26999 Crown Haven

As our days are numbered in this first house of ours, and I have been making some repairs... I have reflected on the many memories we will take with us, and all of things we have learned while we lived here:

1. We first learned how to paint an entire house (with a sprayer) and the trim.
2. We began to learn a thing or two about having a yard...it takes FOREVER to do if you live on a corner (the edging) and we loved planting a variety of new things every season.
3. We learned how to remove and replace toilets and faucets.
4. We discovered laying laminate wood flooring is not too hard, maybe crazy, but not impossible.
5. Fixing holes in the wall---not too bad.
6. Ripping up linoleum--YUCKY! (Try to avoid this if at all possible.)
7. Cracking up tile to put something else down---very tedious and NOISY-wear earplugs!
8. Putting texture on walls, much easier than expected.
9. Measuring and putting moldings on walls, not too bad, with a little bit of wood putty.
10. Getting a whole potato out of the toilet pipes,-- not easy!

We have learned all these fun things and more, and are very grateful to have lived in this house. We have brought 2 babies home from the hospital to begin their lives in this house and experienced many wonderful and exciting days here. We will be sad to leave, even though we're really only a few minutes down the road.

2606 Sandy Lodge Ct.

This is it!

Formal living room: AKA piano room :)

View of the kitchen from the living room.

Ok, here it is. This is for Katie, she's been asking for a picture of the new house. I'm disappointed I didn't take any before; I had really fun ideas for pictures of the kids walking around between the wood frames, but I'm about 4 months too late for that.

It's hard to see the true color of the bricks on the monitor, but we were especially pleased with them. Disregard the broken garage door... And imagine no big mounds of dirt in the front yard, which have kept the kids busy for quite awhile a few times.

It should finished here in a few weeks, so we'll keep you posted. I'm getting VERY anxious, especially since the fiasco we'd had in this house this weekend...

Sneaky...

One of my faaaaavorite things is when Lily is being sneaky. It usually has something to do with taking gum out of my purse, or eating a treat when no one knows, or hiding a special toy that everyone wants. It's the equivalent to getting your hand caught in the cookie jar.

But instead of scolding her, all I can do is smile, because she does it so well. Her eyes get big and twinkly, like they're laughing... and my favorite part, her teeny little hands cover her mouth. She covers the mouth, even if it has nothing to do with eating, or saying a bad word. Just a reflex, I guess. But it's Sooo stinking cute.

Tyler also has a tell-tale. His gorgeous blue eyes, which are big enough already, turn into GIGANTIC saucers! And his pupils slowly slide from side to side, all the while, a big, silly smile on his face. Then, my favorite, his eyebrows go up, ...WAY up. He has special skills when it comes to eyebrows.

Brooklyn is actually sneaky enough to trick me half the time. :)

we love Jeff

Happy birthday Jeff

Today is Jeff's birthday. We had a nice day at church, dinner with Heather, Cisco and kids, checked out the new house, and played a new, fun game. A nice way to celebrate Jeff and his goodness.

Jeff is the best Dadda ever. He's my opposite when it comes to temperament. He is always so calm, even amidst the craziness that comes with 3 kids. The kids gravitate to him whenever he is home from work because he LOVES to play games on his blackberry with them, or make them walk on the ceiling, or watch their silly movies and cartoons with them. He gets excited when Tyler tells him about his Transformer cartoon, and he asks Brooklyn whether she went to Computer, Library or Music at school. He is really just a Dadda that still has a lot of kid in him. The kids think he is just the greatest, in fact, they always want him to put them to bed, never mom (she's all business, no play.)

He's the one who always buys the garbage bags from the Boy Scouts, or the candy bars from the little boy down the street. It's like people can see through him and see his kind heart. He doesn't like to say no to anybody. He says this happened while he was on his mission and he realized how hard going door to door is.

Jeff is the love of my life. He is my best friend. He keeps me going and picks me up when I'm down. He makes me laugh at his quirkiness. He listens to my ranting and raving without complaining. Jeff is the only one in the world who would be able to pick up the phone at any time of the day and listen to a frantic and half screaming wife who is lost somewhere, without her even really being able to say where she is lost. He has saved me from this situation countless times, even while the rest of the office listens because I'm so loud and paranoid on the phone that they can hear me. He always calmly assists me back to known territory. Jeff is the one who makes me smile after he spouts off some random fact that I wouldn't ever remotely even wonder about in my whole life, he knows the answer. When we meet a new friend from a small little town somewhere, Jeff knows a piece of history about that town somehow and impresses the new acquaintance. Jeff is the only one who dances like a monkey and makes crazy faces so the kids will smile in a picture. Jeff gives us a reason to smile! We are so thankful for Jeff!

Sweet, sweet Lily

Yes, today is special for Lily. It is her 3rd birthday, not only a magical day for a three year old who thinks she is a princess and looooooves birthday candles and cakes and presents and everything else about birthdays..., but today is her "golden birthday". That is, she is turning the age of the date of her birthday, you only get one a lifetime and today is it for Lily!

Lily. How do I describe the ways I love this little blonde princess who stole my heart. From the day she was born she was such a joy. She fills our lives with excitement, I didn't know a body that little could hold so much personality! She has enough to share, and it rubs off on each of us!

Since she is the baby of the family, she does persuade us more easily to give in (especially if she is screaming---I have rarely heard a rival to top her scream, let's just say it's left my ears ringing a few times, and not in a good way), but Lily definitely knows how to hold her own! If there is ever a squabble amongst the siblings, my money is always on Lily, she somehow always wins. I don't know if she's just craftier and sneakier than the other two, or her scream annoys them to pieces and they give up, or if they just love her to death and can't resist her charm. Whatever it is, they do love her so much. She is always in the middle of some game, or some pretend this, or the building of a robot (she's a good sport to Tyler).

Even with a killer scream, she does have the sweetest little voice you have ever heard. It sounds like Minnie Mouse. I am constantly get comments when I'm out, "How can you resist that sweet little voice?" (yes, it is precious, but I think mom's have to be resilient to those kind of things, right? Dadda's are the ones who cave in... :) Yes, we LOVE to hear Lily's darling, high pitched Minnie Mouse voice and we hope it never changes!

Lily is the one who gets the most excited about parties, about holidays, about anything "special." I love to tell her about these kind of things because her eyes light up and get twice as big as normal, she goes "YEAH!" and starts clapping. Everything is a party to her.

I love her confidence. Lily can do anything. She draws like she's Picasso, she dances like she's the star of the show, and she talks like she's the boss (is she?). I hope she never loses her ability to believe in herself. I know most children have this, but she makes you believe her too. She also has a make-believe like none else. She will have you thinking she's the princess in some land far away and you're some person in her story. Sometimes I wonder where her pretend ends and her real begins, but does it really matter at this age? I hope not.

Bottom line is ----Lily is a dream come true and we love everything about her!!!

Thanks Dad!

Mom and Dad standing in front of the tree of life!

(This is Papa showing his grandsons that even big muscles can't pull out the sword in the stone.)


OK, in all fairness I owe my Dad a special thank you too! He also replaced and fixed many things in our house while he was here. Door knobs, door catches, light switch plates, dishwashers... you name it. Thank you so much Dad!!! I always make sure to put him to work when he comes here, he is always so willing to help in whatever way he can. When it's not fixing things, it's washing the dishes meticulously, even before they go in the dishwasher. :) And if it's not working, it's making my kids laugh. He is such a funny Papa, he loves to play with the kids. In fact, Tyler commented after Christmas that Grandma and Papa didn't get any toys, but actually Papa did get one toy that he could share with Grandma. He got a book with a set of balloon accessories to make balloon helicopters and cars go with balloons on the back of them. That was a huge hit! Thanks Dad, I love you!

Even though Mom didn't "fix" any broken things... she was a BIG help too! She always cooks so many good things we she comes to visit!!! She takes care of screaming kids, she tries to potty train (I wish we had more time for that one), she gives the kids special snacks when they're about to have a melt down... she is a perfect grandma!!! Thanks mom, I love you!