Breaking news!

pretty back yard, yeah!!!!!! Our line stops just behind those stumps on the right. Not too big but that's less Brain has to mow right!? :)

Brian checking out the yard and behind him is our little sitting room in the summer and we'll use it as a carport in the winter. I love how private it is. :)

It's a little noisy when a 3 yr old runs like wildfire through a house w/ all hard wood floors. Brian's promised me it gets better w/ furniture and rugs. But as you can see, she loves it!

cozy little kitchen, I particularly like the bright sky light. You know me and my need for sunlight!

if all goes smooth with closing, this will be our new home!

Once the other realtor left after an hour of paper and signing, the Bit insisted on working w/ 'her papers' so I laid out some for her to sign. She even 'signed' in the same spots on her papers as we were. This kid doesn't miss a thing!!! Such a big girl. :)

Well looks like God's going to answer Abigail's sweet little prayers for a yard for her birthday!!! We got a contract on our house tonight and put one on a little house tonight!! We are numb and excited to see this whole fiasco maybe winding down to a good close. We'll keep you up to date but we are getting a little ranch in one of our top 2 neighborhoods we wanted to be in. We got some pictures tonight so here you can peek. The Bit is THRILLED to get somewhere new to run around and I think this will be a good house for us. I'm pooped and want to go visit with Brian while I can, I'm on call tonight so hopefully they'll leave me alone for a while. I know I'm so behind on my blog. I have weeks of fun to catch up on. I will, maybe tomorrow now that I don't have to 'clean for the ladies' anymore! :) Love you all and we'll keep the good news coming!

God Bless America!!!

this picture makes my heart smile

The Bit all geared up w/ her towel/back pack combo thing mom made her.

watching the people on the rides

It was a great day for a fair, breezy and not too hot.

I love this picture of Brian and his goodies.

Abigail and my friend's sweet boy Zabien waiting on the show to start

everyone watching the fireworks at very close range from our beautiful 13th floor view of the show.

We had a wonderful 4th of July this year. We started the day w/ the local fair on just a beautiful summer breezy day. Abigail had a blast in the petting zoo. She didn't quite understand why she was too short to ride the rides but one day she'll get to go crazy on all those things w/ her daddy. We got to give her some good old fashioned funnel cake and really over priced but tasty pop corn too. That evening our pool at our complex had a 4th of July cookout for us all which was so much fun. There was tons of food (not pictured, too busy eating it) :) and she got to swim with all the neighborhood kids. It was funny all the adults knew Abigail and spoke to her then introduced themselves to us. Abigail's much more social then we are down there and has quite a few friends in our area.

That night I went in for just a short 4 hour shift in the hospital but it wound up being such a special time. We are on the 13th floor and our local city celebration is always held in the fields out front. So God was good the floor was dead slow so the doctors and nurses got their families to come up to the unit to camp out in a room together to watch the fireworks at almost eye level w/ them. It was so fun and wild w/ everyone squeezed into a patient room w/ sleepy babies and juice boxes all around. It was a beautiful place to watch the fireworks and when Brian and the Bit left I only had about an hour left in my shift then I got to go home before all the dehydrated pregnant women in the valley started pouring in w/ contractions. It was a great busy day for us all.

On Sunday we went to mom and dad's after church and basically were official lazy couch potatoes for the rest of the rainy day. They were so sweet to not mind their very tired boring guests and Abigail entertained us all that night by marching w/ mom to the TV show of the Washington DC 4th of July special. It was a great weekend for us all and we are very grateful for another happy year.

pool days......

Abigail refers to these nights as just going to the "dinner store" so we can get to the pool that much faster.

Her favorite spot to get out of our ice cold spring fed pool and get warmed up for a few minutes before plunging in again.

Just some random sweetness captured through our summer so far. We will miss our pool when we leave but we are too thrilled to be spending our days now packing boxes w/ big smiles on our faces to be sad at all!

family visit

we were all so proud to witness Alexander catch his very first fish!

mom eventually won the battle w/ the fish hook

Alexander telling his dad he caught a fish

the Bit's not quite sure

My childhood came rushing back to me as I fearlessly worked to get that hook out of that fish's lip

Susan was ok w/ Abigail feeding Madeline the left over fish bait, luckily it was just bread. She was.....very into it!

my poor mother getting absolutely and wonderfully worn out w/ these two

it's Sue and mini-Sue!

For some odd yet obvious reason all the kids (minus mine thank goodness) prefer to pick the nastiest blue ice cream at Maggie Moo's

the proof is in the tongue

ultimate joy there Mi-Mi

Abigail wanted so badly to do everything Caroline did. Half the time Caroline didn't even notice she was following her around. :)

is it just me or do they really look related in this pic!?

Sweet Ben enjoying his birthday treat which he later shared w/ anyone who wanted a bite, I love that kid!!!

me and my Ham

raisin these boys up right, you'd never know thier mom's were bloggers.

Pa-Pa was the sport of all sports to work so hard out there on a cold June day to catch something for his grandkids. :)

She could eat up baby Madeline!

Only Mi-Mi will let these toddlers get hard core into paints. Sue and I agree we don't dare attempt this in our dining rooms!

Well it was a wild but fun week last week. My sister Sue was in town so you know we ran like crazy to keep up w/ her and her crew for 3 days. We had a blast and the Tate gang joined in as well for a trip downtown to the science museum. The kids had a ball together as always.

Thanks everyone for an awesome visit!