FOR SALE

So after much sweat, tears, and prayer we have decided to put our house for sale. We moved in about 2 years ago. Before we moved in we completely remodeled the home. The house has all new flooring, doors, wood trim, kitchen cabinets and appliances, master bath completely remodeled, paint inside and out, gutters, garage door, furnace, and water heater. It will be very sad to leave a home we love so much but we feel the Lord is moving us on. Please let me know if you or anyone you know may have interest in our home. It lies on 2.6 beautiful wooded acres. Here is the front of the house.This is a view of the front yard from the front door.A view of the back yard.

This is a picture of the Great Room. It has a functional fireplace. Behind where the picture is taken is an additional 10 feet or so that we made into an office. Another picture of the Great Room. It is overlooking the back yard.

Here is our kitchen. The kitchen and dining room are connected and overlook the front yard.Here is the master bath.

Master Bedroom.

Bedroom #2. It actually is bigger than these pictures indicate.

Bedroom #3.

And bathroom #2.

Happy Fathers Day

This blog entry is a special shout out to the 4 most amazing and influential fathers that God has placed in my life. I was able to spend Father's day with 3 of them. We went to my parents house for swiming and dinner. Of course Blake is one of them. He is such a wonderful father. I never imagined he would develop into such a loving, strong, and dilligent father. He is such a hard worker and does an amazing job at loving us and providing for us. Bill Andrews is another amazing father. This is Blake's dad. He was not with us on Father's Day since he lives in Florida but this is a picture of him eating our Christmas Eve cookies. Blake would not be the man he is today with out the influnce of his Father. Thank you so much Bill for training him in Gods love. You have a wonderful son.
This is my papa (my mom's dad). He is the ultimate example of love and devotion. Not only did he raise 2 daughters, 2 grandaughters, he is now involved in my childrens lives. My kids call him the BIG papa. Which is very funny because he is all of 5 foot 7 inches. His devotion started early when he fought in WWII. Papa I love you and admire you.

And of course last but not least is my dad. Sorry not a real good picture. My dad is every bit of love and tinderness mixed with sterness and decipline. Without his strong work ethic, loving hands, and encouragement I would be a compleatly different person. I honestly think I have the best dad you could ask for. He is also very very involved in my children's lives and if they could type -- they would say "Papa - I love you - thanks for all the time you have invested in our lives."
So that is my shout out to the 4 most amazing and influencial fathers in my life. HAPPY FATHERS DAY. I LOVE YOU ALL

Life Group Camping Adventure!

We went camping this weekend with our life group. We left Ella with my parents and took Ethan. Ethan loved camping. We only camped for one night but we did have some brave campers stay the whole weekend. When Ethan woke up from his nap on Friday, he immediately wanted to get packed up and in the car to get camping. As you can tell we all had a great time. I think this first picture of Ethan is great because it shows his utter joy and excitement. Here is our tent. Thanks Chris for letting us borrow your tent.
Ethan running from one campsite to the other.

Here is proof that I went camping.
Ethan, Jessica, and Julia admiring the crickets they used to go fishing. Who new crickets could be such entertainment.

And of course the food. Joe was a fabulous cook we had steak, potatoes, and corn for dinner and for breakfast we had pancakes, bacon, eggs, and sausage. WOW - thanks Joe.

Pop came to visit

Big boys like their toys also. So Pop (Blake's dad) came to visit from Florida and of course he had to check out his tractor. Funny how they all like their toys, big and small. Here is Pop reading a book to the kids. We were sad to see him leave. Thanks for visiting us Pop.

My little princess

So Ella is sick with a summer cold -- She gave it to me and now I have bronchitis. Not fun at all. But she sure looks cute all cuddled up with her favorite blankie, pillow, and sippy cup. And yes even though she is 17 months now, she still plays with her feet a lot and still puts everything in her mouth (maybe that is why she got this cold). Here is just rubbing her blankie on her face and watching "Blues Clues" her favorite show.

And look at those pretty eyes.

Crazy Hair

I thought it was funny -- the other day both the kids woke up from their naps with crazy hair. I first took a picture of Ella to prove to the world that she does indeed have hair. And then Ethan's hair was just play nuts, including the expression on his face.

Summer is almost here!!!!

These pictures were actually taken about a week and a half ago but I have not been on here to post. We finally pulled the pool out and let the kids splash around. The water was really cold so we learned to fill the pool up at nap time to let the sun warm the water up. Don't you just love little kid bodies?

And of course Ella had to get loving from her Papa. It is so cute -- she loves her Papa SO much.

Oh and as news to report. ETHAN IS POTTY TRAINED!!! We did it.

4 Year Anniversary

Well, Yesterday was our 4 year anniversary. On the surface it looks like not much has changed. But alot sure has happened in our family in these 4 short years. The first picture was taken last night after we got back from our dinner date. The second picture was taken 4 years ago on our honeymoon - of to be carefree again. As you can see my warderobe has not changed much -- does that mean I am really out of style?

Work kids work!!!

So on Friday night we set the kids down and had a long talk with them. We told them that they are no longer going to get free food. They are old enough now that they had to starting working to earn their room and board. So Saturday morning they got to work. They tore up our front sidewalk and front step. Then they had to clean it up. I am letting them wait til this coming weekend to lay the new sidewalk and step. Then they got to work on a new sliding door in the back of our house. Here is evidence of their hard work. In this first picture the kids had filled up the big wheelbarrow and were starting to fill up their shopping cart.
Here is Ethan hard at work.

That is about the biggest pieces of stone that they could pick up.
Here is the new door. Ethan worked really hard on this -- notice his handy dandy hammer.

Ella decided that she needed a little break -- after all she is only 16 months compared to Ethan's whole 2.5 years. OK - in case you could not tell the sarcasm - the kids were just having fun helping -- we are still feeding them, buying them toys and clothes, and letting them sleep in our house - even if they were not the hard workers that they are they would still get these wonderful privileges. OH to be young again.

Catch up

OK -- so we have been busy lately. Sorry we have been so delinquent on updating our blog. My parents came back from Florida so they have been keeping us and the kids super busy. So lets just cover the basics.

SUMMER CHAIRS:
POTTY TRAINING:
MAKE AN OFFER:
OH NO! LEAK:

Summer Chairs: So here we have the new summer chairs. Nonna and Pappa bought these for Ethan and Ella. Not only are they chairs but they double as a back pack. Ethan is sporting the chair as a back pack in this first picture. Ella is not big enough to use it as a back pack but the second picture shows the kids sitting in their chairs.



Potty training: I guess you probably thought there would be a picture of Ethan the great - but no he is not potty trained yet but we are working on it. Ella on the other hand wants to be potty trained but I personally think she is to young. So here you have it -- Ella on Bob the Builder potty seat. She has been using the potty since she was 14 months. I think I will go full force with both of them this summer and hopefully get rid of diapers all at once.

Make an Offer: So what is it? $1, $500, how about $2,876,456? Unfortunalty she is not for sale because I could never put a price tag on my princess.
Oh No! Leak: So we have a little problem with our skylight. But have no fear - we will be getting a new roof very soon. During the storm last night the roof was leaking pretty bad until Blake got up on the roof and put a beautiful blue tarp on. The kids had lots of fun playing in the water as it came down. The second picture is of Ella splashing in the water.

So that is a brief update on some things we have been up to. Hopefully I will be better here in the next few weeks.