On a much more positive note...

We have had five sets of neighbors stop by since we've moved in.  Bringing trays of cookies and hand written cards with their contact information just in case we ever need it.  I cannot tell you how happy that makes me feel, like we chose a really good place to raise our kids.  Things like if our dog(s) ever got out or something happened we would have someone there to help.  All of them have said things like, well living out here you have to watch out for each other...which I couldn't agree with more.

And look who got to ride with her Dad around the property on the new "tractor". :-D

Holy Sickness....

Holy sickness Batman.  So the girls caught some stomach thing last week which lasted two days and then two days to recover.  Now they both have what sounds like emphysema.  While I hate sickness for the obvious reasons, the crankiness that comes with it has got to be my least favorite currently.  This Mama right here is done with it.  I think I will just lock them in their room until they can be nice, the whining and crying and fit throwing is just about all I can take.

Oh yeah and did I mention that right after I hit "Publish" on that last blog I heard Joe say to Austin, be careful don't get going too fast...just then I look outside and Austin is on her bike flying down our driveway.  I said some very choice words and ran out there just in time for her to completely wipe out.  Luckily she was wearing her helmet so her hands are scrapped up and her forehead has a new helmet raspberry across it.

Happenings...

We had a busy weekend.  First Jim and Lisa got here on Thursday so we could all go to Helen's graduation on Friday.  We finished up some of the house stuff on Saturday and then my Dad's memorial was on Sunday followed by a BBQ here at the house yesterday.  Oh yeah and I am now the very proud mother of a 4 year old. :-)

Helen's graduation was amazing, they started with the Doctoral candidates and all I could think was what a huge sacrifice it must take to make it to that level.  Then all the Master's degrees went, the speaker asked of all of the students three questions and if they answered yes to any they were to stand up...who among them was a first generation college graduate, who worked throughout their degree and lastly who volunteered.  I don't believe anyone was left sitting.  Bottom line college is different now, you bust your ass during the school time and afterwards since times are leaner...or at least they seemed so from the standing crowd.  The President of the University gave a speech and one of my favorite lines was "If you care less about the credit and more about the job you will get much further in life."  I loved that quote.

Here's some of the pictures from the graduation.

Look at that goofy near 2 year old.

And super silly New 4 year old!  Both girls sat through the two and a half hour presentation without hardly a fuss.  Aunt Lisa asked how that was possible and I told her it's because they both know that at any given moment if they misbehave I will yank them out of here by there hair embarrassment or not.

There's the Master's Graduate with her two cheerleaders.

Helen's roommate Jose and the girls.

My Dad's memorial was at my family's old homestead site, both of my grandparents ashes are scattered there as well.  It was an amazing BBQ in the mountains with family friends and a ton of photo albums.  We sat around in the sun reminiscing of fishing trips and the fact that no Wells can ever pronounce anything correctly the first time around.  I told Joe that while I plan on living forever...just in case I don't...that's what I want.  No tears, no buildings...just family/friends and laughter.

We decided that it was time for Austin to have a Big Girl bike, now that's she 4 and all.  Wow...I have a 4 year old.  I sent off her pre-school application last week, very begrudgingly.  I wish upon wishes that I could keep her safe and sheltered all of her life but we all know that the more I hold on tightly the more she will grow and push away.  Sigh.  

Look at that Big Girl!  And my new badass riding lawn mower in the background.

McShane

So we obviously got all moved into our new place and while the first night was really hard for me (I have the WORST buyers remorse) every morning since then has been getting more and more wonderful.  The girls love seeing deer and trying to sneak up on bunnies.  It's like we moved them clear out into the country even though Wal-Mart is 12 minutes away.  We decided to keep the girls sharing a room both because I think it helps with their bond and their feelings of safety.  I think that's part of the reason why moving into this new house hasn't been hard on either of them...they both have each other so everything feels some what normal.  Here are some pictures of our new home. :-D

The girls room, and both girls getting ready for nap time.

The other side of the girls room, with the changing table in the closet.

 The playroom, we managed to fit our old couch in here and the girls love all the space.

 We found those Pinocchio pictures in one of the storage lockers that we bought, I never had a place for them but that room (with the crazy black and red paint) works perfectly.

 The guest room (can you tell the lady that used to live here was an art teacher...she can do some amazing things with paint.)

 Joe and I's room.

 Our bathroom in our room.

 The walk-in closet in our room.

 The main bathroom.

 The living room complete with Joe's favorite piece of furniture the new sectional.

The front door and the wall to the basement stairs, we decided to make it our "sayings" wall.

 My office.

 The view from the other side of my office as you can see it is right next to the front door exactly where I would have chose it to be.

 The formal dining room.

 My kitchen, the picture does not do it justice as to how large this thing is.

 My favorite room in the house, the breakfast nook.  You have a complete view of the entire back part of the property from here.

 The back porch.

 Looking down into the flower beds and grass.

 The half bathroom just down from the kitchen.

 The laundry room next to the half bathroom.

 Joe's workshop off the back end of the garage.

 What home wouldn't be complete with a putting green and some horse shoe pits?

 Looking down the back path and the cubby for the BBQ.

 The stream and pond, you can't see them but we just got the prettiest Koi fish EVER.

 The view out the back park of the property, we own as far as you can see through the woods.

 The front meadow area of the property.

 The front of the house, every room but ours has those pop-outs for the windows.

 The driveway.

 The basketball hoop and of course the boat.

 A roughed in room in the basement I am using for storage.

 The area of the basement that Joe would like to eventually turn into the wet bar.

 Jeep parking place and the walk out sliding glass door.

 Look at all that space....that small spec off in the distance is a couch. :-)

 The whole house is heated by radiant heat, so there are these gray pipes running throughout the floors to heat everything via hot water.  System looks complicated to me.

 The only room in the basement that is somewhat finished.  We would like to complete this room and turn it into a Mother-In-Law apartment for guests. 

Homeless

Last Friday without a major hitch we sold our house.  We were supposed to close on our next house that afternoon but hit a snag.  Several years back Sears charged my credit card for a credit monitoring service and by the time I found out about the charge the payment was late so I disputed the charge and the lateness of it.  Sears agreed and took it off my credit but the dispute was never marked as closed.  So when they pulled my credit one last time before the Friday close it showed that I had a dispute sitting there, it instantly stopped everything while my credit was being updated.  Apparently during the big mortgage crisis everyone would charge up their credit cards and then dispute all of the charges and it would appear that they didn't owe as much.  My Sears card has been paid off for years and we don't ever use it for anything expect major purchases, appliances and what not.  So it didn't even dawn on us to look into it before this.  Here we are one week later and have a scheduled closing this afternoon if nothing goes wrong.  I have lost much of the optimism that I once had and I am sure will stay sick to my stomach until we get moved in.  We have been living at Tadd's house which has been great, the girls think we live with super heroes...what with being around Uncle Wells and Nate all the time.  Of course I spend most of my day attempting to repair whatever the girls are breaking or destroying, a house with two single guys living in it is much different than a family house with two toddlers.  Here's hoping we are no longer homeless at 2PM today.

Then on Saturday morning I got a call that my Dad took a turn for the worse over night.  He has been bed ridden for years now but otherwise was in good shape but was now having trouble breathing.  When I got down there the chaplain was at his house doing final prayers so I text Tadd that he needed to get over there.  We both sat there helpless watching my Dad take his final breaths.  No one will ever be able to explain to me why it was more humane to "put" Moose down but yet I had to watch my Dad suffocate.  It was all I could do to keep my legs under me.  And in true death fashion as the days tick by I remember less of the times that I could have choked him and more of the times with him and my siblings hunting and fishing.  Tadd and I were talking and if the one silver lining from the house purchase not going through on Friday afternoon was the fact that I was around my cell phone rather than moving when I got the call and that we all got to spend the next few days together rather than alone.

Last night while making posters for our lost cat (she got out over here at Tadd's and we can't find her) Joe walked around the corner and assured me that if I can hold it together for just a bit more that when we move in I can cry my sorrows away in a bath of beer and wine.  I am holding out for that.

Just look at that Super Hero and his girls, they pretty much HAVE to be sitting next to him if he's around.