Since we chatted last...

I realize that we are way behind on keeping our blog up-to-date, but that has been type of time we've been having these past couple of months. B-U-S-Y!

Back in June, we did such things as study Dr. Seuss' Horton books and then take a trip to the dollar theatre to see the recently released movie, Horton Hears A Who. We celebrated a cousin's pirate birthday party, curled Mary's hair for the first time, attended the Turner family reunion and hosted a baby shower for Sean and Anya. They are expecting a little baby boy in October.

In July, we celebrated America's independence, but spent most of our time preparing to sell our house. We made repairs, cleaned out junk, and staged our house for showings. We signed a contract with Ashton Woods to build our new home, which will be complete sometime in February or March of next year. We left our house in showcase condition and left for one week for a vacation in the Ozarks. It was a great trip. We visited a family camp near the Buffalo river and stayed entertained the entire time. The kids rode a pony and a fire truck in the evenings before dinner, Doug and I rode horses one morning. We hiked a few trails, traveled to the Blanchard Springs Caverns, and played in the creek just outside our lodge doors. We rented a canoe and traveled down the Buffalo river...a story for another blog post. It was a fantastic trip that we will take again in the next few years.

After our return, we continued showing our house with only an hour's notice, which was no small task, but to our surprise, we received an offer not even 3 weeks after we listed. After a bit of negotiation, we agreed to a selling price on August 1st. Now our focus remains on getting ourselves out of here by the end of this month. We aren't quite sure where we'll live after closing, as most rental house require a year lease and 3 bedroom apartments are a bit harder to find, especially on the first floor. But, we'll work it all out before then.

This August, Mary participated in the Read to Rover program at the public library, which allows her to read a book to a service dog. She loved it and was thrilled that it was a slow day at the library and she was able to take two turns with the dogs. Her book of choice was, Hot Dog, about a dog in the summer just looking for a place to cool off, but all the great places have been taken by the other animals. She carefully showed each illustrations to Dasher and Tina while she read. It was Tina, the Chihuahua's, favorite book. Later that evening we visited the Mesquite Rodeo, where Mary decided that the mounted drill team was her favorite. William liked the bull riding best. Since then, they have been roping each other all around the house, using Mary's jump rope. Tonight, as we ate steak (not very good steak, I might add) they came to the conclusion that the cowboys must be roping those cows so we can get meat from them. Mary decided that the cowboys tried to rope them as quickly as possible so we can have meat right away for dinner. While quite astute, I did not point out that in order to get such "meat" the cows had to be slaughtered and butchered. Tonight's steak could have been a much better cut, but perhaps this was a particularly difficult cow to rope and they had run out of time to do the job right.

This week in Kindergarten, we are studying water. We've explored it's 3 states, splashed in the back yard, and experimented with buoyancy. It's been a very memorable week of activities and the kids have certainly been showing off their skills in identifying solids, liquids and gases.

We are certainly looking forward to closing on our house, but not so much the 6 months of renting. The real thrill will be moving into our brand new dream home in February. All of this commotion surely means that the updates will be sporadic for a while longer, but we'll try to hit the highlights when we can.