Pickups and Princesses

September has been a fun and busy month! We have finally got the routine for our mornings. Got the temporary fence put in for the kids and dog.

On the 10th Pepper competed in her first beauty pageant! I have done 2 with each girl, so PJ has one more she will do probably around Christmas time. She took 3rd overall in her class out of 3. But that's okay she also won the most side awards of the other girls. She won Best Hair and Most Photogenic. We only participate in natural pageants that give every girls a sash and crown.

Pepper's awards!

Her crown. The crowns were beautiful!
This on really isn't sideways, she was laying in the chair lol. This is her party dress.

This was her everyday wear. The theme was back to school, she's wearing a UW cheerleader's outfit!

And finally last weekend, we traded in James' old red Ford for an '03 Dodge pickup! He was very excited about it. I love it a lot too. LOVE the pearl white color!

Its coming!!

Dear Gena How I <3 thee!!!! The next book in my favorite series is coming out on the 27th!!!!

SCHOOL!!!

My my my, time sure has gone by fast in a slow kind of way. It feels like just the other day we were bringing Baylie home from the hospital. And yesterday she started real kindergarten in a real mainstream school. And her first day of school was a success- she loved it and it went great!

(Baylie's first day of school)

And Daisy had her first day back to pre-school yesterday- also successful.

(Daisy at the park earlier this summer photo by DC Photography)

And today, PJ had her 15 month check-up. She's a big girl. Still way above the curve in height and she went down in the weight curve to the 70%. But that was to be expected as she's running all over constantly now.

(PJ at a friend's birthday party riding Watermelon)

I guess my little babies aren't so little or babies anymore. They are little girls and toddlers. It makes me sad in a happy way. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

(taken August 2011)

A new Book!

Its coming out soon, and as Gena is one of my 3 favorite authors, I have to promote the new book she's about to release!!!

Her books are omg HOTTTTTT~~~~***sigh***

And on a side note, I will be writing a new blog later today to update everyone on last month and give you our plans for this month!

July

Hi everyone! Well it looks like we've rounded the corner into July! And now its time for an update!
June was a busy month for us. We spent the first 2 weeks of the month cleaning and fixing up the new house so that we could move in. And then we went on a very short vacation. And we came back and finished moving in. And we added a new member to our family! So the house. Its not finished by a LONG shot, but its done enough that we can be comfortable here and just go room by room until its all done. Next summer will begin the outside work. I love having a clothes line- it makes my job soo much easier :) and I know y'all want some pictures of this process we've been going through...

This is the dinning room there's no before/after of this one. Oh yeah! PJ is now walking 100% of the time now too!!

Baylie's bedroom before and after (ps it had nasty carpet before) and the curtains are a spring green not yellow like the picture shows.

Before and after of the kid's play room.

Before and after of the kitchen, the after is a little messy sorry we are still getting some things sorted out.

After and before of PJ's bedroom (again with the yucky carpet)

Daisy's room before and after...its not all done yet but close enough.

This is the spare bathroom/kids bath after and before...no more grayple!!!

The vacation. It was more of a mini vacation. We left Saturday the 18th and came home on Monday the 20th. We went to James' family's ranch in South Dakota for their annual family reunion. It was lovely to see everyone again. The last time we were there Daisy was 10 months old...its been a while. I realized when I got home that I didnt take any pictures...not one! I was so angry with myself, but maybe this fall or next spring we can go back and I can try for pictures again.

The moving. We spent our first night in the new house on the 16th. We only had basics here, but it was getting tiresome going back and forth at night from one house to the next and we were close enough that staying here made more sense. After we got back from SD I put a fire under the process and we got it done in about a week. So now all the stuff from inside the old house is inside and (mostly) put up in the new one. The stuff from the shed and the front yard of the old house will probably get moved this weekend or next. It takes time to move a fence and a swing set! But the kids are setteling in nicely and everyone is enjoying having their own room, and mom and dad are enjoying having a kids area and an adult area. :)

The new member. The day before we left for SD we added a new member to our famliy. We adopted Nix aka. Onyx. Nix is about a year old, female labradoodle cross. She is black and white and amazing with the kids. She has a few bad habits and manors that we are working to correct, but mostly we wonder how anyone gave up such a happy loving dog. Now that she is relaxing into her now forever home we see her playful caring personality emerge and we love her even more.
In other Soesbe news. We had a great 4th of July with our family(ies). My mom has moved back to the state of Wyoming permanently, and we are soooo happy to have her home. And, well we just keep on keepin' on! Hope y'all have had a good summer so far!

House Update

Its been 2 weeks since we closed on our new place. We have had some delays in the cleaning/fixing-up process due to illness, but we seem to be back on track now.

The walls are cleaned, the carpets are cleaned, the bathrooms are cleaned and the kitchen is clean. The ceilings in the play room, dining room, living room and kitchen have a nice fresh coat of white paint on them. The play room has a coat of wall paint too that still needs some touch up, but as soon as I get that done I promise to post pictures.

The whole house is going to be the same color for now. Eventually we will be adding accents, but for now one color fits all!

PJ will be getting the swirly ceiling room, Daisy will be getting the blue ceiling room, and Baylie will be getting the blue wall room. The blue ceiling and the swirly ceiling will be staying. PJ's room will be done in primary color butterflies (thanks to some pictures I found and some peel and stick removable vinyl stickers). Daisy's room is going to get some peel and stick clouds for the ceiling and probably bubbles of some sort for the walls. Baylie's room will be done in horses again to help minimize the change factor for her.

We are doing the dining room in a barn/farm theme. And, since it opens into the kitchen, the kitchen will be too.

The dining and kids' rooms will be getting the carpet ripped out and laminate flooring put in. (Seriously, who puts carpet in a DINING room?!?!?!?!)Eventually (hopefully next spring) we will be doing the rest of the carpeted rooms (master, play, and living rooms) in laminate as well. Its much cleaner and healthier for us allergy sufferers.

The final project (besides actually moving of course) will be putting up the fenced yard for the kids and getting over their playground stuff. We are still hoping to get moved in by the middle or end of next week. If anyone wants to know how they can help I am taking volunteers to watch kids- do you know how hard it is to paint with kids around and no way to block them out of the room?

Next post I promise pictures!!!

Hello Summer

Hello everyone!

Well we have been busy the past few weeks! On May 31st we closed on our first home!! And ever since then we have been crazy trying to get it whipped into shape so we can move in. (Many thanks to everyone that's come by to help out!) The process has been slowed due to illness.

On Thursday I dropped B and D off at school and took P over to the new place to start scrubbing walls (hello 3 pack a day smokers). I got about 30 minutes into it when the school called me to tell me that D puked and I needed to come get her. (Seriously, I have a deep down deathly fear of up-chuck) So I put on my big girl panties and brought D back home, I call Grandma Fran when I got home and asked if she could watch D and P while I went to get B from school. (She did, thanks Gma F) And when I picked B up they told me she didn't eat breakfast or lunch (totally unlike B) and that she acted tired. Great, another sick kid.

Daisy continued to get sick for the rest of the afternoon/night/next morning. B didn't eat on Thursday at all, but bounced back on Friday. P puked Thursday night, but seemed ok on Friday. I got sick on Friday too, but thankfully I can't really bring things up. So, Saturday we did some errands and went to the new place to clean because everyone was feeling better. We made some serious head way that day. Then yesterday, B had some tummy problems (going down not up thankfully) and P puked again last night. So, I kept B home from school and we stayed home at the current house to let everyone rest and heal. Hopefully tomorrow we can get paint and supplies, finish cleaning (kitchen and master bed), and maybe get a little paint started! I may go back over tonight to finish the cleaning and get the paint so I can just start the paint tomorrow without the extra steps.

I still hope to be in the new place by the 17th (or sooner if I can swing it). And we will be having a house warming on the 3rd of July!