Zech-in-a-Box

Since we're still not fully unpacked and have plenty of empty boxes lying around, the kids like to play with them. Mike found Z in the playroom last night playing in this particular box. I think he was using it as his spaceship. It was on its side and he crawled in with his play keys and then flipped it up upright and was "blasting off" when Mike called me over. I grabbed the camera and clicked the first picture and then he popped up as soon as he heard the camera go off. Totally reminded me of a Jack-in-the-box=)

SOLD!!!!

Hurray! We have sold the house! We closed and handed over the keys as of 2 this afternoon! So excited to be done and not have to worry about trying to sell the house or getting to the closing end of things.

I wasn't sure we'd make it as you can see from the pictures. I was having flashbacks from 2 years ago when we were 2 days away from closing and everything went south. I went over to the house on Tuesday and found a great deal of standing water in the front yard because the water main burst!!! Thankfully everything worked out and we got to closing anyway=)

We went and mowed the lawn (ok, Mike did!) for the last time on Sunday and I took some pictures of the kids' hand prints in the shed that Mike and his dad put up and I got a little teary. I am very happy and thankful to be in the new house but it is kind of weird selling our first home.

Thanks for all your prayers and thoughts....they helped tremendously!

Z and J's Party

We had Z and J's party at Chuck E. Cheese's this past weekend...a favorite family hang out of ours=)

Blowing out candles are a HUGE thing in our family so we like to make cupcakes that way everyone gets their own candle to blow out when we're done singing "Happy Birthday". Here are all the cousins (and Aunt Liz) blowing out candles!

Dawson and Z driving in the monster truck

Marissa, Ainsley, Dawson and Z playing a safari game

J riding a horse. She was funny because she wouldn't let go of her drink and seemed to carry it around everywhere she went for like the first hour!

Toy Story was the theme of the birthdays this year so Mike made some Little Green Men cupcakes that I found in a Family Fun Magazine. They looked super cute until the Mentos had a reaction with the icing and started melting! Mentos for the eyes (with black gel icing pupils and mouth) sour apple straw antennae and spearmint leaf ears. Not a huge fan of mint unless its my gum or my toothpaste but they tasted awesome once I picked off the eyes and ears=)

On Z's actually birthday we surprised him with a bike so he didn't have to ride the pink one (next to him in the picture) anymore.

Ainsley's First Day of Kinder

Ainsley's first day of kinder was CRAZY!!! Mostly because we were running late. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will generally never be on time or early to any event again! But in a way it worked to our (ok, really just my) advantage that morning because with her being so late, there wasn't any time for tears...hers or mine.

We got her into her class, (after the tardy bell, mind you) put her backpack in her cubby and whisked her away to her place at the blue table. She sits next to a little boy named Dylan so she should feel right at home! We did a little activity with her where we traced her hand and then she filled in the blanks:

__________ brought __________ to school, and (s)he felt _______.

This was Ainsley's:
Just in case you need a translation, Mom and Dad brought Ainsley to school, and she felt OK.
At this point she started to bury her head in my shoulder and I told her that she was a big girl and she was done having her "moment". Then the announcements came on and we all said the pledge and the teacher ushered them to a spot on the floor where all of us parents blew them a kiss and that was that!

They caught the kisses and we said goodbye.

She had a great first day and met lots of new friends. She loves her teacher and she is enjoying being a kindergartner!

Dylan's Dedication

Dylan was dedicated at church on the 15th! He wore the shoes that Mike wore when he was little...he looked so handsome just like his Daddy!

Here's the fam outside church afterwards
The Plowman 6 during the dedication

What a Week!!

Wow...its been quite a week and its not over yet! Dylan was dedicated on Sunday and then Z started Pre-K on Monday! He loves it and his teachers have the nicest things to say about him when I pick him up! Must mean we're doing something right=)

Ains went to meet her teacher today and see her new classroom. I'm so excited for her! I can't believe she starts school on Friday...I'll try not to cry.

Jess and Z have birthdays tomorrow and a party this weekend. They both will move to new classrooms at church as well. Seriously, where does the time go?

I will try to post pictures soon=)

Dylan's Shoes

When we moved into our new house, Mike's parents left some wonderful things behind...a dining room table, the corner t.v. stand...things like that but my favorite things have been all of Mike's "old things". Our first night here we spent a few hours going through a box of old pictures of Mike (and fam) growing up and many of his school papers and memorabilia all the way from preschool! These little shoes were in there too. I tried them on Dylan yesterday and they fit!! We even found pictures of Mike wearing them...too cute=)

Bailey's New Haircut

Bailey needed a serious haircut so we went REALLY short...finally a groomer who understood what I meant!
Looks like a totally different dog now and probably weighs half as much as he used too.

Can't Believe How Time Gets Away!

We're still coming out from under our mountain of boxes and I just can't get over how much stuff we have!!! And I use the term "stuff" lightly because a lot of it is junk. Some of it has even been packed away since the last time we "sold" the house and thought we were moving. You know what they say..."if you haven't used it in a year, you probably don't need it". How about, "if you have no idea what's in the box, open it up and realize you never missed it, it's time to give it to someone who can use it!" That's what we're doing now. Still haven't been able to park in the garage. One side is stuff that needs to go in the house...somewhere...and the other side is the donation stuff. I'm really trying not to clutter up the new house. I know we have a lot more space now but that doesn't mean I want every inch of it covered with "stuff".

On top of all the boxes needing to be unpacked, we have two important birthdays coming up that kind of snuck up on us! Z and J will be 4 and two in less than a week and a half. Or the same week as school starts....craziness! I can't believe 4 and two already. J is even still wearing some 12 mo. stuff and actually "borrowed" one of Dylan's 6-12 mo. shirts and it look just fine! She is most definitely the runt of the family! And even though I'll admit that I'm glad school starts soon, I can't believe how the summer flew by. It is pretty cool how Z will start on a Monday and Ains will start that Friday so Mike and I can focus on just her for the first day of school since Z only attends Monday through Thursday.

I went to get Ains and Z's school supplies yesterday and boy was that crazy! Not just because it was busy but because I had one list for Ains, one for Z and then just a list of some items we needed for our household...and no pen in my purse to cross things off as I went a long! That was a bit frustrating and I was almost tempted to open a package of pens (and later buy them) just so I could cross off my items!

Just a little side note: Mike and I celebrated 8 years this past Tuesday and got a really nice anniversary gift...an offer on our house which we have accepted=)

The "Bugaboo" Cure SMA Awareness WOD 2010

Please join us in finding a cure for SMA!

Date: Saturday, August 28, 2010

Time: 10 am-2 pm

Location: CrossFit Albuquerque

4120 Ellison Suite B

Albuquerque NM 87109

For more information contact Ben Abruzzo at (505) 980-3264

ben@crossfitalbuquerque.com

http://www.curesmawod.blogspot.com