A Happy Fourth of July

Happy 4th of July!

Summer love! So sweet.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL 4th!!!! What an awesome weather and family and friend-packed weekend! Ahhhh! SUMMER. How I love you.

We are all moved in! So what does that mean? Family visited us!!! They helped hang pictures and vanity cabinets, cleaned out gutters and installed a new slop sink. We of course fed them for all their hard work:)

It's nice to see that progress is being made on the house. All our new toilets are installed and things are finding homes, or else I'm donating. Karl has been busy putting in a new sump pump, tending to the lawn, putting in a dehumidifier, hanging things for me and doing all kinds of things. I'm pretty sure he'll go nuts on me any day. We tend to move at different speeds. There are a few more updates that need to be made yet, but for the most part I feel much more settled. MUCH more!!! Every day gets better:)

Tot (my sis in law) and Jackson playing! SO great to see these guys!

Always on the go! Jackson loves to walk and run.

Jackson hanging with his best bud, Kacey. He even sang happy birthday to her!

BUBBLES!!!!!

HUGE thank you to my mom and dad and my brother and sister in law for all their help!!!!

For now, I'm ready to take it easy!!!! Everything else can wait. Even the sink faucet knobs that turn the opposite way... They can wait. Well, maybe....

AWESOME! At Costco! $13.00. Take a pack (comes with two) and stick in oven for 15 minutes. Chop up into pieces and you have STEAK fajitas!!!!!!!! Chop some bell peppers and onions (fry in olive oil), cook up black beans, avocado, tomatoes...DONE! YUM!

HUGE pregnancy craving. THESE ARE GOOD!!!!! Costco too:) 

My projects before baby #2 comes:
1. Weed and landscape outside as much as I can (the bugs are BAD though!). [And here is some of the BEST SMELLING bug spray you can get that works AWESOME.] This weeding stuff is kind of fun. I didn't realize how therapeutic it can be. Jackson gets to run around outside while I pull weeds and dig up worms. Then he comes running over and sits on my lap to see what other bugs we can uncover.

2. Wash windows and blow off screens. These are driving me NUTS. They are SO dirty. I'm ready to tackle this project, but just haven't had the time, nor am I sure I know what I'm doing. I read something about using Dawn dish soap. Might have to try this!

3. Clean out the garage. There are a few more boxes (maybe 12 or so?) to unpack and bins to move to their correct home, but for the most part, we have broken down and recycled a ton of the boxes and are having a friend pick up the awesome moving boxes. That will be NICE once those are out. Same with the old toilets. Be gone!!! Then Karl can set up his Keg-O-Rator and take the big keg out of the extra fridge and put it in that! Ahhh! More room. And we have a deep freezer that needs to be set up that holds all the deer meat.

4. SET UP BABY'S NURSERY! I walk by this room a lot since it's right outside our master bedroom. It's pink. Karl and I both think we're having another boy now. What do do? What to do? It shouldn't take TOO long to set up, but for the most part, I think we need to decide if we're keeping the pink or if we wait...

Anyway, my younger brother and sister-in-law and their dog Kacey came up on Friday. We hung out and had a fun time! Lots of YUMMY food! Homemade pizza, steak fajitas, brats and kraut on the grill all weekend long. Cookies! Rhubarb banana muffins! WATERMELON. YUMMY!  They had a wedding and dropped Kacey with us on Saturday. We had a 5-year-old birthday party to go to later that night and my parents were also coming up for the rest of weekend too! So it all worked out.

Family dinner!

The bday party was SO much fun! I think Jackson is in love. SO SO SO adorable! We LOVE this family. LOVE.

First kiss. Jackson and Eleanor. So precious. 

Jackson and Lidia. Buds for LIFE!

Sweet Jenna and her kids! Chuck turned 5!!! Man, time flies! Chuck was SO awesome and gave Jackson his beloved garbage truck toy! Jackson is in heaven. 

As much as I love having family up, it is a lot of work too. I think Karl and I are both in need of a night where we have a little normalcy... maybe a little Wheel of Fortune or a night of reading magazines in bed. Or a DATE NIGHT?? SOMETHING. We are SIMPLE people. I promise! Right now we've been up late, up early and busy busy busy with projects. Fireworks were going all night long all weekend so I think we're both pretty tired. We're not talking baby fireworks either. We're talking cannons and the big doggers at 3 a.m. Ufdah.

Time for rest. 25 weeks tomorrow!!! And busting out of my normal clothes. I REALLY have to get some maternity clothes bought. All the ones I have are for the winter...

Naughty Papa!!!!