the things a mom will do

have you ever heard of angry birds?

i'll give you a minute to google it.

go ahead...

yeah, i hadn't really either.

micah and matt play the game together in the evenings on

matt's i-pad. they bond while sling shooting birds of various colors and abilities at green pigs.

i don't get the game, i don't pretend to and until last week i didn't even know who the characters were. than my son asked for an angry birds birthday party. and i started researching what, who, where and why. the internet is an amazing tool.

i found out everything i needed to know about them and thankfully there are some very creative and clever moms out there who post their findings where anyone and everyone can find and copy them.

i practiced on micah's class first.

mostly to see if they would recognize who they were.

the king pig.

a character i found out about during my research.

beatrix kept laughing and laughing at these cupcakes.

she knew exactly what they were.

and the smile that made it ALL worth it!!!!

listening to his class sing to him

eagerly anticipating her pig.

micah's teacher, helping take wrappers off.

they may be in first grade, but its not too far from kindergarten.

and just an FYI --- the majority of the kids new exactly what angry birds is.

starting it off right!

a birthday is a great way to start your second day of school, don't you think?

and cinnamon roll pancakes are a great way to start a 6th birthday!!!

first day of first grade

i didn't cry this year on the first day.

well, maybe just a little, but i can totally blame that on pregnancy hormones. not the fact that my little man looks a year older even though school has only been out for a couple of months.

he tried to pass the love on, but you just can't make her do anything.

he was excited.

first we stopped at dunkin donuts for a first day of school treat.

and than it was on to first grade.

he was a little nervous in this picture.

i think this may have been when the pregnancy induced tear drops started...

maybe.

daddy came to help usher him into his new class.

matt's classroom this year is right across the hall from micah's. every other year matt has been in the high school wing but this year the english dept. got moved to a room in the elementary wing. kind of a happy coincidence.

i'm not looking so bright eyed and bushy tailed, but i'm thankful to have a picture with him.

happy first day of first grade buddy!

i'm sure it will be a great year.

a much anticipated call

we got the call from steve a week after we moved in.

pool man steve.

it had been a long week.

a week of daily checking the algae progress.

or the disappearance of algae.

daily wishing.

hoping.

the anticipation was intense!

the call came

and...

these two jumped right in!

she followed not far behind.

mayhem

the day after moving is...ummm...how shall i say it nicely....well, its not pretty. there were boxes piled everywhere. and the worse part of it was that i couldn't (correction, matt wouldn't let me) move any of them. boxes piled everywhere. it was amazing to me and a little mind boggling that though our new house was much larger then our old house, it looked like the stuff we had packed into our old house would never fit into our new house. {did you follow that?}

we woke up saturday morning happy to be in our new house, but tired just looking at all we had to do to put it away. thankfully most of it had gone to the correct rooms so there wasn't that sorting out that needed to take place.

my mom managed to find a place to talk to my dad. i am sure she is commenting on how much crap her daughter and son-in-law have! haha!

my children entertaining themselves amongst the mayhem.

the kid's room...

our room...

see, they find joy amongst the mayhem.

they teach me so much.

moving in!!!

moving day was a crazy and hectic day.

matt had spent the day at the new house finishing up the painting so that we could move in the next morning, which was Saturday. i reserved a u-haul on-line for 24 hours. matt had lined up several guys to help load the truck friday night and than we were planning to unpack it saturday morning and do the majority of the moving that day.

plans change, don't they?

when i stopped at the new house to pick up matt around 3:30 he already looked exhausted. it had been a long and late night week for him. though he was excited and running on adrenaline all week, the effects of how tired he was were starting to show. we headed over to pick up the truck and when we got there we were thrown a major curve ball. they informed us that we did not have the truck for 24 hrs like the reservation stated. u-haul does not allow 24 hour reservations friday through sunday. matt was furious! but we had no choice but to take the truck. he got into the truck and i got into the car and i began making calls on the way to our old house.

and do you know what God did?

first of all, he gave my man a great attitude!

and second, we had 11 people show up to help us!!!

and....most of them stayed until the very end!

it was phenomenal!!!

such a blessing to be loved like that.

my mom and beatrix with a front row view of the work going on.

first load...

(by the second load i pretty much just wanted to torch whatever was left inside)

my babies and their smiles which lasted all through out a stressful night of moving.

matt and our dear friend john finished up everything around 2:00 in the morning. i think matt crawled into bed at 2:30.

exhausted, but with a huge smile on his face.

it was the first night we spent in OUR new home!

making improvements

this man worked tirelessly for over a week on our new home before we had even moved anything into it. he would go to work and than he would be at the house every night until late! he painted the trim, the ceilings, the living room, the kids bedroom, our room walls and floor and closet...plus...he and a friend built a wall!

and this man, our friend paul, was there to help matt every night after he got off from work too. the kindness and helpfulness and love that he showed us...well words just aren't enough when it comes to thanking someone like that.

i took the kids to the new house almost every night too. we would stop by to see the progress, bring dinner or clean something else. the kids liked wearing bandannas on their heads after watching their daddy to it.

{click on pictures to see them larger}

Micah really wanted to help so one night we were at the house and our friend Ashlea was in our closet painting. Micah asked if he could help her. he did a great job!

so did ashlea

this could have gotten ugly really fast!

my mom also was there to help us the week before we moved and she was amazing! her help made a HUGE difference!!! during the day she would help me by watching beatrix and a couple of days micah too while i went to run errands for matt, clean the house or go to doctor appointments and than in the evenings she would help me clean the new house or watch the kids at the new house while i ran to lowes or home depot for matt. i KNOW that she left florida absolutely exhausted, but micah and beatrix loved having her here so much that they both cried all the way to the car. her presence was missed immeasurably by all of us!

thank you mom!

from the bottom of matt and i's heart,

you truly made a difference and we appreciated it so much!

baby ???

i had an ultrasound today and only i could go.
the doctor was able to tell the sex of the baby and so i asked her to write it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope so we could all open it together. what you can't see in the picture is matt and i holding hands and beatrix covered in dorito cheese eagerly anticipating the reading of the paper inside.
micah had the honors of reading what was on it.

he opened it and said...well, there is a g.
we had already gone over with him how to spell girl or boy so i knew the doctor had written something different on the paper. i grabbed it from him and showed it to matt who laughed and turned it towards me...this is what the doctor had written....

looks like we are having a girl!

christmas with grandma

we had christmas visit us in july this year...

my mom came to help out while we are cleaning, painting and moving into the new house. she brought the christmas stockings with her that she and my dad made for the grandkids last december. what a fun surprise for micah and beatrix to get in july!

plenty of pink and purple for beatrix.

and micah got dinosaurs!
good job grandma and grandpa