New House

So if you haven't heard...We're moving.
Josh has accepted a job at KLJ in Valley City.  We'll be moving this fall after he takes the PE.
We spent the weekend with Jake and Ruth.  Jake had a roofing project he wanted to complete before the baby was born, so Josh and Jared helped him with that while the kids played and Ruth and I weeded one of her flowerbeds.
We also go to see Mom and Dad this weekend.  It was really good to see them.  We (and they) are so excited to be moving closer to them!
While we were in Valley City we looked at houses.  We made an offer on one and before we were even home on Sunday, found out that the sellers had accepted our offer.

Here's a link to more pics of the house http://www.valleyrealty.com/page.cfm?pageid=1202&propertyid=13845
We're really excited about the house.  It has beautiful wood floors, a nice sun porch, it's really open, has a fire place, a beautifully landscaped yard...We're happy about it.
We just found out about the KLJ job on June 20th, so everything seems to be moving so fast and just falling into place.  It is definitely God's Plan.
Now we have to finish painting the buildings and then we can get our house listed.  I also have just a little cleaning to do. (sarcastic!!!)  My house has gone to the dogs this summer.  Josh wants to get our house listed by this weekend, so I've got some work ahead of me.
I better get to that, but first I want to post a little about the kids.
Jeremiah is a pretty good walker.  He can even run when he's being chased by his siblings or when steeling Susanna's sippy cup.  (pretty funny!)  He just started teething again.  He is definitely our hardest teether.  It just wipes him out.  But he's usually pretty happy.  He always knows when I'm having a bad day (or moment) and cheers me up with a smile or a giggle.
Johnny loves to color, play with race cars and tractors, and play any kind of ball.  Josh and John played golf last night, and from what I could see he was doing really well.  Johnny always wants to help.  What can I do Mommy?  We've been picking veggies out of his and Lu's garden to eat for lunch.  John's favorites are potatoes and kohlrabi.
Lu Lu likes to color too, but she spends most of her time ripping the paper off the crayons (and breaking them in the process).  John was getting mad at her, so now he has his own crayons with the paper still intact.  She loves taking care of her babies and getting dressed up in her Cinderella clothes (dresses and pink and purple).  She cries if all of her play dresses are dirty and she has to wear pants.  She loves to do things by herself like put on her own shoes and get in and out of her carseat.  Her favorite veggies are the open peas and beets.  She has been getting very good at playing catch.  When Josh and John are playing golf or basket ball, Lu and I play catch with a volley ball (while Jeremiah walks around and finds rocks to eat).
Okay I better go make breakfast.  One of these days I'll get up some more current pics.

Maximum Capacity of workload has been achieved.  Burnout will commence in 5..4..3..2.......
Sometimes I feel like the countdown is in seconds.  But I hope it's in months and lasts til we're settled into our new routine.

I don't fancy the routine of getting up at 5:30 to feed chickens, followed by a short coffee break, followed by picking peas from 6 til my 4 and 2 year olds come out to the garden an hour later fully dressed (the 4 year old helped the 2 year old) and ready for breakfast (that's not ready yet).  I'm ready to be done.

The strawberries are done.  And I think I only have one picking of the peas left...Thank you God!  And in two days the chickens will be done.

Just needed to vent.  Hopefully I'll feel better after the chickens are dead.  And frozen...and sold.
Better go get lunch ready.

Pool Fun

So it's been awhile since I posted, so here's a trip down memory lane with some of the pictures off my camera...

 

This year we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary.  It feels like forever since our wedding day.  Jared and Stacie watched the kids while we went out for supper and picked up my wedding ring that was getting fixed (a prong was loose and we got it fixed before I lost a diamond).  It was polished and buffed too...Looked as pretty as our wedding day.  Since then I've worn it all day every day and It still looks nice, just not as shiny:).  After supper we came back to meet Jared, Stacie, and the kids at the park with dilly bars.  Then the boys played some hunting video game.

The big boys swinging

Stacie pushing Jeremiah and Lu Lu in the swings

Me and Josh on our anniversary

 We've been getting the pool out a lot lately.  The kids love playing in the water when it's hot.

Gopher Josh caught digging in the lawn between the house garden and the road

John and Lu with some kohlrabi.  It did great this year

 Painting...We've been painting.  We had hoped to get most of the buildings and fences painted 4th of July weekend, but...We didn't.  We had more fixing to do than painting it seemed.  We've finished the fences, chicken coop and workshop so far.  Josh and Jared just finished putting new siding on the N and S sides of the garage, so that's the next one to paint.  They are looking good so far.

 We were cheap skates on fireworks this year.  Maybe it's because we spent the same amount we usually do on them on the paint.  We watched other peoples in the New Salem on the 3rd and 4th.  The day after the 4th Pete and Monique and their girls came out for supper.  Pete brought some fireworks for the kids.  They loved them.

I'm not sure what the kids are doing here...Wrestling?

 Thanks to Jake and Ruth's inspirations, we had pancakes over the fire last Sunday.  Our mass time in New Salem has been switched to 10:30, so we've been taking advantage of Saturday night mass in Almont.  We love the small church and beautiful drive out there.  We also like having all day on Sunday to play with the kids.

 Jared and Stacie came out for the weekend.

 

Okay.  John's up now and Jerry's talking in his bed.  So I better go.  Jeremiah is walking most of the time now.  It's pretty cute!