Here's whats new

1. Frankie was cooking some chicken nuggets on the stove and failed to turn off the stove (electric) and went outside to play. The neighbors called the fire department and they came in and turned off the stove. The condo had quite a bit of smoke damage and we are just grateful we still have our house and everyone was safe. We continue to clean up the mess. We may need to bring in reinforcements. 2. My friend took me out to Olive Garden for my birthday. I turned another year older last Sunday. Frank took me out to dinner for my birthday and purchased me a bread maker. 3. The family headed down to Tennessee to see the Grandparents and Aunt Jenny. I took a week off from work to spend some time with my family before they leave on their mission. We are hoping they will join us once more up in Chicago before they officially leave for Africa. I would like to have them here to celebrate Savannah's 2nd birthday and see the house that we are in the process of purchasing. 4. Frank and I drove all night long to get to my parents house. We made it just in time for church and afterwards we celebrated my birthday with a nice ham dinner, cake and ice cream. 5. We took Savannah down to the Hands on Museum. She had a blast and was a little timid at first but quickly felt comfortable and was running all over the place. We stayed there about two and a half hours and she past out in the car. 6. The family went bowling together and I managed to win both games. Frank, Frankie and Jenny went to the video arcade and played laser tag. There team won the game of laser tag. 7. We headed down to Knoxville and went on a Lost Sea Adventure. It was a really cool cave that was formed by an underground lake and there was a boat ride at the end. We saw a bunch of rainbow trout that were trapped inside the cave. 8. Grandma and I took the baby down to Knoxville again to go to the zoo. Savannah was quite tired but really enjoyed looking at all the animals. The weather was cool and we enjoyed the time we shared together. We enjoyed watching the baby monkey at the park. 9. Frank and I took out our parents out to lunch at the Super China Buffet. They had really good food and then we said our goodbyes and headed back to Chicago. 10. Sarah is on spring break this week and joined us on Saturday. We attended the "We Believe" broadcast and YW recognition. It was a good broadcast however I thought it was a bit long (2 1/2 hours). 11. We had ward conference today. Savannah was a handful and very difficult to handle today. I will need to work with her on getting back on a normal routine. 12. Update on the house...seller's bankruptcy is finished and we are in the process of getting the short sale approved again. We leared that she has two mortages and we are hoping that it will go through this time. We are shooting for closing sometime in May. Pray for us that the bank will approve the short sale. 13. Filed our income tax refund and are expecting a really nice refund this year. This is going to be a good year for us financially. We are already off to a good start already and it is only March. We are planning on paying off our debt. 14. We purchased a new 42 inch plasma TV and brought it home yesterday. Our old TV was dying and wasn't going to last much longer. We also purchased a new DVD player. Frank is excited to transfer his old VHS tapes onto DVD's. 15. Sarah is looking forward to getting her drivers license soon. She has completed all herdriving requirements and just has to take her driving test now. 16. I just found out that I will need to find a new babysitter starting on June 6th. I'm hoping to be moved by than and will miss our current babysitter. I just hope I can find a new babysitter that is going to work out just as well. I really dislike having to find child care :( 17. Frank is hoping to open up a new office in Johnson City, TN. He recently opened up two new offices in the Chicagoland area. His business is starting to expand and really take off. 18. The weather has turned cold again in Chicago. We were a little spoiled being down in Tennessee with all this warm weather. 19. My 6 month checkup went well and it will be my two year mark next month. That is definately a relief and cause for celebration. The doctor gave me the green light for having more children. We are looking forward to baby #2.

Knoxville Zoo

Now thats a big bird

Savannah loved playing in the play area at the zoo. It took us about 30 minutes to pull her away from this section alone.

Savannah riding a tractor trailor



Mommy and me admiring some zebras from a far

Looking at the Meerkats

Grandma feeding the camels

Someone failed to take a nap in the car ride over and didn't make it till the end.

Fire Department to the Rescue

Tonight I received a very disturbing call from our landlord. Frankie came home from school and was cooking lunch for himself. His friend showed him how to fry chicken nuggets on the stovetop and apparently left two nuggets in the pan and spilled some oil on the stove top. He swears he shutoff the stove before he left to go outside play. I think he forgot to turn off the burner. Needless to say he nearly burnt down our house. We have a ton of soot and smoke damage in our house. Luckily our house never caught on fire which I am grateful for. One of our neighbors called the fire department and the landlord. The firefighters disconnected the stove and opened up all the windows. The screens were removed off the windows when I came home. The house is a mess literally and will take forever to clean up. We have to repaint the house and probably clean the carpets after its all said and done with. Frank and I both came home late from work. Frankie was quite shocked and amazed when he came home to see what had happened. He told me he heard the fire trucks coming and even saw them turning onto our street and thought it was for someone else. Crazy Huh!

Thankfully we have all of our possessions still and are all safe.