Bowling

precious piggies donning a size 8 and 9 respectively

quietly watching the ball progress toward 10 statues

cheering on the pink sphere after perfect assistance from Dad-O

a sweet and thoughtful boy squeezing every ounce in tight anticipation

protecting the ball he calls his own for the time we are there

confidently becoming one's own cheering section

and oh, the buttons to be pushed, and contraptions to be studied

dreaming of the next "summer list" adventure whose box to the left will soon house a checkmark

playing games

One of the activities on our Summer to do's 

is learning how to play candyland and chutes and ladders

After all, it is CRAZY hot out, so finding the fun inside is 

not a bad idea

Candyland was first...

the littles loved the bright colors

and the candy references throughout

and getting a card with a picture on it

produced a better reaction than Christmas morning

Our rule follower caught on really quick

and certainly understands what it means to take turns

and not to be a sore looser

and cheering on the other players

Our Precious Punky Brewster

not so much!!!

SWIM Lessons

This week, the phrase "Burst with Pride"

took on a whole new meaning.

Taking swim lessons from Miss Ashley was such a joy.

She is one of the most patient and loving teachers I have ever seen.

I think she would agree, Ben was especially challenging.

He began the week with many tears, and once he was passed the fear, 

he would NOT stop talking long enough to let her teach

She informed me after Thursday's lesson

she was pretty convinced the chatter was his way to avoid the work.

hmmmm, I would have to agree with her.........

Her playful style worked wonders for Ben and Emme both.

She let them throw the toys after each successful swim.

Using phrases like "super glueing your arms to your ears" and

reminding them to hum when they went under water to avoid water up the nose.

We are so blessed to have her in our lives. She loves my kids, and I so love hers too. I had a little cry on Friday thinking about my life without that family regularly in our world, what ever will we do? 

 {I must add, that mother of three looks amazing in her daily swimsuits!} 

I snuck out and watched each of them a few minutes each day and was floored by the progress.

So brave, great listeners {for the most part} and voiced their thanks each day to Miss Ashley for helping them to learn.

Ben cried all the way to Monday's lesson and woke up Saturday morning asking "What time are our swim lessons today?"A successful week indeed!

my baby has disappeared

{3 months}

A tradition with both babes

and I forgot to post when the girl turned three

{6 months}

{ONE year}

{2 years}

THREE

no hints of baby left on this girl

breaks my heart and makes it soar 

all the same time

Bass-Pro....CHECK

On Sunday, we went to Bass Pro

We got to see LOTS of fish, an alligator, and some turtles

If you count the {stuffed} animals, we saw....

well, I think we saw All the animals:)

there were fountains to quietly study with the Nonni

and all kinds of vehicles to climb on and button push

There were no naps, and the plan to piggy-back a trip to Incedible Pizza went down hill very quickly

but that just means

another day........................

Our days.............

Our days have been filled with 

talking to realtors

talking to contractors

talking to inspectors

talking to PODS representatives

talking to more realtors

signing papers

scanning papers

emailing the pdf forms of the papers

talking to temporary housing reps

and feeling OVERWHELMED

with excitement

and fear

but in between all of that

we are trying to enjoy Dad-O being home

and checking a few to-dos off our list

first of school hair cuts, CHECK

Timing is everything.............

This week we had to make a quick trip up to STL and back over a 24 hour period.

We walked through the entire inspection and just hung out in our {hopefully} future home.

For a house this age, there is a bit of fear going into the inspection, but for the most part, all is well and the house is in acceptable working condition to move in mid October. It is FILTHY, no offense to the owners, but it going to take serious time and energy on the front end of the move to be make this house feel comfortable and like ours. {think: 3 dogs, 2 cats, one guinea pig, and one parakeet.}

I took my camera with me and had huge plans to create a stop motion video and share it on this here blog. BUT, I forgot to change out my lens, which means, I would try to take a picture of a room and end up with a picture of the left side of the couch and half the picture frame hanging above it. I gave up pretty quickly and moved on to more important things, like......were there termites, and was it treated properly?

So, here are a few that may give you an idea, but GOOD pictures will have to come later:)

a portion of the front of the house

backyard

playhouse

the landscaping I will inevitably kill

living room

den

dining room

and just for the hilarity of it, this is the master bathroom

ALL of the picture from me standing in the the doorway with a 50mm lens

The title of this post you ask? Well, as I mentioned, we move mid-October. BUT, Sam starts his new job September one. We had an offer on the house last night that included a close in 30 days. This is a GREAT problem to have, I know, and I feel very fortunate that we may have sold our house already!

 BUT, WOW,

 Where will we move our stuff?

 Do we live here with family or up there in a rental of some sort?

 Do I start the kids in school down here and then move them up there, which was my plan, but now that we are unsure of the timing I don't know if it is worth doing for less than a month? 

Needless to say, I did not sleep much last night, thinking of all this stuff! And by stuff, I also mean the FUN stuff, like what color I want to paint the walls and how fun it is going to be to see IKEA again!!!


I share this out to the blog world, not really knowing too well who reads this blog or how many people out there know us! BUT, if you are reading this, PLEASE leave me a comment with any thoughts you have or suggestions? I would really appreciate any feedback!