excused absence

i know you guys have been worried sick about us, but we're just in transition.

this lovely little two-week phase where we get to live out of suitcases at our parents' houses.

see this big-bellied baby boy?  he doesn't like to sleep in the pack-and-play.

i also got new glasses.  i like them.

the movers come in exactly one week.  i'm pumped.

we'll be settled in no time!

Bob, My New Best Friend

Did I tell you?  My sweet three-year-old learned how to read.

Like, seriously.  She's really good at sounding out the words and she's a rock star with sight words {the, on, at, her, it, a, etc...}.

I'm allowed to brag because I'm momma + reading intervention specialist {in a former life}.

But for real, the BOB books are fantastic.  I'd heard good things, and thought we'd give them a whirl.  It literally took her 20 minutes and she was reading.  She was obviously ready and we'd been laying the groundwork since she was born, but these books were just the boost she needed.

The premise of the series is to give the child a simple book that they can master relatively quickly.  This gives them the confidence they need to move outside their comfort zone to learn new literacy skills.  Each book builds on previously mastered words and introduces one new sight word and one new sound.  Pure genius, I tell you.

We bought these books at the beginning of June, and she's moving really quickly through them.  She's starting recognizing environmental print and even picks words out of books she's 'reading' to the baby.

Maybe it's just the literacy geek in me, but it's just so amazing to watch her learn to read.  I'm looking forward to sharing my love of reading with her.

Funday Tuesday!

I'm a little behind this week...things with the move are busy taking up my time.  We did manage to get some fun things accomplished last week, though.

We spent every single day last week in the pool.  With the heat index hovering right around 115, it was really the only place to be.  Here are some other things we did.

Some dear friends of ours invited us to watch 'Red, White, and Boom!' on a rooftop downtown.  How cool is that?!?  It was really awesome.  The whole display is set to music, and it was really fantastic.  A good time with good company.

Then, of course, we headed down to the July 4th parade on {duh} the 4th.  We had the bright idea to ride our bikes, which did allow us to completely skip the traffic situation.  But since the temperature was 102 and the bike trailer + kids is about 70 extra pounds....I almost didn't make it home.  Hot doesn't really describe it.  But this ritzy little town put on an impressive parade and we enjoyed ourselves.

And because we love doing ridiculous things in the Africa-style heat, we went camping that weekend.  On Friday, the kids and I met MacGyver's parents at a campground where my kids proceeded to literally roll around in the dirt.  We did have a great time, though, and love to spend time with the grandparents.  Always a treat.

Link up and share the fun times you've had with your littles!

The Dirty Thirty

Home is Where Your Husband Is

We got some really unexpected news last week...we're moving back home!

MacGyver was approached about and interviewed for a lead engineer position a few weeks ago.  Things have just fell right into place ever since, and he accepted a job at the beginning of last week.  It's all happening really quickly, but things are working out really well.  It's one of those times when you just need to take a step back and recognize the Lord's hand in your life.

Do NOT even get me started on the quality of this pic.  One of my darling offspring decided to play with my camera and messed up the settings.  I've since fixed it.

We were never really planning to move back home, but we're actually pretty excited about it.  We've loved our time here in the Buckeye state.  On the top of the list for us has been living so close to some of our very best friends.  We've seen them nearly every weekend since we've lived here, and it's just been so wonderful.  We're going to miss them terribly.

At a rooftop party yesterday.  Don't we have the coolest friends?!?

But on the bright side, I won't be spending so much time driving back and forth to visit family.  We traveled home much more often than I thought we would.  And we still own our home, so we get to move back in.  It's tiny cozy, but we're looking forward to the low mortgage payment.  And the low taxes in a good school district.  You've just gotta love the midwest.

And the view.  You've gotta love this view.

We were thinking we'd have to live with family for a few months, but our renter just told us he's going to move out next week.  Seriously so awesome.

The icing on the cake is that the new company is paying off our lease + packers + movers.  We've never had anything like that before, and it's kinda fun to move without any of the stress.  I like spending my energy planning how I want to decorate instead of throwing my crap into boxes.

It feels weird to be moving from this great community {it's seriously wonderful}, but it really does feel like we're moving back home.

Knee-High!

{clever title referencing DIY}

When we moved here, we were in serious need of some furniture in our bedroom.  For Christmas, MacGyver surprised me with a TV for our room.  Controversial, I know, but we love it.  Particularly at 6am when our children feel the need to start their day.

So we needed something on which to place the TV.  I high-tailed it to the ol' GW {goodwill for those of you not in the know} and found this diamond in the rough:

$15 for a solid wood desk with dovetailed drawers?  Yes please.

I had a coupon for a free paint sample at Benjamin Moore, and settled on 'Glimmer'.  A little sanding, painting, and hardware-updating later....

Such a great piece.  Sadly, this is the photo I used to craigslist it.  There just won't be room when we move back into our house.

But I did sell her {for $30!!} to a darling woman who is making a yellow office.

Winning.

Funday Monday!

Happy Monday!  How was your week?  Last week was kind of a bust activity-wise for us.  We started the week with Little Dude's fever of 102.5, and things just got crazier from there.  This news deserves a post of its own, but we found out this week that we're moving back home!  We have mixed emotions for sure, but feel good about the decision.  So we spent a large part of the week traveling or making plans for our move.

More driving.  Good thing I really enjoy my new van.

Despite the fever, I took the kids to the park for some swinging.  Always a good time.

When this cute boy was feeling better, I took the kids to this awesome and free splash park down the street.  Of course, Little Dude ran through the water once and then spent the rest of the time playing with this light.

We headed to the library one day and found some fun new books, and got some rewards from the summer reading program.

Going to Target probably doesn't count as a fun activity for my kids {it is for me!}, but I had to share this photo of my darling little girl.  Such a busy momma.

Link up and share your week!

For My Mom

My mom was quite miffed that she didn't get the typical 'cute kids holding happy birthday sign' birthday blog post.

Sorry, mom.  This is the best we've got these days.

We love you!