Day at the Park in March

As the house isn't the best place to hang out in with unfinished everything. We have tried to find other things to do. The park is one of Sariah's favorite things to do and if we have time before Justin gets out of school we go early to pick him up and play for a bit.
Her favorite part of the park is the slides. She loves to go up and down the slides as often as she can while there. Here she is at the bottom.

Oh wait...I want to climb up the slide.

And she kept going...I thought for sure she wouldn't make it up to the top.

But she totally made it and said "Ta Da" when she got there....these kids kindly got out of her way. Well maybe she might have screamed at them in her piercing way....I can't remember since we have been trying to break her of the screaming at other children habit.

When school gets out Justin comes to play with us. Justin is really Sariah's favorite playmate.

She wants to do everything he does.

Most of the time he doesn't mind.

Notice that Sariah's little feet are at the opposite end of the tunnel to Justin.

He was trying to surprise her but she just climbed in the tunnel to take a snooze.

So instead of going out the way he came in he climbed over the snoozing Sariah.

House February 28th

The painters got the hallway half doneJustin's room completed

The kids play room completed

And then they also half finished the family room and kitchen before they got fired. I didn't take any other pictures of what they didn't do because it would be too many pictures.
It is a long story but the short version is that they weren't doing what they said they would do and what they were doing wasn't a good job. We paid them half in the beginning and regret doing that...but they didn't get the rest of the payment before they were told to go away. James has been working hard on the house and yesterday he finished painting all the rooms. We are boring and painted every room the same color. Maybe one day I will be adventurous and change it up. But for now it was the best option for the money we had to put into it.

Love these Faces!

Living in a construction zone can be stressful but when you have these cute faces to look at you remember why you are sacrificing to give them a home.
Seriously she is looking so grown up with her cute Cherry Blossoms hair pretty and long hair. I can never get tired of his smiling face.

House February 26th

Really the house has been coming along slowly but surely. These pictures were taken a week before we moved into the house. James had been working so hard to get it ready and here he is texturing the walls to prep them for painting. We actually had painters working with him to get this done more quickly....they actually made more work for us to do then anything. (They ended up being fired.)

Front Room Family Room

Kitchen

From Kitchen to Family Room and Dinning Room

Kids Play Room it is primed....no more red and yellow.

Dining Room with all the doors that need to be primed and painted white. Also James finished the ceiling.

This would be the master bedroom with tons of doors in it to be primed.

My closet lined with insulation that needs to go in the attic.

Hard working man

Sariah's room with a patched wall.

Texturing on the patch.

Entertaining a Creative Brain

Little Man has a very active brain that is always thinking and figuring things out. He is also very creative and is my most likely to invent something useful in the future.
One day we were having quiet time at Pop's and Honey's house and he created this master piece. I thought it was funny that he put a tennis ball in the middle but you have a size reference with the tennis ball.

Justin thought it was fun to knock it down....I discovered his intricate detail when it was.

I thought it was awesome to find the base to be so intricate. You can't tell when you look at the finished product that this was underneath it all.

As always I am fascinated by this little man every single day. He is the greatest and I just love his face!

Cupboard Peek-a-Boo

I have slacked big time on the blog front. I am so sorry for there are a few of you who have commented more then once via email or phone call that you want to see the house updates and whats going on with the kiddos. I will try and get 2 posts out a day to catch up with what is already going on.
Here are the cabinets from the bathroom in our apartment...do you see the little hand? She loved to climb up onto the second shelf and play. She might be little but not afraid to explore everything. I think her bonus of being little is that she can fit into almost every cupboard around.

She would stretch all the way out and ask me to close the doors.

Then she would kick them open and say peek a boo.

Enjoying our visit.

Sariah and I are in Utah for a visit. We are half way through our stay and have been enjoying it so much! There are so many pictures and I already have a months worth of back pictures to blog about...promise to get busy with the blog posts as soon as I return to AZ.

Everybody.

I know the past posts have not been personal ones....I promise to get some personal family ones up soon but I wanted to post this video for an awesome gal. She is a gal I knew in Virginia and is pretty amazingly talented. She is trying to win this contest.....

Ingrid Michaelson is having a contest for her song Everybody.

Now I would not post this video if I didn't love the song and think that it was well done. Melissa Branin is seriously so very talented. She did this awesome video watch it and enjoy. The more views she gets the better her chance is at winning. Watch it a thousand times....it's playing over and over again on my screen while I do my computer stuff. Enjoy...it really is a great song....Everybody wants to be loved!!! I love you!!

Hey...I love you!

I saw this video last night and it made me smile huge! I am totally loving this song and have played it a whole bunch of times for Sariah and I to dance around the house. It is bunches of fun for all involved.



In way of updates, Little Miss has been saying so many new words these past few weeks. Her vocabulary is totally exploding. It is amazing to me how these little creatures grow and learn each day. I feel so blessed to be able to watch her....even when she is screaming at me.
Little Man is so stinking smart. He is reading at a 6th grade level....yep that would be my little 3rd grader. He is getting better with his positive attitude and anger....a post I will write about at another time. He is having fun with cub scouts and wrestling....soccer is starting next month and he can hardly wait.
Mr Sexy Man is working hard on both his day job and the house in his spare time. He is amazingly wonderful.
I love my little family and feel oh so very blessed. Don't get me wrong there is lots of crap that has been happening with stress around every other corner but we are blessed.
I will try to get some regular posts up soon. But until then enjoy this awesome video!

Living in a Construction Zone

When you think of construction what comes to mind? I think of hard hats, orange cones, yellow tape, big holes, lots of dirt and a ton of dust. While we might not be living with hard hats, orange cones, or yellow tape....we are living in a home with some unfinished work and lots of dirt and dust. My fridge is in the garage, the tile and carpet are none existent, a few rooms are still not painted, and all of the doors are missing from thier regular spots. Except for the front door...it's in the right place. This might not be ideal and there are a few situations that have led us to living in this construction zone which were a bit frustrating and stressful but I love it!

I love that we are finally in our house. We get to grow with this house as it becomes our home. We have been waiting a long time for this one. And while it is going to be a bit uncomfortable for the next few weeks....maybe a month or two... we have a place. Our own place and it is wonderful!

Please be patient with the blog posts since they will be scarce...I will try to download some pictures this next week once we get internet at the house. Right now I am sitting at my Dad's using his internet.

Playing with Daddy

While I was making dinner last Sunday this is what I captured out my kitchen window.

These 2 kiddos love spending time with their Daddy. He makes the room so much brighter every time he enters. The kiddos both get big smiles and want to make sure they get some Daddy love whenever he is around.

Little Man and Little Miss figuring out how to play soccer together. Little Man got a bit frustrated that she wasn't understanding his rules but they eventually came to a happy medium.

They also made sure to come and see me so I would feel loved.

Captured the Moment

One Saturday morning I was in the kitchen doing dishes when I heard silence from the other room were the kids were playing. Most of the time this means Justin has left the room and Sariah is getting into something so I went to investigate.
I found Sariah laying perfectly still on the couch while Justin was covering her with the foam blocks.

Seriously a 21 month old toddler lying still? She was.

Justin was smart to put the teddy bear by her face so she wouldn't freak out and scream.

It was funny how she let him cover her with blocks and 3 blankets. That was one big baby.

The whole time enjoying every moment of her brothers undivided attention.

She even pretended to go to sleep for him.

This was a fun morning. It's always these memories that I like to remember...them playing nice together. Not the memories of teasing and screaming that come from both of them at various times. I hope they stay friends forever.

Thoughts on Life

This past week I have been having a rough time being calm that everything is going to work out. I came across this video and wanted to share. It brought me a bit of peace and calm...I hope you enjoy.