The kids!

The boy getting an early start!






Miss Addison Grace enjoying the thrill ride at the city park in Stephenville.



"She wore an Itsy Bitsy, Teeny Weeny Blue polka dot bikini!"






The very first time in big boy pajamas:)



Grandpa and Grandma have the best amusement park rides around!!!!




These are some pics of the kiddos while we enjoyed the end of summer in Texas. I cannot say how thankful we are for Dad and Sonia taking us in and making our stay in Texas completely wonderful:) Addison still asks for Grandma's tortillas and some menudo everyday!

As promised....

This is my amazing kitchen! I absolutely love, love, love the stove....don't even get me started on the dishwasher. I told Matt that I was considering running away with the dishwasher but since it was attached to the house I would stay put:)







This is our dining room(in case you couldn't tell by the big dining room table). I thought this color was going to be very similar to the color of the dining room in our last house but it turned out much darker. I still love it!













Aaaahhhh, the princess room. In case you cannot see it completely, the comforter reads "It isn't easy being a princess!" The girl is in pink heaven in there. Yes, she is sleeping on a full size bed. Matt and I are kinda jealous since neither one of us ever slept on anything bigger than a twin bed until we got married!



















The little man's room is alot less "busy" than Addison's room. He has a recliner and a toy box on the other side. I figured we could keep it simple until he decides what he really likes. Blue is a good starting place for a boy and he can work on it from there.













And what you all have been hearing about for weeks now....Matt's TV! I decided to have Matt put addison next to it on our mantle so that you all could get an idea of how huge this thing really is. (I wanted Addison to stand next to it but that kinda freaked Matt out a little bit.) It is the newest member of our family and it is awesome (just ask Matt)! We haven't gotten around to mounting it to the wall yet but it will happen eventually. I would've posted pics of the rest of the living room but they pale in comparison to this massive thing on our wall.

I will be posting more pics of the kids in the days to come.  I have a ton of shots that we took while we were staying in Texas.  Now that you all have seen the monster that is our new tv, I expect to have some visitors very soon.  Just in case seeing us wasn't enough of an incentive:)

Our big boy!

We had Michael's one year well-baby check today.  This means that we saw a new doctor, got a new set of rules now that he is one, got all the specs and five shots.

First the good news.... Michael is healthy!  The boy weighs 25 pounds and is 32 inches tall.  To put this in perspective, Addison was 19 pounds 15 ounces at her one year appointment and only 30 inches tall.  The child is in the 90th percentile for his age group.  He doesn't have any lead or anemia.  Everything is good.

The shots...he got five today including his flu shot.  The child did not even wince when they did the finger stick for the blood draw.  He actually even smiled at the nurse after she put the bandaid on.  The shots were another story.  We got through the first one with no tears and the second one was almost done by the time he started to whine about it.  Needless to say, by the fifth shot it took my whole body to keep the kid on the table.  He was fine about 20 seconds after I picked him up and then he slept the whole way home.  

I really like our new doctor.  She seems very laid back and was really good with Michael.  She watched him play and talked to me like she had just come over for coffee or something.  It was probably the most relaxing doctor's visit we have ever had.  

On to the home things.  The fence posts are in and we are supposed to have the rest of it by the weekend.  Matt got his crazy television and is in the process of mounting it and getting the entertainment center together.  

I think that should catch everyone up.  We can't wait to start getting visitors!

We closed on our house!

It finally happened!  We now have a home again.  Addison can stop telling people that she doesn't have a house:)  Today at 4:00pm we once again became homeowners.  I forgot how exciting it can be to agree to making payments for the next 30 years!  

Matt's new television arrives tomorrow and the fence will begin being built next monday.  The moving company is coming to pick up the boxes tomorrow as well and I will finally be able to park in the garage!  I know that alot of people don't routinely use their garages for storage of their cars but with two little ones constantly on the move it is hard to unload them in the driveway.  Not to mention....it gets cold here.  You won't see me chipping ice off of the windshield anytime soon.  

We are supposed to have lows in the upper 40s tonight and by all predictions this nice cool weather will make for a beautiful fall.  I learned today that the trees produce more radiant colors in the fall when the weather gets colder sooner.  Who knew?  Probably my dad who probably told me this fact a long time ago and I will be getting chatised later for not remembering:)

All-in-all things have been pretty fantastic!  The kids are back into a routine and they have a schedule again.  We have a place to call home and friends to share our new home with and a great family to fill it up.  I am feeling pretty fortunate today (keep your fingers crossed that I didn't just jinx myself).  I will post pictures soon, I just have to find that darn usb cable:)

An update....finally!!

I know that it has been awhile.  Everyone keeps telling me!  We are finally in the new house.  We are waiting to close and it has NOT been easy.  It seems like we have have had problem after problem with the lender but I am sure that it will all be resolved very soon.  I was reminded last night that this is an easy problem to solve and that we really are lucky that we have somewhere to live.  As difficult as the past few weeks have been we have always had food and shelter and a very desperately needed hot shower at the end of the day.  Oh well, off the soap box:)

Michael turned one this month!  Can you all even believe it?  It does not seem like it has been a whole year since we were just meeting this amazing little person.  He is walking and talking and yelling at all of his sisters already.  He is looking more like his dad every single day.  I do believe that he has even mastered the mischevious grin:)  

Addison is "officially" turned into a princess.  Her room has been decked out in princess bedding and a matching pink ceiling fan.  I know Matt just shakes his head everytime he walks in there.  You can just feel the estrogen oozing off of the walls.  We have also converted her toddler bed into a full size big girl bed.  She is doing great in it!  She hasn't fallen off or anything!  And I almost for got to mention that Addison is potty trained!  Holy freaking cow, right?  When did my little baby girl grow up?  For those of you reading with kiddos you know what a huge milestone this is and why I just had to mention toilet habits in a public blog:)

Matt and I are just waiting and waiting and waiting to finally close on this beautiful home.  We are so ready to be able to call it ours.  I will post some pictures once Matt's flat screen tv is mounted over the fireplace and the fence is up.  We are actually getting a cedar fence this time because it is going to take so much lumber that the guy building it got cedar for the same price as treated pine...Bonus!  The appliances have been broken in and we had our first brisket in the house last night.  I guess that really makes it home! 

We are so excited about all the things that Tennessee has to offer for family outings and the weather here is absolutely gorgeous!  There are apple orchards to visit and pumpkin patches to peruse.  Matt and I have talked about trips to Six Flags over GA and Dollywood.  There is no shortage of outdoor adventures here.  Make your travel arrangements folks.... we cannot wait to have some company.

I will try to update again VERY soon now that we are getting settled.  I hope to see you all soon!

In Texas

We have been in Texas for about a week and a half and it has been terrible.  The kids have been sick (strep and ear infections) and Addison was very polite and shared her strep throat with me.  Needless to say, we are all on the road to recovery and are almost back to normal.  

The drive to Texas went amazingly well.  The kids were fantastic thanks to lots and lots and lots of help from Disney and Pixar:)  Addison asks about all of our friends in South Carolina and Georgia almost daily.  I don't know what we will do without all of you.  If she asks where Tyler or Daniel is one more time I may burst into tears.  

Matt is settling into his new job.  For the first time in ten years we had to think about insurance and 401K.  Pretty interesting being part of the civilian world again.  I didn't realize how much we were "taken care of" in the Navy.  Not that the level of service or care was always spectacular but it was always already done for you.  

We have officially sold our home in South Carolina to Cartus.  Cartus is the relocation company that is assisting us in our move to Tennessee.  The great part about this is that even though the new home owners don't close until the 29th of August we have already gotten the equity out of the sale!  

Our new home in Tennessee is absolutely gorgeous.  The cabinets are in as of yesterday and Matt says that all of the appliances were there in boxes as well.  We have paint on the walls, the wood floors have been finished, there are sinks and faucets and supposedly we will have countertops sometime this week or early next week!  I cannot believe how quickly things seem to happen once the ball starts rolling.  The builder was even talking about the sod getting laid pretty soon.  We will be in our new home in no time!  I hope you all enjoy the pictures and I really will try to keep everyone updated more often.  Now that we are settling back into a routine hopefully I will have more time to keep in touch!

It was bound to happen eventually

Addison has an ear infection.  Needless to say, we are not happy.  The poor kid has been hacking away since Wednesday night and even though her doctor said it was nothing to worry about I still knew that something was up.  She woke up with a fever and coughing so hard that she started to gag.  After 2 hours of waiting in urgent care we got the diagnosis.  Her first ever ear infection.  She is taking it better than her mom and dad.  We are bending to her every wimb and she is starting to catch on.  She even asked for, and got, Taco Bell for lunch.  I am really glad that we decided to cancel the trip to Georgia though.  If there is one thing I hate more than a sick kid is the emergency room in Kingsbay.  We were pretty bummed out that we won't be seeing Gabe, Amber and Tyler one last time before we leave but at least Addison can recover at home.  

We did discover on Thursday that Michael is a full 4 ounces heavier than Addison.  The baby brother is now the "big brother".  The kid is a chunk and one of the happiest babies I have ever seen.  He is even playing quietly by himself because Addison is trying to catch up on some sleep after coughing all last night.  

We have a huge week ahead of us with the movers coming and driving to Tennessee and then to Texas.  Plus we have so many people to say goodbye to that we don't have any idea how we will get to everyone.  Just so everyone knows, we will be at Buffalo Wild Wings next Thursday night for a goodbye dinner.  I think we will have a ton of fun and anyone who wants to show up is more than welcome!  I really hope we have a chance to see you all before we go!