New Month, New School Year!

Today I'm sending lots of new school day prayers out! Kenz & Drew were so excited to start at their new school! Nervous, but excited. Kenzie will be wearing her epi pen with her at all times now, since she changes classes now, and with her new glasses too, I know she is worried about all these new things, and meeting new friends. She already loves her homeroom teacher and was bummed we didn't have gifts to take for her new teachers today. We'll be sure to send those for the first week, next week. :) The Naiman's who will be homeschooled this year, showed up at the door shouting 'Happy 1st Day of School!', so that was a supportive beginning. Drew fell on the way out the door, so that was not such a great start. But, they even ran to give us hugs before they loaded on the bus for their bright new start! Super thankful God has blessed us with these two amazing kids!

Closet In Progress, VBS, & Birthday Party, OH MY!

Last week was a whirlwind! I did get the floor laid in the closet, so it is at least functional for now. I'll let my trusty Daddy make the final cuts around the door moldings for me. :) Then we'll get some shelves built to put in, and hopefully I can get it just how I want it!

The kids also had VBS Sunday - Wednesday night. The last 2 nights, they invited some of our new neighbors. Yay for free summer FUN!

Whew - we had a Frozen birthday party to catch up for the kids' birthdays this year, and it was a great time to invite some of the new neighbors over as well. The kids love all our new neighbors and I was busy, busy getting everything planned and ready! I had so much more in store, but with the move and working, this was all I could get accomplished in time, but I think the kids still had fun!

My first attempt at making our own pinata!

Cupcakes!

The kids had a karaoke table to sing all their Frozen favorites, an activity table to work on or take home mazes and coloring pages, make Elsa & Sven crowns, a nail table for the girls, a snow table to play with real snow, made Olaf t-shirts and hula hoop contests.

It was a perfect day for a party!

Back At It.... Best I Can!

Well, too much has happened and way too much time I've let get by. This is the easiest way I know how to continue to document this crazy thing called life, and to not lose out so much on my kids' growing up. So I'm trying again to get into this blogging swing, to keep some sort of scrapbooks of life - because let's face it, I'm not keeping up on my kids real scrapbooks right now. :) One day, one day... I will get there! But for now, digital will have to do!

So, what better way to get back in the swing of it all with a new start, from our new home! We moved into our new house a couple weeks ago, and we are all very excited to get settled, create this house all into our own home, and create all new memories to come! The house will definitely be a work in progress, but the flow of the house, we just felt was 'perfect for us'. We have all adjusted well, and well, let's just say there are more than enough kids on our culdesac. In the 3 houses, all to the left of us, one family has 2 children, one family has 10 children, and one family has 12 children. So, in just our culdesac - that is 27 kids! I'm sure there will never be a dull moment... :)

As I said, the house will be a work in progress, but we are getting there a little bit as we can. Here's the house - and here's a few photos of what we've started tackling. The week we moved in, Dad got to work in the master bathroom. The tub and caulking was driving him nuts, as the wrong silicone was used on it, and he wanted to take care of a couple of chips, and then told me to pick out some paint. So, we've got our bedroom, closet, and bath all painted. Now to finish unpacking and decorated! Josh and I have also started on the downstairs coat closet. This closet originally had old, nasty carpet in it, and it smelled of cigarette smoke pretty badly. Josh ripped the carpet out, and got to work on priming and the subfloor. I picked out the paint color I'll want to use in the kitchen and got to work getting the closet painted. Next is the flooring, then to add some shelving since we will be using it as a coat closet and for some kitchen storage. It will also serve as our tornado shelter. :) Lots more to come with house projects!

Cowboys & Cowgirls

I love summer with my kids. Sure, they can bicker as brother & sister sometimes, but overall I just love them being at home and when we get our family days together! Today, Drew was set on dressing as a cowboy, in his Wrangler jeans, even though we are in record breaking heat right now, with 100-110 degree temps. As soon as he put his giddup on, this Mama's heart melted.

Kenzie loved the idea and went to pick out her outfit, and we headed outside for some pics on the fence! Daddy set some modeling music for the mood. But we all decided it was HOT, and headed back inside after we got a few snapshots.