Bye Bye July

July went by so fast!  August here we come!

We've had a good week.  The boys started a gymnastics class at the rec center and are having a good time perfecting their tumbling skills.  Justin started his new job at Iliff today.  He also met with his adviser on his dissertation proposal.  I'm enjoying working from home two days a week now until the end of August when the boys get started in school.  They play so well together while I'm working in the morning.  Then we go to the library and do some school activities.  I love having extra time at home with them.  We're enjoying the Olympics, and we're looking forward to camping next weekend in the great outdoors.

Here are some pics from the week:

We made "brownies-in-a-mug" during the opening ceremony of the Olympics

 One of my troublesome areas in the new house, affectionately known as "the cave"

My first attempt at filling the cave.  (:

Jacoby painting

Enjoying popsicles on the patio

Summer Fun

Now that we're moved and mostly settled, we've been able to get out and do some fun summer things.  The community down the road from us shows movies outside on a big screen every Friday evening, so the boys and I went and saw The Wizard of Oz.  They were completely enthralled with the story and the stars that appeared once it got really dark.

We also had our friends M. and A. over for a sleepover.  It was a fun night of popsicles, Twister, glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and sleeping bags.  The boys have really mastered riding their bikes in our neighborhood, since the sidewalks are wide and flat.  They love going to get the mail and venturing over to the park.  They've also been spending plenty of time in the sprinklers.

Grandmanette, Grandpa Michael, and Great Grandma Marilyn visited last weekend.  It was fun having them here, and we enjoyed good food and conversation.  The grandmas and I ventured out to two great indoor flea markets and enjoyed strolling through the aisles, scoping out treasures.  Marilyn found a great set of books for the boys, and they spend quite a bit of their time each day reading them.

I'm working on getting the few remaining boxes unpacked and some "troublesome" areas reorganized.  I love this house and just feel so blessed to be here.  Our old rental house was put up for sale on Friday and is already under contract.  We're not surprised, but the new owners sure have a lot of work cut out for them to get that place updated and repaired!

We've been heart broken for the families and victims of the Aurora shooting.  It was such a senseless thing.  I hug my boys tighter each day and hope and pray for a safer tomorrow for them.

Getting all twisted up!

Lighting up their glow-in-the-dark bracelets

A. showing off her new treasure

Watching the Laurie Berkner Band in their sleeping bags

All wet from the sprinklers and watering our poor, dying flowers

iPad time with Grandmanette

Books with Great Grandma Marilyn

Watching their boats float down the stream at the park

They love this mini bike park

Morgan on the rim

Jacoby on the rim

Riding across the field towards our neighborhood

 

Our view of Longs Peak

The Great Move of 2012

We are officially moved and getting settled into our new home.  The move last week was hot, smokey, and tons of work.  I'm so glad it's over!  We couldn't have done it without wonderful help from Grandmanette and Grandpa Michael.  And the boys were excellent troopers who spent a lot of unsupervised time playing in one house or the other and really only resurfaced for food and drink.

We've spent most of this past week getting the old house tidied up.  We left our keys there yesterday, said good-bye, and are now down to one household.  I'm looking forward to spending time this weekend getting things unpacked and settled.  We love the new house and I think it's going to suit us well for many, many years (hope so because I don't plan on moving again...ever).  The neighbors we've met so far are very friendly and a welcome committee stopped by with cookies this week.  We've been exploring the parks and new running trails (which sometimes means longer runs when one misjudges the distances on the new trails).  Next up on our list is a visit to the new library, a new activity for the boys (like karate or swimming), and possibly a camping trip before school starts (since the fires are back under control and the ban has been lifted). 

Here are some pictures from the past week:

 The boys enjoyed a picnic dinner in the new house the first night we were there

 Over the course of nearly 11 years of marriage, Justin and I have moved 5 times (2 interstate, 3 local).  This move took 2 Uhauls...sigh.

 The boys loved the big truck

 We celebrated the 4th of July with a yummy dinner and then watched the DC fireworks program in the comfort of our air-conditioned basement

During the moving chaos, Morgan had some allergy testing done and we have officially added tuna, salmon, and shrimp to our menu.  Our first salmon dinner was delicious!

 You can see what filled a majority of the boxes we moved!