A Gorgeous Fall Day

Joel and Silas love their new backyard

Our little lippy man

They're both shouting "Iowa!" for the camera

Good buddies

Ring around the rosy!

More Moving Day Pics

Celebration after a successful closing! But there's still more work to do.

Our first family photo on our new front porch

Here it is! The new homestead on move-in day.

So much extra space in the garage! Perfect place to stash baby gear.

The living room is starting to come together.

The kitchen has a long way to go. (but you should see it now!)

A job well done!

Already blaming his brother

The other day, Silas very obviously and loudly passed gas. (we call 'em "toots" around here) Jorie said, "Silas, did you toot?" Silas said, very seriously, "No. Jo-Joel."

Joel has a new phrase. We were at the toy store last night and Joel was looking at all the new trains they had and he kept saying, "This is too cool!" "This is too cool, Daddy, they have Salty!" "This is too cool, Daddy, they have the carnival!" I guess Joel is just too cool. No idea where he picked that up, maybe I say it once in a while.

This morning, I was playing a little Mario Party and Joel asked, "Is the dinosaur bad, daddy, is he the bad guy?" I said, "Yep, that's Bowser, he's the bad guy." Joel then asked, "Does he run away from his daddy all the time?"

Had to share this video

Despite reminding me slightly of the "happy hands club" scene from Napolean Dynamite, this video is awesome.

Wildlife sightings!

On our last night in the Grayslake townhouse, Jorie saw two deer, one of them a huge buck, right by the side of the road near our house. That isn't all that unusual, but it can be startling when you're driving. But what was unusual was when she pulled into our neighborhood and she spotted a coyote sauntering down the sidewalk right outside our house! Crazy!

Then on our first full day in Cedar Rapids, I was driving with Joel to pick up some stuff at the hardware store. On the way back, I spotted something out of the corner of my eye, and I turned my head just as we were driving by and saw some bizarre looking animals ambling around right beside the road. At first I thought they were some type of large pheasant, but I wasn't really sure. It was definitely something I had never seen in the wild before. I told Joel we were turning around and going back for another look. We looped around and parked right next to this flock of about 7 gigantic birds that were pecking around in the dry grass. They were huge wild turkeys! I've heard they can be quite temperamental (my cousin Lisa has a hilarious story on her blog about getting chased by a wild turkey during a run in Champaign, IL), so Joel and I stayed near the car and watched them for a bit. I keep looking for them every time I drive by, but I haven't seen them since.

Is that where you live?

Here's a recent conversation I had with a Best Buy security guy, while waiting for a manager to approve my pickup of a large TV stand.

I looked at the size of the box and said, "Man, that thing's not gonna be fun to haul down to the basement."

Best Buy guy looked me over and said, "Is that where you live?"

With a bemused grin, I replied, "No, I live in the whole house."

He said, "Oh! You look like you're still in college or something."

I laughed and said, "Man, I've got two kids. I'm 31."

Then he raised his eyebrows and nodded and said, "Heh, well I know how you feel. I'm 36." (he looked about my age)

I said, "Really, I would have guessed about 46."

Just kidding, I didn't say that last part. I just had to share this little random conversation because I thought, "Is that where you live?" was a hilariously bizarre response. Not that there's anything wrong with living in the basement, if that's what you gotta do, but it seemed like a strange thing to assume, just because I want to put a TV stand down there.

The boys are hard at work, helping Daddy assemble the stand.

Joel made these himself out of the styrofoam that came with the stand. On the left is a house, on the right is a bird.

Moving is CRAZY!

In order to accurately capture the chaos of moving day, I decided to write some new lyrics to the song "End of the World" by R.E.M.

It's the End of Grayslake

Six A.M., wake up time, hurry, movers come at nine!
Gotta pack, gotta run, so much stuff we haven't done!
Get huge truck, drive it down, babysitter's car broke down!
She can't stay long, what to do, look who's here, the moving crew.
Disassemble furniture, so much still to pack.
Movers grabbing everything and we're... a... wreck.
Uh oh, overflow, too much stuff for just one truck.
Hope they have another one, they do, so we're in luck.
New plan, Dad can drive, Accord will now get towed behind.
Piano going down the hall, OOPS right through the drywall!
Pack it up, pack it tight, so much stuff is still inside.
Very stressed, about to lose it, time to load the storage unit.
Jor's inside, so much to do, Mark is with the moving crew.
Dad and Tim arrive to help, or else we'd never make it!
Moving crew has finished up, got stuff to still cram on the truck.
Craziness and melting brain, mental overload.
Stressed out, feeling like we'll never hit the road.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of rush hour traffic as we know it,
It's the end of crazy-high property taxes as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE.

Five o'clock, almost packed, Accord is loaded on the rack,
Kids need dinner, house needs cleaning, Dad and Tim need to get going.
Buyer's walkthrough is at seven, not much time, still hurrying.
Jorie is a rockstar cleaner, Mark takes kids to Burger King.
Finally finished, leave the key! There's our buyer, time to flee!
Too late to leave, can't arrive at one! Instead we'll stay with Halversons.
Go to bed, try to sleep, oh no here comes Mark's allergy.
Eyes water, can't breathe, go outside, try not to freeze.
Finally come back in at three, Joel dreams his room is full of bees!
Joel and Mark lay on the couch and finally get... some... sleep.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of townhouse living as we know it,
It's the end of screaming neighbors as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE.

Six A.M., shake those legs, Dani makes some yummy eggs.
On the road, feelin' fine, no traffic so we make good time.
Jorie drives with fussy boys, Silas still sick and making noise.
Got a call from my lawyer, piano damage stinks.
Gotta leave a big deposit, my lawyer thinks.
Uh oh, without the funds, we can't buy our place.
Get on the phone, make some calls, gotta win this race.
Headin' down the highway, talking on my phone,
driving the second moving truck with my car in tow.
Good news! Buyer agrees to a reasonable deposit!
We can write a check at close and leave with key in pocket!
Grayslake closes, 2:30, and now the Dills are homeless.
3:00, time to go, and hope no trouble at this close.
Oh no, who knew, wiring cash takes time.
Good chance we will not make it, before 4:30 deadline.
Backup plan, bigger loan, close without the funds.
Empty out our bank account, to make this deal get done.
4:30, look who's here, the wire has arrived!
Sigh of relief, now it's easy, and we are still alive.
Celebration, champagne, now everybody's happy!
We did it! We did it! Time to take a nappy.

It's the end of Grayslake as we know it,
It's the end of tiny bedrooms as we know it,
It's the end of fast-paced Chicago life as we know it,
and we FEEL FINE. This truck could only hold about 2/3 of our stuff, believe it or not Heh, I hope you enjoyed reading that as much as I enjoyed writing it. I know I didn't stick to the format of the song too closely, but meh, most of it sorta works. Moving in was not nearly as chaotic, so I don't need to write a song about that part. But we did have a lot of people here all at once. We had the moving crew (a different one, from Cedar Rapids this time), Best Buy appliance delivery guys, and a Mediacom cable/internet/phone installer all here at once. Fun fun fun! We got the trucks returned and now all that's left is unpacking. I think it is safe to say Joel and Silas are loving living here so far. They seemed totally comfortable in this house right away and Silas loves to say "Iowa!" at every given opportunity.

Ah, that reminds me of one funny story from when I took the kids to Burger King. Joel knew we were planning to go to the Halverson's and he kept begging "Can we go to Luke's now, please please!" And I was telling him, "Well there's a couple stops we have to make first, we have to go to eat, then the store, then home, and THEN do you know where we'll go?" Silas then chimed in and shouted "Iowa!"