Hello from HOME!

This green area is right across the street from our front porch.

Our pretty new home!

The back of the house

Need to buy more sand for the sand table, but BC has had fun just playing with water!

And Miss Zoe, of COURSE, loves the water -- she even jumps up into the table to get wet!  I need to get the frog pool out again for HER!  :)

Hi everyone!  I hope your week is off to a good start.  We continue to settle into our new home and neighborhood and I can honestly say that it feels like HOME now and it's wonderful!  The house is great - we are loving the extra space and especially the bonus room area which is basically Bear Cub's play room.  It is SO nice to not have his toys all over our living space anymore.  The house is not that much bigger than our previous home -- about 400 sq. ft. or so bigger - but the design is so different with the living space downstairs and all the bedrooms up.  Also, we have a den downstairs now which is nice to use as an office and a place to keep our books.  I really love it!

The community is amazing too - there are walking trails all throughout and a Town Square that is only a few blocks from us, so it's very easy to walk to!  During the summer, they have live concerts in this area where they bring in local bands and the residents set up their lawn chairs, relax and just watch the kids run and play.  Bear Cub had so much fun last Friday night!  As soon as the music started, he started his form of "DANCE," which is basically running and running in circles as fast as he can.  Too cute.  He'd stop to pet a dog here and there, and then keep on running!  He slept great that night!

Speaking of sleeping, the transition into the big boy bed has gone really well.  He still chatters and talks for some time once we leave his room, but so far, he is staying in bed and eventually falling asleep on his own.  As sad as I was not to have the crib (a sign my baby is growing up!) in the house, I must now say it is SO nice to just have that twin bed in his room with his furniture.  His room feels so much more open now!  So yay for the big boy bed!

We've met some neighbors and everyone seems so friendly and nice.  It seems like everyone has a dog around here, so people are always out taking walks, riding bikes and taking advantage of the community.  Yesterday afternoon, our fence was installed!  This is a first for us and it is fantastic to be able to open up the back door and just let Zoe out, with no worries of her running off.  It's also good for Bear Cub, as he can play without me worrying about him dashing into the street.  We are enjoying our yard -- it's smaller than before, but still PLENTY of room to play and less yard for Daddy to mow, so that is nice for him too.

Daddy has been traveling a lot lately for work, so we look forward to the time when he'll be home full time again.  My mom has come to help and hang out, so that has been good company for me.  And a big help too!  Bear Cub and I also had a chance to meet up with a friend of mine from high school last week and her kids for a play date.  They live in another neighborhood in our community, so it's nice to already know someone around here.  The boys got along well, so I'm sure we'll have many more play dates to look forward to.  :)

Let's see...I hadn't yet signed BC up for his preschool that we had found a couple of months ago.  As much as I loved this little Lutheran school, I ended up checking out the community preschool, which is also right next to the elementary school that BC will eventually attend.  I really liked this preschool too and we can walk there!  The convenience was just too hard for me to pass up, so yesterday I got him all signed up for the Tuesday/Thursday morning class, starting in late August.  I'm excited for him and he was excited about the Thomas the Tank Engine set in their big play area.  

This Thursday is Bear Cub's THIRD birthday!  We'll have a little family party this weekend with the grandparents, aunts, and uncles in the area and probably a fun lunch out ON his birthday.  His choice, of course!  I'm sure it will either be McDonald's or Chick-fil-A....

Because of our busy we've been lately and with everything else going on, I missed a blog post about a VERY important date -- JULY 1.   That was our 9th wedding anniversary!  We weren't able to spend the day together, as Warren was out of town, but it was still a special day and one to remember.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to be married to SUCH a wonderful man - and my best friend.  These 9 years have been adventure-filled, full of laughter, some tears, but most importantly, LOTS OF LOVE and HAPPINESS.  So, here's another Happy Anniversary!  to my dear hubbie!

I'll try to get back to my good bloggin' ways as things continue to settle down around here. Take care!