House updates

Yes, Jerry and Grayson are BOTH standing on barstools to try and hang the cornice board over the window in Carter's room...
One of the fun things about our new neighborhood is that is has a few ponds for fishing.
Jerry and Grayson headed out one night to try their luck...

And they caught a fish! =)

Standing in our backyard, looking at the back of our house

The boys have LOVED having a playset in their backyard. I think they play on it every day!

Swinging is soooo fun!!

Looking out the windows of the playset

Happy summer!

blondie

Carter has never had a haircut in his life.

And, until he starts looking like he has a mullet, I refuse to cut it.
You see, it's taken 17 months to get this...
The "first haircut" page in his baby book is still blank.

I'm betting he won't have a haircut until he's 2.

We'll see... =)

the Journey of Hope rides through Wichita

Last Thursday evening, about 26 bikers, the crew, and their Project Manager all came over to my parents' house for dinner. They are all part of the Trans-America team riding on the "Journey of Hope." Their purpose is to raise money for PUSH -- which raises people's awareness of folks with disabilities. Both of my brothers rode in the JOH while they were at KU, so it's fun for my family to continue to support them. Here's the entire team, with Mom, Dad, Jerry, myself, Grayson, and Carter

(the P.M. took this one!!)
The guys snarfed down a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin, cheesy potatoes, fresh corn, bread, and watermelon... of course, they had just ridden 80 miles!! They had biked in from Pratt, KS that morning.

Carter and Grayson joined some of the guys at the dining room table for dinner =)

Dad gave a little teary-eyed pep-talk on the front lawn... Getting ready to load up in the vans/cars and head back to the hotel for the night

But, not without one more picture!!

I choose to pick my battles

Look closely, and you'll see two brothers playing together in the tub. Look even closer, and you'll realize that Carter just HAD to bring his stuffed white angel bear IN the tub with him.

He clutches that bear so tight, you'd think it was worth a million dollars.

It is -- to him.

And some days, it's worth a million dollars to us, too. It calms him down like nothing I've ever seen. He looks at that bear and it brings a HUGE smile to his face.

He usually sucks his left thumb, and twirls Bear's wing with his other hand. Then, he's a happy camper. I think it will be great to reminisce about during his Rehearsal Dinner.

But for now, Bear is getting clean. Carter and Grayson, too. And we're all happy. =)

A whirlwind week...

A lot has happened since last Wednesday. Let me give you an overview:

Wednesday -- Closed on both houses, a little bit of drama waiting for the wire of money from our buyer to come through so that we could close on our new home. It did, thank goodness! We got possession of the new home that evening, and moved our breakables in.

Thursday -- The movers showed up at 8am. There were 2 guys and 1 truck. They quickly realized that they needed more assistance, so another guy and truck arrived! All of our belongings were loaded on the 2 trucks by before 11am. Jerry and I finished cleaning the old house and locked up. We started unloading at the new house before noon, and the movers were completely done by 3:30pm. Our painter never showed. Grrr. On a very positive note, NONE of this would've been possible without my mom, who took care of Grayson and Carter for two days so that we could unpack and get settled. Thanks, Mom!!

Friday -- Jerry went back to work, and I stayed home to continue unpacking.
Saturday -- Jerry went to work in the morning, and then took the boys up to his parents' home to see his sister, Jenny, who was in town from ND visiting. Mom came over and we tackled the decorating! So fun!! I think we made at least 3 trips to Hobby Lobby in a 24 hour period. =)

Sunday -- Happy 4th of July!! We went to church, came home so the boys could take naps, Jerry and I started hanging pictures and continuing to arrange stuff, it rained a lot, went over to Mom and Dad's for a yummy dinner, and then headed back to our house to shoot off fireworks in the driveway.

Monday -- Thank goodness for the long weekend! We were tired!! We ran a few errands, continued to get settled, tried out the neighborhood pool, and then crashed on the couch so that we could watch "The Bachelorette."

Funny things we realized during the move: I now have a convection oven, but I will need some help using it...We did find a painter (thanks, Gail!) and the boys' bedrooms are not bright pink/green/turquoise any more...$900 paid to the movers was some of the best money we've ever spent...Ahhh, the list could go on and on!

My cord that allows me to download pics from the camera to the laptop has been found (yea!) so I will try to post some pictures soon!