Friday/Funday

Jared had the day off on Friday and was insistent that I take some time for myself (eek, have I been looking frazzled???).  My mom and Fairy were going to Canton, so I decided to take my opportunity to go baby-free, despite the heat.

We had a really good time, but of course you cannot help yourself when you are with the two that I was with.  Mom and Fairy (my best friend's mom who is also my mom's best friend, and the wife of my dad's best friend - you get the picture, we are all very close) are always good for laughs.  Seriously, those two cut up more than any other two ladies you'll ever see.  They are also really good at decorating houses.  So, you are sure to pick up some good ideas and tips when you're shopping with them.  It was insanely hot, but what a fun day!

And what about the boys?  Davis was having so much fun with Daddy that he only slept a total of 45 min (his usual is about 2.5/3 hours). 

Friday was FUN-day for the Greens!

Curled up with a good book

Davis rediscovered the Bumbo chair and decided what else goes with a nice seat, but a good book!

(Interesting because he did not sit in it much as an infant, he threw up almost every time we got in it.  Glad we're getting some use out of it)

Where's your belly?

There it is!

24 Hours With Friends

Davis and I took the opportunity to go see the Gurgs when Jared had an early morning meeting in Dallas scheduled on Monday. 

We headed out after Davis' nap on Sunday afternoon and made it to the Gurg hotel around 4.  The kids are so cute together.  It takes a few minutes of shyness before they both start chasing each other around.  This was the first time for them to play together with them both being walkers, so there was a lot of running around the house going on.

Anna found Davis!  Davis loves climbing in this cabinet in their family room

The boys kept the kiddos Sunday night while I went to dinner with Carroll and her sweet friend Rebecca. It was so nice to have a girls' dinner.

Monday morning, Davis and I tagged along with Gurg girls to their Little Gym class.  We had never been to an organized class like this, but it was SO much fun!  I wish we had a place like this in Tyler.  We sang songs, did little exercises, and basically, watched the kids run around in a padded room where they pretty much cannot possibly get hurt.  Davis' face was priceless.  He loved it!  Unfortunately, I did not get many of those priceless smiles in pictures.

We left about 4:00 on Tuesday, just about 24 hours after we got there.  While it is always too short of a trip,  we loved every minute!

MOPS and POPS

Last night, the POPS of the MOPS group finally met.  Sounds funny right? 

I joined the Mothers of Preschoolers group at our church in the fall and it was an absolute answered prayer.  I absolutely love these girls and have made some dear friendships, as have Davis with their children. 

Well, during all of this time, our husbands had never met one another.  So the POPS (papas of preschoolers sounds better than FOPS, fathers of preschoolers) of our MOPS group finally got to meet last night.  It was so much fun for us all to get together.  Weathers and Bilberrys, we missed you!  But, we will definitely be doing it again!

Big thank you to Tara who took all of these pictures!  I cannot believe I did not pull my camera out a single time!

Top (l to r):  Stephanie, Danielle, me

Bottom (l to r):  Kristin, Tara, Jill

Chef Balliet - he is the grill master and was so great to take charge of the fajita cookin'.  Thank you Chris - they were YUM!

The dads spent most of the time outside, because, of course, that is where the kids wanted to be

Kohlson and Micah playing in the sandbox.  I think all of the kiddos earned their bathtime last night!

Kohlson and Bailey, the only princess amongst all of the princes

Shepard did a great job of mowing our floors.  Thanks Shep!

Kristin and the newest little one Gavin, well until today when Dillon made his arrival

The Crain family of three, before being a table of four (Danielle still gets a prize for coming the night before being induced!)

This is one of my new favorite pictures of Davis - thanks Tara!

One and a Quarter

Happy One and a 1/4 day Davis!

Praise the Lord for a healthy, happy little boy!

(Well, mostly happy... 5 shots in one day, I would be upset too...)

Dunhaven to Redcoat

This time last year, we had officially sold our very first house. 

We bought our first house in the spring of 2007.  Located just off the tollway in Dallas, about a 20 minute drive away from my 20 year best friend, a 15 minute work commute for both Jared and I, 10 minutes from the coveted Northpark mall, and 3 minutes from Jared's best friend since the first grade and his wife that is an absolute treasured friend of mine, we loved our 1950's little house. 

Jared had made the mistake of saying that we should go look at some houses.  Well, of course, to me that meant that we were going to look at houses and buy one.  We looked at three houses in a neighborhood we had our eye on and the third one was a charm.  Jared did not have a prayer in the negotiation arena after I had made up my mind where the Christmas tree was going. 

We had a wonderful time making that house our home.  We painted every room in the house ourselves (some more than once), ripped up carpet, had the hardwoods redone, new front door, shutters, etc.  Jared did a major landscape renovation, in the front and back, and he made it look amazing.

This was the house that we brought Davis home to.  I am pretty sure we did our share of wearing down the floors as we paced back and forth getting him to sleep in those first few weeks.  We found out when Davis was 6 weeks old that we were Tyler bound.  While we were leaving our dearest friends and jobs behind, we knew that this was the Lord's plan for us and felt His decisive hand every step of the way.

Here is a picture of our family after we left the closing on our Dunhaven house.

3943 Dunhaven to...

6015 Redcoat

Jared had seen this house during one of his many mid week trips to Tyler before our move.  When we called about it, it was under contract, with another backup contract behind that.  So, while we loved the location and the style of the house (we have a special place for older looking homes), it had just not been meant to be, so we began our search in other areas.  We had actually found another house and driven down to sign the contract on it. 

Our realtor came in with the paperwork and said, "Not to throw a wrench in your plans, but there is a house that just came out of contract this morning that looks like your style of house.  It's on Redcoat.  Do you want to go look at it?"  Jared and I looked at each other shocked.  We had been comparing every house we saw to the "Redcoat" house, so while the house we intended on buying was great, we just had to take the opportunity to go look at it.  And well, you can guess what happened.

After a year, we still have some bare walls and a lengthy honey do list.  But Jared has already worked his magic to our front yard and we have put a pretty good dent on making it ours.  We look forward to spending many, many years here.

Beginning with the flawless selling/buying house experience to the genuine people we have met to the impact this move has had on our lives, we absolutely see God's plan for us here and praise the Lord for his sovereignty.  From Dunhaven to Redcoat to wherever, we praise the Lord for all of His blessings!