Grass!

You know, it is amazing how something as simple as grass can cause such stress in a person's life. But, for about a month, we have been trying to get our lawn in. Due to weather and dirt issues, it has taken an extra month, so we were so excited when Saturday came and we were able to finally have our sod party. We were blessed by about 11 adults, not to mention seven kids, who showed up to help. We made record time and had it done in about one and a half hours! It is so much nicer than the dirt!

(Here's the tree we planted last weekend with the help of a neighbor.)

10:27 a.m. First, the bare yard anticipating all that grass that just showed up on the semi. (With the other tree we planted last week.)10:37 a.m. The first square!
10:52 a.m. The front yard is already being transformed!

11:03 a.m. Front yard finished.


11:10 a.m. Side yards getting close.



11:17 a.m. Flashback to growing up on the farm when we would climb on feed sacks in Grandma and Grandpa's shed. Here, the boys conquered the stacks of sod.

More fun came when the girls got creative with the wheelbarrow. Here is our great crew!
The finished back!
Sprinklers kicking in.


Ahhh, it's nice to have grass again.

Lots of Dirt!

The kids have adapted to our yard of dirt quite well. In fact, they are becoming quite handy with shovels. It has been so fun to see them make their own fun in our barren yard. Here, Jackson is teaching Raegan the intricacies of using a shovel.

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Happy Birthday!

Yes, I am about two weeks late, but things have been busy! We spent November 9 celebrating Chris's birthday. It was a great day. We celebrated with Harley and Kerri, friends from college and went out for Chinese that evening.

I don't want to get too sappy, but I am just blessed to be married to such a great man. Plus, he is so handsome!

Veteran's Day Salute

The third graders at Sydney's school put on a Veteran's Day program. She was privileged to sing a solo. She did great!

Good Friends

We are all blessed with great friends. Here is Sydney's good friend. The girls had a great time at their first sleep-over in our new house. They had an entire agenda, and I think they accomplished everything, including matching dresses for church!

Painting Pumpkins & Trick-or-Treating

Here are our costumes: Mary Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie), Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty Princess), and the Hulk!

Pumpkin Patch

Jackson went to the Pumpkin Patch with his kindergarten class. He really enjoyed feeding the animals. . .
posing with the different scarecrows. . .
especially Jack Sparrow. . .
and picking out his pumpkin!

Moving, from a Kid's Perspective

When we arrived at the house, the kids were all so excited. They took the camera and started taking pictures of everything! I thought it would be fun to show you some. They were thrilled with all aspects of their new home.
This is a mound of cement in the empty lot behind us. It has become one of the favorite play spots.
This is the northeast side of our back yard.

Do I have to add a caption?

Guess who?!
Even the dirt was exciting!
Shadows make pretty cool pictures!

A Few More Shots

Here we are in front of the house.
The kids got creative and made their own books with hard covers. We have plenty of cardboard boxes around!
Look-a-likes!

Life in Goddard, America

Getting ready for school for the first time!Raegan watching Papa make shelves for our new pantry. There was just too much unused space. :)
Thank you, Norma, for bringing breakfast to us Saturday morning! It was delicious and a blessing to us!
Jackson trying out the tub. :)
We were amazed by the double rainbow we saw. This was fitting for our first weekend in our home because we feel so blessed. Thank you, Jesus, for our home. We hope to use it faithfully.

October 2: Moving Day!

Oh, saying goodbye to Grandma was definitely the tough part of this move. She has been so gracious in allowing us to invade her home for five months.

Grandma, you are such an amazing person. Thank you for spoiling us, loving us, and caring for us so well. We love you and will always cherish the time we were able to spend with you.
Our closing took a little longer than expected, but we still got going in the morning.

Many thanks to those who helped us!
Here is my brother, Marc.
My friend, Felicia.
My friend, Danita.
There were a lot of guys who didn't get their picture taken because they were moving too fast. Thanks to all!!!

House Countdown: Three Days!

We are set to close on our house Thursday morning. We are so excited! We feel like God has blessed us.

First, we have been able to stay with Chris's grandma. She has been so gracious to let a family of five barge in to her house. It has been a treat to share these last five months with her. Many of you have heard about how she has spoiled us. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I have to cook every meal, clean every room or do all my laundry. Even more, we have been so blessed to spend so much time with her. My kids are so lucky to have gotten to know their great grandma so well. Grandma, thank you for your generous heart and your great example of how to do life well. We are thankful for you!(Grandma treated us to Braums on Saturday!)

(Here is our carpet. The kids loved it!)

Second, we are excited to be able to move closer to Goddard. Chris is looking forward to being able to ride his bike to work, and I am looking forward to being able to drop the kids off in a few minutes vs. twenty! Needless to say, we're excited to see our plummeting gas bill! Well, I really should get back to doing "preparation for moving" errands!

Jackson's Field Trip

I got to go on a field trip with Jackson last week. We went to the apple orchard where he learned about apples and even picked two!