Play time...

The kids and I have had a great couple days finding parks in Derby. They have been great about waiting for me to get some things done around the house before we leave. I have managed to accomplish a ton this week!! It is amazing what one person can get done. Today we made our daily trip to Walmart/Target (I chose Walmart today because I think the people at Target would start to wonder if I had a shopping addiction). Then we found a park by our house. It was fun because there were a few other kids there for my kids to play with. I even introduced myself to the mom. She is a daycare mom a few blocks from the park. She gave me some great ideas to do with the kids this summer! We are even going to meet up some so all the kids can play. FUN TIMES! This afternoon while the kids have been napping I have managed to organize the back yard, blow up the pool and start filling it with water, program the sprinkler system and hang up a few more things. Wow what a day! Braeden has a baseball game tonight so our schedule is busy already. The weather is hot and we are enjoying our outside time! I promise to post pictures soon!

Welcome to Derby!!

We have moved and are getting all settled in. It has been a whirlwind few weeks but I think we are starting to slow down some. Friday before Memorial weekend the moving guys came and helped load all our stuff into the U-haul. Dean and Graham were with me to help assist the guys. I couldn't have done it with out them!! Thanks to my sister for loaning her husband out for the day! Thanks to Dean for all the work he has done to help us get ready for this big move. Friday night my dad and Nick Burger came over to help finish packing and get the truck to my parents house. I am so lucky to have such a great family to help me through all of this! Saturday morning we headed out of town early! It was hard to say goodbye to my nephews, sister and Graham. They headed to Duluth Saturday as well. We are all making our changes together!! My mom rode with me and the kids, Nick and Molly drove my dad's truck and dad drove the U-haul. I was so thankful to have my mom with me. It is a long drive and it always helps to have someone else to talk to. Especially since my kids can get restless and start fighting!! We made it to our new house in 11 hours! ELEVEN HOURS!! YUCK...it was an awful long drive with the U-haul, potty stops and just traffic for a holiday weekend. We made it and moods held out so that was a plus. We showed my family around the house and then headed to a late supper. The kids did great! We ate very late and didn't get back to the hotel until 10pm. They all crashed and we were able to sleep while Nick, my dad and Nick Burger met the moving guys at our house and unloaded everything. The kids, my mom, sister and I went to Target and got some things we needed there. It was perfect! We got to the house at noon and started unpacking. What a site!! There was no where to walk and it was so overwhelming to even know where to start. We pushed through and just kept laughing. Without the laughing I would've been crying. I will never give up a pantry or storage ever again!!! EVER AGAIN!! I have so much stuff and not enough places to put it. My mom and Molly were great at helping find places. My dad and the boys worked on the big things and got all of it done! I am so amazed what we accomplished in a day. I couldn't have done it without my family!! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!! It was so hard to say goodbye to them Monday morning. I have never lived away from my family before so this is a first. I am very excited for our new adventure but it was still hard to say goodbye. We will be back this summer! Now time to get settled in!!

Birthdays and more!

Nick is home for the weekend! We are so excited to have him home. He left earlier on Friday then he originally planned so I was able to spend some time with him Friday night. We went out with friends to celebrate my last day of daycare! It is hard to believe that I am done working for now. I know it won't feel real for awhile. Monday morning is sure going to be different for me. I won't be getting ready for kids to come to my house. I do have a new job waiting for me in Kansas. Nick's District Manager has hired me to work from home. I will be working part-time making recruiting calls for her. I will call people that apply, screen them and set up appointments for them to meet with the District Manager. I can't wait! I am so thrilled that I get to do this from my home. It is going to give me the flexibility that we need right now. Our luck is turning around! We rented our home to a family of 6 for the next year. We are so glad that it has worked out this way. We are going to take our house off the market for the time being. In 6 months we will reevaluate things and move forward from there. With the housing market not being in our favor at the moment we are happy to not have to lose money or give away our home!! This is a great thing for us right now.

Happy Birthday to my boys!! Charlie turned 2 on May 9th and Braeden turned 7 yesterday. I think Braeden had the best morning ever. My parents picked him up for breakfast and to take him shopping. They decided they wanted to buy him a new bike for his birthday. They had a great breakfast and then took him to Scheel's where he got to pick out his new bike. According to my mom, when he found out he got to pick it out he told them he wanted a green one. The sales guy told Braeden he had the perfect bike and that was that. Braeden is in love! He loves his new bike and is so thrilled that he had an awesome morning with Nana and Papa from the pool.

I have spent the last month packing, planning and getting ready for two special birthdays that we have! I decided that instead of having two family parties I would do one big one for both my boys. We had it yesterday! It takes a lot of planning to have a party. I always forget how much work it is, not sure how you can forget that ;) After talking with my parents we came up with the idea of having a pool party for the kids. My dad opened the pool up earlier this year so it would be ready for the boys' party. It looked amazing. Thanks dad!! Ali, Patsy, my mom and my Aunt Colleen had the house looking fantastic when I got there yesterday. I appreciate all the help! Thanks everyone!! I invited some of our friends to enjoy the day was well. The weather looked a little ify in the morning. The threat of severe weather was out and Nick and I were nervous the party would be rained out. The sun came out about 2pm and the wind picked up. It was quite windy but it was hot and sunny. The party started at 3:30 and the kids were all able to swim! It was so fun to see the kids in the pool for the first time this year. I am looking forward to many more visits to my parents' pool. The party was perfect. I think the kids all had a blast! I was wiped out and ready for bed early. I will post pictures when I get to Kansas. I apparently packed away my USB cord so I am not able to hook up my camera to download the pictures. Most of you who know me I am sure are shocked by the thought that I packed it. I have been on a mission to get this house packed so if it is out and in my way good bye, it goes in a box! Well I have mistakenly packed a few things that I have needed. I have come to the realization that it just isn't important and I will have to wait for it until it gets unpacked on the other end. I have tried digging through the mountains of boxes to find things. This turns into a great workout shifting boxes around but I don't ever find what I am looking for. I hope this doesn't mean that I will have problems when I get to Kansas! We shall see!!

Emma's Dance Picture

Doesn't she look like a doll?!

Garage Sale

I don't think I will be having another one ever again. They are such a pain in the butt! Or maybe I won't have one a few weeks before making a huge move! I have spent the last week getting ready for the garage sale we had this weekend. My mom, Patsy and I had a huge garage sale at my parents' house. It was a great location because we filled up their huge garage with all our stuff. I got rid off most of my daycare stuff. We started Friday at 1..well noon because someone always pushes the limits..and were busy up until 8pm. It was crazy. We got rid of a lot of stuff! Saturday started out very slow but we ended up having a great turnout and got rid of even more. Yeah...so glad that someone can find a use for my crap ;) It was a great success but I am so glad it is over. We cleaned it up and hauled all the stuff that was left to the thrift shop. It is over and now I can focus on packing!

Kansas Trip

I have been so busy...I think I post that every time!! It is so true though. Nick has been in Kansas and I have been here cleaning, packing, working, working, working, shuffling kids, knitting (of course I have to find some time for knitting with the twins!), working some more and packing a ton!! This house still hasn't sold and I have packed away a ton. I have really tried to just leave it spotless all the time so I don't have to worry about cleaning it.

Last weekend the kids and I made the journey south to visit Nick. We were all so excited to get to see Nick and to see Kansas as a family. I packed the van as full as I could. I don't think a blanket would've fit in it!! I put a recliner in the back for Nick so he would have something comfy to sit on to watch sports. I took anything and everything that would fit. The kids did a great job for traveling 10 hours in a car. We stopped 3 times on the way down. There were lots of fights..."stop touching me, your elbow is in my space, put your hands down, OUCH...OUCH.." it was constant the whole way down. No one slept and when Charlie finally fell asleep his nice loving sister woke him up. It was a long trip down and I was looking forward to the way back let me tell you!! The visit was great though. We stayed with the Willson family Thursday and Friday night. They have been so generous to let us stay! The kids finally got to meet the Willson kids. It was great to see them all play together. You would have though they were cousins or at least really good friends. They played so well together. Saturday I ran in the 10K River Run. It was my first race ever and I am so proud that I finished it! I ran it in about 55minutes. What an accomplishment!! My fam was at the finish line cheering me on! Saturday after the race we headed to Derby to check out the new house. The kids were so excited to see it. I really enjoyed having the day with just my family in our new house. Nick and I spent the day organizing and getting things ready for the big move in a few weeks. We also all celebrated Charlie's 2nd birthday in KS. I can't believe my baby is two!! Where does the time go? We went out for supper and had cake. It was great to be able to celebrate with Nick!! Sunday we headed home. We only stopped 2 times and made it in 9 hours. It was and exciting, exhausting weekend but so worth every second.

Busy!!

Wow...it has been a while since I last updated. Things around here are crazy. Who said you needed sleep anyways? It is so overrated!! ;) Last week I was running around all week. Every night we had something else going on. It was crazy. Emma had dance Monday night. Then Tuesday night she had a mini dance recital at a nursing home in town. Wednesday is CCD. Thursday I had a big lia sophia party in town. Then Friday I got to go out with a girlfriend to supper, drinks and a movie! It was hectic to say the least. The weekend came and I didn't rest much either. I have been busy packing the house. My goal is 3 boxes a day. Well I think my average is that because some days I have no energy to pack and other days I could pack the whole house if I had the time. This week hasn't been much better. We had dance, Braeden's program and supper with friends. We also got a visit from Patsy and the boys! Plus, we have had 4 showings. It has been a fun couple weeks but we are so excited to see Nick this weekend.

In my spare time I have been running. My goal is to run a 1/2 marathon this year. This weekend I am running in my first race and I am so excited!! I am running a 10K with my friend Randa and some of her friends. It should be a blast!!

Here are some pictures from the week:

Twins First Visit to Auntie Amy's

Ah..cousins and ice cream treats!

Braeden being the narrator at his program

Braeden Singing...or is he ;)

Charlie and Isaac