Big week for us!

"Mommy Like!"

Yep.  I am now the very, very proud minivan driver.  6 years ago, absolutely no way.  EVER.  period.  end of story.  Now...I love it.  Becky loves it.  She thinks she is so cool to be riding around in a van.  She brags to her friends and teachers at Metro.  She's so funny.  She is still talking about it a week later.  Oh, how the little things anymore get us so excited.  Like the power doors, sun roof, XM radio, leather seats...we are definitely spoiled with this thing.  And the best part is there are no kids kicking the backs of the seats.  They can't even reach them.  (yet - we all know our kids are going to be tall!)

So...we bought the van on the 3rd, two Saturdays ago.  Picked it up on Tuesday night.  And then on Friday night...we sold our house!  18 LOOOOONG months on the market, and it's sold.  The inspection is being done tomorrow and we still have the appraisal, but barring nothing extraordinary, we are out in 45 days.  Which means...we are now on a house hunt.  We went out with our realtor on Saturday.  We found one that may be a possibility and found out two areas where we don't want to live.  We are going looking again tomorrow night and hopefully over the weekend.  We are hoping to find something in the next week so we can avoid having to rent. Good thing we work so well under pressure!!

Chuck E Cheese

The Murphys were in town this weekend to go to Adventureland.  They also managed a trip to Chuck E Cheese.  We went along.  The kids had so much fun running around, playing games, and riding rides.  I didn't have time to snap pictures once the Murphys got there, as everyone was just running around.  Becky and Reagan have so much fun playing together. It was great to see them all.

July

July proved to be a fun,  busy month as well.  It started out with my grandpa's funeral.  (my mom's dad)  It was bittersweet.  It was nice to spend so much time with family but it was hard to say good-bye.  He was a great man and will be missed by us all. 

On the 4th, we just hung out in Des Moines.  Went to the pool.  Had Eric, Dawn, Kaitlyn, Becca, and Emma over to grill and do sparklers.

Colby was content to blow bubbles with Uncle Eric

Here are a couple pics I snapped of the kids just because they were sitting so nice together on the couch.  So glad they get along! (most of the time - as long as Becky will watch an Elmo or Barney or Blue's Clues!!)

Since July was so hot, we really didn't do a whole lot.  Spent quite a bit of time at the pool.  Becky took swim lessons. She did so good. She passed level 3!  She has gotten very good. She can even do the backstroke almost effortlessly.  Maybe she'll be the next Missy Franklin.  Ha!  She loves swimming, though, and we love that she loves it.  Becky had a friend spend the night one night and we went and visited friends. We also got to go visit Stew and Brenda in Muscatine to celebrate Bode and Stew's birthdyays and see their new home.  So nice to have them two hours away instead of a plane ride!  Becky and Bode played like they had never been apart.  Once Colby got warmed up, he sat down and played legos with Boone.  I'm sure in no time they will be running around playing just like Becky and Bode.