A Little Rearranging (Or A Lot)

A few weeks ago, Brax and I got something REALLY exciting. Our first couches as a married couple. We have been blessed with many hand-me-downs in our almost eight years, but were excited to pick something out ourselves!!!

The delivery of our new couches unearthed a desire in me to basically rearrange every picture that we had on the walls. I LOVE rearranging (furniture and pictures)! I'm sure Brax has been coming home everyday wondering what's going to be somewhere new...

Here's our living room with the new couches.

 

 

And our dining room.

 

 

Roll With It

 

Yesterday we woke up to yet another day of POURING rain! Now, I love rain more than the normal person, but even I'm ready for some sunny days so we can go to the pool! So, we met our friends Lake, Molly and Allie Reid (and their moms) at the Bowling Alley for some free bowling. It was Mae's first time, and all the kids had fun! The bowling alley was deserted, and it was a great way to spend a little bit of a rainy day!

Playroom Makeover

Starting Memorial Day weekend Brax and I did a makeover in our playroom. We have this huge brick wall. We love the brick, but it's really impractical. We needed more storage for our books, and I asked Brax if he thought we (and by we, i meant "he") could build bookshelves on the fireplace. For Brax's birthday I bought him the TV (got a great deal here), and he used some Home Depot gift cards to get the lumber. First we put up the mantel. Then we built the shelves. And it really was we. Brax did the actual sawing and stuff, but I really did help! It took us almost the whole weekend. The next weekend we painted the mantel and the shelves, and then filled them in. It's awesome to be able to have our books out of boxes, and I love having some of my childhood books out for the kids! We were able to take almost all the rest of the storage out of the room so there's space for more seating.

We're so happy with how they turned out.

*If it looks like the shelves on the left side are longer than the right, they are. For some reason when they built our house they didn't center the fireplace on the fireplace wall. WHY!?!?!?!Therefore, the shelves on one side are five inches longer.

Here are pictures of the room before we made it into a playroom.

 

 

 

 

Father's Day

 

VBS 2011

Our church had Panda-mania VBS last week (like everyone else in the known universe). Thomas got to actually go for the first time, and had a great time! Mae had so much fun doing crafts and playing with her friends in the nursery. I did the Volunteer snacks for the 2nd year in a row. Love.That.Job. I got to hang out with the adults all week, serve coffee punch, and work with my friend Amanda. We had a great time!

 

Who's Who in the VBS Nursery?

Funnies

Kim: Thomas please go up to your room (for quiet time) and don't yell.
Thomas: What should I do if there's a fire?

Kim: You need to turn off the Wii. You can't respond to me that way.
Thomas: But, Mom! I didn't know which response you wanted.
(This promted some tears, as which point Thomas went up to his room to calm down.)
Thomas: Mom, you know what helped me calm down?
Kim: What?
Thomas: When I was crying I burped and then I said excuse me. It made me feel a lot better.

Kim: Thomas, hurry up please.
Thomas: Mom, I'm really just not in good shape right now.

T-Ball Party

The t-ball season sort of fizzled out for Thomas. We were out of town for his last two games,although at the time we didn't realize it would be the last game. So, he was really excited for our end of the year party tonight. We took our team picture, passed out trophies and had cupcakes. How cute are these little boys!?!?! I would say as the coach's wife and a player's mom our first season of t-ball was a success.

 

Jennifer's Pictures

My friend Jennifer Flowers took pictures for me that I could give to Brax for his birthday. Her camera was messing up, and Mae was almost completely uncooperative, but I think we got some adorable ones anyway! If you're in NWA you should check her out. She takes great pictures! And she's SUPER fun!

 

 

Fayetteville

On Friday morning after Thomas's last day of school the kids and I piled into the car and headed to Arkansas. The drive was ok. It started raining when we were about four hours away and it only got worse the closer we got to Northwest Arkansas. The last 45 minutes of the trip took me about and hour and a half. White knuckle. Probably the scariest driving of my life. WHOA! But we made it, and on Saturday got to meet our new newphew Mateo. He's a CUTIE!!!

There was a shower for Sally on Saturday and she did awesome!!! I didn't take a lot of pictures because currently Thomas, Mae and Joaquin are at a stage where they need to refereed when they're together. They did have fun though. And Sally and I got to have some fun together too. I went to the doctor with she and Mateo. And she and I spent a tornado warning together in Target (the night the tornado hit Joplin.)

Thomas, Mae and I got to go to Gram and Pops's cottage for one night. That was really fun too. Thomas got to drive (sitting on Pops's lap) on a dirt road, and they stopped to play in Bradshaw Mountain Spring.

Even though I didn't get to surprise Sally, I'm so glad I went and that I got to meet Mateo when he was just a few days old!

 

Graduation Video

This is the video of Thomas's class saying some of their memory verses. Please notice the collective southern drawl!!! (It's only like 45 seconds)

Thomas's Graduation

 

Here is Thomas's graduation. It was really sweet. His preschool has been such a blessing this year. I'm thankful Mae will be there next year!!!!

Last Day of School

We got back from our trip to MN on Monday evening. Brax's parents were AWESOME and had brought our kids to our house to put them to bed. It was especially awesome since we were jumping back in to a crazy week. Tuesday morning Sally called to say that she was going to the hospital because her water had broken!!!! At that point she didn't know that I was planning to drive to Arkansas and surprise her at her shower on Saturday. After sweet Mateo Lock A***** was born I talked to Sal, and told her that I was planning to come, as long as it was ok with her.

Thursday of that week was Thomas's last day of school. At his school, on the last day all the older kids get to bring riding toys and play all morning. It was so cute! Brax also surprised me at school that day and brought me a brand new iPhone. SO SO AWESOME!

 

 

 

 

Joel's Graduation Weekend

In the middle of May, Brax and I went to Minnesota for a Thursday-Monday to go to Joel's law school graduation, and visit with family. It was wonderful to have a break from the kids! Thanks MiMi, PaPa and Leah!! Sally and Carlos, we wish you could have been with us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got to visit my cousin Bjorn and his wife Emily's house and have dinner Thursday night. It was a great time! And we spent all day Friday, quietly with my grandparents. We watched slides of their days as missionaries in Hong Kong and ate at their favorite Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a sweet sweet day that I will treasure for a long time.

 

Saturday there was an Open House for Joel at my Uncle Gregg and Aunt Jayne's house. We got in more sweet time visiting with family and then went to graduation. Joel didn't even realize that he would be graduating with honors till he opened the program. It was so fun to be there and celebrate with him! (Why is he making that face in the picture!?!)

 

After graduation we went up to Gregg and Jayne's cabin in Wisconsin for about 36 hours. We ate, did puzzles, played games, went out on the Pontoon, and had a really fun visit!

 

On Monday we got up very early and drove back to Joel's apartment to help him pack his stuff and clean. (My Dad was a mover in college, so everyone always gets his help with moving!) The boys moved the big stuff. Mom and I moved some of the other stuff, cleaned and ran errands.

 

It was a great chance to spend time with lots of family, and especially Joel who moved to Portland three days later to study for the Bar exam and start his new job. And, did I mention the kids weren't there? ;)

Funnies

Since my last post, I have been to Minnesota (for my awesome brother's LAW SCHOOL GRADUATION), Arkansas (to meet my PRECIOUS new nephew!!!), participated in Thomas's Pre-K graduation, built bookshelves in our playroom with Brax, started going to the pool AND am only two weeks away from VBS, at which I am the Volunteer Snack Coordinator. Oh, and today is Brax's birthday. So, as you can imagine what awaits me when I have a moment of "free" time is laundry, unpacking (yes, it's still going on), snack related emails, etc. I have, therefore, not had time to blog. At all. And I still don't. But, so all my faithful readers don't forsake me I am posting a "funnies" blog. Because, apparently that's everyone's favorite anyway.

Just some funny things my kids are calling things.

Piedmont (Pool) is B-Mop to Thomas. I have corrected him several times, and his response is, "Mom, I'm going to call it B-Mop."

Mae called new baby, Mateo, "Potato" while we were in Arkansas.

Jill: Do you want to say hi to me?
Mae: No.
Jill: Are you shy?
Mae: Yes.
A few minutes later.
Kim: Mae, can you please say hi to Miss Ava?
Mae: No, I'm shiny!

Thomas's really-awesome-should-be-given-some-extra-jewels-in-their-crowns Sunday School teachers told him that they would miss him this summer. He told them not to worry because they could always find him at the Y(MCA), The Chick-Fil-A with the indoor playground, or the Wal-Mart by the Chick-Fil-A with the indoor playground.

Kim: Thomas, what are you doing tonight at your graduation?
Thomas: Oh, you know. We sing some songs. Do some stuff. Say our Bible Verses and they (the kindergarteners) do their Pull-ems.
Kim: Poems?
Thomas: Yeah, I like call them Pull-ems.

MiMi: You know, sometimes Moms have to say "no." Sometimes MiMi's have to say "no" too.
Thomas (after thinking): Yeah, but you have to say "no" less!