Bittersweet

Well, we are out of our house and have officially invaded mom and dad's. Dave and I moved ALL DAY Friday and Saturday. Wow, that is a lot of work... which reminds me why I don't want to do it again for years and years.
I think the four month break until our house is done is a good thing. Dave and I need that time to heal our sore arms. :)
Anyway, dad and I went over there yesterday for a few hours and finished up cleaning everything. We finally left about 3:30.
Although I am thrilled about the new house and our transition in life........it was not easy closing the door for the last time on an awesome house that we truly loved. Although Dave and I have only been in it for 8 years, it really has been "in the family" since it was built 20 years ago. Ted and his parents had lived in it before us, thus, that's how Stacy met Ted. Anyway, there are so many wonderful memories in that "first house" but we know that this next one will be the one in which the girls "grow up" in and will remember more so.
The transition has been as smooth as I had hoped. We are almost completely unpacked and organized into our new bedrooms.
We are getting used to eating grilled hamburgers at 10:30 in the morning. (How can you NOT get used to dad's grilled hamburgers.) Lauren has decided that she doesn't like Jello or Balogna which are two foods always accessable at mom and dad's. Emma and Brian have all of a sudden realized that they have more in common than we had thought. Both LOVE to flip through the Sunday ads and they have realized that they love the same shows on the Disney Channel.
We are doing well and hopefully will be able to post some pictures soon.
They are beginning to frame our house this week which is the "sweet" part of "bittersweet."

Happy Father's Day Dad and Dave

Happy Father's Day Dad/Grandpa!!! It never seems like enough to say thank you to you and how much I appreciate you. You are always willing to drop everything and help us out with the kids/fixing something/etc. and we appreciate you so much! I know that you know how much the girls love you and love to be around you....(enjoy this last week before it gets crazy there.) :)

Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful day and we will see you tomorrow!!!



As for my honey.......I COULD NOT ask for a better father for our girls. They absolutely adore you and proof of that is after you leave for work and Lauren is yelling "DADDY" and Emma asks me, "when will my dad be home." (I guess that's how I rate.) Anyway, all three of us love you more than you can imagine.

It's a beautiful thing

It's a beautiful thing when there is a big mound of dirt in your driveway.

We have 10 more days in our house! It is truly unbelievable, but we are ready, or atleast going to be ready. Probably half of the things are already packed and moved, either in mom and dad's house or in storage. Really we only have several last minute/day things and a little bedroom furniture.

The girls and I drove out to the lot today and the forms were there for the basement to be poured. Boy am I already learning a lot about construction. (I pictured the old block basements like the one little pig builds for his sturdy house.) I'm sure that type of construction ended sometime in the 80's. Anyway, Emma wants a peach or tan house and definately a tan garage. Then she requested a SpongeBob Squarepants shower curtain....NO WAY!

Then at bedtime she told me that she is so excited to live with grandma and grandpa because they fix "yummy breakfasts." She said when she spends the nights over there in the past, she always asks for donuts for breakfasts and she always "gets them." (Imagine that.) :)

Anyway, we went to the zoo today with our cousins and it was probably one of the best trips there. We were there for 3 1/2 hours but it was great and we never got rained on.

Cousins, Smores, and Fun

Our cousins are in from Hawaii and we are enjoying getting together with them. We wish they were closer but we will appreciate the time that we have with them. The kids ran and ran and then filled up on smores and homemade chocolate malt icecream. Here are just a few pictures from our great time.

Back in town

We made it back from vacation on Friday night! :( Although it is WONDERFUL to be in Minnesota, it is good to be back and to continue to pack. It is also nice seeing some "action" on our lot.

A huge thank you to Stacy and the "two twins" for watering our flowers while we were gone. Thank you also for taking pictures of that "action" so that we wouldn't miss the groundbreaking. I never thought it would be so exciting to see a pile of dirt before.

Another HUGE thank you to dad for replacing a board on our kitchen window while we were gone and cleaning out our garage. :) What a relief to have that all done and we are ready to be out of here in 2 weeks!! We can't hardly believe it, but we are ready.

Anyway, we have had a wonderful week and of course I took way too many pictures so I will try to post a few today and tomorrow. We have lots of things going on so I will try to post each day.....(yeah right.)

Our tour guide/babysitter

Here is our famous tour guide Rich and his catch. Actually, I think I hold the record so far for the biggest walleye but I can't post the picture because I can't download pics from my camera! OF COURSE, I will post it when we get home. Last night Rich and Karen offered to watch both girls while Dave and I took the boat out ALONE to fish. We had THE BEST night. No clouds in the sky, fairly calm waters and NOT ONE BUG! AND....I caught two big walleye. One was 23.5 inches which we estimate at 4.8lbs. I was even brave enough to hold it JUST long enough for a picture. (Dave didn't catch any :)
We got back about 9:15 and both girls were sleeping in their beds.
Karen said that while Rich was watching Lauren inside, she tripped and fell and hit her head against something. She said Rich came outside with her wondering if she would be ok. Karen said she cried for 3 sec. and didn't have a mark on her till Emma accidently hit her with the net that she was using to catch dragonflies. :) They are great grandparents! poor Rich was wore out from the babysitting, he had to nap once Lauren was down for the night. :)
He did have enough energy to play a game of dominoes (which I won.)
Anyway, we are having a great time of course!!

Yeah for the Walleye!

We are completely enjoying ourselves in Minnesota at Rich and Karen's "cabin." Today, on the boat, Rich handed Emma his fishing pole for a second to fix another pole and she immediately got this bite. He let her reel it in and this is the monster she caught....(a walleye about 4lbs and too big to save.) She was thrilled. This afternoon she went fishing again with Rich and Karen and Dave and came back half soaked. She had played all afternoon with the minnows in the minnow bucket. Yuck. The weather here is fantastic, 70s and sunny. The fish are biting and we are eating tons of great food.
Lauren loves to sleep in her pack n play, which is a relief. Both girls are in the same bedroom, which is a first for them. They talk and giggle for a little bit then are so tired from the fresh air that they are out within minutes. Lauren and I took a long walk today and saw 3 deer and a turtle :)
Good night !!