The little things

Things have kinda calmed down around here. We moved out, cleaned up and closed, then moved in, cleaned, and now that all the dust has settled, life is back to our new normal. We are in a rental which has worked very well for us, it take me about 10 minutes to get to work and maybe 30 to get home (traffic) as compared to 45 minutes each way.  We are hoping to buy our new home in July but really I have kinda put that out of my mind for now as I enjoy this short phase.  We have been doing things in the afternoon, walks, playing at the park and attending little league games. There has been no chores to do on the weekends so we have been doing a lot of relaxing and playing.

This weekend we are going with some friends to the beach so I bought the kids some sun glasses.

Aren't they so funny!! Ben has been out of town this week and these little bugs have been angels. 
Since we have moved Beau has a new response when I pick him up from school, he runs to me and says," what are we going to do now mommy??" I think he is a quality time kinda kid~ and I am loving spending less time in the car and more time playing.  I will be glad to have 2 sinks again though....

Boy have we been busy!!

 We went to Sea World and had a wonderful time!!  You can see how excited Beau was... he loved all the dolphins and whales!! His favorite was of course Shamu (even though they don't get in the water with the killer whales anymore) my favorite was the Beluga Whales- they were so cute and seems sweet.  There was even a family (that paid extra) and got to get in the tank with wet suits to pet and feed the whales.  You could see the Beluga whales at the surface and underwater through the tank.  I really like to see them swimming through the water. 

Unfortunately our camera is in disrepair and my mother-in-law took all the pictures so I don't have them yet.

 Avery at the start of our second day of Sea World

 End of the day

 Beginning of the second day

 End of the second day- with his very own Shamu!

After Sea World the kids went with Ben's parents on a trip!!  They were very excited- trips to Granny's and Louisiana are always full of surprises! Meanwhile we are moving.... the house is starting echo.... and there are dust bunnies everywhere.

 The first BIG SURPRISE is a BOAT RIDE!!  Beau loved his boat ride and I have heard that Uncle Gene is now a "superman"  in Beau's eyes.  Beau got to drive the boat, steer and even honk the horn.

 Avery enjoying the ride

 After the boat ride the kids enjoyed some time in the garden and these two love to get dirty!!

 Planting with Granny

The kids will be gone for almost 10days.... gasp.... I know that is a long time but we have to move, then clean, and do some painting to our house. Although it is VERY quite (I turned on the Sprout cartoon network to make things feel more normal) it has been a blessing to get all this work done without having to worry about where the kids are during all the moving and loading.

**My wonderful mother-in-law also did all my ironing while she was here..... thanks goodness!!

 My parents will be helping us move, fix, and paint.... what we would do without our parents I have no idea!!

Packing... Packing... Packing...

We got and offer on our house in 2 weeks!  To be honest I am not surprised we had been praying about it (we also priced it right and it is an amazing home)!!  So we moving to a rental for a few months since the home we are buying is rented through August.  It is a little inconvenient BUT we will be able to save my income for 3 or 4 months which will really put us in a great financial situation to buy our new house!  So I am looking forward to it.  We are planning to live minimally- basic furniture, plastic plates and no cable~ it will be great!

After our rental extravaganza this is where we are moving~ I am so excited about this house, it is a little larger and has a wonderful yard, great schools, and is in my FAVORITE neighborhood to run in!
 

 Most of the living area is in the back of the house the living room, kitchen nook and kitchen are all one room~ which I plan to paint. There is a large screen porch off this large room.

 

The kids bedrooms are much larger than what they have now. There is a room over the garage that will be perfect for MeMaw and Poppie.  It is larger than what they have been staying in our current home.   In addition, Ben will have an office in this house and there is a formal living and dining room.  The house backs up to a conservation area and is on almost a 1/2 acre. There are lots of trees and mature landscaping, 2 ponds (one of which comes complete with goldfish), and several fruit trees.

We have been very blessed and are super excited for this next chapter in our lives.

Whew...

LIFE is finally getting back to "normal".  We had a wonderful Christmas, enjoyed our family and lots of great food.

Then we hosted friends for 2 weeks, they came to hunt with Ben.  Both of which go a deer or two for the year.  Then we decided to list our house for sale and have been working, cleaning, and organizing.

Check out our listing  HERE

We have pressure washed, stripped and re-stained, pulled and planted and man our house looks awesome!!

We have another home in mind in Betton.  It is rented through August and are hoping our house will sell by then.  I will be a little sad to leave our home, but our new home is a little larger, in a wonderful neighborhood with lots of other children and parks, and is in wonderful school zones.  not to mention the home is a great deal, about 20% off the current market value!!

So now we are in the sit and wait stage for a while which I am perfectly content in.  I plan on spending my time waiting in my yard playing with the kids, at the beach with the family, and just relaxing. In the last 6 months it seems like my babies have grown so much and I am going to spend the next 6 months soaking the up!!

Cajun Christmas

 Isn't this amazing!!  Pawpaw made this tree for Beau's room for the holidays, how fun. It is a net shaped like a Christmas tree and decorated with all things Cajun!

 Beau LOVES his Christmas tree and I can imagine he will love it just as much when he is 15 as he does today.

I was so impressed- what a work of art!

Big Announcement

Beau is officially Potty Trained!!!WOOHOOO

It has taken a little longer than I had hoped (we have been wearing pulls up and pee-peeing on the potty for quite some time) but we are in big boy underwear and loving it.
Beau just wasn't ready a year ago, he wouldn't tell you when he needed to go and really didn't care about going in his pull-up/diaper.  Potty training is like loosing weight- you have to be self motivated.  You can't do it because someone else thinks you should. 

*We encouraged Beau's motivation first with this:

We were at Sam's and I made him promise that he would start pooping on the potty if I bought him this huge bucket of cheese balls.... And so it began.

 And then it ended with this Cars Movie, Mack Truck and Lightning McQueen.  He saw something liek this and LOVES the Mack truck from the Cars movie and so we promised if he had a good week with no accidents he could get this. So he would go 4 days and I would be ready to go get it and he would have an accident (my heart broke several times).  This happened a few times- Once he told Avery- "AVERY- we gotta' pee and poo on the potty today- Mack Truck s one the line!"  No kidding so funny! So this past weekend he was great and had no accidents and he did great on Monday so I went out and go it and he was SOOO excited about it.  It is the only thing he wants to play with. So I have also gotten Cars II for his stocking and I can't wait to watch it. 

I am so excited about Christmas this year.  

Halloween

 We had the best time on Halloween. We attended a party with a bunch of our friends and their children. Beau was super excited... can you tell...?  This picture was taken after the treating and Beau was well sugared and Avery ate a while tootsie roll pop (see it on  her shirt).  Beau was Buzz Lightyear and successfully lazered several people and Avery was a ballerina and everyone loved her- including the blue monster Levi!

 Levi is only 3 month older than Avery and since us parents are good friends, they "hangout".

Levi even tried to sneak a kiss or two, and Avery put him right in his place- look at that face!!  Ha Ha
  These pictures really will be funny if they every date or get married.  Which for the record would be just fine with me, Levi will grow to be a fine boy and his father is full of wisdom!

Beau was so funny, he brought his flashlight trick-or-treating, and toward the end of our jaunt he says to his friend Josh, (also in the wagon):

  "Hand me my flash light so I can seem dem rack-a-roons!"

  I thought I was going to die- so funny!!   I love that child!