And we're back!

We (finally) got our house exactly 2 weeks ago. 4 months after our offer was accepted. Not bad as far as short sales go, but it definitely felt long! Last Saturday we had the carpet installed upstairs so we were able to move out of the trailer! John and I were both pretty excited, but Archer and Bryton both wanted to sleep in the trailer. They are both having some sleep issues but hopefully they will adjust quickly.

Sometimes it feels like we aren't making any progress on the house, but then I think back on everything we've done and realize that things are moving along. My parents were here for a week which helped us get a lot done. So far, we have:
Replaced the 2 exterior doors leading to the deck;
Taken out the wall/closet under the stairs to open up the entryway;
Done a TON of cleaning (it seriously looked like the house hadn't been cleaned in years!);
Refinished the kitchen cabinets;
Refinished a bathroom vanity;
Took a million loads to the dump & gave away a ton of stuff, thanks to all the "treasures" that were left here (still have more of this to do unfortunately);
Ripped out all the downstairs carpet and we currently have about half of the hardwoods installed;
Paint. Paint. And more paint;
Got new carpet upstairs & new flooring in the boys' bathroom upstairs;
Took out countless pieces of contact paper (yuck!) and unfortunately had to put some new back in thanks to the residue that was left;
And I'm sure there is more! We have tons to do still, but first up is finish the hardwood flooring downstairs which will hopefully be done this weekend.

#3

So technically I'm not posting on this blog while we are having our super exciting (well, the first 2 months were exciting anyway...now I'm ready for a house!) summer of camping.

BUT. Archer turned 3 yesterday, and that is definitely worthy of a blog post!

We celebrated last weekend with a day completely dictated by Archer. Our day consisted of the following: "the peanut place" (Texas Roadhouse), Cabela's shooting gallery, a bike ride on the centennial trail, the park, ice cream, and pizza.

Yesterday we spent the day at a friend's house where the boys got nice and dirty, then came home to have Archer's birthday dinner (Mac n cheese & peas) and cake (rainbow M&M cake). This kid is opinionated! :)

At 3, Archer is still a non-sleeper! He's also still mommy's boy 95% of the time. He's fearless (except he's a little afraid of weed whackers!) and adventuresome. He loves playing in dirt, sand, and water. He is VERY independent, but is also a cuddler. Archer frequently bosses his brothers around, and wants them to include him in everything. He has pretty much zero interest in movies/TV, although we did discover that he loves Super Why! He has actually adjusted to trailer life pretty well, and it's been much easier now that we've moved him into his own bed (he was sharing with B).

Archer definitely has given us a run for our money, but we love him to pieces! Happy Birthday, Archie!

QOTD

"When I grow up, I'm going to be a snowman!" -Archer

Family Portrait, 2009

I've been blogging on my other blog about living full-time in our RV, but I thought this belonged on this blog.
The other day we stopped for pizza on our way through town (we were headed north to camp for the weekend), and B drew this picture. He said it is our family when Archer was still in my tummy. So cute!

QOTD

"Hey Mom, did you know I'm allergic to big ants?" - Bryton

Break Time?

This week is "spirit week" at the boys' school. I wasn't too concerned about it until I learned that one day (tomorrow) is costume day. Turns out I just donated a bunch of Halloween costumes and packed the ones that I didn't donate. Spectacular. Thankfully a friend volunteered some costumes for the boys: a fireman and a superhero.
Unfortunately both boys wanted to be the superhero (of course). It was turning into a big ordeal, and then Archer said "Mommy, I feel left out because I don't have a costume!" Well, you can probably guess where this is going...I ended up taking a "break" from packing to make 3 superhero capes and masks. I think they turned out pretty well considering I made them completely spontaneously with stuff that was on hand and easily accessible (in other words, not packed in some random box in the bottom of a stack). We ended up with Batman, "Flash" (although I don't think Flash has a cape, but Preston designed his and called it Flash so that's what we're going with), and Super A (this was going to be Super Why but I didn't have the right color fabric and I wasn't really sure I wanted to attempt a book appliqué).

My superheroes!

Mother's Day

We just agreed to move up the closing date on our house to NEXT MONDAY, as in ONE WEEK from now. Seriously. So obviously the bulk of my Mother's Day was spent packing, but here are a few other highlights.

I woke up to little footsteps sneaking downstairs and opening the closet where my present was hidden. Then I heard those footsteps sneak back upstairs and return to bed without disturbing anyone! Definitely a miracle in this house. After everyone was awake, the boys bounced into our room smothering me with hugs and shouting "Happy Mother's Day!" over and over. Of course I had to open my presents immediately (pictures below of the homemade presents), and then Preston asked me what I wanted for breakfast. I said "how about pancakes?" knowing that John and the boys do pretty well with making pancakes...to which Preston replied that he had something better then pancakes for me. He rushed downstairs and was rustling around down there for a few minutes, then he came up and informed me that my breakfast was ready.

At this point I started to get a little nervous. But I went downstairs to my Mother's Day breakfast of...cereal with chocolate syrup on top. I have the sweetest boys in the world. Luckily they wanted me to divide it up between us. :) And they ended up having seconds while John cooked me an egg!




The outside of my card from B!


The inside: a rainbow, teddy bear sticker, and a new house! Love that boy!


Dear Mom Preston (he said that's how I know who it's from, obviously!)


The wrapping paper (that is Preston jumping in case you couldn't tell)


And the gifts. So sweet. B's is on the right, and they used their fingerprints to make the bugs. Preston painted rainbow stripes on his.