Happy Birthday.......to me

The anticipation of each b-day is now not so exciting. I turned 35 today and that means I am only 5 years away from being 40. On the bright side, I am very happy to be alive and I have everything I have ever wanted and more. To say I am "blessed" would be an understatement. The kids all had cards for me today that they had carefully chosen and written in. The one's Eden and Sawyer gave me were musical cards and Faith's had a cat on it. They even chose a card for me from our cat, Zoe. From Kyle I got a card and tickets to see Carrie Underwood in concert. I am so excited for that-I can't wait! Thank You Kyle-you spoil me like crazy all the time!!

It has been a great week. Jenny had a garage sale and I took some stuff over and made $300-Yipee!! I also got a call from Holli in England on Fri., an ecard from Amy in England and was having an IM conversation with Becki, in England today. I have missed my friends in England so much and it has been great staying in touch with them. Thank goodness for the phone and Internet. I also got a TM and phone call today from my nieces and nephews. It was so great! Out of the blue I also heard from one of my girlfriends from when we lived in Iowa. I hadn't heard from Kathy in a couple of years but are hoping to get together this week. Last night we had the in-laws over to babysit and we went to the movies with our friends, The Maloys and out for cheeseburgers. We saw the new Batman movie-very good but a little intense. Oh yeah, and Jenny TM during church to wish me a happy b-day. Enough rambling-here is a photo of me and the kids with my b-day cake today. Eden couldn't take her eyes off the cake.

The Children's Museum

American Girl

More Pictures

Good times with the family!

We were able to spend a few weeks with my nieces and nephews which was so fun. I have 2 nephews, Seth 15 and Kurt 13. I also have 4 nieces, Madison 10, Lindsey 8, Kalista 8 and Kara 5. I had not seen the first 4 for 2 years and it had been almost a year since I had seen Kalista and Kara. Needless to say, I love them all and they are all so much fun to be around. I wish we lived close. Oh yeah, my brother Thad and sister-in-law, Pam were also here and Tyler and Amy for 2 days. Just kidding-I love them too and enjoyed my time with them so much. Faith, Sawyer and Eden love being with all of them and it was just endless playing and text messaging with my nephews (and Pam). Kyle was able to take the boys fishing a couple of times as well as play on the Wii and play Halo. Us girls, plus Beckett, went to the American Girl store in Chicago on the train and had the lunch and saw the show there. Eden got her first American Girl Doll who she named, "Paula" after Paula Abdul. We also got family pictures taken, which is always exciting with 18 people (Eden was very uncooperative-why is it always one of my children??). I also am posting some pictures of our afternoon at The Children's Museum. We all exhausted my parents. We stayed with them for 6 weeks waiting for our house to be done and then Thad's family plus Kara and Kalista for 2 more weeks. Anywase, I wanted to post some pics. of our time together. I love my family so much!! We were so blessed to have this time together.

House

I have been being harassed by certain individuals to get pictures of our house on my blog so here goes. I was wanting to wait until we had our yard in and everything in its' place but this will do for now. I will post more as we get the house "more" done. I still LOVE it and I have been asked if I would change anything and the answer is "NO"! However, I wish I could just snap my fingers and everything would be in its place. We have the kindest neighbors. We have been brought cookies or brownies by 4 neighbors. Our very kind neighbor lady, Karen, had been taking photos since they broke ground up until the movers arrived and made us a photo album of the progression. How nice is that!!! Especially since we weren't here for a lot of it. We are still waiting for your yard and some lighting fixtures but other than that we are pretty much good to go. I also ordered new bedroom furniture for Kyle and I and Faith but we don't have it yet.

More pictures of Bex

BECKETT IS 6 MONTHS OLD....ALREADY!!

Beckett turned 6 mo. old yesterday. I can't believe it has already been 1/2 a year. He is a total joy to our family. We have had family visiting and he is smothered by my nieces all the time. I took him in for his 6 mo. well visit yesterday and he weighs a whopping 19 lbs. He is in the 75th percentile for weight, height and head circumference. At least he's proportioned. He is actually a tank. He is sitting up, making lots of noises and has started on solid foods, which he practically inhales. I got his pics. taken at Sears today and I wanted to share them. My 10 year old niece actually had to help me get these on my blog. More pics. of the house and time with my family coming soon.

Fun with Tina and Ian!

My friend I met in England (she is actually American and a CAT wife and lives about 20 min. from me in the U.S.) came to visit me and the kids today with her adorable son Ian! I have been looking forward to this day since we left England. She loves the good ole' USA as much as I do and I can't wait for her to move back-along with the rest of you-you all know who I am talking about! Anyways, she came over, we ordered some Monical's Pizza, took the kids to a spray park and had DQ and of course did tons of talking. Eden just loves Ian and she had also been anticipating this day and took a lot of time choosing her outfit for this day. The kids had a great time all playing together. I miss you Tina and Ian! Have a safe trip back to the UK. I'll see you soon. The photo with us holding the American flag is for you Holli! I look horrible in the photo but I had to add it. (Note my HUGE fridge in the background.)

Boy, am I worn out!!

Well, the movers arrived on Wed. as promised. I have been both excited and somewhat dreading this day all at the same time. We were very excited to see our things but I am thinking it will take me weeks, or maybe months to go through everything and get it in its place. We have WAY too much stuff. I have already taken one load to Good Will and have many more to go. Beckett likes to have my constant attention so that doesn't help. Kyle told me a while back that he was planning on taking a week off once our stuff arrived but it ended up being one day. What is up with that? Okay, I really need to get to bed-in our room that looks like a bomb went off in it. I wanted to post some pics. I don't have any of the house in this batch but some since we've been back. We just got Internet and cable hooked up today so I can finally start catching up on my blog and with all of you. We have my brother and his family visiting and my other two nieces that belong to my other brother so my kids have been having a ball with them. There are six girls that range from 10 down to age 4 (that would be Eden) and my nephews are 13 and 15. They went boating with Kyle this morning and are seeing "The Hulk" as I type. I have loved seeing and spending time with all of them. It had been two years. I will post pics. of them later. Us girls (and Beckett) went to American Girl on Tues. and had a wonderful time. Okay, I really need to get to bed now. I'll write more later. The pics. include Beckett's first bite of food, our vehicles and the kids at a b-day party. The b-day party was at my friend Amy's house-they live on 11 acres and took the kids on rides in their gator vehicle. They loved it!

WE ARE HOMEOWNERS ONCE AGAIN!!

I know it has been an eternity since I have updated my blog but that is because I am not able to post pictures anymore and we all know it is more fun to check out someones blog when there are photos! Well, I am happy to report that we closed on our home today and it all went very smoothly. This building a house thing has been a great experience and very easy! Our new home is beautiful and has exceeded my expectations. After living in a rental for almost 2 years it is a great feeling to call it ours. Now I am waiting for blinds to be installed, our yard to go in and our sea freight. I found out tonight we will receive our sea freight next week-YIPEE!! We had our storage delivered yesterday and pretty much got it all sorted after our closing today. Since we have no blinds we will be in a hotel for a couple of days. I am getting booted from my parents since both my brothers and their families are visiting for the 4th. I will post pictures and more details as soon as I can!!!