Funny Toby

Before I forget:

On the morning of Toby's birthday Lars brought out a new uniform polo for Toby to wear. Toby said, "You shouldn't have, No really daddy you shouldn't have"

Since Toby was little he has struggled with croup and always has to get a steroid shot. This week I had to take him to the doctor and he was HYSTERICAL about getting a shot. The doctor told him he doesn't give shots (technically true -- the tech does) Toby started yelling at him, "you're a liar, you're a liar. you're a liar!"

The next day Toby had to go to the dentist and on the way he started (in a sing-song sort of way)saying, "please Jesus please don't make me wear the gas mask". Good to know the South is rubbing off on him!

Heaven help me with this little guy - I am either laughing, screaming or saying my own 'please Jesus' comments with him nonstop!

Then and Now

I can't blog about our summer without finishing up our crazy May. In the middle of school ending, packing up our house and moving all we had into storage space -- I flew across the country to hang out with these girls! Just thinking of it makes me smile and relax. Amanda kicked her husband out of their beautiful home for the weekend and us girl lived it up. Talking until 3am, laughing NONSTOP, laying out by the pool, EATING, shopping and JUST BEING TOGETHER was heaven for all of us. I am blessed to have each one of these women in my life and I can't wait for this years trip (watch out NYC:))

Last of the house

Since we are currently homeless (I am in Idaho and Lars is bachelor padding it with a friend who's wife is doing the same as me in Montana) I felt I needed to finish the posting about our first home. Some memories of all these rooms include Lars redoing the kitchen and bathroom by himself (completely infuriating and impressing me all at the same time), the family bed also known as our bed:), the boys room and our nightly cuddle parties and the books we read on the bottom bunk together, and how awesome is that crooked tree in our back yard!

I'm not sure that we will ever be able to recreate the charm that our first home had on its own not to mention the boys' BFF's (the Campbells) right down the street. We are excited however and feel like we have another dream team of neighbors in our new location - so on to the new (even if I feel a little bit of sell-out for moving from a historical district to a new construction). We'll miss you old home but maybe not our 300 dollar heat bill in the winter....

Memorial day weekend

After closing on our house we headed to the beach for a wonderful weekend with friends. The house we stayed at was fantastic (fantastic as in Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have a beach house in the same neighborhood - we sure appreciate our friends who made this house a possibility for all of us!). We saw dolphins each day, the kids got to try a little fishing at night, and only once did I put on something other than a swimsuit and pjs. It was heaven. Toby's favorite part was the outdoor shower, Trey's was the boogie boarding and JK liked the sand this year - progress! Lars and I loved being with friends and each other after all the craziness of moving.

Mothers Day

It looks like all is a go for our house selling - which means we have 20 days to get ourselves out of our first home and into.... still don't know yet.

In honor of Mothers Day I am posting this room. Back when we bought this home we just had Trey and Toby - we knew they would share a room and so the extra room would be our guest room. At that time Lars' mothers cancer had come back and I wanted this room to be a room that if she ever needed a place to 'get away' it would be hers for the taking. It is bright and airy with tons of light looking out to a lavendar tree and our neighbors "popcorn trees". Although she did not live to use it more than 4 or 5 times, I constantly think of her and feel her love in this room. This room has also been a place where my own mom has stayed for weeks at a time - when she is here our own bed becomes so much roomier because the kids find their way into her and love to cuddle with her each morning. And now it is JK's room - and if I had a wish for her it would be to always know the greatness that she is named after. She bears the names of the two best women I have ever known - EVER. I hope that she lives a life full of love, happiness, and purpose just like her grandmothers have.

No Words

My heart is full for so many people here in Alabama and in the South. I have been glued to the news watching as the number of deaths is rising constantly. I wonder if the rest of the country really understands the destruction down here. There are towns that are gone. People are still missing - it is overwhelming. Our thoughts are with all of those that are hurting.

More of our house

Okay after only 3 weeks and 4 days on the market we have an offer and a signed contract on our home. I know that in this market this is very rare, so we are really excited - but there is a catch - we have to be out in exactly a month! So while the blessing of a sold home (it is considered contingent for another week) is wonderful, the timing of it all has left me in a state of confusion. Do we move to an apartment? Or maybe I should just extend my time in Boise and have Lars slum it while we build - lots of stuff to work through but while we do I need to keep my house posts rolling so that I can always remember our first home.

The living room is where our family does everything. Many Friday nights a mattress is pulled out for a giant slumber/jumping party complete with popcorn and movies. When there's no matress on the floor our serious regrets of buying a couch with removable cushions is always on display as the kids build a "pillow pit" in the center of the room.

The screened in porch is what kind of sold me on this house - it just seemed so southern and charming. The blue ceiling was the icing on the cake. During the first summer we lived here our AC went out over the 4th of July making it hard to get someone out to fix it. During that time we LIVED on that porch and it was AWESOME. We debated sleeping out there like they used to before AC and all my pre-teen love for the movie Man in the Moon seemed to come to life. During the summer it is called our popsicle room and I have loved throwing showers at our home and using it to set up a 'drink station'.