FINALLY

Soooooo....we had our house on the market on & off for 12 months. In April we listed it with our friend and FINALLY closed on Monday!! WHOO HOOO!!! But not without problems......

It was a single girl buying it and I'm sure she is a really nice person, but MY GOODNESS!!! We went back and forth many times with her. Didn't have to fix too much from the inspection and were scheduled to close on Sept 4th. Well, this sweet sweet girl (insert sarcasm) decided to wait until the Friday before Labor Day to have the septic tank inspected and cleaned. She didn't get the report until the Tuesday before we were to close. We already spent the entire long weekend moving our stuff into a rental (just me and Bryan- MISERABLE!) Well, long story short......

 Bryan met the septic guy and the buyer at our house first thing Wednesday morning. They had to dig up a little (which freaked me out). 

 Then a few hours, a busted water main, and a few thousand dollars later our yard looked like this! 

SOOOO- we obviously didn't close. 

And I was beginning to think we were going to have to move our stuff back into our house!!! 

They fixed the problems, but then we had to get it inspected by the county inspector, who was in NO hurry to do his job. He came Thursday and we were ready to go. Bryan and our fantastic realtor, Porter Mason, laid sod all Friday long while we all thought we were going to close that afternoon. 

Then, the girl showed up saying that her lender would not approve her loan without a form dealing with the septic- UGH!!!!!!

So, at this point I had given up all hope. Bryan called me Monday afternoon at 2:51 while I was in carpool to tell me that closing was set for 3:00 - NINE minutes!!! Have you EVER heard of such a thing! The ding bat of realtor thought she had hit reply all to let us know! 

Anyway, we finally closed with these two in tow! 

I was so happy to do done with all this mess, but then got super sad when we pulled up to take this picture and CC started crying. She said 'This is the only place I've lived. I have so many memories here"

 Does anyone else watch Good Luck Charlie with their kiddos?

I had a little "Amy Duncan" moment when she was moving from the house she raised her kids. She kept having flash backs of bringing each one home.

This was CC's room for 7 years. 

 I still can't believe we won't be living in this house! 

But we are super excited about our new house! We are building in Ross Bridge and it should be ready in 4-5 months! We've already had one meeting and meet again next week to make more decisions. 

 Until then we are renting a house a 1 miles down the road, so CC can stay at her school. The girls love it b/c the ice cream man come by every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday to rob us of $2 for a push up pop!  

We are living in boxes and eating on paper plates for the next 4 months- no one is invited over- ha!

One last picture of my girls in front of our "old" home! 

As my BFF Ellen said..... On to new adventures!

34

 Here is my mom and dad 34 years ago, right before I was born. How cute is my mom preggers! Why didn't I end up looking like this?! Maybe the two cheeseburger meal I insisted on having daily? 

And DAD......love the sideburns and glasses!! 

 (ignore my no-makeup face)

So, on my bday I woke up to heartshaped pancakes and breakfast in bed. THEN, Bryan and the girls did confetti poppers! They loved it and we're still finding red, blue, and white confetti:) 

 CC drew this picture of me.

umm........I need a shirt

Daddy set up and decorated the kitchen and got a cake!

My bday was during VBS, so I got to celebrate with 450 kids and then we went to see Turbo the movie and had popcorn for dinner!

 It was a fun 34th bday. Thanks Bryan, CC, and Emory for making it a great one. 

July happenings

 Emory at the pool- 1/2 way through the summer, the pool decided that if you haven't passed the swim test, you have to wear a floating device . UGH! This makes Emory (and me) a little angry b/c Emory can swim- just not tread water for 10 seconds.  To be completely honest- they don't have to wear one if a parent is within arms reach, and mama sometimes doesn't want to be within arm's reach! 

 Cashed in our kid's meal prize for an ice cream cone. According to CC, Pawpaw taught them how to eat ice cream out of a cone. Not one drop spilled on them- way to go Pawpaw!!! You taught them well!

 Emory LOVES to get glasses from the Dollar Store. We poke the lenses out and she plays teacher with them. She has a pair of reading glasses and an 'wear everywhere' pair. This is her 'wear everywhere pair!

 I mean- I know I'm biased, but she is so stinkin' cute!

 Saw Despicable Me 2 with our cousins

 Obsessed with our rainbow loom!

 4th of July 

 Emory upgraded to a big girl carseat!

 downtown Homewood 4th of July festival

 Birmingham Museum of Art! 

 The girls had a blast- lots of things for little ones. 

CC went to Thomas' bday party :):):):)

(Thomas is the cutest little boy that she has a crush on:):) and he might have a crush on her too b/c when Bryan went to tell her it was time to leave, Thomas grabbed the hose and sprayed Bryan! Bryan, who was NOT participating in the water slide, was soaking wet! 

VBS~ Stand Strong for God!

This past week, our church had VBS. This is my second year being on the VBS team and this is year was, by far, the biggest VBS ever! 450 children and 350 volunteers! It is a HUGE commitment and a LOT of work. Although, this year seemed to be a little easier since we knew what to do. 

This years theme was Kingdom Rock- stand strong for God! 

We had to move the opening to the large sanctuary b/c we had so many children!!!

Emory and her friend, Anna

CC and her group leaders- she was the 1st grade Green Knights

Emory was the 3k Orange Crowns. 

E and her friend, Elise

Each day they heard a bible story. This day was Nehemiah, the cup bearer to the king, who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem. Did you know that his job was to pour the kings drink and take a sip to make sure his drink was ok? I didn't until VBS!

This is Princess Penelope. She did our opening celebration. Emory thought she was real! along with all the other children

A few of the crafts they do

 I think this is by far my favorite VBS craft ever! I am going to hang it in their room.

At the end of the 4 days, the parents come to watch what the kids have learned. I'm guessing over 1,000 people were in the gym. 

Even though I am exhausted from weeks of preparing for VBS, watching all these kids together singing about God gets me everytime and quickly reminds it's worth it all! 

My girls and I are sad it's over. 

Also, check out our VBS in action! It's a fun video

horse lesson

My mom found this sweet lady a few years ago that gives horse lessons and she has given CC a few lessons when we go home. This time Emory wanted to do it, so the lady said she had the perfect horse for her! 

 This little miniature pony was going to be Emory's for the day. She taught them that anytime you are going to do anything to a horse to let them smell it first, even you hand if you were going to pet them. 

This horse, Goliath, ended up being bullying by the other horses in the night time and had little bite marks on his back. So, Emory didn't get to ride him, but she did groom and walk him around. 

She walked him around on the rope for a bit, then when the teacher said go back to his post he just fell to the ground. Emory's face was priceless! I laugh every time I see this pic!

 CC would live on a horse farm and love every minute of it. 

She just ate up everything she was taught. 

 The teacher said that when she is teaching children CC's age, she usually expects them to remember and do half of what she has taught. But CC did everything she taught correctly and she is really good with horses! YAY CC

 Emory got a little mini lesson and learned how to stir and balance. She really liked it but 'it was so hot and a lot of bugs" At one point she went into the little house b/c it was so hot.

 They learned how to care for a horse and take off their saddle correctly. 

 CC leading the horse around by herself