Gatti Town

If you know me at all, you know that I absolutely LOOOOVE GattiTown. Now that we're nearby, I bet you'll be able to find me and B. eating there solo on a random day of the week. I frequented Gatti's in Waco with my sweet friend, Joey, and it will always hold a special place in my heart! GattiTown is especially wonderful because of all of the fun games! It's like Chuck E Cheese!!! On Sunday night we went to GattiTown to watch the Cowboys game (tear...) with our Bible Fellowship class. B. started getting restless, so we ventured to the back to walk around. Brady was obsessed with all the buttons he could push on the games. Miss Joanna had a dollar that she shared with us so that Pierce and Brady could ride a roller coaster ride. They did NOT like it. It took a little while for it to start so I think they didn't quite get it.

Wedding Fun.

On Saturday, Jeff's Uncle Danny got married. I have to be the first to admit that none of us ever thought this day would come, but it DID! It was a BEAUTIFUL wedding and a ton of fun! Jeff's whole family came into town and we got to spend some quality time with all of them. On Saturday, the girls threw a brunch for the blushing bride and all the boys went bowling. It was B's first time to bowl and according to Jeff, he had a blast. Strikes had a small ramp for the little ones to use and Jeff said B thought it was awesome - he knocked down 9 pins!!

BackYard-Again....

B and Georgia LOVE playing outside. On Friday, the weather was absolutely beautiful so we kept the doors open and in and out they went... over and over.

Dress Up!

Just Like Daddy.

Brady has become a big helper around the house lately. Whenever we're unloading the dishes or the laundry he wants to be right there 'helping' us. Jeff has always 'done the floors' in our old house and even in this one. (He just has a certain way he likes them 'done'... ) So usually once a weekend, J will vacuum and mop. I guess B. has picked this up as lately he has always wanted to get the broom (at either grandparents' house and at our house), the mop and he LOVES the vaccuum. So, for his housewarming present from momma, I got him his own vacuum cleaner from Toys R Us. He LOVES it. It's the first thing he does in the morning and the last thing he does at night. We should have never put the batteries in though, because he liked it just fine before he figured out it made noise. Now, since he's not quite old enough to push the button hard enough to turn it on, he brings it us with a nice whiney grunt asking us to turn it on. (The pictures are horrible, but hey - you get the point)

Bah-Buuuuuhhhhs!!!!

One of Brady's new favorite things are Bubbles (Bah-Buuuuhs!!!). When he gets done with his nap, he almost always comes downstairs and points to the sink (where I usually keep the bubbles) and yells "BAH-BUUUUHHS!!!". He gets so excited and chasing them around in the back yard. When we get done, all he wants to do is carry the bottle around. Love those dollar store purchases!!!

B's New 'Spot'

In J and I's new room, we have an awesome 'bay' window that is perfect for a little club chair I've had since college. We didn't have room for it in our old place so it has been sitting in the garage for a few years and now we're making up for lost time!! It is Georgia and Brady's new favorite spot in the house!!

Life in the Burbs

With all of the exciting events that have happened in the last few weeks, I have failed to mention how MUCH I LOVE life in the suburbs!!!! I got my haircut yesterday and the hairdresser was asking if I missed living in such a 'fun' part of Dallas - and as I thought about it, I thought NO!! I really don't miss it at all!! Truly, the only thing I miss is that our sweet friends Becky and Isaac lived down there and we'd walk sometimes on Saturdays or meet for coffee randomly in the week. But they came down and visited us last week - and after driving to the country, they didn't think that we were as crazy as they used to! They see why we love it out here!

I knew we had made the right decision (not that I EVER doubted it) when we went to la Hacienda last Friday night for a family date. There were kids EVERYWHERE - literally. First thing after we sat down, the waitress said, "Oh, let me bring him some kids silverware!" and they brought out a napkin wrapped around their own kiddie silverware! Then, after our waiter came, B. started throwing his food on the floor and being a little rowdy. I sweetly apologized to him for the mess we were about to make, and this was his reply: "This is Frisco. We love kids, don't sweat it!" I was so excited!!!

Please don't get me wrong, we never had a bad experience up in Lakewood (or thereabouts) when we took B out on the town. The only thing for me was that we were almost always the ONLY ones with a kiddo. It's not that they weren't welcoming, we just feel so much MORE welcome EVERYWHERE out here. I love it.

(B. loved la Hacienda, by the way. He loved the big grizzly bear and the riding horse outside!)

We have been enjoying the quiet life out here. We play in the front yard with the neighbors in the afternoon and the girls next door kick the soccer ball around in the street. We went to a neighbor's birthday party last weekend and played in a bounce house. We went to a real nursery and worked in the yard all weekend last weekend. (Pictures to come....) Jeff and I both love not worrying about locking our doors (that may come back to bite us...) when we go on a walk. We are no more than 15 minutes from church and our parents... which is QUITE a change.

BUT, as much as Jeff and I both love it... our two little ones love it even more. Brady and Georgia absolutely LOVE our house, our yard, our street and our neighbors. B. likes to collect acorns from our front yard (so does the neighbor boy) and put them in his beach bucket. He's discovered you can see through the cracks in our fence - and he loves peeking through to the alleyway. Brady throws Georgia's toys in the backyard for her (although not far) and they just follow each other around all the time. I think they'd be outside 24 hours a day if they could.

We are absolutely blessed to have all this new space. I cannot put into words how grateful I am for all the prayers leading up to this time from all of you. Some of you know it was a long time coming for us, and we prayed and prayed for God's perfect timing and I believe we got it.

So. Much. To. Say.

Okay, so it's been a few weeks since our last post... but SO much has happened! Let's recap:

1. B. had his first day of "school" (See pictures below). We've had a good battle with Stranger Danger lately so that first day wasn't fun to drop him off... but when I picked him up they said he did GREAT!!! (Warms a momma's heart!)




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2. Our dryer breaks - think it's the heating element, we decide we'll get it fixed when we get in the house.

3. We closed on our house.



4. We moved out of our duplex the last weekend of August and moved all of our stuff to Jeff's parents' garage. We then moved into my parents' house.



5. The first weekend we were at my parents', we had a visit from my grandmother, Megaw. She was determined to get B. to say her name, but she was not successful.

6. On Monday of that week, B. came down with a 102.5 fever. We took him to the doctor to a "he has a virus - wait it out" diagnosis. Frustrated.

7. B missed his second AND third days of school. For the third day, he wasn't running any fever but he literally SCREAMED all day long...

8. After we got over the combined sickness and temper tantrums, we moved out of my parents' house into Jeff's parents' house.

9. We 'hunted and gathered' a few necessities for our house - expecting to get in first thing Friday morning.

10. Thursday afternoon we get a phone call that we won't get in until the afternoon on Friday. Reschedule the painters and the handyman for Saturday.

11. Get a phone call Friday morning, can't get into the house until Friday night. (Remember this is when it started raining nonstop!)

12. Painters come, do a great job - but turns out that the two gallons we got for the kitchen were slightly off. Now it looks like we have stripes. Ugh.

13. Geek Squad comes to install our T.V. - Best Buy apparently sold J. the wrong bracket. Big ordeal.... they come back late Saturday night to fix it. (It was their mistake afterall!)

14. Sunday morning, our refrigerator is delivered - with a giant ding in the door. Woo-hoo. Getting a new door a few days later.

15. The Appliance guy comes on Monday to fix our dryer. Two things are now wrong with it. Fixes it. Yay.

16. I run ONE load of wash. Everything goes god.

17. Garage door falls off it's chain. (I know this is 'normal' but it's annoying).

18. Thursday - I run another load of wash - apparently there was a 'user error' and the washer flooded.... our BATHROOM!!! (The laundry room is on the second floor, on top of our bathroom...)

19. Saturday - J. takes B to the BU game with Jeremy and MacKenzie. Baylor loses. :(



20. Sunday - J mows our lawn for the first time! Cowboys play - and lose. (This is a big deal at our house).

21. Today - B. and I go to the Mama Bears day at the Arboretum with Lindsay, Mackenzie, Sarah and Harper. So fun, but hot!!













(Compare these pics with last year's trip to the Arboretum:)