It's hard to be in anything other than a good mood when you are driving down these streets.

Re-build in progress

(You'll have to forgive me I had no desire to be in the picture) The kids had so much fun with the re-build.

Bo never misses an opportunity to go fishin'

That's my baby girl

Recently Kati came home with a very exciting paper. It stated that Bug had been selected as Student of the Month! The paper stated, "In order to be selected as Student of the Month your child had to model the following: exemplary behavior in/out of the classroom, willingness to help others, respectful behavior to our (school name) family and showing respect to all school property." Needless to say we weren't surprised.

.....now if we could just get her to act that way at home.......

He has such a wonderful imagination and the brains to build what he dreams up.

What a brat!

Guess who is getting a new sleeping spot

Surprise

Saturday Jeff came home with four surprises. For me he brought a label maker, again something I have always wanted but never said and he just knew I would love it. He also brought home a kite for each kid. We have this huge field within walking distance from our home and the kids have only used it to chase pigeons. The kids had so much fun and can't wait for us to go back and fly them again.


I feel so very blessed with this life.

Landscaping

My awesome husband has redone our inground sprinkler system and eccentially "Stacy proofed" our yard so that I can have plants. Now all of these guys are in the cactus family so you would think they would be safe from me but truly I can't even keep a cactus alive. We made a little cactus garden at the front of the house. We each picked out something we liked and made a little family. I LOVE it!

Phew

Sometimes one just simply can't make it all the way up the stairs.

Fresh and Easy

Jeff found this store out here and I am just loving it. It's a grocery store but small and simple. They have great deals. Last week I went and bought

a gallon of milk
2lbs of ground beef
3lbs red potatoes
3 packages of oscar mayer hot dogs
2 green peppers
frozen mixed veggies
frozen broccoli florets
3 lemons
3limes
1lb red grapes
a live basil plant
a bag of salad

all for 19.87. You can't beat that!

When I answered the door yesterday I found Jeffrey holding these guys. Without my ever telling him I wanted these he just knew that I would like them. And I of course love them. Who knew that chocolate on pineapple would be so fabulous! As tasty and as thoughtful and unexpected as these were the very best part was the simple note that came with them.

I love you Jeffrey!

So very grateful for family who took apart and put back together our swing set. It completes our backyard and makes it just perfect for our children.

We may not have been able to move into the house when we wanted too but we made good use of our soon to be parks.

And it gave me a good excuse to drive by and check on the house.

Another one for you Mom

Our bedroom gives us a great view of our backyard. The tan at the bottom of the picture is just the roof of our porch.

Sunset from our backyard

Laziest Dog I Have Ever Seen

She sleeps like this on a regular basis.

Mom, this is for you, I know you have been asking for pictures. It's our two full baths. Buttercup is using the one downstairs at night so I have all the stuff put away in there. I didn't want to get it all put back together for a picture just to take it back apart tonight, lol.Our master bathroom doesn't have a door just an arched doorway. I wasn't really crazy about it at first but it is definitely growing on me.
We have his and her sinks which is really nice. Some how when I get ready my things still seem to spread over to Jeffrey's side.
I didn't want to be in the picture but it was the best way to show the rest of the bathroom. I tried different angles but this was the best. The door on the left is the "closet" that holds the toilet. The door on the right is for our closet.

This is just the doorway pictured from the other side.

This is the angle of our room from that doorway.

This is the kids bathroom. As you can see it is at the top of the stairs. We couldn't make a final decision on the decorations and it worked out well that we couldn't. Terri had some things she wasn't using and let us have them.

Isn't it cute!

I really well have more pictures for you at some point, promise!

I'm not sure why but this picture makes me think of Lenny Kravitz.

"Oh, (insert new city name) you guys came pretty far" says the children's directory as she peeks over my shoulder while I fill out our card.
"Yes ma'am", I say, "we just moved here."
"Oh really! Where are you guys from?"
"Texas."
She smiles, "I figured you were from the south."
"Oh yeah. Why is that?"
"You called my ma'am."
A smile creeps up my face, "Well yes ma'am. That's just how we do things."

It even gets cold here

We had been here for just a few days when it started snowing. Unfortunately for Bear we didn't get to see any snow but we did get to see the ice in the fountain freeze. I know all of you back home are just freezing. I got a text from my brother asking if we are having nice sunny 70 degree weather. Actually we aren't. Wednesday we had the coldest day in February history since they began recording the temps here, which was in 1895. Of course it was only 44 and it was a dry cold so really not bad at all. I felt terrible for all the kids at Bear and Bugs school. They all had their thin jackets on and shivered none stop while my kiddo's were bundled up in their "marshmallow" coats with hats and gloves.
As strange as it sounds I slightly wish I was back home with you all and hunkered down and hiding out from that freezing weather.....

My dorks the day after we got here