SO SWEET!

I've been packing up one room a day to make my life not so overwhelming. Today was Colson's room. As I packed up all his trophies and home run balls I noticed his handwriting on one of them.

How sweet is that? It's his home run ball from a June game. I wrote all the details about the hit on the ball. He came after me I guess and wrote his own sentiments.

ON TO A NEW CHAPTER

Our house went on the market on Friday, July 13th. On Saturday, July 14th we had 4 people look at it. On Sunday, July 15th we had our first offer and another person look at it. On Monday, July 16th we had an additional offer. Both offers were below asking price so we told each potential buyer that we had multiple offers, give us your best. One came at $5K under and one came at $5K over. We chose the over...thought that was a good move. And THAT'S how our house sold in 2 days.

We've moved into this house that we built when Colson was 9 months old. We LOVE this house. I don't get attached to things but as I have been packing up this week, my mind has wandered to that day when we'll drive down the driveway for the last time and it's made me sad! This house is in the PERFECT location...so close to Montgomery, Willis and Conroe...very central. The house has everything we need. 3.5 acres, a pool, a barn, the inside is fabulous! So why are we moving? It was actually a tough decision. For the last 6 months we've toyed with the idea almost changing our mind daily. And when I had convinved myself that yes we should move, Wes had unconvinced himself. Wes really wanted more land so he could build an arena. He's not getting any younger so if we were going to make the move, now would be the time. Our friends have 50 acres and were willing to sell us 15. So we prayed that if God didn't want us to move...if we were biting off more than we could chew...if it was going to put too much stress on us...that He would not allow our house to sell. Because even if we had our house priced for $50K, if the Lord didn't want us to move, he would make it so our house wouldn't sell. We decided we'd leave it on the market for 6 months and if it sold, we'd know God would take care of us and it was in His will. So the fact that it sold in 2 days and we got over asking price was confirmation that we are doing the right thing.

The good thing about it selling so fast? I didn't have to keep my house clean. The bad thing? We had no plans for a transition. But things are moving along. We have temporary housing in Scott's mom's lake house that she doesn't live in with the plans to maybe move a used trailer house out onto our land that we'll build on once we get a septic, electricity, etc out there.

Once we are done, I'm going to love the place! Mark and Sara have a pond on their 50 (now 35 acres) and we'll have the arena and pool. I'm excited about the floor plan and the location isn't too far from civilization. But the moving and building process is always a LONG and TIRING one.

I'll let you know if I shed tears come next Tuesday (one week from today AHHH!).

BIRTHDAY BOYS

Cam and Hudson's birthdays are within a few weeks of each other so Christina did their parties on the same day. She planned to do a Moonwalk so when it poured rain the week prior to the scheduled party she had to push it back a week. Hudson's birthday was on the originally scheduled date so we went to every birthday boys dream and every parents nightmare...INCREDIBLE PIZZA.

A week later we celebrated with the big party out at their house. I went all out for Cam's present and got him a bunch of food. Yes I'm bribing my nephew. I made sure that he saw that i was giving it to him by showing him the food next to my face. I'd like for him to associate my face with food instead of pinching...what I think he associates me with because he cries and pushes me away.

It worked a little....I did get to hold him without too much fussing. Look at Hudson's face here...I'm not sure what he's doing!

We love these boys. Calli and Colson ADORE them! And I think the feeling is mutual!

FRIO MEANS COLD?

Why yes it does...and while the temperature outside was muy caliente...the river was a little frio. But only till you got your bootie in the water then you got used to it. We headed up to for what always is a fun time at the Frio about 3 weeks ago for a 4 night stay with the Cecils and Fountains. This meant we had one friend for each kid (YAY!) and a baby to boot.

It was a great time of floating the river, playing washers by couple teams, roasting smores, fishing, hanging out and eating! In many years past because of the drought we have SUFFERED from, the Frio hasn't been moving all that great. There have been many parts where we had to walk instead of float and the rapids seemed fit for 2 year olds...not grown adults. But this year it's been raining (Halleluhah) so the river was rocking.

We did get some bad information one day though. We were told that we could go up higher on the river and do a little longer float. The informate said we'd float like an hour and a half to get to the spot where we normally put in at and then float another hour down to our house. Perfect! Only it was signifantly longer than that. After about 4 hours we finally reached the spot where we normally put in. Of course we were STARVING by then and very tired from paddling. Thankfully the kids weren't too bad at complaining which I was actually shocked by. If I was miserable, I can only imagine how bad it was on them. I got out and had a stranger drive me to the house to get the truck and  come back and pick everyone else up. The last hour we were delirous and celebrating if we thought we heard cars because that meant we MIGHT be approaching the water bridge where we put in.

My piromaniac son managed to keep this fire going for over 24 hours. He went to bed late feeding the flames and got up early and immediately ran to the fire to get it started again. He's got skill. Who knew his skill could have gotten us a really steep FINE had we been caught. After we found out there was a burn ban and that they would fine us $500....we made him stop.

We also went to Garner State Park for THE Dance! I've been to the Frio 8 or 9 times...I've NEVER been to the Dance. And every time we go we say...."we should go to the dance". Wes grew up going to the dance every year with his family....they would camp at Garner. We choose the more conventional "rent a house" have a bathroom within 5 feet...don't cook off a travel kitchen way to go to the Frio. The dance is actually for kids. Sure you see some adults out there but I think by and large kids go there to learn how to dance. There was a little girl that was probably 9 waiting in front of us who must be known. She was all dolled up...her parents sat in their lawn chairs playing Solitaire and chatting and she would STAND there waiting for the next young gent to come and scoop her up. Then she'd get the biggest smile on her face as she led them around the dance floor. She danced with alot of older boys (like WAY older) that knew her name and was just trying to be sweet to her. It was cute. Wes tried to teach Calli to dance. Growing up too fast!

Lots of fun...and lots of relaxation!