The New Homestead

Back in October 2012 we sold our house in Columbus and moved 12 miles up the road to Edinburgh. 

 The House needed a little work and love, but we are making progress with it.  Before (above) and after landscaping (below).

                                             The backyard before Scott went to work...

 and after, He stained the deck and bought new patio furniture.  

The house sits on about 3 acres behind a local golf course.  There is a small wooded area and pond in the backyard.  Levi has loved cleaning it up and finding treasures.  He and Scott have made a small fire pit and we all enjoy sitting out by the fire.  

The move has been a little difficult for the kiddos because now there are no neighbor kids to play with, but we are keeping the busy with sports and music and church.

A Birthday Celebration

This year Millie requested that her birthday party be at Monkey Joes.  I didn't want to pay the outrageous fee to rent a room for two hours, so we invited Millie's best buddy, Deacon to come with us and called it a party.  The bonus was that Deacon's mom and sister watched Sophia while we went and played!

 Levi loved playing on the blow up playground.  He didn't want to leave, but Millie and Deacon asked to leave because they were wore out after about 2 hours. 

We went to Monkey Joes on Tuesday and our family celebration on Wednesday, but Millie's birthday isn't until Saturday.   Because everyone was off on the 4th of July we celebrated early, Millie didn't complain. 

When planning out the day, at 6:30 am, Millie decided that she would let everyone arrive at her party, eat, then open her presents.  It was just too hard to wait until everyone arrived, so Millie asked if she could open one of her present from early with just Pap, Grandma, Aunt Tootsie, and Grandma McCoy.  She was one happy girl to get her dollar bin sunglasses, Hello Kitty stickers, paper, and tin from Sophia.

 It still proved difficult to wait until everyone was seated with their food, but she did it....while sitting on her biggest present, a bike from Mom and Dad.  Yes it was in a box and not assembled. 

 Levi got in on the present action and helped Millie open her "American Girl" doll.  It is actually just a doll from Target, but I didn't want to spend the $150, and neither did Grandma on a doll that we were not sure Millie would like or play with. 

Millie wanted to take an active roll in her party and picked out cupcakes instead of a cake.  We had Hello Kitty cupcakes, Care Bear cupcakes, and Beauteefull rose cupcakes.  She also got Hello Kitty plates, and tie die cups.  It was a great party.

After everyone left I was cleaning up the mess and didn't hear Millie, I went to check on her and she was sound asleep in Levi's game chair.  I let her sleep and continued cleaning up and found her new doll with matching nightgown all tucked in for a nap too.

Maybe we will do American Girl next year.

Getting Taller

The other day Millie and Levi were walking side by side and it amazed me at how tall Millie was getting.  She has already reached his shoulders. 

Happy Fathers Day

Usually for Father's Day I am out the day before trying to pick out a gift from the kiddos to give to Scott.  This year I am proud to announce that the kids and I made (yes you read that correctly we made) our gift.  Thanks to Pinterest, I saw a neat handprint craft and thought we could do that.  So off to Hobby Lobby we went.  While there Sophia got tired of picking out scrapbooking paper.  She started fussing, and of course Levi came to her rescue and picked her up.  About 5 minutes later she was sound asleep in his arms.  He was eating it up! 

 We went home and made our gifts, with enough time to get paps in the mail and delivered on the Saturday before Fathers Day!! 

Levi and Millie were very proud of thier gift and couldn't wait to give it to Daddy.  So they had him open it up on Saturday night.  Of course daddy loved it. 

Since Sophia was asleep when Levi and Millie gave daddy their present we took more pictures in Daddy's office where the picture will stay. 

No matter how big we get we will always reach for you. 

Happy Birthday Anna

Little Miss Anna is not so little anymore and has officially turned 3!  Boy does time fly.  To celebrate her birthday with her we took a day trip to their new house in Ohio and had a party.  There were lots of kids and cousins to play with, and everyone had a great time. 

 Here Gideon is teaching Anna the proper use of his light saber. 

 All the kiddos had fun "swimming."

 Levi especially enjoyed "working out" with Uncle Gabe's equipment.  He is tough stuff, pulling a total of 450 pounds. 

 What is a birthday party without cake, ice cream, and presents!  The chocolate cake and Aunt Susan made was super yummy.  I need to get the recipe from her....or maybe she will read this and send it to me.  ;-)

I think that Miss Anna liked her tea set that we got her.  I hope she has lots of tea parties with it. 

A little color

Last year for Mothers Day I got the two rockers.  Well it has taken me a year, but I have finally added some color to my front porch.

 

 I went to Hobby Lobby and picked out some fabric.  I then came up with what I wanted and took it over to my sister-in-laws house for a sewing bee.  Well she sews and I watch.  I told her what I wanted and she made it happen all in about an two hours time.  That included design, sewing, and lots of talking in between. 

I also made this square wreath.  Yes that is right, I made it.  The uncrafty sister finally has got her craft on....thanks to Pinterest. 

 Also got a new entry mat. 

Summer Fun

  Every since our Spring Break trip to Aunt Sara's house and Millie saw the garden rocks with "diamonds" that Gideon and Judah made she has wanted to make one.  When I saw that our local toy store downtown was holding a class to make garden rocks I immediately signed up.   

Millie and Levi loved it so we are signing up for more classes at Imagination Station.  We are making a robot soon. 

We took a trip to Grandma and Pap's house to meet up with the cousins and ate lots of popsicles. 

Now Sara may look like she is in distress, but she is really just making fun of a song that is playing on her phone.  Good times. 

 Sophia too got in on the popsicle action too.  Grandma just couldn't say no.  Look at her eyeing it.

 We have also been spending lots of time in the pool.  Millie is turning into a regular water bug and begs to go out every day.