Surprise!

Grandpa Verwys surprised us and came out to help us move last Saturday!

What a blessing!

He fixed many things in our house - we love our new home!

First Grade Journaling (Volume 4)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell (Volume 16)

"Sammy & Papa Day"

My dad has decided to start taking Sam to get haircuts. It is really fun for Sam to be one-on-one with someone. My dad has been at this hairdresser for years. Afterwards, Sam and Papa went to McDonalds for a happy meal!

Soccer Party

Heavy Box

PACKING!

Yes, we ARE moving!

I am sorry that I haven't been too good about posting about our move. We are in the middle of boxes and potty training and packing and decluttering and planning! I am so excited - everyday I get more and more giddy thinking about it. I am so grateful and thankful to the Lord for everythign he has and continues to bless us with... like four healthy children wasn't enough! We just told the kids and they know as much as they can understand. We have not told Adidas yet... she is going to have a hard time.

I have a lot of photos and don't know what you all want to see so here are five to start with. The house has all new refinished hardwood floors -throughout the entire home except the family room. The family room has new carpet. There is a lot of deep closets for this type of 1963 house. There is five bedrooms upstairs and a master with a bathroom. The backyard is shaped like a piece of pie and goes to a point.

Some really neat things have happened with this process. For starters, it is simply unreal that there is a family on the street that attends Grace's school. And... it is only a walk through the woods to my parent's house. We are praying for patience with each other, health, and wisdom in the next two months.

This is the room on the left - living room when you walk in the door.

This is the windows in that room. This is the laundry room and the door outside. This is the kitchen. This is the dining room! I can't wait to have a dining room!

Candy Buy Back...

I didn't hand out dried fruit - like our first lady Michelle Obama. But, I did make my kids trade in a lot of their candy to a local dentist to mail to the troops overseas. Here is the mini photo essay on the most brilliant idea! I have a degree in Marketing so I dig these things. And you betcha we will be at Noodles on Sunday with the rest of the candy getting our free noodles! (We did Chili's last Saturday!)

Here we are on the elevator on our way up to the dentist office.

This is a pretty typical scene from my "middles."Here is the scale at the office - very professional and precise. Ellen had no idea what was going on and as you will see, they did not give her a dollar bill.

They each made $2 a piece and waved them around for the next few minutes... until mommy made them deposit the money into their bank accounts for college "to make more money" as I tell them.I think we have created a tradition!

First Grade Journaling (Volume 3)

Grace has started to sit with us during the church service on Sunday (1st graders on up...) Our pastor preached from Ecclesiastes and asked us to write on a card things that made us happy. This was Grace's card (it was Halloween morning... thus the first word).

Trick or Treat

This is our last year trick or treating in our little neighborhood. It was bittersweet to spend time with our neighbors going around the neighborhood! The kids just loved it - Sam especially because he understood what was going on!

Processed Foods...

On Halloween, if you dressed up like a processed food, you could eat at Chipotle for $2. Of COURSE this is a great idea for our family. So we went as Velveeta, Combos, Hostess Cupcake, Candy Corn and Swedish Fish. I didn't take any photos of the costume before we took them off, except for the Swiss Roll Baby. These are our neighbors with us!

Some locals with FABULOUS costumes... do you know what they are? Baby Processed Food...