the BIG kids ...

Annicka and Jericho~
I just sort of felt the need to dedicate a post to you two! I'm always worried about being "fair" ... ok, well maybe not always, but a lot of the time. I often wonder if someday it will bother you to see so many posts (as I fully plan to catch up with having the blog printed - I've decided the blog is what has documented our lives for over three years now, so it's the best "scrapbook" I could really have!) of the babies ... always remember, though, it's just easier to get pics of the babies. Let me make it known that the two of you often "fight" me on getting pics taken (especially a certain young woman) and so I end up with fewer to share! But, my big kids are so special to me and I hope you always know that. In fact, here lately I was looking back on my old blog and got a little sentimental about the days back when it was just the three of us ... you two may not remember those times, but I do and I'm so glad I have so many of our adventures documented within that blog!

Annicka - I love you with all of my heart! You're spunky and you're fiesty and both of those characteristics can be put to good use! You're a bit hard headed - this can be hard for me to deal with, but again I believe it can be put to good use ... I pray in the future it will help you to set your mind on things that are good and pleasing to the Lord and stick to your convictions! You're a sweet heart and you're so giving and so beautiful - inside and out! You're a blessing! I've told you before and let me write it down to have forever - YOU are the baby that made me a mama ... what a special gift, my first princess!

Jericho - I love you with all of my heart (my heart has a lot of love to spread around)! Your sneaky little smile melts my heart and your drama king comments crack me up! You're always saying such funny little things too, you keep us on our toes and keep smiles on our faces! You've grown so much this past year - it's just amazing. I love your energy and I know it's a good thing, if only I could borrow some of it - lol! I pray for you a fantastic future and hope you'll set your heart on the Lord! You're learning so much and there's so much more - I'll do my best to share with you and teach you! My first little man - I love your freckle face and gorgeous eyes ... when you were little everyone called you a girl and said you had such a pretty face ... you've grown to be quite a handsome young man!

Happy Father's Day ...

to my hubby ... one of the best daddy's I know! I can't even begin to put into words how helpful my husband is and how willing he is to let me go out and do errands - or even go out for fun - while he stays home with the kiddos! He's amazing! He deserves more than a day and I wish I could give him more of a break (poor guy)! Thank you honey - for all you do - it is appreciated!

and to my own dad ... it's so nice to have you with us for another father's day - makes it that much more special! Hope you'll make it down next year and every year to celebrate "your" day! love ya, dad, and thanks for all you've done this past year to help us out!

five years old .... (another finally!)

yes, Jericho turned five, five months ago ... but better late than never - that's my new philosophy in the photograph department! Since the day Annicka was born I've been overly picky about when the kids get their pics and their "birthday" pics have always been done on their actual birthday (well, pretty much)! You may recall that it was a rainy day back in January when Jericho turned five ... it turned into a rainy week and then Zoey was born and everything got turned upside down! So, it's taken me this long, but this morning I decided no longer! I put together an outfit from his closet and out we went ... it was about a half hour shoot and I'm pretty pleased! Jericho is a delight and he still keeps us on his toes with his comments! You just never know what he's gonna say, although sometimes it does end up being inappropriate and he's especially fascinated with "bodily function" talk/sounds - oh my! Of course, we love him to bits and I can't believe he's nearly five and a half!!! He recently graduated from preschol (pics to come) and is off to kindergarten in August, he came a long way and preschool was beyond beneficial for him ... I knew he needed it (since he'd be going to school, not staying home for school) and I'm glad I made the small efforts it took to get him in and there! He can write his first and last name, he can count to 20 (maybe a little past), and he even knows some of the letters by sound (not by name, though) ... a far leap from where he was a year ago, poor kid (I didn't work with him as I had with Annicka)! So, without further ado - here's my boy, my first little man!

(I know it's a lot, but I couldn't choose!)

with his favorite little friend, "Guinnea"!

a little photo catch up ...

Zoey's praying over her meal - lol

lovely Liam

isn't that sweet - daddy and Zoey

she's diggin her kicky chair

swingin

brothers! Liam's giving me his cheesy smile
and Jericho, as usual, is talking - lol!

at bubba's preschool BBQ

Liam and Nana

what a messy face!

he played a great game of "run and hide cause there's no way mama's
gonna get up on this thing to catch me" ... ugh!

isn't that precious - he wanted a pic with Zoey

proof that they CAN get along!

sober suds - lol!

rolling, rolling, rolling ...

so, yes - yesterday Miss Zoey decided to roll over! She was with daddy in the living room and I heard him calling, I came quick to see my little baby on her tummy ... she had rolled over! Daddy put her on her back again and she was kind enough to do a repeat performance for mama and the camera - thanks Zoey! so, here's the play-by-play:

check out her crunch skills - I don't quite know why she does this, but she does!

goodbye old house ...

hello new!!!

to us anyway, and though it's not newly built it IS newly renovated as our "old" house was! Thursday was our inspection and final out ... a week of moving and cleaning, bleck! It feels awesome to have that all behind us, but now I need to focus on the new house and getting it all organized and cute! After our big moving day (friday the 28th) we decided to do some laundry that had been waiting a couple days while we prepared and such ... come to discover our dryer wasn't working. It was squeaking a few months back and it is 8+ years old (I know, but they don't make things like they used to) so we decided fooey on fixing it, let's just get new ones like we've been planning to do (at some "soon" time) now and be done with it! Yesterday those new ones arrived, boy are they shiny! LOL! so I'm all excited late last night to do a load of laundry (remember, we've now been waiting over a week) and before bed I put the load into the dryer ... I wake up this morning and Gary has turned the dryer back on - the clothes are damp! what - we have a problem! He does like he did with the old one and takes the "tube" off the vent to feel the air, it's not hot - WHAT THE HECK! So, this nice guy (who came to our house to purchase the old washer/dryer ... boy did he end up getting a deal) who does appliance repair tested the outlet for us - half of it is dead - our dryer was fine all along. UGH. The good news is, we have nice new washer and dryer and know what the problem is ... the bad news: it won't get looked at until monday, because they don't consider it an "emergency" ... needless to say, tomorrow morning I'm planning a trip to the laundromat, yuck! Add that adventure onto our full week of moving, cleaning the old house, school getting out, preschool graduation, and all sorts of errands and other functions and boy could I use a hot bath!

... but, I've totally gotten sidetracked, this post is supposed to be about our new home, so here it is:

looking from the dining room, into the kitchen

looking at the living/family room
(ok - technically what we're using as the dining room
is the family room, and this room is the dining/living -

but whatever, it so doesn't work for us!)

the one awesome storage spot, which we won't be using for storage, ha ha
this house has a lot less storage over all: the kitchen is smaller,
there's no hall cabinets like our old house, no shelves in the
laundry room or garage, so I've been daydreaming of the
ways I can make good use of the garage for all the overflow!
I haven't actually done anything yet, but I think I'll
be able to make it pretty functional! this closet, however, will
be a toy closet!

our first house with an upstairs - ever!!!

Zoey's room

our room

the boys' room

Annicka's room