridge has a separate freezer which is great! You can't see it here, but there is a pantry next to the fridge. Lots of space in there. The storage above the sink is spacious too.

 This is my outdoor kitchen. The stove swings out from under the counter and the fridge is a nice sized dorm fridge. You can see I have space for my Keurig (not sure if it will stay there or if I will relocate it). That same area will fit my crock pot nicely. It even has a little sink! More storage above the sink area will come in very handy.

Here you can see the dinette area and a bit of the couch/loveseat to the right. The couch pulls out and has an air mattress. There is storage above the couch also. The seats of the dinette benches pull up and are all open for storage. Right behind the boys you can see the hand sanitizer on the wall. That is the side of another pantry/closet. Across from that is the bathroom. It is big and has a door to the outside. You can see that door in the picture with the outdoor kitchen. In this picture you can also see the back slide out *not* slid out. Our basketball goal is in the way so we had to leave it in for now.
I can't get a good pic of the back bunk area because of that, so when we get down to Anthony, KS  I will get pics and post them. There are two bunks, a loft bed (over the outdoor kitchen) and a trundle.

We bought a camper!

This is the camper we are going to be living in as we travel with Josh for his job. It has an outside kitchen and two slide outs, so there is lots of room. I'll be posting pics of the inside as soon as I can.

I love Signing Time videos!

They have been so wonderful for us. We did a bit of signing with Colleen and benefited greatly from it. As we found a word was needed, I looked it up and we taught it to her. Just a few words greatly reduced the screaming and tantrums. So, we were sure that we would use signing with William too.
With him, we found Signing Time. ( www.signingtime.com ) They have the videos at the library. We've been getting them since October I think. We all have picked up a lot of signs. It's much easier to learn signs this way and with everyone learning them, it's that much more exposure William gets.
On Monday I counted up 197 signs that William knew. Last night (Thursday night) I counted up again because we had borrowed three more videos that he hadn't seen in awhile and I knew he had picked up some more. He now knows 245 signs!
It's so amazing to be able to communicate with him this way. I can't recommend the Signing Time videos enough. I wish every parent knew how helpful signing with their baby can be.  At 17.5 months he still doesn't really talk (he has maybe 1 or 2 words), but he communicates beautifully. :)

Also, Rachel Coleman, the creator of Signing Time, has a blog. You can read about her families amazing journey there. It's a very moving story.

Snow!

Did I mention that we got about 5 inches of snow? The kids have been thrilled. It's the first real snow of the winter too. I'm trying to put up some pics, but I'm not sure that my phone is cooperating. We'll see. :)