Free Time...

I went to the post office today for stamps with just Jenna and Jake before picking up Emily from Kindergarten, the lady there said, "I'd ask what you do with your free time, but I don't think I need to!" It was a good reminder of how valuable my days spent with our kids are. I am totally enjoying staying at home with them and not teaching. The only tear I've shed over not teaching tried to well up in my eyes when we were at Emily's open house for Kindergarten and the teacher was going over her parent information. I always enjoyed those evenings getting to watch the parents interact with their kids and sometimes saying to myself; "Oh, that's why he's the way he is!!" I think I was so excited to be on the other side of the paper, reading it along with her and not doing the explaining to the parents.

Today, the big kids were happily playing, so I snuck off with just Jenna to take some pictures of her around the yard. One of the fun things about living at Pete and Marilyn's is that it's almost like a park! The yard is always beautiful and the flowers are amazing. Here's Jenna showing you a few of her favorites...

Emily and Jenna's shirts were both so colorful, we had to have them together for a few pictures too!

Jake had fun smiling in this tree. While he was smiling and I was enjoying a photo opportunity, Jenna found Emily's collection of cicada shells. Yikes! We turned around to find them in her hands, mouth, hair and stuck to her shirt. I panicked, but did manage to take a quick picture to capture the memory!

House progress...

Pat had a coworker suggest we take daily pictures of our house going up so we could make a cool slide show when we compile all the pictures. I decided to give this a try. Here's what we've got so far. I tried to choose several spots so that we'll be able to see things throughout the process.

Below is a picture taken from our future mud room!!
We didn't have one at our old place, so I'm REALLY excited to have a place for our messy things.




This picture is taken from our front porch looking in about where the front door will be. This will all be clearer once they start some framing and the trusses are up.

This is from the girls' bedroom corner. We have had such fun going over to visit our house most days. The builder hasn't been there for about three weeks, which has been hard to be patient, but we've enjoyed getting to go take walks there after naps. The kids and I often bike, walk, and/or ride the little toy tractor to the driveway and then hike down the drive together so we can enjoy a can of soda in the shade on the basement floor. That's about the only shade, so we'll need some trees soon!!


The builder has had a job shack parked in front of our driveway since Saturday, so I've been checking with eagerness each morning to see if anyone is there to work. I'm excited to see what happens next in this process.

It's been awhile...

Hello - I'm still here, I've just been busy getting us all settled in the country at Pete & Marilyn's. The kids are loving the freedoms that come with country living, I'm enjoying watching the process of our house - we're at a standstill for a bit while our contractor finishes another job in Goessel. We have a foundation, and a large stack of floor trusses!! More fun to come with that. I know I've skipped a lot of life on the blog - but playing catch up was too overwhelming! :) So, for now, enjoy some pictures of Emily growing up too fast!!

First Day of Kindergarten

Emily started Kindergarten this morning!!
She was so excited that she woke up before her alarm clock. She was dressed and brushing her teeth by 6:15 - which was when I had planned to wake her since the bus picks her up at 7:05. I had to work hard to stall her enough to wait for breakfast so that it would last her through her day.


Posing for the camera excitedly!! Notice that the sky is still dark out!!

She even had time for a smile from the bus! What a sweetheart!

Happy Birthday to Pat also! :)
Nothing like sending your firstborn to school on your birthday.

For a great laugh...

Down the hill from our cabin at the lake, they have some old garage sale cars, a very wobbly swing set, and a pool. The kids love to play there. One morning, most of the family went out skiing on the calm morning lake. Mom and I stayed home with the kids. We had breakfast by the playground toys. They had a great time playing and imagining. Then they started driving down the hill. Sometimes it went great, other times...well, see for yourself.

I laugh EVERY time I watch this. Hope you got a great laugh too! :)

Jake skiing...

We had some kid skis on our deck all week just to let the kids play and dream about skiing. After lunch today, Jake said he wanted to try skiing. So we took him out!! I helped him get started in the water and Pat and Brandon pulled him a little ways behind the jetski with the boat nearby. He seems to have had a good time, but didn't know what to do when he fell over.

Table Rock Lake Day One...

So, here we are again at Table Rock Lake with my parents. My "little" brother Brandon and his wife Alia flew down from Idaho to join us. The kids have really enjoyed seeing them again. We spent our morning out on the lake, Emily and Jake have warmed up to the lake very well, they are enjoying splashing in the lake with their life jackets. Each time we stop to switch skiers, the kids want to jump in to cool off. The weather today is sunny and warm - only about 85, which is perfect because Jenna's life jacket seems MUCH more like a straight jacket. She is tolerant, but chose to just sleep most of the time we were on the lake. She was SO happy to spread out on the floor back here this afternoon.