house pictures

Here are some pictures of our house. I'm just putting these in here for my sake. Most people already saw these on realtor.com, but I wanted some in here for me to look back at and remember some day. We've really enjoyed this neighborhood. Our neighbors are just good old-fashioned friendly!

Preschool group

I've mentioned periodically about our little preschool group that meets on Monday mornings. We have a lot of fun learning about the world and ourselves, and of course our letters and numbers, too. Here is a picture we took on our Easter themed day. (That explains the bunny ears!) This has been a great little group. We'll miss it when we get to Utah. I hope we can do something similar when we make new friends there.

vacation photos

Emily unlocking the secret door in the study before the magic show
Magic pre-show. We ordered and thoroughly enjoyed fancy desserts.
Wilson's creek battlefield. This house is 80% as it was in the civil war.
On the grounds of Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Mansfield MO

The Wilder home where she wrote her Little House books.

Vacation photos

vacation photos

Here are some pictures of our Branson vacation. We packed a whole week's worth of fun into 2 days. We didn't tell the kids where we were going or what we were doing, so everything was a big surprise to them. So all weekend we just telling them we were headed to the next surprise, and then they were excited to see what the next adventure was! We visited a beautiful cave called "talking rocks". It was so much fun to see the wonders of nature. We descended down a hundred feet and explored the nooks and crannies of these formations. Amazing! We visited the fish hatchery, which was very interesting, and then spent several hours playing in an indoor water park that was inside our hotel. There was a giant tree house with water slides and splash/spray toys, a lazy river, several bubbly hot tubs, a basketball pool, a great toddler area, etc. The kids loved it. We visited the Hollywood wax museum and took some fun pictures, and then the best part was a magic show. We sat in the front row and were thoroughly amazed at the illusions. It was incredible. We walked away saying, "How did they do that?" Sam was even called out of the audience to help with one of the tricks. On the way home, we stopped at the Wilson Creek civil war battlefield, and saw a house that is original to that period that served as a hospital during the battle, as well as the actual bed in which one of the union generals died. Amazing that these things get preserved! Then, we made one final stop...a pilgrimage to the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder where she wrote her Little House on the Prairie books. Wonderful! They had the actual school slates that she and Mary used, her sampler stitches, Pa's fiddle, Almanzo's watch, the clock he gave her for Christmas when they were first married, an original manuscript, letters Laura had written, lots of photos, etc. I loved it. We're so glad we took took the time to have some fun family time before the move gets really crazy. Trevor is leaving this Friday!

the trailer for Teuscher Band Instrument Repair

sam and Ginny at the park

We picked up Trevor for lunch today and went to the park. Beautiful spring day.

hot dog!

Ginny quote of the day. "I'm a little hot dog...come eat me up!"

missing mom

I was going through some papers today, and found a bunch of letters that mom had written right before she died, as well as the letter I wrote to her and the talk I gave at her funeral. There was a lovely tribute written by the teachers she worked with at the middle school. Anyway, I sat there reading them and found myself weeping. I was missing her so much...thinking about how she would have loved all the grandkids, how she would have driven me crazy worrying about us starting our own business, how she would have just loved me and let me call her with any trouble or joy. Sam found me crying, and he came over and just put his arms around me. Sweet boy! He has a tender heart. I ended up calling my Dad to talk about mom for a little while, and it was nice. We were remembering all the fun stories about her. It helped me to know how much he still misses her, too.

Taking care of a lot of business details today. Insurance, advertising, signs, etc. So many details!

kid quotes

Here's an almost teenager quote for you...(Emily to one of her siblings)..."You are taking up valuable space in which someone else might actually be able to do something useful!"

We were playing I Spy with my little eye for Family Home Evening, and Max gave a clue saying, " I spy something that is squishy." So Sam immediately says, "Is it mom? Mom is really, really squishy!" Squishy is not an adjective that I necessarily aspire to....

This weekend on our vacation, after a long day of many fun activities, we were headed to one last surprise, which was the biggest one of all...a magic show we had reserved tickets for. Well, Sam, not knowing what the surprise was, and already tired out from all our activities, said, "Mom, I think I'm done having fun. I don't want any more fun today." But, he quickly recovered when we got to the magic show, and we all had a wonderful time. It was amazing! (More on our weekend trip later...)

Sold!

We sold our house this weekend! What a relief! It was a a good offer for the price we need, no contingencies, and the closing date is right after school gets out. Whew! We have been greatly blessed. I know the Lord has been mindful of us as we make this transition, and we feel so grateful for all the divine and earthly help we have received. We received the offer as I was on my way back from a weekend trip to Illinois. We had a great time there visiting our friends. Emily stayed with her friend Lily and also visited with her friends Amy and Andrea. The boys and I stayed with the Wheelers, and enjoyed a visit with the Vazquez family and a nice trip to the Discover museum to see lots of friends there. The highlight for me was a dinner at a local Thai restaurant with 10 of my dear friends from Normal. We had a good laugh, caught up on the news, and tasted some really delicious food. I'm going to miss all of these ladies. David Wheeler watched the boys so Julie and I could have this ladies night out, so we were very grateful. On Saturday, we visited Mado and her girls, had a quick visit with the Ringers, and were able to see my cousin Genny and her one week old sweet baby girl. It was a lot of visiting, and the kids grew tired toward the end, but we had a great time, and I'm really glad we made the trip.

Easter was absolutely lovely and quiet at home. We had a visit from the Easter bunny, dyed eggs, hunted eggs in the backyard, and had a simple easter dinner. Church was lovely, and reminded me of the importance of showing gratitude to the Savior every day for the blessing of His atonement.

Now we are back to handling all the details for our move. Reserving trucks, ordering tools, making information packets, switching insurance, etc., etc., etc. One day at a time, one detail at a time, things are coming together. I'm also planning a surprise trip for all of us this weekend to spend some quality time with Trevor before he leaves us. More on that later...

i've got a bunch of pictures to post of our visit to Normal, Max's birthday, the Wheeler's visit here in St. Louis, etc. If only I could find the cable I need to download the pictures onto the computer!

Me!

I almost never put up a picture of myself. I'm growing my hair out, and it's definitely awkward. I took a picture of the stage it's at right now on a good day--(I'm not showing the bad days!)

Daffodils!

We went to the Shaw Nature Reserve for preschool today. They have a cute little acorn trail just for preschool aged kids. Sam and Ginny loved it because they give you a backpack full of fun discovery items, and two keys which magically unlock treasure boxes along the way. Each treasure box had items like seeds, feathers, shovels to dig with, weather items, pictures of camouflaged animals, etc. The best part for Sam was using the key to opening the lock. What I found most stunning at our visit, were the millions (I'm not exaggerating!) of daffodils they decorated the grass and hillsides surrounding the lake. They were stunning. I took a couple of pictures, but they don't do it justice. Seas of yellow and white flowers everywhere you look. Spring! It was lovely.

trickery

Tonight as we were finishing dinner, I told the kids they needed to make a choice. Here were the choices:
1. do the dishes and practice the piano
2. pick up the house
(at which point they are all groaning)
3. have a family game night

Of course, Max , Sam and Ginny immediately shout "family game night, family game night!"
But Emily, looks at me with the eyes of an adolescent and says... "con artist."

We had a great time!

ups and downs

I'm in major mood swing mode. Yesterday I was in tears and calling my sister for some emotional support, and today I'm fine. I suppose it is to be expected with all the upheaval of the move and new business. The kids are really out of sorts, too, and we've had lots more time-outs and revocation of privileges than we usually do. Today, though,I'm determined to be more positive with the kids. Max is auditioning for his school talent show today. He's been practicing Sakura, Sakura on his trumpet. I feel like I barely see Emily these days. She disappears into her room when she gets home from school. She and I are watching American Idol together on Tuesday nights, though. I am a little embarrassed to admit that I've become so addicted to American Idol. I've never watched it before a weeks ago, and I was so impressed by this one singer (Melinda) that I really want to see her win. Anyway, Emily and I have been watching it every week. The weather is gorgeous today. It's very up and down. This weekend it snowed, and today it is 65 degrees and sunny. No bites on our house yet. Sigh. I think we need to add the MLS listing. We found a great deal on a suburban for the new business, and bought it last night. Just what we need for the right price. It's a great blessing. The repair trailer will be delivered this weekend!
So things are really happening now. It doesn't seem real.