Random thoughts from an exhausted blogger

For the past few nights, our new neighbor has had all 3 little dogs out in the middle of the night, and they bark NON STOP. How does she sleep? We are wide awake and a bit bitter for a few hours. Last night we'd had it, and Marc called the police. Not sure what happened, but I guess we'll find out tonight! Also, with all the house stuff going through my brain, I'm having a hard time resting too! I have some photos I could post, but that takes too much effort at the moment so they will come later. Let's see what I have to share...

1) Yesterday someone put an offer on our house, after just 2 weeks. It wasn't a terrible offer, but had a few things we weren't happy about so we changed it a bit and we'll find out today if they like what we changed or not and accept it! The two things that stand out, besides $, are that they wanted in by July 18 and wanted us to paint Mia and Luke's rooms to match the beige in the rest of the house. So in 3 weeks, they want us to find a house, close on it, move out, and also paint for them? Not going to happen.

2) I think we found the house we'll put an offer on if things work out, but we're going to look one last time today just to make sure.

You can check out the house we're interested in here:
http://www.jeanshine.com/MyHomeDtl.asp?lstPages=3&HomeID=715611


(ps - we both still love the red door house, but aren't too comfortable with where it is located, so unless they want to pick it up and move it, it's out of the running)
3) Luke is still learning throughout the summer. He loves to add, and will ask random questions all the time about math. We went to story hour last week and checked out books and he's enjoying reading and learning new words every day. He'll go in soon to take his kinder test with my friend.

4)Mia - what can I say about her? She is walking/running everywhere, and climbing like a Monkey. She loved a few houses we looked at with her that had stairs, and was up them to fast! She's been very sad lately if noone is holding her. I think it's that last molar making its appearance. Her other tricks are: pointing where she wants to go, shutting every door she can find, says "uh oh, hot, and possibly dada and more", LOVES to eat, and gets very excited over the little einsteins theme song. I'm sure there are more wonderful things she's going, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

This week is going to be nuts if this offer goes through. Besides finding a house for us, we have plans to go see WallE, lunch for me with some coworkers, and fourth of july events with Brenda. This year we may even venture to the parade in Belton.

Off to make coffee so maybe I'll be able to function the rest of the day!

Super Sunday

Yesterday was one of those really busy, but really great days as I look back on it. It started with church. Luke attended VBS for the first time last week, and while so excited, it took me an hour with him before he'd stay and not follow me out, crying. In the end, he loved it and was so excited to go each day. (And I have to say, as far as VBS goes, I am super impressed! We paid $5, but ended up with a tshirt, tons of great crafts, and a CD of all the songs which he loves!!) Anyhow, the kids were to wear their shirts to church and sing yesterday. Simple enough, but not for my child. We talked a lot about going up there, and even if he didn't want to sing, just try it and go up. After a very brief hesitation, he sat with all the other kids, then went up when it was time to sing and sang all 3 songs with motions! I will admit, I got tears in my eyes. People probably thought I was nuts, but it was such a big deal for him to do that and I was just so proud!

After church, we went to feed the ducks at the nearby pond. Mia had a big day too, because she wore a bow for the first time! I bought some Saturday that stay in her hair, as long as she doesn't pull them out! She looked so cute in her yellow dress from grandma and grandpa and her yellow bow, standing by the duck pond!






I then took Luke to the new splash pad in Belton, Tx. I'd heard about it since they put in in last year but thought I'd check it out. It's free, and meant for littler kids. I was quite impressed, and Luke had a blast! So I think we can put that on our list of things to do again this summer.




After the splash pad, Luke was a trooper and drove by many new houses with me and checked out the model homes. We did find another good option - a house partially built in an area we love (White Rock) that will be ready in a few months. The great thing is that this builder said we can still choose everything for inside even though it's started already, and they'll even put in fans and blinds if we need them to. Plus, a big back yard, already sodded, fenced, and with sprinkler. So that's at the top of my list. Now, to just sell this house...

Luke grew sunflowers from seeds at school this year. One died quickly, but we were pretty excited to see the other one bloom this week!


This last photo was from Saturday night. In a nutshell, mom was gone, dad was in the attic, and Luke decided to give Mia his chocolate milkshake.
So that was our Sunday!

This is Heelarious!

Check these out... Jill and Doug, I think Alexandra needs a pair of these!



http://www.heelarious.com/index.php

F-I-V-E

Happy fifth birthday Luke!!





And a few outtakes of my silly boy pretending to be 1 and 10!

Photos, Photos, and More Photos!

Well, I got a new camera today, so I am able to post photos, and I have plenty to post, so here goes...



Outside the hotel in San Antonio



Cooling off in the fountain outside Mi Tierra in San Antonio



This photo is very special to me, as it's the last one I took right before my camera broke. So, technically, I could say Carsyn broke my camera. Luke was afraid of the penguins, so that's why she's alone in the photo!


While the kids were riding rides, Mia hung out with Nonno in the foam play area.


Feeding sea lions





Carsyn and Luke loved this roller coaster... if you look closely, you can see Luke in front of the large afro!


Sweaty kids, waiting for the Shamu show!




The next few photos are in the kids' play area at the end of the day. They were so good all day and so hot, so I let them go in the water area in their clothes right before going home. Then you can see that Marc joined in the fun at the end!




These last photos I took today, testing out the new Nikon Coolpix plum colored camera. This is my new toy - I got a giftcard for mother's day that I decided to spend on an ipod speaker system, and love it!

Luke spent his toys r us card from grandma and grandpa on a new leapster game and have been stuck to it ever since we got home!

And then there's Mia... she's been a mess this week. Constantly crying and whining and we're not really sure why. So this photo shows how she's been the past few days.




And finally, this is our newest addition to our front yard!!

Sea World

We are home from our mini vacation! We had a good time at Sea World, despite the really hot day! The worst part of our trip was that my camera broke as soon as we got inside Sea World. I did put my media card in Marc's mom's camera so I managed to still take some photos, but now i have no way to put them on the computer until I get a new camera. So they will be coming another day...

Today I took Mia for her 15 month appt and she's finally gained 2 pounds! After that I stopped by Ashley Furniture just to look around and ended up buying a table. It's a dark wood counter height table with bar stools. Can't wait till it gets here... but as of right now, it may not arrive until mid July! That's not a big deal, except we're having a garage sale next Saturday and may sell our table at it, so we may be table-less for most of the summer.

And the last bit of news is that I think we're meeting with a realtor tomorrow to decide if we put our house up for sale or not! I'll let you all know what we decide later. Sorry for no photos - they'll be put on here as soon as I find a way to do it!

It's Officially Summer!

What a week! The past 7 days have been very busy, eventful, and tiring. I'm still struggling to get enough rest and this week hasn't been restful at all! The best news is that school is finally over. Luke is pretty excited that the next time he goes to school, it'll be at Mommy's school! Lsat Sunday Mia took enough "first steps" for me to finally get a photo, and it was well worth the wait! She seems to love to walk with flip flops on her hand... maybe it helps with balance? Last Sunday afternoon was Luke's birthday party at Wazoo's, our inflatable jumping place. We had his party early so some school kids could make it. He had a Little Einsteins theme, and once again, everyone was quite impressed with the cake lady's talents. We are taking our first mini-vacation starting tomorrow. We are going to San Antonio, where Marc's family will meet us, and headed to Sea World Tuesday. I have to admit, I'm as excited as Luke to go! We decided to ask Carsyn to come along with us, so that'll add to the fun I'm sure. And a special shout out goes to uncle Sudsy - we will be eating at Mi Tierra Monday night. For those of you that have heard the story, that is the place where Luke threw a fork at Sudsy's head when we met them there a few years ago! We'll be thinking of you...

Mia's First Steps


Wazoo's Birthday Party






Luke with Carsyn and Josh, his "best buddy" from daycare


Mia slept late all week, so I didn't get to see her before leaving for work. This is how I found her sleeping one day earlier this week