BEADS!!!

It's been a while since my last post so I'll fill you in on what we have been up to. We are continuing to settle into the new house. We've been busy decorating, purchasing and arranging furniture and trying to get rid of the remaining boxes in the house. It is still a constant work in progress but it's starting to look more like a home.

 A couple weeks ago Rob, the boys and I flew to Washington for a little vacation time. Rob, Andrew and James attended a wedding for one of Erika's cousins on Friday Harbor. They had a great time getting to see family and spending time on the farm. I on the other hand went to Vegas with one of my girlfriends where enjoyed our time soaking up the sun (and HEAT) poolside:) I flew back to Washington and then traveled back to Idaho with Rob, Andrew and James. Andrew got to attend summer camp at his new school. It was a week long, half day program where he got to play with other kids and get a glimpse of what his new school will be like. He is very excited to start school next month.

James is starting to talk more and has quite a few words now. Some of his favorites are: melmo (when talking about Elmo or Nemo), us (when referring to Buzz lightyear) and his most favorite word: jew (also known as juice). The kid is a juice addict! We don't give it to him very often because he'll go around all day whining for jewwwwwww! Rob and I joke that he needs his "Jesus Juice".  He is starting to add the "s" sound to the end of it so it doesn't sound as bad, but it's still pretty funny.

The boys got out their party beads the other day and it was too funny not to capture.

Yo! What up?! You checkin' out my beads?

Hmmm...so how do I get theses off?

So that is what this ears are for!

Andrew really got a kick out of this

My Aunt Barbara got the boys a couple Toy Story bath towels which they LOVE! Even after they have their pj's on they put their towels on and play Buzz and Woody.

James looks like a little monk!

Popsicles on the porch

We've had some pretty hot weather lately, it even got up to 105 last Monday! Thank goodness for air conditioning! The boys and I took some time out to enjoy a cool treat and play at their water table.

I think James looks just like his Mommy in this picture!

oops! Spilling water on himself. But once he realized how good it felt it turned into a splash fight

The boys would splash and then would pause and hold their arms out before going back to splashing.

Ahh! Feels so good!

We have some pretty cool sunsets out here and this particular night a thunderstorm rolled in as the sun was going down. I only wish my camera could capture it's true beauty.

Piggly Wiggly

James has been working on his animal noises. He especially likes the sound piggy's make.

I shot this video of James showing off his pig noises. He would run back and fourth snorting and well... you'll see....he is quite the entertainer

Pirates Booty

I think Andrew has been having some tummy trouble the last couple days because he has been going poop multiple times a day and he usually has a BM every 2 days or so. Now, I know this may seem like a little too much information, but bare with me there is a fantastic story that goes along with it! 

Yesterday Andrew had gone poop on the potty and then went down stairs to watch a movie. Whenever the tv is on Andrew is sucked in like a bug to light. Unfortunately that means sometimes he has a potty accident because he is too engrossed in whatever it is that he is watching, to get up and go potty. We had a couple out of town guest stop by our house last night and I was chatting with them when Andrew came in the kitchen to tell me that he had an accident. I thought he had wet his pants so I took him upstairs to get him changed. We were in his room when he told me "I didn't mean to go poo poo in my underwear" oh great, I thought. I explained to him that although he was watching his movie, he still needs to get up and go potty right away and not hold it, he knows better. Miss Carol had told me about a trick she used when she potty trained Andrew, and I thought I'd try it out this time. She told me that if he poops in his underwear to make him clean them out in the toilet so he can see just how gross it is so that he won't want to repeat the incident ...

Andrew and I were dunking his Pirate ship underwear (one of his favorite pairs I might add) in the toilet to get most of the poop off. Our water level in the toilet is pretty low and it was time to cycle some new clean water in the toilet. Holding on to Andrew's pirate underwear I flushed the toilet. To my surprise our toilet has quite the suction capabilities and it sucked those pirate ship underwear  right out of my hand and down the toilet!! Andrew was on the verge of tears, while I on the other hand was fighting back tears of laughter! He screamed: "Hey! why did the potty eat my underwear?!" Still trying not to laugh I said I don't know they just got sucked up and tried to reassure him it was ok and he had plenty of other underwear that he could put on.

Needless to say the pirate ship underwear have set sail! But I'm happy to report the our flushing capabilities are still intact - thank goodness it was just little boy underwear!

Lesson learned: Next time I'll use the utility sink in the laundry room:)

New Home

The movers came this past Thursday and got all of Rob and the boys belongings that have been in storage since moving out of their house in February to the new house. Some things did get damaged in the move, but for the most part it was a smooth transition. The movers set up some of the big furniture in the living room and some of the beds, although we had to go on a while goose chase to find the hardware for James crib. It wasn't until late in the evening when Rob, our Mom and I were unpacking boxes that we finally found it. This last week we've been living in box city, slowly but surely getting things unpacked. Gram and Auntie Kendall came over from Seattle to be with us this past weekend. They were a big help getting us unpacked and had a great time playing with the boys. The bedrooms are set up, the kitchen is unpacked as well as most of the boxes. We are slowly starting to organize the chaos and have been discussing decor ideas for the house - oh the possibilities. Rob and I have made quite a few trips back and fourth to Boise for Costco, Target and Lowes run and even managed to pick up an area rug and new bed for one of the spare rooms.  The town of Mountain Home is decent size in terms of the amount of houses but as for amenities like restaurants, groceries, shopping the pickings are slim. I'm not a big coffee drinker myself, but I'll put it this way, the town doesn't even have a Starbucks. Luckily Boise is a short 30-40 minute drive and has everything you could need.

For those of you who don't know I came out to Mountain Home with Rob back in February to help him pick out all of the interiors/ exteriors for his new home to be built. Between his Realtor and great friends the Henry's (who also live in Mt. Home) we were able to get pictures and updates on the progress of the house while we were in North Carolina. There were quite a few things that needed to be fixed along the way, but thankfully we had our "spies" to capture everything so the problems could be fixed before we arrived. We are very happy with how the house turned out. I am loving all the space we have (especially compared to the 3 bedroom apartment)! I told Rob that he can't move into anything smaller than this house or else his stuff won't fit! He has set the standard of living at a 5 bedroom house from here on out!

Rob got a few bids on landscaping and fencing for the yard today and they will start on that tomorrow. He has been doing his in processing and will start work next week. They boys are loving their new house, especially going up and down the stairs. But most of all they are loving getting to play with all of their old toys that have been packed away, it's like Christmas in June!

Pictures of the house before the movers arrived

Tada! There she is! Outside doesn't look like much, but the inside is beautiful!

Living room from the front door

Standing in the kitchen looking at dining room

Double fireplace from living room into dining room

Dining room looking at kitchen

powder room bath

down stairs guest bedroom - hard to capture the size

Laundry room / utility sink

2 car garage with a 3rd bay added - so big!

from kitchen looking at the stairs and living room

top of the stairs looking over to the loft playroom/ office and doorway to James bedroom

James room with big closet (on the right)

guest bedroom upstairs - this room is really big, can't tell from this picture

Standing in the loft looking back over the staircase at master bedroom and Andrew's room

Master - again huge room, bad picture

Walk-in closet - big enough to be it's own bedroom!

Master bath

Andrew's room

Upstairs bath/ kids bath

Back down stairs looking at back yard from the dining room

Back yard to the left - grass is being replaced because it's not level or growing evenly

yard to the right

Just so you can see how big the yard is....I'm standing on one side of the yard and if you look carefully you can see a small blue speck - that is Andrew on the other side of the yard

edge of the yard looking back at the house

Can you see Andrew?