We are officially land owners

As of this past Friday, we are officially land owners. We've been looking on and off for a few years now (more off than on) and we finally stumbled upon the perfect piece of property for our family. It's 6.25 acres just outside a tiny town called Roans Prairie which is located at the junction of TX-90 and TX-30. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to get there from our house in Katy and about 30 minutes to get to College Station. We really liked the property the first time we saw it and fell more in love each subsequent visit. It's definitely going to be an ongoing project for the next several years as there's probably 4 acres that are still heavily wooded that will need to be cleared. But we're a ways off from that. :)

Brian and our friend Darren spent this weekend cutting down dead trees and mowing the areas that had already been cleared. This current week will be spent meeting with an electrician and the electrical company to work towards getting power restored to the property. Once we have power we can get the well pump up and running again. There's more mowing to be done and trees that need to come down . The property also came with a barn that is full of random tools, appliances, doors, windows, etc. that will all need to be cleaned out. There was also a garden on the property so there are lots of flower pots and metal stakes that will need to be removed. Like I said, lots of work but thankfully lots and lots of time.

We are so glad we made this investment. Having four boys we definitely need a place where they can roam, explore and just be boys. Eventually we'd like to build a multi car garage with an apartment above it and then once we're ready to retire, a home on the land for Brian and I to live in. We're struggling to come up with an appropriate name for the property. Right now Brian is thinking of Pine Hill as we have a beautiful, HUGE pine tree and our land has the only hill in the area. We've also been toying with something to do with the boys, like Four J Farm. If anyone out there has an idea, we'd love to hear it. I'll post photos as soon as we take some (Brian's going out on Tuesday and plans to snap a few photos of the work they did this weekend.)

The Countdown Begins

I can NOT believe I'm down to the last 10 weeks of Jonah's pregnancy. Time has been moving way faster than I expected it to. The summer is quickly slipping away and the kids will be back in school before I know it. Thankfully things have been super easy this time around. Other than being extra tired a few days (I blame the rain), I've had no complaints. Things seem to be happening earlier this time around. At my last appointment, my OB switched me to appointments every two weeks and I'll have an ultrasound at my next appointment to check size and position. I also had to register with the hospital after my last appointment. Jonah is growing as expected which is great news. Thankfully our babysitters are out of school right now so I'm able to go to my appointments alone. I have no idea when we'll start talking induction but if I don't go into labor on my own, I imagine Jonah will be here on or around September 15th. That's just over two months from now. YIKES!!!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!

Today we celebrate 8 years of marriage and what a great ride it's been thus far. This past year has been filled with lots of travel, seeing our kiddos through their first year of school, celebrating birthdays, finding out we're having a fourth child, saying good-bye to one family pet and hello to another, and many more adventures. I'm really excited to see what the next year has year has in store for us.

Unfortunately, our special day began at 2:30 am this morning with James waking us up. I thought he sounded like he was still half asleep so I asked Brian to put him back to bed. Alas, he was sick and was having diarrhea and throwing up. It was quite a rough several hours for us taking turns staying up with James. I called our pediatrician's office when they opened and talked to my favorite nurse, Valencia. She told me that a virus was going around and they had several kids with the same symptoms in the waiting room. Not wanting to further expose John and Jude, I had her give me some tips on how to get him through the next day or two. I'm really hoping and praying that John and Jude don't catch the virus. I'm not sure I'm up for a whole week of vomit and diarrhea. Thankfully there is a light at the end of the tunnel today. We've got Victoria coming to babysit and the two of us will go eat dinner and see Eclipse at the Alamo Drafthouse tonight.

Fourth of July Weekend

We had a very busy 4th of July weekend this year. We spent all day Saturday with my parents and sister celebrating my father's 57th birthday. We started the day off with a swim in their neighborhood pool. The water was definitely cooler than it had been due to all the rain we got the previous three days. James was not his usual brave self and wanted to keep his floaty on and not swim on his own. I think it was a combination of the cold water and the fact that it was about 3" deeper than normal. Alas, the swimming did not last long due to rain and the need to adjust the chemicals in the water. We left the pool, got changed and then headed out to Joe's Crabshack for a nice birthday lunch. All three boys ate well. James even had two kids pizzas. The adults all enjoyed their seafood and yummy dessert. With nice full bellies, we headed off to catch Toy Story 3 (Jude and Brian went to Sears to look at yard tools). Everyone really enjoyed the movie. The story was really great and there was a lot of action. After the movie, we headed back to my parents house to relax and eat some dinner. It was a bit on the late side so we picked up Chuy's to go instead of loading everyone up and heading to the restaurant. We called it a day around 9 pm and headed home.

Saturday was a less busy day. Brian took James and John to go see The Last Airbender while I stayed home with a napping Jude. Brian and I traded off taking a nap as we were both tired from the previous day. At 5, we headed down to our friend, Kristen's house for a yummy cookout. We had the traditional 4th of July meal of burgers and hot dogs for dinner. For dessert we had yummy chocolate cake and sundaes to celebrate our friend, Darren's birthday. After that we did sparklers and some small fireworks in the front yard. At 8:30 we started walking to the high school to watch the firework show put on by the local outdoor shopping mall - La Centerra. The show was supposed to start at 9:15 and we could see some fireworks off in the distance. Finally around 9:45 the real show started and it ended up being well worth the wait. The fireworks were beautiful and the the weather was perfect. It cooled down and there was a nice cool breeze. Once the show was over, we walked back home and headed to bed. Unfortunately, our back neighbors decided that 11 pm was the right time to start setting their own personal fireworks off. Man, they were so loud. It sounded like they were setting them off right in our backyard. They finally stopped sometime after 1 am and I was able to get some sleep.

Monday was another low key day. Everyone got up and I was able to get my normal Monday chores and run accomplished before we hopped in the car and drove up to College Station. We ate lunch with my family and then took them out to the land we are purchasing about 30 minutes outside of College Station. Everyone was really impressed and excited for us. On our way back to Jocelyn's house, we stopped at Sears to check out some lawn tools that we'll need to maintain the land and help clean out some of the underbrush in the woods. After that, we picked Whinnie up and headed back home to Katy. Overall, it was a great holiday weekend.

VBS 2010

This year's vacation bible school theme was High Seas Expedition. I decided to volunteer this year so I would know more about the songs, dances, bible buddies, etc. and was John's crew leader. I had a total of 7 pre-schoolers in my crew and three junior high helpers. The kids were all really great. They all participated in all the activities and had a really wonderful week. I was surprised at just how much activity they packed into three short hours. We saw a skit each morning, sung songs and danced, ate a snack, played games, did a craft, watched a short video and then joined the whole group in the Family Center for the finale. John LOVED the singing and dancing sections of the day the most. James had a great time in his group and enjoyed telling me all about his day when I picked him up. We're still listening to the CD in the car and I can see both James and John doing the dance moves in their car seats. I think the only one who did not have a fun week was Jude. He was not a very happy camper in the nursery. He's just not used to being with strangers for a few hours a day. Plus he still takes a morning nap which he missed all week long. All in all it was a great week and we can't wait to see what next year's theme will be.