SOLD!!

I wanted to share our exciting news last night, but my hubby said he had to have a contract in his possession first. :) We were given an offer on our house yesterday, we countered, and they accepted! Yeah!! Good news is they know we aren't in a big hurry to move since we are building, so hopefully things will work out that we can stay here a few more months. I am still in shock I think...seems almost too good to be true. We put the For Sale sign in our yard last Thursday and sold it one week later! Thank you, Lord!! Braylee has been praying every night and at supper that "someone will want to buy our house." It was so cute when she said, "I prayed for someone to buy our house and they did!!"

Brynna was awfully cute this morning. As she was getting ready, she said, "I'm glad I'm a girl because I love pink, I love skirts, and I love pig tails!" This momma is happy she enjoys being a girly girl too!

At daycare, they filled out questionnaires for their favorite things.

Braylee's- My favorite food is chicken nuggets. I like jumping on the trampoline. My favorite color is purple.

Brynna's- My favorite food is macaroni and cheese. I like playing with my babies. My favorite color is pink.

While Braylee's favorites change occasionally, Brynna's favorites have been holding strong for awhile now. :)

Pre-School Open House

Saturday, we worked on the house a little, trying to prepare it to sell. In the afternoon, we went to Chanda's wedding. She looked beautiful! We even had a quick chance to see her and give her mom a big hug before the ceremony. I just love her mom Rhoda...such a wonderful Christian woman. The church was packed but the girls were so quiet and patient through it all. When Pastor Shawn mentioned at the end of the ceremony that there would be bubbles outside, Braylee perked up and said, "He said BUBBLES!" :)

Brynna, Braylee, Emma, & Abby blowing their bubbles

Sunday after church, we scrubbed the house and put everything in its place because we had someone coming to look at the house! Yeah!! I took the girls over to our lot since we had to disappear for awhile.

Wish you could see this better...Miss Brynna stopped to wipe off her feet. :) She can't stand to have dirty feet but can't resist the climbing adventure either!
Standing in the basement

Yesterday, we had a play date with Aunt Mandi, Gabe, and Ella. The weather was gorgeous so we headed to the park for lunch. We went home for naps, to gymnastics, and then back to Mandi's for dinner.

What a cute bunch...Gramma & Pappy must be proud!

Today, the girls played in the sprinkler while I worked in the landscaping.
This evening was Braylee's Pre-School "Meet your Teacher" Open House. We saw lots of Braylee's friends, but only two are in her class. There are a couple of other kids in her class that I know who they are, but Braylee doesn't know them yet. She couldn't wait to go this evening. She picked out her outfit and a clip for her hair to "look like a big girl." She was especially excited when Ms. Jami asked her if she would like to bring in the snack for the first day of school!

She looks so big!

Braylee, Lillie, and Ms. Jami

Yesterday was my Dad's birthday. We called to tell him Happy Birthday and the girls were fighting over the phone to talk to him. :) We are having a cook-out on Saturday at my brother's house to celebrate our August/early Sept. birthdays- my dad, sister Trista, niece Emilee, and SIL Heather. I asked the girls, "What's the first thing you think about when you think of Papaw?" Braylee- "I like when he whistles at me." Papaw gives a distinct whistle when the girls arrive at their house. Brynna- "Him's lazy!" :) It's an inside joke...well, Mamaw might not think it's a joke, but we do.

Snuggle time with Papaw

Spin and Spit

The girls have enjoyed watching the progress on our house this week. Tuesday, we stopped by on our way to gymnastics. The girls both threw a penny into the basement before the concrete was poured. It was Brynna's idea b/c she loves to throw pennies in fountains. :)
Wednesday, they were pouring the footers when we stopped by. Braylee was watching the concrete truck and then turned to me and said, "It spins and spins and spins and then spits it out." ;)
Thursday, they poured the basement walls. The molds were on when we were there. It's a lot easier for me to start visualizing things now.Today, they took the molds off. We weren't there, but my mother-in-law sent this to me this morning.
Monday night, Braylee showed us how she can do a bridge the hard way. (For those in gymnastics, you understand what I mean.) I told her when we were little, we had to put one leg up too. Of course, she had to try it out. I'm far from as limber as I used to be, but I showed Braylee I could still do it. ;) Brynna thought she could do it too.
Brynna did something new today. She rode a big girl bike on the road for the 1st time! She hadn't shown any interest in learning to ride Braylee's old bike this summer. I had mentioned it to my mom since Braylee was begging for a bike at Brynna's age. My mom said, "I'm sure she could do it. She'll just do it when she's ready." (She said Tracee was a lot like this...acted like she wasn't interested one day and then would do it perfectly when she got around to trying it.) We went out for our family bike ride this evening and Brynna announced she wasn't riding in the carrier on Mommy's bike tonight. She had trouble climbing on and could barely touch the ground, but she showed us those short, little legs could peddle just fine! :)

9+ years later...

We are finally digging! :) That's right, we have a hole! I was so excited when Abby sent me a video about 9 this morning proving they had officially started working on our lot. The girls couldn't wait to go see it for themselves. We went to Jamie's, loaded the kids in the golf cart, and headed over to our lot!Alex and I bought this lot back in 1999 or 2000, I can't even remember. Our goal was to be moved in before Braylee started school and so far so good. We love our lot. It's close to town, church, school, and tons of our friends. In fact, there are 3 other kids in our subdivision who will be in Braylee's class and one in Brynna's that I know of. Our property is catty-corner from my inlaws and the girls can't wait to run "over the creek and through the woods" to Gramma's house! ;) And the seventeenth hole of the golf course will be right out our back door.

We snapped a few pictures of the kids playing on the dirt. It wasn't too long ago that we were taking pictures of Braylee & Ava playing on dirt mounds in Jamie's yard. :) It was HOT, so we didn't stay long.

Straight ahead in this picture is my inlaws house, behind the trees.

Braylee is standing about where the garage will be.

Golf course is behind these trees. That's where Alex proposed too. ;)

The kids ended up in Ava's pool on their back patio while I got to feed baby Ty and Jamie made us lunch.

Last week, Braylee asked me "What is under the world? You know, what is under us? Just dirt?" We went into a 10 minute discussion about how the earth is round and if you dug all the way through, you'd end up on the other side...the earth is a giant sphere...but you can't really dig all the way through...the center is hot...volcanoes spew lava...like volcanoes in Hawaii...God is amazing...we will never understand how He created everything because we will never be as smart as God... Then after all of that, she asks, "So, when they do our basement, it will just be dirt?" Guess I should have asked her why she wanted to know about the dirt? ;)

Wednesday, Krista and I took our big girls to Holiday World. We didn't even have time to take pictures. ;) The big finale of the day? ZINGA! Climbing up the stairs, Braylee was extremely apprehensive about going on it. It had been a long time since I'd been on it, but I tried to prepare her for what was going to happen. It's a bit terrifying to say the least, but what really got her was the gush of water that came over her head once we were in the funnel. I felt bad that I had talked her into doing it, but on the way home, she said, "I'm glad I went on that big slide. It made me feel a little bit brave...like I was 7!" :)


The rest of the week was pretty low-key. One day, I found the girls all dressed up. They are big fans of Fancy Nancy books. I overheard "Ooo La La" and "That looks precious!" a couple of times. ;)

Alex was gone over the weekend to St. Louis with a bunch of guys. Saturday, we went over to Mandy's for a girls night with her, Emily, and Krista and her girls. Of course both of the girls were in my bed Saturday night and fighting over who got to sleep by mama. ;) Then yesterday after church, we went up to my parents' house. We swam with my brother and Ely, ate dinner with Mamaw, Papaw, & Aunt Trista, and helped my mom up at Grammy's house. I was lazy with the camera though and have no pictures to share.

Camping

Last weekend, we went camping at Shakamak with lots of good friends. The weather was perfect...hot enough for swimming during the day but tolerable in the mornings and evenings. The kids enjoyed making smores, going down the water slide, exploring through the woods, riding bikes, and checking out the fishing pier.

3 Months

Gramps and Brynna - March 2008

It's been 3 months without our Gramps. We sure are missing him. I decided to post about him this morning before I even realized today was the 11th. I woke up this morning to Brynna singing her heart out. When I went in to see what she was up to, she told me she was singing about Gramps. :)

I was reminded of him frequently this past weekend while we were camping. We spent many summer nights by Grammy and Gramps' campfire growing up. We always ate the iced animal crackers in the pink bag when we went camping. When the girls were eating them this weekend, just the smell from the bag reminded me of Gramps.

Both of the girls have asked lots of questions about dying and heaven since Gramps died. Thankfully, their young faith in Jesus doesn't make them fearful of it. I have noticed them playing "sick in the hospital" and similar plot lines this summer. Sometimes, it's pretty funny though... Last week, Brynna had 3 little puppies lined up in the front seat of her Barbie car. She said, "This is the Daddy puppy. This is the big sister puppy. And this is the baby puppy." I asked her where the mommy puppy was. She said, "She died." I said, "What happened to her?" She said, "She got dead." :) It's hard not to laugh when they are so cute.

Miss Fashionista

Last Wednesday, I let Braylee shop online for school clothes. She thought she was so big, picking out what she wanted. She was way more interested in the accessories though. She'd pick out a top or dress but then get super excited about the matching bracelet, belt, or hat. I let her pick one bracelet and one headband, but the rest of the stuff we picked were clothes. She even entered the coupon code all by herself. ;) She enjoyed filling her electronic shopping cart, but I think she was more excited about the UPS guy coming again. (Fashion Show to follow)

Thursday, the new carpet arrived and looks great! The poor girls are trying to learn not to wear their shoes in the house or eat in the living room anymore.

Friday, Abby and Emma came over for a visit. Listening to Abby and Braylee play was cracking me up. Brynna and Emma played puppies most of the time...a favorite of theirs.

Saturday, we spent the majority of the day outside, working in the landscaping and yard. At one point, I was stung by a wasp. It hurt terribly but I was trying to act like it wasn't a big deal since Braylee was with me. When I said later, "See, Braylee, it wasn't so bad." She said, "You looked like you were going to cry." Ok, so I can't act. ;) In the evening, we went to Kelsie and Eric's wedding. I LOVE outdoor ceremonies! Forgot my camera, so no pictures...

I went through the girls' clothes tubs to see what we have for fall. I found Braylee's old pink "cow boots" and Brynna is in LOVE! She's worn them every day since.

Monday, Abby and I took the kids to Holiday World. The weather was wonderful! If I hadn't had to push a 70+ pound stroller around, I wouldn't have been hot at all, but the hills were a killer! It was a great day.

When we were driving home from gymnastics on Tuesday, we were caught in a torrential down pour. Braylee said, "If we didn't have a Jesus, I would be really scared!" Brynna said, "I have a bear!" (holding up her beloved pinky bear blanket) Braylee quickly says back, "But Jesus is the one who really protects us, Brynna." So sweet. That evening, Gramma & Pappy stopped by. Brynna put on a puppet show for them. She was so funny!
Yesterday, we met Hanna, Elle, and Colton at McDonalds for lunch. Braylee and Elle were born just a day apart and Colton is exactly 6 weeks younger than Brynna. They are so cute together.
When we arrived home this evening, the fabulous UPS man had left a box with Braylee's name on it. She couldn't wait to try it all on and have a little fashion show for Daddy. An online friend often posts pictures of her adorable little girl in her new outfits, and I love getting to see them...always helps me decide what to buy. So, here is a little fashion show for you...I think she's about set for pre-school! (I can't wait to spend the gymbucks I earned too...hoping the Christmas dresses will be out then!)

These jeans are from last year, but they match great!

I bought this a couple of weeks ago, but she wanted to model it too.

Notice how she posed...she wanted to show off the ribbon belt and bracelet. ;)

Tuesday, my family received Gramps' autopsy results. When I first heard the news that they didn't find anything...no stroke, no cancer, no pump failure, no Alzheimers...I initially thought, "What?" Then it hit me...as my mom said the words, "The good Lord said it was time." I knew it was another reminder that God is in control. He already knew May 11th would be Gramps' final day here. We don't need a medical explanation of why he died. He died because God called him home.