Silly Boys

 One night, Luke put on his own pjs.  Here's the result...

Can't see any pants?...that's because they are all bunched up on one leg

 Luke's not the only crazy dresser in the house.  Check out this guy...

Soccer

 Jake's playing soccer this fall.  Here he is at the first practice...

His team is called the Cheetahs, so of course, they are black and yellow...

 The last time Jake played soccer was when he was in pre-k.  Now, the field is bigger and there is a goalie!  Here's Jake at goalie...

 Kevin's helping coach, and he also has has a little helper on the sidelines a lot of the time...

 We also had some extra special fans for one of the games...

New Park

Another concern I had about the move was having the opportunity to enjoy great neighborhood parks.  Parks were a huge strength in our previous neighborhood.  We were in walking distance to 3 different parks!  As a stay-at-home mom with active boys, park outings are necessities.  Well, again, I had nothing to fear, because there is a great park within walking distance!  It's been recently renovated so all the equipment is nice and new.  It's also the same park where lots of moms and 1st graders from Jake's school meet up after school once a week, so it's really perfect!  Here's some of our fun at our very first visit there...

1st grade!

 One of the reasons I'm so happy about the location of our new home is the back of our house is across the street from Jake's school.  I toured 3 elementary schools back in May when Kevin was offered his job here.  While each school had great qualities, I felt especially drawn to one.  It is a magnet school, which is something different to me, and meant Jake was not allowed to transfer in as a teacher's kid.  For us to go to this school, we'd have to be zoned for it so there was a very small chance of that happening.  Well, guess what?! Our street has a choice of 2 elementary schools, and the magnet school is one of them!  Here's Jake and his teacher, Mrs. Duffy, on Meet the Teacher night before school started...

He shares a locker in the hallway instead of in the classroom this year...

 Both boys were happy with our first school experience at Meet the Teacher.  What's not to like when they hand out free popsicles at the end of the night...

 We are so close to the school that we walk.  I love it!!!!  Here we are walking down our alley on the first day...

 One of the unique attributes of the school is the students wear uniforms.  It is the only school in the district that does.  Jake seemed happy with his new school clothes, and I'm definitely happy to have it so easy!

 Happy 1st day! (just 6 weeks late)

Making it ours

 We were lucky to be able to hire painters to paint our kitchen walls and cabinets.  The cabinets began as a light tan color, and we painted them white.  This is before...

This is after...

 Our living room walls were painted baby blue color and the brick fireplace was a metallic silver.  We changed the walls to gray (repose gray by SW) and the brick to white...

 The walls in the kitchen were white, and we chose gray (mindful gray by SW) for the walls.  Here's the semi-finished picture while our cabinet doors were still drying...

 We knew we wanted the boys to share a room, so we ordered a new bunk bed and Jake and Daddy went to work...

 The boys are doing very well with the set-up.  The bed is a hit, they are still sleeping well, and I'm hoping this will help provide more even more opportunities for brother bonding.  Thanks for the bed, Papa and Granmama...

Preparing our new home

I feel so strongly that God provided our current home to us.  Finding a home in a crazy market of much older (and more expensive) homes than where we previously lived seemed daunting and even impossible, so we prayed and prayed, "God provide a home for us."  I knew this home would be the one my kids would most remember from their childhood, especially Luke.  I also knew this home would be where we would need to establish close relationships with family, school friends and neighbors.  God answered prayer with our home.  There is no explainable way in my eyes, outside of God's intervention, that we have settled in this neighborhood, in this home, so close to the places where we want to build community.  Praise and glory to God, and I want my kids to know it!  Before anything was painted or any furniture or box was moved in, the 4 of us came inside our new home to pray and dedicate our home as a place where we honor, serve and grow closer to God.  More than any painting, decorating, or settling in, this preparation of our home seemed the most important. Kevin and I chose 3 Scriptures to write on the walls and pray for our family, and we went to it...