Moving Weekend

We were soooooo thankful for my mom and sister who came up Friday night to help us with the move. It worked well because Saturday morning the kids ate breakfast stunned while watching the movers pack up everything, and then I drove them to the house for Nana and Aunt Heather to play with them so they were out of the way. They played in the pool, played with a few toys (did no pack enough as it took a loooong time!), took a walk, and eventually finally got everyone to sleep just as we were getting there with the movers a few minutes behind us.

They helped make the transition so much easier on those couple of crazy days. We spent Sunday unpacking and got the kitchen totally ready. (And since many of you have helped pack or unpack my kitchen, you know that is a big job!) But, after all food is the priority. :) Mom even made sloppy joes and cookies and brought them along...not to mention the cheese curds they brought me from their Wisconsin trip!

Big thanks to both of these special ladies. We love you and our kids love you. Cannot wait for a visit when its just fun stuff! :)

Got The Keys!!!

So Happy. :)

Last Couple Of Days

Went out to eat with the Fur family and enjoyed playing in some fountains and a fountain show before calling it a night.









Brad took apart all the furniture the week coming up to the move. When you pay the movers by the hour, you make sure to get all this stuff done. :) They were impressed. And as you can see it is extra impressive with his "helpers." :)

Knows How To Wink

And loving it. :)

Fun At The Lake

Tuesday was a crazy day for us. Jen had planned for a fun beach-at-the-lake-day for some families since she and Quentin took the week off. (You know those use them or loose them kind of vacation days they have built up. Lucky for us that also means she is free to watch our kids Friday for closing!) This also happened to coincide with me needing to run to the new house to meet the inspector and also a 3 o clock walk-through with the builder to see if there was anything that needed to be fixed in the house before move in. The good news was the lake is about 10 minutes from the new house. SO I dropped Lorelei off, Makin and I met the inspector, then went back to the lake for a few hours, then quick trip to Jen's house and left the kids there to meet Brad and do the walk-though. Thankfully only a few things needing to be fixed up so the closing should go as scheduled! Sigh of relief! :)



Our fun at the lake included...lots of playing in the sand and swimming. The big highlight for the kids was the Cookie Monster hat fisher-boy. He caught quite a few fish and loved showing them off to the kids who were just jumping with excitement. Lorelei even held one! (Don't worry Melissa, he put them all back! :) ) Makin stayed mostly in the sand and ate plenty but it was nice because I got a chance to visit and he was in the shade. He had no trouble getting the hang of walking in the sand and walked away from me with no hesitation. Gonna have to keep an eye on that one!

Quick Treat and Crazy Weekend

Lorelei with her cake-pop treat from Starbucks at 8 AM...we figured may as well go all out for the day we were going to have. :)

As you can imagine our weekend was busy with packing and running errands. Brad stood outside right before the tire place opened at 8 am while I got gas, then we picked up a hose and small pool for the backyard so the kids can play with that while the movers are moving stuff in next weekend. Then Brad ran to a meeting for his free-lance project, then packing, then Around Town movers came to look over our stuff and give us an estimate on hours etc, then we realized it was after 5 pm and we did not have Brads car! Never a good sign when your day is so crazy you forget to pick up your car. Will be picked up after work today, no problem! :)

Sunday was more errands and packing but we did fit in a lunch with the Furr family after church.

Right now the kids are having lots of melt downs and being very clingy...change is so hard on little ones! I keep reminding Lorelei how fun it will be in the new house, but not sure how much it helps. :)

Tuesday afternoon is the walk-through for us to check over anything we may need to change on the house. We also have an inspector coming Tuesday morning so we can arrange to fix anything he finds. If all goes well we will close at 1 o clock on Friday!!! Soooo excited but will be beyond excited when we actually have the keys in hand. :)

Ouch

Well, mobility not only means toys all over the house, it also means more ouchies. We had a big one this weekend. Makin's latest thing is diving head-first into the bean bag. (After all, big sister jumps into it all the time! He wants to join in the fun! Plus, he's a boy!!!) He took a dive into the bean bag which was unfortunately left too close to the tv table, so we now have a nasty cut right above his eye. The worst part is that is a very easy spot for his little hands to rub. Hoping it gets healed up quickly!

Makin's Favorites

Are the dishes! He especially loves the silverware and we are constantly stepping on some kind of kitchen-ware all over the house. Noticed that constant mobility also means constant messes with little things being dropped everywhere. His other big favorite to leave all over would be farm frig magnets. Not sure where half of them are right now!

Hmmm Future Chef perhaps? :)

Hey, Why Not Paint?

After packing a few boxes I was concerned about us being stuck inside all day (Brad had to take my car as he got a flat on the way to work Wed) and Brad mentioned having Lorelei paint with water outside...and that made me think, "Why not paint with pudding?" So away we went. After all, I had a box in the pantry and we are trying to clear out the pantry right?

This was actually Makin's first time chocolate pudding painting. He enjoyed it for the most part but was uncharacteristically unhappy when I put him in the bathtub to rinse off. He loved eating it and loved using a real spoon.

Shadow Puppets

Lorelei has been having fun with the flashlight lately. Gotta love when they come up with their own ideas to keep busy inside during our summer hibernation. :)

Jerry and Joyce

Today we were very excited to have lunch with Jerry and Joyce (AKA The Stegers)!

Okay, so this is gonna take some back story. :)

Back in a time that seems soooo long ago, we were kid-free and living in Columbus, NE before our move to Virginia. This is the only place where people know us strictly as an adult couple, not knowing us as kids and not knowing us as parents, so it is a group of people we look forward to getting to see on occasion now that we are closer. Anyway, a young couple doesn't stand much of a chance of making friends, especially when I was only substitute teaching and the youngest of Brad's coworkers was 20 years his senior.

So, we were very blessed to eventually meet people through our church. First Verna (another dear friend I cannot wait to put a blog post about when they can come visit!) got me started with VBS and around the same time we also started getting to know Jerry and Joyce. While I was subbing at the Lutheran school, I ran into Joyce in the teacher's lounge who asked about us responding to a letter/email (don't remember which) we had received to help start a plant church. This is a church that our church was starting that was geared to the unchruched and dechurched of the area and was going to have a whole different way of doing things. Brad and I had assumed that everyone in church received the letter and had not given it much thought since we knew it was one year commitment and we wanted to get out of Nebraska. Joyce let me know they had to select certain people they thought would be a good fit. Soon we met with them and, after making it clear we were moving to the beach asap if Brad found the right job, we agreed to help as long as we were there. What an experience we had! We were so privileged to be a part of it and are so excited about how much it has grown. We also added to getting to know each other when Joyce broke her leg and I took over subbing in her class to finish the school year. They are such an influential couple and touch everyone they meet. :) We are so blessed to call them friends.

Needless to say, we are beyond thrilled that this amazing couple is now moving to the Dallas area! Both of their kids live here, so they have decided they are going to see what God has in store for them in Texas so they can be near their kids and new grandbaby. (Arriving around Dec 1st but I'm rooting for Nov. 30th and I'm sure his mom will agree with me. :) ) Lorelei and Makin are already buddies with them and we look forward to many more great times getting together!

Cozy and Ready For Books

Got a quick shot of Makin with one of his latest favorite books, "Big Smile Baby." This was also one of Lorelei's favorites at this age. I am not happy they no longer sell it in stores because I would give it to every mom! :) As you can see in the next picture, he even smiles at the monkey.

Also note that he is wearing long sleeves in July. Strangely enough his room is the absolute coldest in the house by far, and we are suspicious that is part of the reason he has been waking up at night. (Or we are just in denial.) So have switched to warmer jammies. So thankful to have some from our batch of clothes from Chase! And so glad his mommy loves blue on her little man like I do. :) He has even worn some footie pjs lately!

Bathtub Giggles

Makin crashed early so it was extra wild at bath time, especially now that she has discovered the shower curtain liner. :)



And more Lorelei antics to make you smile:

We were driving and trying to discuss things around us to stay amused and Lorelei asked about the truck in front of us and what it was doing. I said it was going to the gas station and asked if she thought he was getting gas or bringing stuff to the gas station. She chose neither option and said without hesitation, "I think he have to go potty." :)

Lorelei referred to one of her toys as "darling" and I asked where she heard that word (that is one I know I don't use) and she said, "At playschool. (Really Sunday School, but she calls it playschool.) Teacher said, 'Come here darling.'" :)

If we are ever riding in the car and Lorelei is wearing her sunglasses and eating her goldfish she says, "Look Mommy!" and proceeds to show me that she can, in fact, eat a goldfish WHILE wearing sunglasses. Cracks me up every time.

Lorelei sat watching Brad in complete awe with her mouth dropped open while he was eating his corn on the cob (remember, Nebraska born boy who eats corn like he is in some corn cob eating contest and has to win) and then said, "Slow down daddy!" :)

And I have to note this but will try to get it on video because there is just not a good way to describe it, but her latest thing is to copy what Brad or I is saying when we actually try to carry on a conversation, while we are still talking, and uses any hand motions we make as well. Probably something we should teach her is not okay but it just makes us laugh!

Just Trying To Stay Cool

Monday we headed out to try out a new spray park. I had gotten the name of another big one from a fellow mom so decided we should make that our outing of the day.It took more time to get the kids ready and drive there and back than we actually spent playing in the water, but it was great to get out and at least I didn't have to worry about them over-doing it in this heat.

Makin had no trouble just walking out and getting sprayed. I'm thinking next year I'll just be able to sit back and try and keep an eye on him! This year though, he wants me out getting soaked with him, so I have learned to wear a swimsuit. :) Lorelei enjoys it, but would probably have more fun and stay longer if she had friends to play with there. Her favorite spot is probably standing under the cones and then getting a bucket/cone of water dumped on her. :)


They also had a HUGE playground Lorelei was dying to dry, so we'll probably try that out in the fall. (Ha or maybe winter at this rate!)

P.S. Today would have been the pre op appointment and also when my mom would come to help for Makin's surgery. Cannot tell you how glad I was to be doing this instead. :)

House Update - Fireplace, Cabinets, Fence - Check!

Okay you can tell we are spoiled with getting our house done quickly when we are dissapointed it isn't finished in two weeks after my last post. :)

They completed the fireplace, cabinets, fence, put in the light switches/fixtures, finished tiling (minus the kitchen backsplash unless they forgot about it!) but we are now wondering how they will possibly be done and ready for us to move in in two weeks???? Guess grass, flooring and counter-tops go quickly? :)

See, SPOILED. :) We are just anxious to get moved in and were a bit surprised they were not further than they were. I'm sure it will happen very soon though, and they seem confident with their July 29th closing. They better, we have a babysitter. ;)


Shows the yard a little better now that it is fenced. Gonna have to figure out what we will do with that hill. Guess its an extra good work out for Brad mowing the lawn up hill. :) The top picture is to the left when you walk out the back and the bottom picture is straight ahead and to the right when you walk out the door. They are gonna have so much fun in this yard!!!

Ice Cream Day

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed July as National Ice Cream Month. He also established National Ice Cream Day as the third Sunday in the month.

This to me, says we must embrace ice cream this month. I know it is tough, but it had to be done. :)

SO, since we have plenty to do on the weekends, I made our ice cream day this Friday.

Craft/Counting - Coloring ice cream scoops and then putting them up to see how many high each child is. Good luck getting an active 10 month old to pose near his cone. And Lorelei has suddenly decided it is her thing to put her hands under her chin to pose? :) This year Lor is 8 scoops high and Makin is 6.



We also made our little version of an ice cream truck so we could play ice cream man. Then had ice cream cone cut-out grilled cheese for lunch.


And what ice cream day would be complete without a trip to the ice cream shop? Marble Slab Creamery is very close to our house, so as soon as Brad got home we headed out to get our treats. Lorelei had no hesitation ordering her ice cream...birthday cake flavored ice cream with sprinkles and m&ms. I tried out red velvet (thats why we are sticking out our tongues that are red) with white chocolate chips, and of course Brad got mint with Butterfinger. :) Makin took little bites from Brad's and Lorelei's. Yum!


Lorelei has also put in a request to make our own ice cream...I told her Nana did that. :) Guess we can look forward to some home-made ice cream for our next visit!

July Family Picture

And one of my new favs...actually two of my new favs! :) Now if only the camera could do tricks and get one sweet little boy to smile. :)

Overalls

Just starting to look older every day and I keep being surprised. Thought he looked extra cute in his overalls from Grandma and Grandpa today. :)

Made Ya Smile

If you stare at him long enough you will melt. He has that power. :)

Up With The Sun

And getting some cuddle time with Daddy! She was excited to get time with him before work. Mommy says ugh. Both kids seem to wake up earlier and earlier lately. Makin is getting up earlier than 6 many mornings and Lorelei is getting up by 6:30. Again I say ugh. :) Black. Out. Curtains. (Planning to get in the new house.) We can cross our fingers they will help. :)

First Library Card

Lorelei was beyond ecstatic to get her very first library card. We needed someplace low-key in the AC after yesterday's heat, so we headed to the library this morning. I was reminded very quickly why I used to place a hold on the books I picked out online and then just pick them up when they were all ready for me. Will be doing that for the next trip for sure!

Anyway, Lorelei had fun playing with puppets and then we picked out some fun books to take home. She even got to check them out pretty much by herself as there was a counter "just my size" as she would say. She also gave her card a kiss and said, "I love my library card!" :) So glad she loves books!

Splash Visit

We drove to Auntie Di's in Bedford today for another visit to Splash. After getting hugs sent from Grandma, having fun with masks, eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and lathering down in tons of sunscreen, we enjoyed several hours in the sun and water.



Lorelei spent pretty much the entire day in the lazy river. She loves that it just pulls her as she floats along. At the very end of the day she decided she was up for the "double slide" and we went down together (but she can't ride on lap so that kept her from it before) and she went three times and then she threw a big fit we had to leave as she wanted to slide more. At least we will have a little variety from the lazy river next time!
Makin did his usual walking around in the water. Got lots of "how old is he?" and surprised responses. He also took a little cat nap on my lap and enjoyed his snack time to recoup from all this outside time. :) We have started him on a sippy cup to help with surgery recovery (have to find one that needs less sucking though) and let him drink water on days like today. He loves it. Fun does not deter this boy from food! His favorite spot was by the net set up around the kiddie boat slide.


We are hoping to get in one more trip before it closes towards the end of August. And what fun it is to visit Auntie Di and get some one on one time with each kid!

Amendment...made at around 11 pm, an hour after posting this, when our little girl is back to sleep after getting sick tonight, apparently suffering from heat exhaustion. Let's just say we will have no more 3 hour trips outside in this heat. If we make another trip it will have to be a short one!

Weekend Plan B

Weekend Plan A: Family fun activity - Dallas Farmers Market early Saturday morning.
Chores - Brad get hair cut, Brad get fitted for his tux...you get the idea, lots of chores to get done and all involving Brad in one way or another, which is why they weren't done before this.


Weekend Plan B: (more like plan forced upon me and B stands for Blahhhhh) Brad sick for 48 hours. Makin woke up Saturday morning at 5:30 AM (leaving me no time to shower I might add) Lorelei up at 6. By 8 I had resolved to loose my grumpiness and get on with it (sorry it takes me 2 hours to come to grips with my depressing new plan) and then luckily Jen calls a little after 8 to get us some info I requested and also mentioned they were going to story time if we wanted to join. Thank goodness we have one friend here! (And look the lady even had a puppy puppet! Lorelei is the one on the left in the pink shirt, sorry I was on the back wall so Makin could walk around a bit and Jen sat with the girls.) It was a wonderful story time and look forward to going to that library much more when we are moved as it is closer to our new house. Then we had lunch at McDonalds. And since watching both kids on my own all day wasn't enough I decided to top the day off with a massive grocery shopping trip to Walmart and got all of it upstairs (hopefully the last time for this!) and unpacked by around 11 pm.
Sunday, Brad still sick. We went to church on our own and then Brad finally became human again after nap Sunday. We survived. The haircut and measurements will be pushed onto lunch breaks and we will get more done as we can. :) Man I'm not good at Plan Bs!


A few fun quotes after this depressing blog entry!

(I fall on pot/pan from play kitchen and am in extreme pain.)
Lorelei: "Thats why we have to clean up!"

Lorelei: "Cheeto!" (To the cheetah in the Noah's ark)

(After I order my Starbucks treat.)
L: "Mom, I want a latte."
"That coffee? It wake you up?"

Me: "Dad has to get his hair cut."
Lor: "He ride in a big car?"
(Brad and I looking at each other completely perplexed, then suddenly it clicks.)
Me: "No, he just sits in a chair to get his hair cut." :)
(In case you don't remember, they have kid's cars for them to sit in while getting their hair cut at her hair cut place...so why shouldn't her dad sit in a car too? I told her his place was not nearly as cool as her place.)

Makin Is 10 Months Old

Ten. Months. Old. That sounds awfully close to one year and I can hardly believe my little baby is already there!

You weigh in at right around 24 lbs. Still wearing 12 month clothing but will be in 18 month soon I think. Hoping to hold you off until fall. :)

Schedule is...wake up by 6:30 am (the last couple days have been 6! Still hoping THAT habit doesn't stick.) no matter how late you were up. Nap around 9 for 30 minutes unless we are in the car then it is shorter. Nap for 30 minutes around 1 pm and then I rock you until Lorelei wakes up 1 hrish later, so get roughly 1 1/2-2 hours. In bed by around 7:30 pm.

You are thrilled to be walking. You now walk from couch to chair to people or wherever you want to go, but like to have a little something to hold onto in between. When you have a hold of my hand you practically drag me through the house. You walk to your sister's door if she is sleeping and you are awake because you want to play with her. You drag me to the front door or balcony door because you want to leave. :)

You still "sit crawl" and very quickly I might add. Not sure when you will ever crawl normal!

You are babbling a lot and love doing "baby talk" back and forth with Lorelei. Finally started blowing raspberries to add to the babble. Very close to saying "mom" to me but not totally confident you mean me so still waiting. :)

Love figuring out how your toys work and using them as they are supposed to be used. You love putting the balls in the gumball machine, pushing the lever, then putting them back in. Putting cars in the car ramp, etc. You use these better if we are in your room without big sis, but usually want to use her toys when she is around. Especially like playing the drums.

Still LOVE being read too, water, food, music and dancing.

We can see quite the sense of humor developing from you already, and you are very good humored when it comes to reacting to all of us. You love making us laugh or smile and will repeat what you do to see us laugh again. You are also still very sweet, even when your sister takes things from you...waiting to see when you start fighting back! :)

Just wanted to post a video so you can see just how good you are walking the day you turned 10 months old. I repeat 10 MONTHS OLD!!! I think this means running by 12 months...

Playtime In The Heat

We headed to try out a new spray park. It was a lot smaller and simpler than the first we tried, but had a fun playground next to it that had some shade, so that was fun too. Lorelei was more excited to play on the playground, but I tried to keep us in the shade so we wouldn't melt in the heat. :) She loved the balance beam and a fun swing/seat that spun around in circles. Makin loved the spray park and wanted to walk right out in the middle and loved getting sprayed in the face. I think he will be heading out in the middle of them with no hesitation next summer. :)

Hoping to hit up a spray park each week this month before things get crazy with the move. We'll see what others we find. Gotta stay cool and entertained!

Family Fun Day

We were lucky enough to have Brad home an extra day on Tuesday, as he was owed some hours off for overtime at work. We decided to make it an "only fun stuff" day together and enjoy the pools and movie theater while we are still here to use them. While we did do a few chores (note to self, next family fun day should not follow busy holiday where you run out of milk and have dishes left to do) it was just during nap, and the kids had all fun.

Lovin the big pool!


She is absolutely thrilled with her new floatie. Great for getting her practice swimming and makes me feel much better taking them both into the big pool.














Spent some time in the sand and just happened to be there while they were cleaning it out from the weekend. (The sand ends up in the pool of course.) We made sure to dig a nice big hole to catch all the water he was splashing out while getting the sand out. Makin loved his sand/mud bath and Lorelei liked making mud soup. We had to chuckle when Brad offered to help Lorelei build a sand castle and she replied, "I don't need you Daddy." We just sat back and relaxed while we had the chance. :)

After nap Lorelei and Brad headed to the mini theater to watch "Open Season" and had a good time there too. Brad said she did great while the popcorn lasted. :) Hoping maybe she and I will get a chance to go once more and watch a girly princess movie. :)

So thankful for extra time together and a short week coming up!

July 4th - The Second Half

After nap we headed down to Little Elm to join Jen and her girls for grilling brats and then headed to the town's fire works over the lake. There was not as much there as we thought, but it was still fun, and the fire works were pretty good. There are so many places to choose around here I'm sure we will try out some others, but this was good for the age the kids are now. :) We got great seats and the girls had lots of fun while waiting. Lorelei looooved them as usual and said her favorites were "the big ones" and Makin did not get phased one bit. He looked like he was ready to fall asleep once he got used to them, then towards the end waved to them. :) The traffic was not too bad, but we have been a bit spoiled the previous 3 years. :) Thankfully both kids fell asleep on the way home!

First Fourth Of July















































Lorelei loved getting her first sno cone! They got to choose any flavor, but thankfully she was happy with just red, as I had to help eat some of it. She was just super excited to have a red tongue.


Our view and pre fireworks fun. There was live music so they did some dancing. They also loved the glow bracelets and was a great idea to keep them occupied. Will definitely do next year! Lorelei requested the glowing hair they were selling right next to us, so I guess we'll see if she wants to spend her piggy bank money on that next year! :)

How blessed we are to live in this country! Happy Fourth!