omaha or bust!

Well, we've made it to Omaha!!

Here's all our stuff...except you can't really see it because Matt's truck is in the way. We are VERY thankful Matt's truck was able to go on the truck. Our packers were AWESOME! They were SO good with the kids and did a great job packing! We didn't have one thing broken!

Before we left I took a picture of each kid in their room. :(

Kinda makes me miss my house looking at these pics.

Moving is such a pain! I'm SO ready for my house to have everything in order!! I'm almost there tho.

The next day we headed up to Kansas to see the Sears'. They were kind enough to host us for a night. The kids all did really well playing together.

So, now we are here and just getting settled in. I didn't realize how much stuff we had until we moved! I'm really enjoying our new house. I don't have everything in order and maybe once I do I'll post pics...or maybe I'll post pics little by little. We'll see.

Anyway, we no more than got here and Andrew started Kindergarten!! He was SO excited!! I wish I could say I was sad, but nothing has really hit me yet...him starting school or us moving!

His teacher seems really nice and I'm really hoping he has a great year. It was funny because while we were at school a lady asked Andrew if he was excited to start Kindergarten and he said, "yes, ma'am." She immediately turned to me and asked if we were from the South. :)

Blake will start PreK this week. He's SO excited! He's been DYING to go to school since last year. He just thinks he's such a big boy. It will be good for him, I hope!

Claire turned 9 months when we got up here. I can't believe she'll be one before we know it! This year has gone by too fast with this move that I don't feel like we've really been able to enjoy the baby phase. Her latest trick (aside from pulling up on EVERYTHING) is giving kisses!! So cute!!

I think everyone is really doing well adjusting to the move. The poor kids (well, Blake and Claire) have been couped up in the house since we've been here. Today I got the basement storage in order so we are ALMOST set! Won't be long and our lives will be crazy busy with play dates and such...but for now, I'm enjoying getting settled in and not knowing many people. :)

We bought the boys this Gator when we got here. They had wanted one in Houston because our neighbor had one. Here...they actually have room to drive it around!!

Well, there's your update!!

a week in pics...

Andrew got a hold of the camera and decided to take a picture of himself with his little animals. And...

a picture of Blake playing the Wii.

I figure there will be lots of Wii playing come November!!

Claire played with Mr. Duck in the tub...

and watched Daddy take the fort apart!! (yes, those legs are chunky!)

Yesterday, I took the kids by the Disney Store since we don't have one in NE and they LOVE that place. Andrew had some birthday money to spend and has been DYING for this turtle....

I tried to talk Blake into getting a stuffed animal (not sure what came over me because I'm not a huge fan of stuffed animals) because they were on sale when you buy two.

Blake got two cars instead, but would only pose with one...

So, I decided to get Claire a Minnie Mouse and save it for her when she gets older...
but the girl would NOT give it back to me!

She CRIED when I took it away to pay for it! So much for giving it to her when she's older! Well, someone is stinking up the joint!...

don't even know where to start...

I've been such a slacker on blogging that I don't even know where to begin.

Guess I'll start with the kids...

Claire is 8 1/2 months now. Here's what she's up to...

She is a happy baby, but is really happy when she's with her mama! She gets nervous around strangers.Words she's babbled lately...nigh-nigh...bye-bye...dada...mama...no no.

Right before 8 months she started crawling and she's all over the place. She loves to crawl down the hallway and sneak into her brothers' rooms!!

She has also started to pull up on things.

I wish I could say I've done great filling in her journal for her and have her scrapbook caught up, but I haven't.

Blakers is just as mess these days.

He's all excited about starting school in a few weeks. He'll go 2 days a week for 2 hours. I was hoping for more of a break, but we really liked this school...so we'll see. I hope to be able to do more "school" with him at home. I started doing that with Andrew when he was 2, but poor Blake has gotten the shaft. We've just been too busy.

He's also enjoyed swim lessons this summer. We just finished today. He isn't swimming, but he's definitely come a long way.

These days he can be found doing whatever his big brother is doing. :)

Andrew will be a big Kindergartner in a few weeks. I really can't believe it. We keep planning family vacations and forget we can't just up and leave in the middle of the year because Andrew will be in school.

He's all about fish these days. LOVES FISH! Tonight at dinner we had fish and Matt slipped and told him it was fish. During Andrew's prayer at dinner he prayed for no more fish to die so people can't eat them. :)

He's getting an attitude and we are working on it. Some days we definitely butt heads. What can I say?...the boy can wear me out! He does mean well and tries his best to please us. I can't wait to see how he will do in Kindergarten!

And as a family we've all been busy. We are trying to do things in Houston one last time. Last week, I think, we went to the zoo to see the dinosaur exhibit!!

And we couldn't leave without riding the train. It was HOT!

We are also trying to spend time with friends before we leave. Mandy came in last week. We sure enjoyed our visit...and I didn't get ONE picture! Jenn Mas came over with the girls when Mandy was here. I'm pretty sure Mandy will never have children after her visit. :) I know all the kiddos enjoyed Miss Mandy's attention!! Thanks for coming to see us, Mandy. (And you too, Jenn!)

We've sold our house!! Matt and I were talking last night about how we can't really question if we are doing the right thing by moving (of course I probably will be my first snowfall!) because everything has just fallen into place. We definitely know this is God's plan for us. It's pretty neat to see His hand in this whole process. It's gone smoothly, but has been stressful and tiring! We leave next Tuesday or Wednesday and I think we're all ready to start our adventure in life!!

Well, that's it for now. This post has taken me ALL day! I'm tired and can barely see straight!

I promise to update when things slow down....

well...

We are back!

You probably didn't know, but we left about two weeks ago to find a house in NE. We didn't want to take the boys with us because we figured they would be completely bored looking at a million houses, so we left them with my sisters. It worked out great since they had older cousins around to help and entertain them.

Andrew learned to swim....
They went to the library...
Went to a SplashPad.... And even celebrated Andrew's birthday a few days early.
Andrew was SO excited when he saw his cake. What can I say? The boy is obsessed with the ocean! After we sang, we asked if we could cut it up to eat and he asked that we wait a bit so he could just look at it. :)

The boys had a blast in Shreveport and keep asking when they can go back. I will forever owe my sisters for watching the boys. It was nice to not have to worry about them....obviously I had other things on my mind!

We did find a house! It has everything we wanted and with a little paint it will be a great place to call home! I'm anxious to get up there and get started! Not sure of our exact move date yet.

This trip made us realize how truly blessed we are...to have my sisters keep the boys, finding a house that had everything we wanted/needed, and a baby that was so easy going while we hunted for a house.

Claire did awesome on the trip. We stayed with some friends in NE and they couldn't get over what a happy baby she is/was. Her naps were definitely hit and miss on the trip, but she was a trooper. I'm so thankfully because I don't think I could have handled that on top of the house hunting stress!

Claire started saying "ma ma" before we left. Matt didn't believe me, but she proved him wrong. The boys think it's so neat that she's "talking" to them.
She's also started "crawling" today! She has a little hop to her crawl. It's quite funny. The boys have no idea what's about to hit them!!!
We got home Friday evening and Claire has done nothing but sleep since we've been back. I'm thinking she's just catching up...hopefully she's not getting sick.

This is how I found her at nap yesterday.
Crazy girl!! I could NEVER fall asleep like that!!

june...

I can't believe June is almost over. When we agreed to this move I figured we'd have at least 3 months left to veg in Houston, but there has been no vegging!!!

Here's what we've been up to....

The boys decided to have a tea party with Claire's tea pot. I wish I could say this was stagged, but it's not! :) I will be holding this one over their heads one day...

We went to the lake and rented a boat with some friends. I didn't get many pictures.
Blakers was exhausted. Something about boats...he goes right to sleep on them!

Then we went to Sam Rayburn Lake for a week with my family. Clearly Matthew is a bad influence on my children! :) The boys enjoyed all the attention from their cousins.

Claire has turned 7 months!

She's learned to clap...

and do "so big"....


and can even get to a sitting position from laying on the floor! She's growing too fast. No crawling yet. She just pushes herself backwards or rolls.

I haven't even started on her one year album or finished my pregnancy album for her. I usually do all that when they turn 6 months, but life has been crazy with the move, that I haven't had time to start. I didn't even take her in for her 6 month pictures! gah! I'm slacking! Hopefully July will slow down for us so I can start scrapping again.

Well, I'm off to get bed. I hope to get some peaceful sleep like this...

claire's latest tricks

Here are a few of Claire's tricks she can do....

She's getting better at sitting up.She's done this trick a few times and I finally caught her on tape. You'll have to excuse my annoying voice!

And lastely, I'm not sure if this is a trick, but this girl is CONSTANTLY falling asleep with her foot sticking out of bed! You'd think I didn't have bumper pad on or something!

what do you do...

when it's 3 PM and a million degrees outside???We take silly pictures of the kids! Or of Claire trying to attack Andrew's goldfish.
Easy entertainment...for everyone!!

little update...

I have so much to update on that I'm a little overwhelmed!!

First, Blake turned 3!!

He thinks he is such a big boy now! We just did a family party that night, but will have a party with friends in a week. He and Andrew are going to have a party together.

Andrew graduated from PreK!!

He's SO excited to be starting Kindergarten next year!!
This was our first year at this school and we loved it! We had a great group of parents and kids. And the teachers were AWESOME! We are sure going to miss it.

Claire is growing like a weed.

She is 6 1/2 months now. I took her to the Dr. yesterday for her well visit and she's in the 68% for weight and 94% for height! She has her two bottom teeth in and I think she might be cutting another. She's such an easy baby too! ALMOST makes me want another! However, I think 3 is enough!

In other news...we are moving to Nebraska! Everyone keeps asking how I feel and I think it's all happening so fast that I haven't had time to really think about it. Matt is working with the same company and will start up there early August! It will definitely be a big change for us, but I'm excited to see what God has in store for our family. We will really miss our sweet friends here.