The WP

The last week of June is when MGM went away for the weekend. Some of us had been saving for this fun weekend! This year we went to a bed and breakfast named The Walden Plantation in Llano, Texas from Friday to Sunday. They had been expecting us for over a month. The wife & owner is also apart of a ladies group that have yearly trips.

Half of us went down early Friday morning to have lunch with Granny in Waco before getting there early evening. The others made it in time to meet us for dinner. The weekend was filled with laughter, talking, more laughter, late nights, relaxing, and some wine. I forgot to mention we didn't change any diapers or have to cut anyone's dinner except our own!

Friday night we met at Cooper's BarBQue for an interesting meal. You choose your meat before walking in the restaurant to have it weighed and cut. For some of our MGMer's, sanitizing is very important and this was a different atmosphere. ;) We laughed and talked way into the morning that night making many memories!

Saturday morning we slowly got up and suited up for a day at the pool. Of course, we enjoyed a wonderfully homemade breakfast first. On our way to breakfast at 9 am, we moved chairs and laid out our books and floats to claim the pool. We got several looks when we walked into breakfast from everyone who had watched us set our stuff up at the pool. I am sure they didn't know what to make of 6 women noisily walking in after rearranging the pool chairs and claiming just about all of the chairs. After breakfast we blew up all of our rafts, read books and visited some more. Mandi even read us her PEOPLE about Jon & Kate and other important stories in the world. We floated and talked until we were ready for a late lunch. After lunch we wandered back out for some more sun time before coming back one-by-one for a shower. (We only had 1 shower for 6 ladies.) That night we found a local Italian place which turned out to have decent food but horrible service! Surprisingly we turned in pretty early that night. We still had fun laughing and making new memories!

Sunday morning was a time of packing and eating a fabulous breakfast before heading home. It was a pretty uneventful day. It was nice to follow the directions of the GPS while visiting the whole way home. We ended the trip with lunch at DQ-a real small town Texas restaurant!

The weekend was fabulous and we have already started talking about next summer's trip! Thank you, girls, for some wonderful memories and laughter! I love you all and am truly blessed to have such good girlfriends!

Shoes

Totally forgot to mention who is selling the house we plan to buy. He is a former NFL player (Lions, Cowboys, & Bears) who was a runner up for the Vince Lombardi trophy('98). We saw his helmets, jerseys, and plaque. David "Googled" him and found out he set at record for heaviest Offensive Lineman when he played at over 400 lbs!

Here is a picture of his shoes compared to my size 8 shoes...

Apartments, Boys, & a house-What a week!

The boys left town last Monday with Mom & Dad to go to Oklahoma for a week. Every summer they take the boys and we have all been so busy with classes, swim lessons, VBS, etc until this past week. I hadn't felt good for about a day but wasn't sure if it was stress or something else. Turns out I had a UTI. :( I had 2 perscriptions and was glad to rest some during the week.

Monday night David and I went to look at an apartment complex near our house. Since we have to be out by the 30th and have no place to go, we needed to check out our options. I thought it was a little disappointing to discover that a 2 bedroom apartment is the same as a mortgage payment!! Plus you still have bills! Prices have really soared in the past 8 years.

On Monday night, we were supposed to see a house that went on the market on Friday. We tried Saturday, Sunday, and Monday night. From the internet description, it checked almost all of our boxes-4 bedrooms, 3 car garage, pool, etc. We were very anxious to see it since we were considering another house that was much smaller but finished out nicer with an awesome pool! Tuesday night we finally got to see the house and really like it. Stephanie had been talking to the realtor who mentioned the home owner could be out by July 30 (our close date for Aspen Way)!!! Was this the house for us working out according to God's plan? We looked at it again on Wednesday night & put in an offer. By Friday, we agreed to a price.

God has worked it out for us to move from home to home at the end of the month! Here is a picture of our new home-Lake Crest in Flower Mound.

We never doubted God but wanted to know His plan for us! There is some work that needs to be done on the house. Most of the downstairs is orange (not terra cotta) tile, orange ceilings, and orange walls. We will initially paint some rooms and then step back to see what needs to be done next.

One of my goals for this week while the boys were gone was to start packing. Besides what is in the storage shed for the past 4 months, I hadn't started on anything else. This week I packed over a dozen boxes including most of the boys toys, china, serving dishes, books, and many other things. Here is a picture of some of my cleaned out kitchen. As you can tell, the top cabinets are cleaned out as well as most of our glasses. I haven't started our dishes yet. There is more to be packed but the boys are home and I am out of boxes. (We are trying not to buy any!)

Another fun thing happened this week-a new baby! My cousin, Jenny, had her third child on Thursday. Nobody but Steve knew if it would be a boy or a girl but Jenny had a feeling she would be having a third son. Brenner Oz was born at 3:12 pm weighing 7 lbs 13 oz. Leah & I got to go hold him on Friday. :)

3rd tooth

John David lost his 3rd tooth tonight thanks to his brother, Drew! John's top two teeth have been wiggly for a few weeks but one has been barely hanging on for the past 48 hours. We have been encouraging John David to pull it or let us pull it. But he wouldn't hear of it! He was very proud of himself when he could twist it sideways.

Tonight Drew had climbed on the couch and John David was following him when Drew's foot caught the very loose tooth. It popped out! John David was initially upset that his brother kicked it out rather than letting him pulling it out on his own but afterward he thought it was cool. I think he would have liked him to get the other tooth out, too!

John David can't wait for the money! The boys are headed to Oklahoma tomorrow to spend time with my parents this week. I really wanted the (Texas) Tooth Fairy to come rather than miss that special opportunity! Of course, who knows how much money the Oklahoma Tooth Fairy would have left?

(Gloria, it happened about 30 minutes after I got off the phone with you!)

Moving...

Our house is finally on contract!!! We had over 50 showings and an offer finally came through. While we were working our first offer and countering, another buyer wanted to make an offer. Our first offer was too far so all parties agreed to walk away. The other offer was good but we didn't agree on things for a while. After we signed two days later, we discovered that they were working another offer. We were pretty disappointed and discouraged. (VBS started.) Three days later they wanted to agree to the offer. After we signed the paperwork, the inspection was 24 hours later.

After the inspection, they asked for everything to be fixed! Lots of things were very minor except for several windows that need to be replaced. We are learning alot about selling, our home, and repairs. I still feel like a property virgin and we have been home owners for nearly 8 years!

Meanwhile, we found a really good home. By the time we started inquiring about it, we discovered there were already 2 other offers. We made an offer with a contingency since our house hasn't closed. We were their second choice. Oh well. There is a "fixer-upper" we've been looking at for a while but I think we have moved on from that house. It needs painted, the pool is filthy, and all the flooring has to be replaced before moving in (huge expense)!

We have been looking at houses on the internet and in person. Our realtor has been very patient and helpful. Who else can call or text at 7 am or as late as 10 pm! Of course did I mention her family is good friends with our whole family!

The boys are headed out of town next weekend. I plan to start packing and looking at apartments. Do we want to go to an apartment? No, but we don't want to settle! We would rather be in an apartment than settle on any home.

I will do my best to keep you better updated!

Memorial Weekend

We headed to Lake Winnsboro this weekend with the Turner's. The kiddos had a great time. We did swim and John David had the best time jumping in, getting out, and running to jump in again. The guys fished, we talked, slept, relaxed, and talked some more. It rained a little but cleared up too. Since rain was in the forecast I brought water guns & other inside toys in case we need some fun! The water guns were a hit with all 4 kids! Stephanie and I were smarter this year & bought each kid a life jacket which was required anytime we went on the pier. It was a little more relaxing from that perspective. No one seemed to mind except maybe Jack who looked cute!

Yes, that is Drew squirting his 85-year-old great-grandmother who loved every minute of it! She would run away pretending to hide and giggle as she got squirted! I love my Grandmother (Gigi)!

Luckily this year, I didn't get eaten up by the bugs! :) We ate good including fried catfish on Lake Fork.

Since no one lives at the lake there is always maintanence work that has to be done.

Here is a cute pic of the older kids...

Remember we always get a cute one of them at sunset.

All of the kids

The last morning John David drew fish so he and Natalee could fish. How adorable!

Easter 2009

Sunday was Easter. What a wonderful day to celebrate our Risen Lord!! We had 3 Easter egg hunts the week leading up to Easter!

On Tuesday, MGM, got together at the Savage's to celebrate with an egg hunts, dinner, a craft, and decrating a cookie. It was so much fun! Thanks, Mandi! My boys kept showing the others how to climb the walls in their backyard!

On Thursday was our school egg hunts. I didn't make it out for Drew's hunt but I did get some pics on his way back to class. I did get to see John David's class which was fun. My students had a good time, too.

Saturday was our church's egg hunt at a local park that my boys had never been to before. The morning started off cold and listening to the Easter Resurection story which got a little long for preschool boys with a basket.

Notice the "hats"...

John David kept asking, "Dad, when can we go play at the park?" My boys got bored and it was cute to watch Drew pray in his Daddy's arms.