How we've been keeping busy lately

Besides unpacking boxes and putting things away, we've been keeping busy and enjoying our new home and the nice the weather that we have started having. James is really enjoying our yard of dirt. He loves to shovel, and move it with his trucks. This is the main thing we do when we go outside.

He does have shovels, but the day I had my camera out, this was what he had chosen to dig with.

Mud is also a big hit, but now that the grading is finished he is limited to where he can dig. I think he'll be even more disappointed when we get grass.
A house is being built behind us and across the street in the front of our house, which provides lots of entertainment. We have seen cement mixers, bobtats (bobcats), bat-hoes (backhoes), and dump trucks. Such fun. Lately, he has been saying "I drive bat-hoe". I'm sure he would if he could.

We've also been spending lots of time at the park.

Swinging.

Playing baseball. He's getting better at hitting the ball farther.

We also have made a trip to the zoo with some friends. Here James is feeding the goats with his friend Ryan, and his mom Emily.

This is the smile get when I ask him to smile for a picture.

He still enjoyed digging in the sand for awhile.

He started to climb this web, but then stopped to go find the camels. (He wanted to do two things at the zoo...see the camels and ride the train.)

We found the camels and fed them too.

Finally, we made it to the train! It was a great time.

We are busy filling our days. It should be a good summer as more changes approach.

Because Elissa Asked

I was asked to show some pictures of our house with our furniture in it now that we have moved in. We still have plenty of boxes to open and things to put away, but we are getting there slowly.

Everything that I am not sure of what to do with, or wasn't ready to go through was put in the basement. We don't have any boxes left upstairs, so now its time to begin sorting.
The other end we laid out some carpet and set up a play area for James. It has worked out really well. To the right is our storage area with some shelves that Jonathan built. We have begun filling them up. (forgot to snap a picture).

The living room and dining and kitchen.

Living room from the other direction.

Our room with the dresser and darker wall.

Our room with the new blinds.

Our bathroom.James' bathroom.

Baby room. Not much to it yet.

James' room.

James with his big boy bed. He has done so well with it. He has only fallen out a few times. He stays in his bed when we lay him down, and doesn't come out until we come get him in the morning. Some mornings he will look at his books while he waits. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

So we've gotten quite a bit together. Some things still need to be arranged. We will do some furniture shifting as we get the baby's room ready. Once our furniture placement is set, then we can hang some pictures on the walls. Slowly, its getting there. It'll be nice once I get through most of the boxes that are left. We are enjoying our home. James loves the dirt and mud outside. He spends most of his time shoveling. It's cheap entertainment.

Finally!

It finally happened! Our house is basically finished, and we are now homeowners! We are very excited. We are slowly moving things in and will have a big move next weekend. Here is a sort of walk through. When the weather is warmer and dry we will get the final grade, sprinklers, and plant some grass.

The front.

James' blue room! He went with Jonathan and my dad toady to get his new big boy bed! He is very excited about it, and enjoying jumping up and down. Hopefully, he will stay put when we actually try to get him to sleep in it.

James hiding in the closet. What fun! Our room. Jonathan is working on painting an accent color for room.

The baby room.

The Kitchen. We did get a fridge. It was delivered today.

View from the entry.

From the sliding doors.

From the dining room.

Master bathroom. The hall bath has the same finishes, just smaller.

Can't wait to move and see how all of our things are going to fit!

It's a.....

We visited the doctor this morning and we are going to have a little girl!! We are very happy and excited to have a healthy baby! I am looking forward to doing some shopping!

Can't wait to meet her!

Two!

Our baby boy is growing up! He's two! We celebrated a week late this year (glad he can't read a calendar yet) because Jonathan and I were both sick. We started the celebration with pizza and cake with our parents. Then carried on with presents.

I'm two! Here's my cheeseball smile!
He also picked out a puppy balloon to go with his cake!

Pausing to read one of his new books.

Mommy and daddy got him some power tools. They have big a hit. The set came with a light, drill, jigsaw, and power saw. He has been busy fixing and drilling everything.

The next day we took him to the children's museum. He had a great time. It was the first time we took him. We didn't make it through the whole thing. He found a few favorite places and we spent most of the time there.

His favorite spot was a big area of water toys. He splashed and filled buckets and watering cans and had a wonderful time getting wet.

Driving the boat.

Crawling through tunnels.

Back to the water!

A picture for mommy.

We had a fun time. He's growing so fast and learning so much. He is such a blessing to our lives.

Dizziness

Every now and then James will suddenly start spinning. He thinks its great fun to spin until he falls over. He gets so dizzy he can't walk straight. It's pretty funny, especially because he looks the other direction. We enjoy watching him go!

It won't be long now

Progress on our house is coming along quickly now. We have a closing date for March 25! We are getting excited as it gets closer, but that means there's lots to do. In the past few weeks the trim has been up, stained, and the rooms painted.

James' room. (He knows his room is blue and says blue room, but he seems to really enjoy orange right now, so we may have to find some orange artwork to satisfy his need for everything to be orange.)
Our room.

The master bath room with floor, cupboard, and countertop. (All of the vinyl floors and counters went in this week!)

The kitchen cupboards and the counters are under the cardboard, but you can see the edges.

Next week the lights are supposed to go up, and the plumbing fixtures are supposed to be put it in. It's getting so close now!

Sad Day for Our New Car

Our new car had a sad, sad day last week. We were traveling back to Bennet from my parents house, when suddenly there it was...a deer in the road. Jonathan hit the brakes and the deer stopped, but then it took off and ran into the side of our car that we haven't even had for a month. Fortunately, we were all okay. James was asleep in the back, and has no idea that it even happened. Unfortunate for the car the deer left its mark.

A souvenir.

The deer dented the driver's side doors, rear panel, and took off the mirror. At least, we were fine, now we just have to get it fixed.