USA! USA! USA!

Olympic opening ceremonies.  We had the Smith's over to our "for a while" house for some British style fish & chips.  The kids' immediate goal was to take our attention from the TV to where it really belongs, them.  So they (all three, including Jude) put on Riley's dress-up shoes, grabbed microphones, and sang to their own individual tunes. MAJOR blackmail.  

Things then grew serious when Millie started singing "Holy Holy Holy".  A true sing-along commenced.  The kids got to stay up WAYYY past bed time because we paused the opening ceremonies to eat dinner.  They loved this treat and showed us by yelling and singing and running all night, surely not to keep the sleepies away.

This cute family showed up in their patriotic red, white, and blue. Bryan got fancy enough to make his own shirt, pretty creative if you ask me.

Let your flag fly!!  My favorite part of the night was when Paul McCartney sang "Hey Jude", along with everyone in the stadium and everyone at home watching. I think that was Jude's favorite part too as he sings "his song" all the time now.

As always, fun times with the Smith's!! Next time, Audrey will be joining us! 

Parallels

No, this is not a post about math. Although if Woody were in charge, it would be.

I am struck by the parallels of the summer of 2005 and 2012.  Let me explain.

Summer tour 2005, as we like to call it, was the summer we were building our house on Pimlico.  Our lease was up in June and we were told our house would be done in mid-June.  Being novice building customers, we believed... So we had plans to house sit for a couple of families that were going on vacation, then move to our house.  Yep. So August rolled around and we were still homeless.  We had house sat for almost everyone we knew and had a few hotel stays in between.  In early August, we took at trip to St. Louis to watch the Cardinals play.  Then we came home and moved into our house that day.

Skip forward to 2012.  We sold the house on Pimlico in May.  We haven't been homeless this summer, but have been living at Mom and Dad's house in Bella Vista.  We didn't know when we would be moving and before we started looking at houses, Woody booked a trip for us to St. Louis in early August to watch the Cardinals play.  We will be coming home on a Wednesday, and moving to our new house on that Friday.

Kind of neat how that worked out.  We are two weeks away from moving into our new house.  We are so excited.  I have stopped myself from packing everything up until now.  This house is about to look very much like a hoarders episode as the boxes are entering and being filled, labeled, and stacked. Let the type A personality take over.

Visits with Memaw and Pepaw

Riley and Jude love it when Memaw and Pepaw come for a visit.  As you can see, Riley is always the entertainer, making Pepaw laugh with her sheer wit.

And Jude gets his love tank refilled with hugs from Memaw.  He spent at least 30 minutes in her lap loving on her, covering her up with a blanket, playing with her glasses, and wiping drool all over her face (AKA kisses).

I'm pretty sure he adores her. :-) So cute.

Riley's 1st Sleepover

A couple of weeks ago, Riley and Millie had their first sleepover.  SO exciting!!  Riley looked forward to this for almost 2 weeks. My only concern was bedtime, like all first time sleepover moms.  They got in bed later than normal, around 9:15.  After our normal bedtime routine, we told the girls they could stay up and talk, but needed to stay in bed. Uh huh. They look really tired in this picture don't they?

This is their "I'm asleep" pose.  I love Millie's face here.  We left the bedroom door open so we could hear them.  Around 10:15, I heard some commotion so I went in. They were sitting in the floor playing with baby dolls.  So I told them to get back in their beds and that it was time for sleep, so no more talking. Around 10:45, I heard them moving around, so I went in again.  They were silently sitting at Riley's table having tea.  I had a hard time not giggling with them because it was just too cute.  That is a strong desire to play when you will willingly have make believe tea silently. Finally, I gave up at 11 and went to bed.  As I lay in bed I thought, I will probably always be the first to fall asleep at these sleepovers.  I assume they went to sleep after that since I didn't hear them again...

All smiles and hugs the next morning.

They were making breakfast for us in Riley's kitchen.

Even Jude got in on the fun.  We are looking forward to more sleepovers. I might even stock up on the caffeine beforehand so I can stay up and enjoy the fun!

Home New Home

God's timing is a beautiful thing.  All last spring I wondered what he was waiting for in selling our house, it felt like it took forever.  Then I relaxed after the house sold, thankful that we were one step closer to our goal of living in Bentonville.  We moved into my parents' Bella Vista house for "a few months" until we had enough for a nice down payment on a house in Bentonville.

You know how much of a planner I am.  This can be a good thing, but can also go into overdrive, causing me to be a control power monger.  But as we were getting comfy in our "for a while house" as Riley calls it, I wasn't worried or even really thinking about our next move.

I affectionately call this our vacation house.  It's a bit smaller than the old place, so most of our stuff is in storage. The kitchen cabinets are overflowing with equipment and food, much like what happens on a vacation in a condo with a small kitchen. Cooking with two adults and two toddlers who want to "help" is always an adventure, as I always end up tripping over someone.  And Woody has been here on summer break almost the whole time we have lived here.  So really, it seems like a vacation home.

We recently talked to a loan officer about a loan called the "rural development" loan.  It was perfect for us, but because Bentonville has a larger population than 25,000, this loan is ending in October. So we immediately started looking at homes.  We looked at 8 on a Monday.  Then next day we looked at 5 more. The last one was a little further out than I wanted to be, and it was new construction.  I really wanted to live in an established neighborhood with large trees that didn't look like one developer came in and created a neighborhood of 50 houses with only 4 floor plans.  But as soon as I walked into the last house, I was ready to make an offer.  After looking at all of the rooms (especially the kitchen), I made my way to the master bed and bath.  At that point, I might have given my right arm for it.  Can you imagine?  Not the neighborhood, location, or construction I thought I wanted.

It isn't finished yet but is so close that we couldn't make any decisions on floors, paint, cabinets, etc.  That was so okay with me as the style of the house and all of the finishes are exactly what I would have  chosen.  So we made an offer and the deal was official the next day.

It's pretty amazing to me that God orchestrated so many little details that this deal worked out so smoothly.  I do not feel worthy to be under contract for a house that seems like it was built for us, who am I to have luxuries that I don't need but really want?  I am moved, overwhelmed, humbled that God's grace covers me and my family like rain.

Blackmail

Uh huh.  Because fishing in the nude is the latest in toddler fashion...with a pink barbie fishing pole.  Why is it that most of our pictures of Jude are of him in a diaper or no clothes at all?  Do we not cloth that boy?

At least she doesn't pee in the pool.  She prefers to run to the side and pee on the concrete... even when her potty is just to the left of this spot.

Caught in the action and not a bit embarrassed.

Summer Time Fun

Building a tower of blocks.  He's getting pretty good at this!  Its so interesting to me that given all kinds of toys, he'd prefer to stack objects of any kind.  Future architect?  

Future doctor?  Riley has taken to a new Disney Junior show called Doc McStuffins, whose toys come alive when she is around.  She fixes the neighborhood toys.  Here Riley is giving Woody a check-up.  It turns out he had too-cold-asitis and needed a blanket.

Almost....

After the kids went to sleep one night, Woody and I took the blocks and the instructions and created this castle.  It lasted until about 10 o'clock the next morning before being toppled.

The Splash Park in Bentonville is so much fun for the kids.  We like to go there in the mornings and splash until its picnic time.  Then after more play time, we get them changed into dry clothes before heading home because they WILL be asleep before we get there.

Love this one.