The last day of July

Well I have now have a 4 yr old! K had a super fun day turning 4 last Saturday. We had a small Outer Space party, saw G-Force and had supper at Sonic. K enjoyed getting lots of fun presents and really liked the Sea Monkeys. He checks on them often during the day and was telling us the names of all of them...except there are 100s of them and he can't remember the names he's come up with. :)

K had his yearly check up yesterday and he is growing quite well! He's in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height! Pretty good for a kid who wasn't even ON the charts the first year or so of his life! :) We are going to try some allergy meds when he starts with a runny nose and see if that can lessen the use of the inhaler. I really hope so! It's so funny how many people move to Tucson to help with their allergies and others have worse allergies than before.

Mike has been busy getting ready for school. Only a week and a half left! I'm looking forward to a new routine to start. Our weeks will be pretty full with errands, gymnastics, preschool and Bible classes. There is no choir for Mike to be in this year and I am no longer going to be in handbells b/c of my arms (undiagnosed carpal tunnel syndrome) so our nights will be a little more open. That will be a welcome change!!

I used to be really good about doing lots of online surveys to get extra cash or gift cards, but then I slacked off a bit. Well, I'm back into it again and highly recommend a few sites...

mypoints (They send you emails, you click and check out the website or info, get points and save up points for gift cards.)
mysurvey (Surveys and some times they send you products in the mail to try and then complete surveys about.)
vocalpoint (For women to give feedback on products...I often get coupons in the mail from them, usually to get a product for free!)

If you would like to try these sites, please let me know so I can refer you and get credit! I have gotten quite a few free products, gift cards and cash from these sites over the years!

Summer is almost over

I can't believe that school (and gymnastics class for K) starts in only three weeks! We still want to get to the Children's Museum and Kartchner Caves before that. We'll see if we can squeeze it in!

We found the Sea Monkeys at Toys R Us. I can't wait to see K's face when he finally has a "pet" that is all his own. :)

The house is slowly coming together. I DO NOT have enough storage so I'm still trying to figure out what to do with everything in the "extra room". It's supposed to be the guest room, but right now it's full of boxes and a foosball table. I love this house, but the closets could definitely be bigger!! If only the garage didn't get soooo hot in the summer I'd put more stuff out there. (It's actually pretty full though, too.)

Today I am going to Michael's and will hopefully find some sort of outer space stencil that I can paint on a plain shirt for K to wear on his birthday. I always make sure he has a shirt that fits with the theme of his party. :) I think it's fun!

My Stick Family from WiddlyTinks.com

Sea Monkeys

Right now I'm searching the net for where to buy Sea Monkeys. K wants a pet, so that's what he's getting for his bday. :) He asked me today when I was going to get him a cat and we told him when he is 18 he can buy one. He said that he would buy one when he turns 4! Well, that's next week and it's not happening!! He is not happy about it, but that's life! :) Anyway, back to the sea monkeys...my best friend just got some for her kids and they love them. They are easy to take care of and Mike thinks they are cool. I think K will be happy to have a "pet" he can call his own!

Summer

Summer is here and it's HOT! It's really hot in our house since we recently discovered that the central AC unit is too small for the size of our house! Lovely!! We came home from a weekend away--leaving the thermostat set at 87--and tried to cool it down, but it just keeps running and running and running... Thankfully it's only hot and humid about 4 months of the year, right?! :) We have closed off the addition on the house with a big blanket and it seems to be helping...so we'll see...

We had a great weekend in Albuquerque visiting friends. We did so much...4th of July fun outside, visit to the zoo, Old Town and Science Museum, lunch at Taco Cabana, made homemade ice cream and hemmed curtains. The boys had tons of fun playing together! K was SUCH a good boy! He shared and took turns like a champ! I was very proud of him!!!

This week we need to get some more unpacked and the house needs major cleaning. It's hard to accomplish much when it's so hot and humid in the house, but we bought 3 new fans so that should help. I'm eager to get all the boxes unpacked and out of sight!

It's hot here

We are 99% moved into our new house! (Not unpacked--just moved into!) Tomorrow we will venture on over the old house and load up the last few things and then clean the whole place. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm excited to be done and completely in ONE house!

We absolutely love our new house! It's big, has a great layout, there is mostly a spot for everything...it's awesome! Of course, we are finding things here and there that need to be fixed or looked at. The faucet in the guest bathroom shower needs to be replaced since only a trickle of water comes out. The AC seems to have some issues too. It's only a year old so we think it's because of the location of the AC unit and the thermostat. During the hottest, sunniest time of the day the AC runs constantly!! I'm a tad bit nervous to get the bill for all that running!! It' has been triple digits the last few weeks, but in our old house the AC would run a bit and then stay off for a good amount of time. Any thoughts? :)

Mike is finally on vacation so we are going to have some fun during the next three weeks!! We are going to head to Albuquerque to visit friends for a long weekend, go to the $1 movies each week, visit the Desert Museum one evening, play at the water park and head up to Scottsdale for four days of sightseeing, lounging by the pool and relaxing! We are all looking forward to some stress free days!!!!!

One of the things we got when we moved is a DVR! We got it free with our move and I am LOVING it! :) I don't know how I lived without it! My evenings have always consisted of TV time since that's how I relax and unwind from my day. Now, it's even easier to watch my favorite shows. Yeah, we are so spoiled!

Updates...

How is it possible that it is already the end of May??

K and I spent the first week of May in IL with my parents. It was cool weather and good company! The rest of May has been spent packing, sorting things to sell, doing stuff at school and trying to stay cool. It was in the 100s for a couple of weeks!! We finally have had some relief the last few days, but the temps are going back up again.

We are waiting to close on our "new" house! In AZ the buyers sign documents a few days before the actual "closing" (the day we get the keys!). We were supposed to sign yesterday, but there is a delay! (surprise, surprise!) The sellers are replacing the roof and it has been raining so the work isn't going according to schedule. So, we wait and hopefully sign papers next week. It's not really a huge deal that there is a delay, it's just so funny b/c our house closing in Neenah was so delayed and now we encounter it again with the "new" house. We are not diving into real estate again anytime soon! :) About the house...

*built in the 80s
*4 bed, 2 bath, with an extra room in the back of the house
*fireplace in living area
*breakfast bar in kitchen and room for kitchen table
*new carpet, updated light fixtures
*nice sized backyard that backs to a wash
*a bit further from work than originally planned, but we'll make it work
*move in ready--just needs paint to liven the place up!

We have all of June to move slowly into the new place so that's good! We hope to move room by room with one BIG day of moving the end of June.

School ended for Mike yesterday, but he was still working there last night until 10pm. He will continue to work through June with meetings, summer school and VBS. (And move boxes each night when he gets home.)

Here's a peek at our summer:

June...paint, pack, move, Mike work at school (HIGHLIGHT--trip to visit friends in El Paso!)
July...short family trip??, visit from my sister (HIGHLIGHT), enjoy our new house
August...school starts August 12 (HIGHLIGHT--K starts preschool)

K with Grandma and Grandpa H.

Splash pad fun!

New house (minus the swing and vehicle)

Living area

Kitchen table area