Happy Birthday Meryn!

Meryn turned 5 years old today. Her brothers begged me to wake her at 7:30 this morning so they could sing to her. She was excited from that moment on. She went to spend time with Grandma & Grandpa for a couple hours, went to the fair and took a train ride. She had a fun filled day. We took her back to the fair this afternoon with her friends. They rode a bunch of rides and then she picked out cookies instead of a cake. We topped off the day by going to visit daddy at the fire station. She complained about her tummy hurting and crashed on the floor at 7 pm. So this must have been an exhausting day! We love you Meryn, Happy Birthday!!!!

Things I never want to forget

Well that may not be quite true on some details I give.

Brendon & Caleb were in 1st grade when I was sleeping really well one day and overslept to get them from school. I woke up around 3:25 I believe and panic struck. Meryn and Trevin were both sleeping as I grabbed them and drug them to the car. I was not dressed to be seen by anyone and as I was speeding the one mile to the school, I realized Meryn must have a very nasty diaper by the smell of things. The parking lot was empty when I pulled up and I was sick that I would have to go to the office to get them looking the way I did.

That was the last time I thought about the way I looked that day. As I ran into the school, feeling like a loser mom, it only took a couple strange looks and no kids in sight for my embarrassment to change to fear. No one had seen my boys since they were dismissed at 3:10. I had such a pit in my stomach as I ran to the van and decided to drive home really quick watching for them to be walking home. Well I looped every road twice and no twins in sight. I ended up back at the school where they had called 911 and I had to get on the phone and give them a description. I was so anxious to get back out looking for them; it would be interesting to see the report. I had absolutely no idea how tall they were what they weighed or which t-shirt they had under their jackets. All I new was they looked identical and I remember telling the dispatcher that they should be easy to spot, I would hope, they were the only two 7 year old twins with glasses and backpacks on the loose.

Greg was on duty at the fire department, so when he finally got the okay to come be with me, I really needed him! I was an emotional wreck. We left stinky Meryn and Trevin with another first grade teacher and were told to go home to wait in case the boys showed up. That didn't happen! Our first glimmer of hope came from a parent who lived close by, said he had seen them crossing main street(a very busy street). I just found that so surprising because I was always so over protecting and never let them cross any streets without a Greg or I and they never had.

Well by this time it is after 4 pm, Greg has his fire radio and we hear all the fire trucks and even the a couple chiefs were headed to that part of town to help with the search. There were already at least 6 cops swarming the area also. The next lead we had was from my parents neighbor. He had seen the boys walking away from my parents house, which he thought was strange, but said they looked like they knew where they were going. I had such a better feeling knowing at least no one had taken them, even though I was still scared, that helped. It was about 4:25 when we got the call that a teacher had spotted them and had them safe. We rushed over to where they were and apparently it was announced over the radios also. There were 4 fire engines 2 chiefs trucks, 3 cop cars, a chaplain and the teachers(oh and a helicopter, from the Lifeteam at the hospital, circling over the area) when we pulled along side the road where they were. It looked like something major had just happened. It was major!!! It was such a surge of emotion when we got to them, they were crying (I believe out of fear from all the men in uniform and fear of being in trouble). We just hugged them and have never felt such relief.

So this is what happened according to Brendon and Caleb...

All the kids were picked up and they thought everyone had left the office also. So they decided to walk the mile to grandma and grandpas house, for some reason, instead of the mile home. Brendon did not want to walk but Caleb was going to go with or without him and Brendon sure didn't want to be left by himself, so he went reluctantly (still his personality today). They got to my parents house, found the key(they were out of town) and went in and called our house(I should have listened to the dispatcher). The phone was off the hook, so they spent a while looking through drawers for G&G cell phone numbers. They couldn't find them so they locked up the house, returned the key and headed home. The odd part is they went a way we never walk and went through a big open field, which is where they were spotted by the teacher and my nightmare ended. I guess I did get embarrassed again at that point, with how I looked. I actually felt & looked the part of a looser mom:) along with Meryn in only a stinky diaper:)

I know God protected our little guys that day and I am so thankful. It was one of the scariest days we've ever had and hope to ever have!!!

Finally some pictures of our house...

I took some pictures today of most of the house. (some encouragement from a certain sister helped:)) There are still many unfinished projects as you can tell. We are making lots of progress so far. We have slowed way down, as we over did it initially. We are slowly but surely turning it into feeling more like our home.

Brendon & Calebs Room

Trevin's KU room

Meryn's room

We have so many closets, we put shelves up and made this the kids shoe closet.

Kids computer area in the basement.

WII CENTER

One of the many storage areas to hide all the kids toys.

Basement music (noise) area

Kitchen eating area
Kitchen

Any ideas what kind of tile this is? We aren't 100% sure yet.

Living Room

The only bathroom of the four I dared to take a picture of.

Another unique feature we'll probably rarely use, a "Butler's Pantry".

Storage area for all our pictures until we decide where to put them. One of the rooms we have done nothing to, except taken wall paper down.



Dining room. Still a work in progress.

First day of school...

Brendon and Caleb are in 5th grade this year, Trevin is in the Third grade. They all had a great first day and are very excited to get back into the school routine. They were up before us this morning wanting to leave early to see all their friends before school started. They love that they don't have to wait for us to get ready to drive them. Greg walked with them yesterday but they were ready to go on their own this morning. I already know we are going to love living this close to the school.

We're all moved in...

We have worked non-stop for the last two weeks on the new house. Things are going really well and we are loving the space. It is just a lot of space to update. My sister Elisa (Seaba Five) came for several days and we got lots of painting and decorating done. Then Greg's brothers family (Lanker Time) came for 4 days and we did lots more painting and Heather made us curtains and window seat pillows for all the kids windows. We also got all the wallpaper peeled off all the walls. So we have made a bunch of progress, we just have a bunch more to go. It is so worth it to have all this space. It has been so nice for the kids to have places to go play. They are all loving it! Check out Lanker Time on our blog roll for a couple pictures and we promise to post some soon.

We're Homeless!

We just closed on our old home and are now waiting for a few hours to close on the new one. It has been an exhausting few days, but the end is in sight. I know we've been terrible at updating, but as soon as we have a few minutes to get a few pictures and think of something funny to write, I'll get things rolling. Anyway, keep us in your prayers as we finish up our move.

PURE EXHAUSTION

We have been packing all of our stuff in the moving truck since last night. We have so much more than we realized. The kids have all been big help and have been good at disappearing when mommy would get a little(ok, a lot)stressed. We are going to spend one last night just for memories in this house before we start the rest of the big move tomorrow. We are excited to have the room to put 11 years of accumulative stuff!

We bought a house!

We are a little slow at keeping up here in the blog world lately. We are very busy getting ready to move. We bought a house the end of June and we are very excited to be moving in next week. We won't know what to do with four times the space twice the amount of bedrooms and four bathrooms. No more fighting over just one. The kids are all very excited. We will post pictures once we are all settled in.

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY BRENDON & CALEB

We love you and we are so proud of you both, Happy Birthday boys!!!

Twins

I know it shouldn't surprise me, but I still think it's pretty interesting how Brendon and Caleb are so much alike. Today, within an hour of each other, they both lost the same tooth. And it's not the first time. Kind of weird.

God Answers Prayer

Look what happened at 11 o'clock tonight. What a relief! After 45 days on the market, we got a great offer tonight from a couple and accepted without a counter. It exceeded our expectations. The Lord is good. Now comes the hard part, finding something else. Please keep us in prayer as we finalize everything and continue our search for a new home or place to build.

What We've been up to...

We are not doing so great at keeping this blog updated so I am going to just make this a variety post. The biggest part of our time is spent keeping the house and yard clean at all times as we show the house several times each week. There are a few families that have been back multiple times and show a lot of interest. No offers yet though. There is someone coming to look again tonight that sounds like it could result in an offer. They have been through several times now. We haven't found a house that we think would work for us yet,(we are being a little picky) so if ours does sell we may just rent for a while. We are talking about building but haven't made any final decisions yet.


Summer is finally here and the kids are anxious to keep a busy schedule. They are always asking first thing in the morning what the plan is for the day. I took them to the water park yesterday and they had a great time. It is so much easier now. The boys spent their time at the diving board and lap swimming and Meryn spent her time in the smaller kids pool with her friends. She can't quite reach everywhere so she likes to keep her life jacket on. That makes my job a lot easier.


Trevin is playing machine pitch baseball and has his first game on Tuesday. He is doing a good job and really enjoys it. This is his first year to play baseball.


Brendon and Caleb have decided to try something new this summer. They are going to do the Salty Pup Triathlon. It is for kids 15 and under. They will swim 100 meters, bike 4.2 miles, Run 1 mile. This is August 9th for all you cousins that want to come join them:).


We plan on making several camping trips this summer and a trip to San Antonio. So that should help take up some of the long days.

Face painting at the school carnival

Fun at the water park

Spending time with cousins in Kansas City

Trevin

Trevin had cowboy day at school, so we had to go get him a hat and bandanna. He was just upset we didn't get him boots also.

His class did a community project last week. All the second graders went to some apartments for people who have become homeless and need emergency housing. They planted lots of flowers in several different areas. He loved getting dirty as usual. When we drove away he told me that we were really lucky that we had a home to live in and how he felt sorry for those people that may not. He has a big heart and loves to always help out so I know this was an eye-opening experience for him.

I took him for a physical yesterday and he is catching his brothers. He is in the 50% percentile. I think he will pass them both up the way he is growing. He is such a fun happy boy, who is always making us laugh. He is playing machine pitch baseball and loving it.