Home from the Hospital

Well a hospital visit wasn't what we expected for this week, but we are home and doing well. After having a little stomach ache on Saturday and a big one all day on Sunday I decided to go to Urgent Care.  The UCare lab was closed so they really couldn't do anything.  So they refunded me my money and told me go to the ER if I wanted to know anything.  I almost didn't go because I didn't want to spend $100 for them to tell me it was just a stomach ache but luckily I did because at midnight I was in surgery for my appendix. Preston came and joined me at the operating room just before I went into surgery.  The ranch was so great to take care of everything back at home and Big Daddy came up to the house to grab the kids the next morning.  I was released from the hospital late Tuesday, and now we are awaiting Emory to call us to schedule another surgery for a tumor they found on the CT & MRI scans under a hip muscle.  I think of it as a God thing because if it wasn't for the appendectomy we would have never know about the tumor. We're also grateful this happened this week and not while we were out of the country because we were suppose to be leaving for Belize early Saturday morning to lead the church mission trip. (Sad we don't get to go) But we know that God has bigger plans for all of us.

Construction Photos

The Construction...

After we unloaded the POD this is where everything went... on and under the kitchen table.  Can you spot the table anywhere?

This is the living room furniture and the furniture from the boys rooms piled up

The Kitchen - Our stuff

Messy Construction.... We lived like this the whole month of June. Not to mention living in my parents spare room out of suitcases for the Month of May. Your looking at the living room into the Dinning Room

The laundry room - I promise its not that messy

This is where we "lived" - this is the basement. The door at the back of the picture is our spare room and we all slept in there.

The bookcase we stocked with food so it became our little pantry. And below you will see our improv kitchen.

The bikes outside ready to be ridden.

Master bedroom 

Master Bath & Below Master Bedroom

Thats the door to the bathroom and the "her" closet, then a built in desk.

one of the guys rooms just after new paint

This will be Kale & Ayla's room

The kitchen cabinets were dark oak with a white laminate counter top. Doesn't this look great? White and Granite!!! 

Fun NY Photos

Just a Fun Picture for you from the wedding.... 

The "Baird" Family

Our ladies man... wanted to be with the "Princesses" all night

NYC Vacation & Wedding

July 1-7th (Vacation!!)
The week of the July 4th holiday was a Blast. It was vacation time, and wedding time for my sweet cousin and her finance.
We went up to Connecticut and into New York on July 3rd, and the kids did great. We left at 5am and only stopped TWICE for the 16 hour car ride; once at 9:30am for breakfast, and once for lunch at 2:30pm, then we were at my Aunt's house for dinner. It was amazing how well they traveled.... coming home was not so wonderful since we left at 11:00am from New York to come home, and finally got in at 1:00am to Charlotte, only to have to continue the next day down to Georgia.  (When we found out my car wouldn't start and it needed a new battery!)

The one day we went into the city we saw a ton of stuff (July 3) - we went up in the Empire State building, saw an amazing Toys-R-Us, visited FAO Schwartz, played in Central Park, saw Rockefeller center, went to the 9/11 memorials, took a ride on the Staten Island ferry and saw the Statue of liberty, went by wall street, and the steps where George Washington took office, also went saw the Pub he liked to drink at, got to walk around Grand Central Station and take the train back to connecticut. Thanks to my amazing Cousin Stacey and her husband Paul for being our tour guides, we never would have made it around the city so fast!

                                       9/11 memorials were beautiful

 Katelyn was a great help on vacation as a extra set of hands, and was a great babysitter at the wedding so we could continue enjoying the festivities late into the night.

We had fun playing in the pool at Uncle Richards house.  Kale tried to learn to surf on the kick board with Tim, and had a blast.

 Ayla got her nails done at the nail saloon for the wedding.  I had gone with my cousins to get a mani/pedicure and Ayla came too.  She sat so still as they painted her little toes.  She also liked to stick her feet in the water when I got mine done. She would wiggle her toes in the water and watch it change colors and just giggle.

July 6th my cousin Megan got married at the Thayer Hotel in West Point New York.  Ayla was a precious little flower girl, and Kale was the ring barer. The two of them had a great time, and both did very well in the wedding.  Kale walked down the isle, and little miss walked half way down the isle then stopped and started to spin around in her dress as if she was saying "look at me!!" It was absolutely adorable. Here are some fun pictures for you to enjoy from the wedding and from the vacation! 

Well we just finished a wonderful week on the ranch. Wednesday we took the boys to Lake Lanier Islands water park which was SO much fun! It brought back some memories for Preston as he has gone there as a kid.  It was a blast enjoying water slides with the kids, then swimming in the lake and hanging on the beach.  It's nice to have a "beach" 20 minutes from us!! After 2 hours we had done everything once, and several things a few times... I was ready for a break but the "young guns" (boys) were eager for more, so Preston went back around with them.  For me, I was done. I was water logged, and felt like I had been spun around in a washer machine and spit out the tube... I could do all those slides 24-7 when I was younger, but I guess I really am getting old.

Thursday and Friday we took CPR for the Professional Lifeguard with the Red Cross.  We go for our first aid and LIfe Guard training after the 4th of July break. (Not looking forward to it).  But we can't take our boys to the pool without being certified.

We got to spend friday evening with Peyton & Ann and the cousins all got to play.  It's nice to be near family and to watch Kale grow up and be able to see his cousins more!

Tomorrow we are off to try out another church and then this week will be crazy hectic as we get ready to move upstairs with the (near) completed renovated house, and then get ready to head up to NYC for my cousins wedding! The kids are excited and so are we.  As soon as we get back from the vacation/wedding the boys will be moving in, so these next 5 days are crucial for us!  (And there is SO much to do!!) We'll see how this week goes....

One week here....

It's been a great first week!  We are officially setup in the basement of our house: we have a little camp stove, mini fridge, microwave, and a card table so we can do some meals here.  Eagle Ranch has the nicest people here, and the community is just wonderful.
The house is coming together, the sheetrock is up and its exciting to watch everything come together in the construction. (Although I am realizing how impatient I am in the process!!)

Kale and Ayla have adjusted really well, they have enjoyed having "new friends" although we miss all our friends back home.  The dog, Butters, is loving the outdoors especially now that we got the tick problem in the yard under control. (We aren't use to living so close to the woods!)

Today we stopped to pet and feed the horses which was much to Kales excitement, and tomorrow we are looking forward to celebrating with our niece, Addison for her 5th birthday party. It's great to be so close to them and be able to see Kale and Ayla grow up and see some cousins more often.

I will get to posting some pictures when I can unpack and find my camera charger, because its dead. For now, you may catch some photos on facebook as we take some with our phones.

This blog is just going to be a little hobby of mine so I can post stories and pictures of Kale and Ayla. For the safety and privacy of the kids we will be working with, we will not be posting any pictures or stories of ranch students, but we do ask that you pray for the boys we will have in our home.

Doing a Blog

So everyone has been asking me to start up a blog on our life and what we are doing.  So here's to the start of blogging.  If I don't write much I will at least try to get on once or twice a week to post some pictures for you. Bare with us these first few weeks as we get use to the ropes around here, and unpack our pod. We are excited to share our life and journey with you!  Blessing to you all.