Some of the cute kids

Staucie is painting with me while the boys had left with Daniel and a friend of ours to try and figure out the least expensive way to fix Daniel's car. I did not want to spend money on the car. It cost way too much. If we were going to spend money, I wanted curtains or ceiling fans (especially since the humidity has hit and we are in the 70's already, sticky and muggy). Boo to our cars! I know I should be more grateful, but don't you just hate how much cars cost???

Isn't she cute!

Addie has enjoyed crawling around and between the couches lately. It is so funny. She just giggles as she goes. I love playing with her after the other kids go to bed. I keep her up late so that I can play with her. She is adorable!

There she goes again.

She LOVES her burp cloth. She drags it everywhere. She giggles when she sees it. She has a blankie too, but I think she loves her burp cloths more.

And some more pictures because I adore her.

I adore my Bensen too. He has needed lots of hugs lately. I try to hold him and carry him whenever I can.

He also adores Addie and she feels the same about him.

They will be good friends like Staucie and Parker.

(streamers are for Staucie's birthday.)

The Downstairs and the Stairs

After awhile, I finally snapped some pictures of the downstairs. I wanted it to look perfect, but have decided that if I wait for that I will never take any pictures. It will be a while before we can do much else. Right now we have no blinds or curtains and who knows when we will, but we don't have neighbors behind us yet anyways. We have boxes shoved in our master bedroom windows and material taped to the kids' windows.

Addie was crawling around while I was snapping pictures. And don't mind the Cake Boss on in the background. Daniel was outside with the other three.

All that the kids wanted for the new house was STAIRS!!!!!! For the first couple of weeks, Addie didn't try climbing up so I would only use the gate at the top. Then one day I went up to put Bensen down for a nap and then headed back to go downstairs and she peeked around the corner at the landing. She had crawled half way up and now won't stop. She looks so tiny climbing up.
The other kids think it is so funny when she climbs up. She is quick too.
She fell off the step on the landing in this picture. You can see her falling in the bottom of the picture. It was only one step. She grabbed a car and then tried to sit up.

The Kitchen

I took some pictures of the kitchen from all the angles for our parents. The door to the right goes out to the garage. The door in the middle is the pantry.

Moving Day(s)

Moving... Where do I start...

It took us a long time to decide to buy a home here, for many reasons. And then it was whether to build new or not to. After a year of going back and forth and all over the place, we decided to build a new home and we also decided where. We felt really good about our decision, and very excited to own our first house.

Since we were building brand-new we went to the "design studio" to pick out things for our house. Later, when asked how we liked the "design studio," Daniel would say, "I hated it." The 'home' people would look shocked. Daniel would explain that it made him spend more money. For example, do you want these faucets, OR do you want THESE much BETTER faucets? Do you want these boring doors, or do you want these nice paneled doors? Do you want this florecent tube light in your kitchen, or do you want recessed canned lighting? (Each bulb costs extra too, by the way, and one is not enough light.) So, we had to really decide what we needed/wanted. Like rain gutters? It rains A LOT here. And do we want rain gutters in just the front or all around the house? Everything was more and more money. Cha-ching, cha-ching!

Getting pre-approved for the loan was no problem, but going through the whole process and getting to the closing day was no fun and very stressful. I think since it took a few months to build the house they had even longer to monitor our bank accounts. If we would have bought a home that was ready to move into the process may have been faster. They wanted to know everything. Like, "where did that $10 come from? And why did you deposit it into your account?" And many more things like that. It went on and on. Even to the day of closing. It was getting absolutely ridiculous and is a really long story that I don't feel like talking about anymore.

So, we finally closed a few days late because the weather in Texas was colder then usual and apparently no one could go to work (It was like 29 degrees at night). We closed on a Thursday at the last minute. I was totally unprepared. I didn't think we would end up closing until the next week and was not ready to move. The kids and I had been sick for weeks. I was knocked out for a week and blah, blah. We got home at 6:00pm that Thursday after signing and getting the keys, and some friends of ours were at our house at 7:00pm, ready to move us. Our wonderful neighbor lent us his trailer and half of our stuff was moved out that night. By Friday night we were in our new house. Exhausted. And it was a disaster. It took us a few more days to get the rest of our junk out of the rental and get it cleaned.

I took some pictures of the downstairs after we got the kids to bed at 10:00pm Friday night.

The dining area.

The kitchen.

The living room.

Unpacking was hard because the nights we were moving the kids got real sick again. Staucie had croup and threw up. All four of them had some really awful colds with coughs and runny noses and fevers. It was miserable for all. Daniel and I ended up with colds too. All day long I held babies and wiped noses. We went through so many boxes of tissue. They also weren't sleeping well. I think the boys were also nervous about being in a new house. We were getting no sleep.
But, oh how happy we were to be in our NEW, CLEAN house!

We are also so grateful for our friends we have made here. This was our first move without our family helping. We felt very blessed to have the help from friends who took such good care of us. Friends who helped us move all of our things, friends who provided us food and dinners. One couple was there from the very beginning and stayed until the very end and made sure we were all set. It makes me cry with gratitude every time I think of it. We also had friends offer to watch our kids while we packed and unpacked, but I felt guilty and declined. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and for the friendships that we have made.

Although, we were glad to leave the rental house with its years of dirt, dust, mold, BUGS, etc., we really enjoyed the street we lived on. We had wonderful neighbors who were very welcoming when we moved in and always watched out for us. We are so grateful for great neighbors and sometimes I think we will never be that lucky again.

Four little monkeys in a bed

This is from January one night when the kids were getting ready for bed. They all got in Parker's bed. Addie looks sad because Bensen kept moving and squishing her, but we got everyone still for the push of the camera button...

A break from packing

One Saturday in January, when we were packing to move, we took a break and packed a lunch and went to the park. I had tried to go to this park the day before to meet some friends... I wasn't going to go because I was busy packing, I was tired, blah, blah. At the last minute when picking up Parker from his make-up day of preschool, I decided to just go. We all needed the break. I parked in the driveway and hurried and packed lunches and what not. We drove there, which took at least 20 minutes because the main road (Rayford) was crowded. Got there. Parked. Started gathering things. And then realized I had left Addie's bottle and formula (all prepared) on the counter at home. I saw the friends I was meeting, called one of them and asked if anyone happened to have an extra bottle and formula. Nope, of course. So, I said goodbye on the phone from my car. Staucie started bawling. I was so mad at myself. As I began driving home, I just bawled and bawled. It is hard to get out of the house with my 4 kids (4 years and under).

I told the kids we would go back the next day, Saturday, with Daddy. So we did. It was a perfect day.

Yep, me being a bad mom and giving Addie a plastic bag to play with. I give her fruit snack wrappers and other such garbage too. She hardly ever puts anything in her mouth, which is so weird for a baby, but nice too.

The kids were spinning on the swings.

Stopping in for a quick bite before running off again. Staucie was so quick that she was gone before Daniel pushed the button.
Bensen does a lot of people watching. He gets nervous around new people.

Poking sticks into the sand.

Hmmm, looks like more garbage for Addie.

We had a new house built...

And our parents want to see the pictures... I was going to take some of the inside, but things have been crazy and drama... So here's the outside for now. We got the keys today at 4:30pm and told some friends and they have already begun moving us out. I was embarrassed that I was not completely ready because of other drama, blah, blah... I will tell all about it later... Too busy... Internet will be shut off soon at this house, that I will not miss...

It was started in October 2010 and finished the end of January 2011.