Feels like forever

Dear Everyone,

Come tomorrow we will have lived in our new house for 4 months!  That required an exclamation point because it's hard to believe!  I feel like we just moved in (maybe that's because of the moving boxes still in the garage) and yet I also feel so settled here already (could be because we spend so much time here and aren't constantly out and about like we were at our old house).  

The walls are still pretty bare and the rooms aren't very full but it's coming along.  And I want to remember it like this because the way it is now represents the beginning of so many stories, memories, and life-lessons.  

So, for memory's sake & for our long distance loves who haven't seen it in person yet -- here is our roost:

When you walk through the front door -

On your immediate left is the office.  I should've taken a picture of the ceiling as the wood beams are one of my favorite things about the house.

To the front door's right is our formal dining room.  It's unused thus far but we'd love to change that!  (That door in the background leads to the purposely unphotographed garage.)

When standing in our living room, this is the view of our kitchen.

What living room, you ask?  This one.  

I was standing here, in the eating (why do folks call it "breakfast" when all meals are eaten there??) nook, to capture that last picture.

Off to the left of our dining area is our laundry room.  

If you were to go back down the main "hallway" (I should probably start calling it a foyer).....

....you would see a half-bath on the left...

...and the master bedroom on the right...

Our master bathroom -- All the mirrors make this hard to photograph so this is all you get:

If you ascend the staircase, you're greeted with a toy room.

(However, in full disclosure, I admit that it will only greet you this way 2 times out of 10.  More than likely, 1 or more of those bins will have been dumped out and its contents will have been scattered all over the floor.)

Off of the toy room, we have another room.  I want to call it the theater.  Josh wants to call it the mancave.  Either way, it needs some TLC.  (And I didn't bother interrupting the underwear clad video gamer for these shots.  You're welcome.)

Past the toy room and down the hall you'll find the guest bathroom. 

And the bedroom is right there, too.

(We hope you enjoy your stay in Casa Bland.)

At the end of the hallway are the boys' bedrooms and their jack-and-jack bathroom.

First, Jackson's (angle captured by standing in his closet).

And here's Colton's (angle captured by holding the camera above my head and crossing my fingers).

An odd peek into their difficult-to-photograph bathroom:

But let's go bounding back downstairs for my favorite part.  C'mon!!!

The backyard.  The pièce de résistance.  The cherry on top.  

I love this yard!  I love the grass.  I love the fence.  I love the spa.  I love the shed.  I love the pool.  I love the patio.  I love the diving board.  I love the room for our future outdoor kitchen.  I love all the windows that look onto the backyard.  I love *most* of our outdoor pets - especially these guys:

I love it all. 

Not a day goes by that I don't feel blessed to get to raise our kids here and share life together in this space.

Now, as you can see, we have some decorative work to get done --- so maybe I should go get busy.  Anyone want to help???

  

Summer Break: Weeks 6 and 7

Dearest Jax and Colton,

The hands on summer's clock tick faster than the average clock.  That can be the only explanation for how we've ended up a week shy of August!  The past few weeks have been fun and relaxing and I've been a total stinker about taking pictures!  In no particular order, here are some recent moments as seen through the lens of my iPhone:

We swam with Brody, Kate, and Jacob in their neighborhood's pool.

We went to see this cute movie as a family.  (Colt, this was your first!)

We've been slapped in the face by potty training.

We partied at Laine's 2nd birthday party!

And came home with these fun glasses from her goody bags!

We met up with Logan, Laine, and Jacob at Going Bonkers!

We dressed up as cows and joined Kinley and Kohen for a free meal!

We had Kennedy over to swim in our pool...and something about this playdate inspired you to start using your floatie, Colt!  Look at you hanging out in the deep end!!

I got dominated in Mario Kart.  A lot.  

Jax, you and Daddy joined Grady & his daddy at a Rangers game.  You even came home with a baseball full of autographs!

Brody & Kate came to swim with us in the rain!

See!?  I told you it's been fantastic!  

And it's not over yet!  We still have 3 more weeks together!!

Summer Break: Week 5

Dearest Boys,

On the fifth week of summer break, your grandparents gave to you...... THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL TIME!!!  

Week 5 was THE week.  The one I had been praying for over the last half decade.  The one I still find hard to believe.  The one that will completely change your childhood.  Your Grandpa & Grandma (mommy's parents) sold their house in Indiana, bought a house here in Texas, and moved into that house just so that they could be near us.  Let that sink in.  

Do you realize the enormity of it?  I lack the adjectives but let me tell you - it's huge!  Your daddy was blessed to live near both sets of his grandparents and they were actively involved in shaping the man he is today.  Just ask him for some of his best memories from when he was your age and I'll bet many of them take place at Grandpa and Grandma's house.  On the other hand, I did not have that sort of relationship with my grandparents and I think that's why I wanted it so desperately for the two of you.  

Now those prayers have been turned to praise.  My new prayer is that you always honor them, remain open to them, and thank them for the sacrifices they've made for you.  

At only 4.8 miles away from us, we've been at their house a few times since they moved in.  

((While it might seem mysterious that Grandpa and Daddy are both absent from these pictures, I assure you that they were around - probably off tackling some house project together!))

Now if we could somehow get the entire Rabaduex clan to move down here too.......  ; )

Summer Break: Weeks 3 and 4

Dearest Jackson & Colton,

On Tuesday of Week 3, Billy & Heather flew in to visit us from Virginia.  Although you hadn't seen them since last summer, you both warmed up to them right away!

On Wednesday, we ventured into Dallas to play at a new park.  It's called Klyde Warren Park and it seems to be DFW's version of Central Park, just on a much smaller scale.  It was our first visit there and I didn't know there were water features....but that didn't stop you boys from splashing around!

While I like to keep this memory "book" upbeat, I do want to include a memory that, although scary, was eye-opening for me.  A little boy, not much older than you, Jax, was playing on a nearby climbing structure when he fell.  Upon hearing the call for help, Heather (the nurse) sprung into action and rushed to his side.  As she worked to help the unconscious child, I tried to gather you boys and take you away from the chaos.  During the entire ordeal (even as the paramedics arrived and rushed him away), you could not take your eyes off of him and stood guard from a safe distance.  Your level of concern was unlike I'd ever seen from you before.  You were very worried about him so you and I prayed together and then you announced that you wanted to leave the park immediately!  We walked over to the food trucks and had a lovely lunch and that seemed to lighten the load on your heart a bit.

Thursday was one of Ms. Steph's 4 scheduled summer sitter days.  You boys played with your friends all day at her house so Daddy took off of work and we took Billy & Heather to explore the city.  First stop was Cowboys Stadium.

We hiked through the stands, toured the locker rooms, and had a mini-press conference before playing a game of toss on the turf.

We headed to the West End for lunch and then took a segway tour of the city.

Billy & Heather used Friday to go exploring on their own so we played in the pool for a few hours.

(And some of us worked on our tans!)

We hired a babysitter that night so that we could double date.  First stop, Heather's favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse.

Then it was into Fort Worth to our favorite comedy club, Four Day Weekend.  

Not getting home until 1am meant that Saturday was a very chillax day.  We hosted a get together that evening and friends started showing up at 4:00.

Here are some of the cute kids that partied with us.

Here are some of the cute adults that partied with us.

All 20 guests were gone by 8:00 so we tucked you boys into bed and kept the good times going with game night.  It was another late night full of laughing!  

We were bright eyed and bushy tailed for church on Sunday morning & we followed that up with even more swimming!  Sunday night was reserved for Medieval Times.  This was a first for you boys and I loved watching your reactions to all the hoopla!  

We were the first ones in line on Monday morning at the SeaLife Aquarium.  This was another spot we hadn't visited before.  You two loved running around the place and the fun was over much too soon!

The city of Grand Prairie greeted us on Tuesday when we drove there to have lunch with Daddy.  We left Billy there so that they could play around the shop and then have a guys night out.  Meanwhile, we napped, went out for dinner, and visited Grandma & Grandpa's soon-to-be new house.  While there, you boys wanted to frolic around the golf course.   Fun times : )

Wednesday was their last day with us so we made the trek to Billy's favorite store of all time - Cabela's.   While it's definitely a hunter's paradise, it was outstanding for kids too and you both loved it!  There were much cooler photo opps than this one but I was running out of photo-taking steam (if you hadn't noticed) so this one shot wraps up our fun:

From there, we took them to the airport and wished them a tearful goodbye.  It was a spectacular trip and it made weeks 3 and 4 of our summer vacation extra-special!