*Deep breath*

Wow. The last month has gone by in a whirlwind! With vacation, packing, purging, cleaning, painting and meeting with our realtor...all that with swim lessons, painting at church a couple of times and work. I'm exhausted!

It feels good to have gotten so much done. Knowing that when its time to move, we have very little actual packing to do now...It doesn't seem so overwhelming.

Realtor is meeting with us before the weekend to finalize paperwork and list the house! Yay! Those little projects will be completed this weekend and ready for open houses next weekend! He has a list of probably 20 websites that he lists the house on. So once I get a link, I share it with everyone...so please pass it on to your friends, family and coworkers! Even if they aren't looking..they may know someone who is!

Becca has finished up swim lessons for the summer. Although she didn't pass, I wasn't completely surprised. This was her first time in a large pool and asked to do many of the tasks they had to do. And mostly, she did them...just not as long as she needed to do (5 second face float, etc). Becca made quick friends with another little girl, as I made friends with her Mommy. We exchanged phone numbers so we could get together to have a playdate! Becca is looking forward to that!




Last Saturday we went to a wedding and reception for one of Tim's friends. There were a lot of our long time friends there, some that we haven't seen for a very long time. Heck...two of them were even in our own wedding 11 years ago! It was great to see them, catch up with them. We laughed a lot. Before it was time to go..Becca disappeared to her bedroom for quite a while. When she returned....she said " I already got pretty for the party! Isn't it beautiful?"

She had picked out an outfit, although couldn't figure out how to put the shirt on, and even wet SOME of her hair down in the bathroom sink, but putting her head under the faucet. This was evident from just the back of her hair being wet... and the styling she did to it. Looked very much like a comb-over, but combed from the back of her head, up to the top of her head. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of it! This is how the photo shoot went. Sorry for the blurriness of some of them, but it shows the great dance she was doing!


I LIKE TO SHAKE IT SHAKE IT!

FREEZE~STRIKE A POSE

NOW WITH PROPS! (I promise this was her idea!)

THIS IS MY FAVE. LOVE THE FACE. LOL

OK, I COULDN'T HELP IT. I WANTED IN ON THIS PHOTO SHOOT!

What a week!

This has been an eventful week! I did a lot of cleaning and prepping for our Realtor to come to the house on Tuesday! The house looks amazing, and I'm loving not having all the clutter! This may set the stage for a cleaner look when we do sell and find a new home of our own!

Carl came and chatted with us, took the tour. Talked to us about our expectations, what we wanted and what he can do for us. He's putting together some numbers for us and will be in contact this week! After the visit, I got busy on yet more projects. Giving the trim inside a fresh coat of paint as well as getting rid of the peeling paint on the trim on the outside of the porch. I will be making a trip to Walmart to get some exterior paint for this weeks project!

This week, Becca also had some success at swimming lessons! It took some bribing and crying the first week, but she did great this week! We have this week left, and I'm pretty confident that she'll pass. She still won't go all the way under the water, but she's getting closer. Maybe this week she'll get it done!

We sold the boat this week! It had been a good boat, but it was time for something bigger for the family. This boat made its way out of our driveway on Tuesday, and Tim didn't hesitate to take the check to the bank! lol. We may need that for little projects are expenses as we get ready to move!

Besides the small amount of painting at our own house, I've helped paint some murals at Church in the KidsZone area. They are great. Now, I can't take a lot of credit, because it was all drawn out for us, and then we just basically had to paint by number. Its like a huge color book page! Very relaxing and fun!

Becca had another AMAZING day on Saturday, and came home with spectacular news! One of the head coaches as said that she is ready to move Becca up a level at Gymnastics! She said that Becca has some natural talent and..."she's just got it!" So Becca will begin going to gymnastics twice a week for an hour each! Yay Becca! We're so proud of you!

Right now, Tim and Becca are napping, catching up from the busy week we've had. Tim had a bachelor party and then gaming with the guys that were intown for the party.
So while the house is quiet and nobody underfoot...I believe I'll go get my paintbrush out again!

Gymnastics Meet and busy week ahead!

Today was Becca's very first gymnastics meet! It was a "fun meet" that they do once a year, to show off the kid's skills they've learned. Becca did fantabulous!
9.425 on Floor, 9.375 on springboard (she's not heavy enough to make it spring!) 9.475 on Beam, 9.4 on Bars!
Grandma Deb, Grandpa Bob, Wendy and Xavier came to watch the fun! Uncle Gary and Dustin were there also, to watch Breighton compete as well! Breighton was just beaming! He was sooooo happy!

It was hard to get pictures of Becca in motion, they were all fuzzy, but we got some cute ones none the less!

Becca studying the competition! Love this look!


Our favorite Coach Sarah, showing us Becca's Floor Routine score! Way to go Punk!
You rocked that routine!


Becca after receiving her metal! Soooo proud of you!

We are soooo proud of her. Always number one, even if she hadn't done as amazingly awesome as she did! Way to go Punk! We all love you!

We will be having a busy couple of days the beginning of this week. We contacted a Realtor last week, who is coming to the house just to talk with us, answer some questions, tell us where we should start. Which project to go forward on and which to just not even worry about. We're not quite ready to list the house yet, but every day we are closer and closer!

After the meet today, we straightened up the basement got some things loaded in the truck for a dump run. Its amazing how much we have that hasn't been touched in the last couple of years. I promise to not let that happen at the next house! We still need to pack the basement, but it looks 100% better than what it did. After dinner, we also went outside and did some yardwork, weeding and trimming. Another two things off the list before Carl comes on Tuesday.

Monday and Tuesday, Becca will be spending her days with Grandma Deb and Wendy, so that I have the time neccessary to get a couple more things done before Carl comes. I'm positive about it, because each thing I get done is one less thing I have to do when we do actually move! But it is exhausting! Lord...bless me with energy this week!

Hey Mom? Where's vacation?

This was the question we heard for 6 hours in the car on the way to Wisconsin, and even once or twice the week we were there! Becca is so funny.
We had a blast on vacation. Even though the weather was crummy, cold, windy and wet...which in turn didn't help the fishing, we made the most of just being away, and not having a schedule to follow.
The kids enjoyed riding in the boat and fishing for short periods. Xavier caught 12 fish and Becca caught 5!



One of the many cool days we went into town and visited the Wilderness Walk. Basically a petting zoo, with many different animals. The kids enjoyed this, feeding, petting and seeing the animals up close. Becca got her Caricature done while we were there and Xavier panned for GOLD!!

We also saw lots of wildlife around the resort also. Deer, turtles, Herons, Eagles, Osprey, Beaver, Grey Squirles and believe it or not, Tim found bear tracks outside our cabin the morning we left. Not sure if it was recent or not. Unfortunately we didn't see or hear it though.
It was bitter sweet as it always is to head home from a week away. It was nice to sleep in our own bed, but just as the weather turned nice, we had to leave. Bummer.
I'm confident though that we will give it another shot at the same resort next summer.