This is it, home sweet home!

The Front View



You may not be able to tell from this photo, but our shutters on the second story are different color from those on the first...something I'd like to fix! 
 

We are loving our home in Indiana.  It has taken some getting used to our new environment, but after almost 9 months its feeling not so foriegn.  We have neighbors to our left and right, good distance between our houses, and an oversized community pond to the front of us, a nice view in the evenings.  Kids are loving riding thier bikes around the pond and around our neighborhood and they love playing chase and baseball in the grassy yard. 

 

This summer we thought our lawn was done for.  There was a major drout and if you can believe it, what you see now green was all brown and prickly.  The grass actually cut the kids feet when they tried to do slip and slide this summer.  As soon as the rains came, our grass slowly turned green again and was thriving.  I really couldn't bleive it, but it happened to everyones yards here.  I found discovered two rose bushes in our yard, one I nursed back to health and I got two roses from it this fall.  The other didn't produce, but I have high hopes for it next spring.

The Entry

Our front door is just to the left of the larger window.  And this area functions as our piano room, study, entry, and sometimes lego spot.  We have been enjoying our piano and Becca has started lessons again.  She has such good teachers to start, she was able to pick up right where she left off.  Jocelyn would really like to start playing too, but my lessons with her ususally consist of me trying to keep her seated on the bench.  I think she still has too many six year old wiggles to take piano seriously.  Maybe when she is seven.



Jocelyn's Room

 



Its still a work in progress, but Jocelyn is loving having her own room.  She has lots of fantastic plans for what we are going to do to her walls.  She has one of the best views in the house out her large window.  She loves having the power to kick people out...and believe me, it is rarely this clean.

 

More to come...

 

 

Its Hot Chocolate Darling

Set the Stage

The girls couldn't wait for Elijah to take a nap so that they could put together an uninterrupted "tea party."  They got out some nice linens, table cloth and napkins.  They found a center piece and some candles, as well as a few other of their precious items to display.  Becca got out the nice china and crystal, and Jocelyn prepared the finger foods. 

Both girls found the perfect outfit, put on their makeup and came back downstairs with lifted chins and high manners.  I heard things like, " this is fabulous, darling.  This is such a lovely table.  These are wonderful little foods.  This hot chocolate is delicious."  I was giggling in the back ground, at such sophistication.  My girls are the best and I don't think they will every grow out of dressing up.  If they are anything like their mother...they will find excuses to play and dress up even as adults. :)

 

 

A Proud Day for a Daddy

HOOP TIME
I was very excited that our home has a lovely patio out the back door.  I envisioned getting a furniture set for enjoying the evening summer time warmth.  Josh had other plans....

Took Josh all afternoon to get the hoop set up and Elijah was right along side him at the very end ready for some hoop time.  Elijah has claimed Becca's pink ball for now, maybe one day soon he'll realize the pink ball may not be the one for him.  He can't get enough of dunking!  He wants Josh and me to lift him up so he can dunk then hang on the rim for a bit.  Jocelyn is building arm strength and confidence to finally get the ball high enough to make a shot.  I have to admit, our patio is not the relaxing retreat I was hoping for, but it's probably a lot more fun for everyone.

It's All About the Hair

Tonight I had some fabulous designers fix me up...what wonderful little hair dressers they turned out to be.  Jocelyn was the creative expert while Becca was the technical support.  They work well together as you will see.

Style and Design by Becca & Jocelyn

HOT, HOT, HOT!

We are feeling the East Coast heat wave...I didn't think that it would get to 100s until maybe July or August.  But Thursday and Friday were 102 and 103 respectively.  We survived with a little fun in the sun.

We went out and bought a mini itty bitty pool, and a slip and slide.  Jocelyn and Becca love the slip and slide (Elijah stayed clear of it).  They all loved the itty bitty pool filled with ice cold hose water, I found it very refreshing as well! 

FUN IN THE SUN!

 

  SLIP & SLIDE

Poor Turtle

I have never seen so many, shall I say "wild turtles."  We saw two in a matter three days while we were on our Spring Break vacation.  Josh decided to take the scenic route as he always enjoys, and along the way we saw some beautiful country through Brown County State Park, Nashville, IN.  We were driving along when all the sudden a large turtle is meandering across the middle of the road.  We were all very excited, so we whipped a U-turn on a fairly quiet road and found a good place to pull over.  We got the camera ready, the kids were straining their eyes to see the little creature.  Josh was out of the car getting in place to take some close up pictures.  Along comes a large truck pulling a fifth wheel.  The truck makes his way to the middle of the road, trying to give our car plenty of room...you cannot even imagine the horror.  The truck absolutely smashes the turtle.  It made the loudest popping noise and red splatter.  With wide eyes and open mouths we all couldn't stop looking.  Becca burst into tears.  Jocelyn looked on puzzled and not sure how to react.  Josh ran back to us and quickly turned the car back to our destination.  After a few minutes I couldn't help but shed a few tears of my own.  As I right this my heart strings are tugging at additional tears.  Josh and I felt really bad;  unintentionally we caused the death of that turtle.  For such a quiet road, we never expected something like that would ever happen!

On our way home, on an even less busy road, we found another turtle...Josh jumped out with our camera, got a few shots and helped the creature off the very dangerous road.  Redemption?  Maybe...

Spring Break

French Lick, IN

Thanks to some generous friends, we were able to take a trip to French Lick, IN.  The historical town has been the hometown of Larry Bird and the location of two incredible resorts.  The big attraction for our family was the indoor pools and the indoor water park.

First day we explored the French Lick Resort by first touring the grounds on a bike ride then strolling through the inside.  This is what we saw:

Left wing

Middle Wing

Right Wing

Our Bike Ride

Inside the French Lick Resort

On our way out!

After a long afternoon for the kids, we found a reward they accepted.

Jocelyn's Big 6

DANCE  PARTY!!!

Jocelyn wanted a dance party for her sixth birthday, so we accommodated with balloons, a dance floor and games.  The girls (and Elijah) loved doing the limbo, macarena, musical chairs, freeze dance, etc.  Jocelyn and Becca decorated with me in the afternoon; they blew up most of the balloons themselves.

Then, they had to try out the balloons just to make sure they were up to par...

Let the games begin...

GOTTA HAVE CAKE!

We made everything black and white and red, with polka dots.  So of course the cup cakes had to have polka dots too.

Jocelyn is such a fun girl.  She is hitting a new stage of growing up, organizing and managing herself.  Right now she loves making up her own jokes (I have to remember to laugh).  She had an amazing sense of humor and still hasn't grown out of streaking across the house.  She is starting to read really well, and makes up her own stories and songs.  I love listening to her out loud make believe.  I often pretend not to notice just so I can listen to her more, she is wonderful and a bright personality in our home. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOCELYN