Pop and Bobbi's visit & Jake starts KINDERGARTEN!

We got to have a great visit with Andrew's parents the past couple weeks. Like last year, they drove out here from Alabama then Ken flew to Japan to visit Sarah, so Judy stayed with us while he was gone. Jake got to spend a lot of time with Judy ("Bobbi"). They made a few trips to the library, read lots of books, did puzzles, and had some learning time to get him ready for school. We had a lot of really great meals while she was here and now that she's gone, the boys expect me to cook:) Judy watched Jake one night while Andrew and I went to a wedding (this has been a year full of weddings for us!) This time it was our friends Dustin and Jill. The wedding was beautiful and we had a really great time. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera in at the reception, but this was before we left the house.........

When Ken got back they stayed a few more days so we could hang out all together. They took Jake to Alley Cats to play for an afternoon and we got to introduce them to our favorite place to eat..... PF Changs. They also got to go with us to meet Jake's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Renfro.

AND..........Yesterday Jake started Kindergarten!!! He has been talking excitedly about it for weeks now and finally the big day came. He woke me up at 6 AM asking if we could "hurry up and go already." While we were having breakfast and getting ready, he kept saying , "Come on... I dont want to be the last one there!" He was VERY excited that he FINALLY got to wear his new Sketcher shoes (that he just HAD TO HAVE, and he calls them "Skaatchers") and he got to use his new Hulk backpack. When we got there, I walked him into his class and talked with his teacher (who we love, by the way! She's really sweet and friendly...we anticipate a great year). He has his own locker in the classroom and he sits at a little round table with three other kids. His spot was waiting for him with his name tag on it, and he sat down right away. I felt weird just leaving him there, but he was fine. I was painting and working on some things around the house during the day and there were a few times I wanted to just drive down there and peek in. I was trying to picture him eating lunch and lining up for recess and raising his hand to ask a question. I can only imagine HOW MANY questions he had for the teacher (he averages about a million a day around here:). When I picked him up, he had a big smile on his face. He said he had a great day and he really likes his teacher. As usual, though, he refused to give any further information. For someone who talks so much, you would think he'd love to talk about his day and what he did and what they talked about. But it turns out, he just likes ASKING the questions, he doesn't like having to answer any. His second day was just as good, but I had to wake HIM up this time.... and it took a while. Guess all those questions really wore him out..........

Jake's latest..........

When asking his daddy if he could play outside, he said, "Can I, Can I?? Yes or no, friend or foe.... which one are ya?"

He was suppose to be napping, but after just a few mintues he came in the living room. Andrew said "Jake, you're suppose to be asleep." He replied, "I used ALLLLL my powers, and..... Nothing."

Baby Gracie has graced us with her presence

Nathan and Amber finally had their baby girl on July 30th! Her name is Gracie Marie.... She was right at 7 pounds and very long (I dont remember the inches:). We were in Colorado when she was born but we stopped in Aubrey on our way back home so we could meet here and she is SOOO Cute! Heres some pics of her. I was hoping to get one of her and Connor together, but he was too busy showing Jake his room and his new house:)

FOR SALE BY OWNER

Well, things have been a little crazy around our house. As most of you know, we are trying to get the house ready to sell, and thats been a big task. My grandpa was so awesome a couple weeks ago.He and my grandma came to stay with us and he was our handy-man, fixing all the things around the house that we don't have a clue about. Like, you know, the hole in the laundry room wall that Timber chewed through when he was a puppy, and all that kind of stuff. So all those things are taken care of but theres still SO MUCH left to do. I am almost finished painting my Pottery Barn armoire thats been in the garage for months now, so as soon as thats moved into our room, I'm gonna work on knocking out all the other little jobs that await me. The frustrating part about all this is - we're working hard to get all this stuff done to the house, knowing that if it does sell (and we're praying HARD it will), we're almost guaranteed to be out $$$ because of the market in our area. But we've got our hearts set on getting out of here, so we're gonna see what happens. I've had a lot of people lately ask me about where we're gonna move when we sell our house, so I wanted to just fill everyone in on our plans.

Andrew and I are both tired of the DFW area and all the traffic and the lack of outdoor activities. The nice thing about our jobs is - he works at home and can do it from anywhere with a computer and phone and I can be a nurse anywhere and have tons of options. So I have decided to try travel-nursing for a while. There are travel agencies that will help you get a contract (usually about 3 months) to work at a hospital pretty much anywhere in the country (depending on the hospitals needs at that time). Our original plan was for me to work at one of the hospitals up in the mountains near Breckenridge, but we recently found out that they don't have any NICU's up there. So now we are looking at our options at other areas near mountains, because its very important that we are near a ski lift.
Jake is super-excited about moving somewhere new for a while, by the way. He has already informed us that he will be a snow-boarder NOT a skier:) We know that Timber would LOVE a change in climate. That poor dog is only supposed to shed twice a year, but because of the heat around here our house is one huge fur-ball. So we are praying that the house sells and doors open for us to travel for a while. We'll keep everyone updated.

Our Colorado Adventure

Jake and his Nonny

Jake & Ryan in Creede

View from the train on the way to Silverton

I LOVE this pic of him looking out the window!

Paw Paw and Jake getting ready for some fishing

Big Meadow Lake

Well, we just made it back from a great week in Colorado. Andrew really wanted to go, but he had a lot going on with work so he had to stay behind with Timber. So me and Jake made the 14 (or so) hour drive with mom and dad. We went in dad's new truck, which is a very comfortable ride and from the very beginning decided we would see just how many Wal-Mart stores we could stop at between here and there. After about the 4th Wal Mart, we finally gave up on that. The first night, we stopped in Trinidad, Colorado and stayed the night in a new hotel that was rather nice. We woke up the next morning and drove a few more hours to our final destination, South Fork, and our cabin 'the Dry Bean' which I renamed the 'Wet Noodle.' We got to spend a lot of time with Robbie, Janice, Ryan, Uncle LH, Aunt Bill, and LaDena and Jake got to play A LOT with Zach and Brianna (cousins he didn't even know he had:) Jake and Brianna were cut right out of the same mold and it was quite amusing listening to their conversations. For example, while Jake was trying to explain many things to Brianna she finally said, "You just think you know everything." Jake's reply, "Well, listen cause I DO know a lot."

We went to Big Meadows Lake a couple days and fished. I spent a couple hours on the bank one day and caught zip. Five minutes after I gave up and walked back up to our camp, a couple men had moved into my spot and caught a big one. It didn't take us long to realize Jake was more excited about his Batman fishing pole than actually fishing with it. After about half an hour, he decided, "This takes too long." and was off to play with the other kids. One day Dad went with Robbie and a group of guys to fish at a different lake a few hours away, so all the women and kids went to Creede to walk through the town, have lunch and do some shopping. Another day Mom, Dad, Jake and I drove to Durango and rode a train to Silverton. The scenery was beautiful and the train ride was fun (for the first half). We rode the train to Silverton and back, which was three hours each way, so the ride back seemed REALLY long. Our last day there, Dad and I got up in the morning to go rafting with a small group. We were expecting some good rapids with a guide. What we got was a woman with her four year old son and a bus, who dropped us off with a raft. When we asked her where she was going to pick us up, she replied, "Oh yeah, I was gonna show that on the way here. Just stop at the bridge." So we all floated down the river in the HOT sun. It was nice and pretty uneventful... until it suddenly got cold.... and then began to rain... and then the rain felt freezing cold and was hard, because it was really SLEET! So we paddled and shivered and laughed for the last 30-40 minutes until we finally made it to the bridge and the lady finally showed up in her Scooby-Doo van. It was pretty hilarious! We had a great week with mom and dad and the Baughmans; and Jake got to learn and experience a lot. He discovered that he prefers Diet Coke over the original, that you get to have a lot more sodas on vacation than at home, that he is a champ at Aggravation (the board game and the original:), that he is not afraid to pick up a dead animal, that he's not-so-crazy about trains anymore (even Thomas!), and that, while chasing girls with worms may be fun, its not the nicest thing to do.

The ride home went by quicker than the way there (probably because we avoided all Wal Marts and only stopped at one McDonalds). And on the way, we stopped in Aubrey to see Baby Gracie (Nathan and Amber's new baby girl). So I will be posting those pics soon. So now we're back home and suffering heat-shock and I'm enjoying a few more days before I'm back to work and reality really sets in...........