Final Soccer Class

The morning of Ronan's last soccer practice we woke up to rain, so his class got moved from the park near our house to the indoor Kick City facility in Springfield. Ronan was excited to get to play on the "fake" grass! Here he is trying to score a goal past his coach.

My parents surprised Ronan by coming to watch. He was so happy, and Griffin liked the extra company too!

final team cheer

Coach Greg handed out a certificate with the team picture on it to all of the kids.

Such an excited little soccer player!

Griffin throwing a rubber disc
Photo by Papa

Muddy Boys

cousin time + crazy skies

August 15th continued...

After our work was done for the day we decided to find a place to cool off. The Chases joined us along with Natasha and Wyatt, and we went to Alton Baker park to feed the ducks and play in the river. It was such a pretty summer evening!

A mama duck with her ducklings

Cohen, Sadie, and Ronan heading down to the water.

It felt so nice to be in the water!

Natasha and Ronan

Griffin throwing rocks into the river

Tyler and Griffin building a dam

Josh and Ronan working on the dam

Cohen and Becca

It was so cool watching the sky change while we were playing. First the clouds turned pink...

Then the whole sky turned pink and purple.

Blurry picture on the drive home.

And, finally, later that night there was a big thunder storm! Josh patiently waited outside with the camera to get a picture of a lightning bolt:

work party

August 15, 2008
Josh took the day off work to continue working on the siding of the new house in preparation for painting the following weekend. I was busy packing and painting in our old house to get everything ready for the carpet to be replaced. It was super hot and not much fun...but my family came to the rescue! My dad, Uncle Keith, and my cousin, Wyatt, worked with Josh and also moved a bunch of boxes up to the attic of the new house. Aunt Carol and my cousin, Natasha, helped me paint our bedroom---they did most of it! They were all amazing! I know it was not at the top of their list of fun things to do on vacation, but we really appreciated their willingness to help us. It was fun for us to have their company, and I hope it was somewhat enjoyable for them, too. (: OK, on to the pictures:

Ronan, Natasha, and Aunt Carol standing in Ronan's closet in his new room.

Wyatt carrying boxes from one house to the other.

Uncle Keith

Papa working on the siding/trim on the scaffolding at the peak of the roof.
See below

This picture was taken a few nights before. Josh and my dad are on ladders on the scaffoding....scary sight! Thankfully everyone was safe!

Our bedroom before:

Aunt Carol and Natasha painting over the yellow walls.

Our bedroom after:
(this picture was taken after the new carpet was installed)

Back to August...

During the Hickman's visit we all went out to dinner at Roaring Rapids Pizza. I believe it was the hottest day of the summer, but we still sat outside and enjoyed the sound & view of the river in the background. The kids (and adults) had fun on the indoor carousel and running around on the outside lawn. It was a great evening...and kinda started cooling off by the time we were leaving.

Katrina and Finn

Sweet Sadie on the carousel

Ronan--looking like such a big boy!

Cohen, Becca, Natasha, and Aunt Carol

Josh & Tash
Sisters
(Mom & Aunt Carol)

The Chase Fam

Our Family

The Henrys

Natasha, Wyatt, Aunt Carol, and Uncle Keith

Josh making Griffin fly SO high!

pretty sunset on the river...

Quick Update

I have so much to catch up on...so many fun August moments and now we're already into September, but it will have to wait! We have been busier than ever these last two weeks...continuing to work on our new house while also finishing up several projects to get our current house ready to sell. I'm happy to report that our house is officially on the market!! If you want to check out our listing, click here. Feel free to spread to word to any locals looking to buy a house. (:

As you can see from the pictures, we have completely moved out of our house. Most everything is in storage in the attic of our new house, and my parents have graciously opened their upstairs "apartment" for us to live in until we get occupancy in the new house (by the end of the month, lord willing!). It has been working out really well! The kids especially are having fun living at Memaw & Papa's house, and I have enjoyed having the extra help while Josh is working overtime on the house.

I'll try to post pictures soon!

Garden Tea

While the Hickmans were here, we got to have some girl time with Aunt Carol and Natasha. Becca and I brought them with us to our friend, Jincy's, annual tea in her beautiful little backyard. We were able to leave our kids (minus Sadie) with Papa, Uncle Keith, and my cousin Wyatt. It was so cool that the guys were willing to do that for us! (Mom was working, so she wasn't able to come.) It was such a nice & peaceful little break for me from our 'construction zone' at home! We all had fun looking around and getting ideas for our own yards. (:

Cousin Natasha, Aunt Carol, Becca, me, and Sadie at Jincy's tea.

We were so impressed with all of Jincy's creative ways of using small spaces to create such pretty floral scenes. There was so much to look at~it was amazing!
Sadie and Aunt Carol exploring together.

Sadie loved Ellie's playhouse.