Visiting Grapevine

After the last day of school for both Ben and Kaden, we hopped in the car and drove to Grapevine, Texas to stay with Norman & Deann.

Even though the pool was only about 66*, the boys insisted that it was warm enough to swim.  They both managed to get IN the pool, but only long enough to jump back out and decide that they maybe wanted to play inside again. 

Ben's main reason for coming to Fort Worth was to watch the Colonial golf tournament again this year. 

playing at Parr Park

so fun to watch Grace run around and have fun

1st time down the big slide

exploring around Deann's yard

School's Out For Summer!

Owen finished (4's) preschool at Sonlight in mid-May. 

Kaden finished kindergarten...

SO grateful Kaden had Mrs. Childers as his 1st teacher.

 And Ben completed his 10th year out at Boys Ranch!

Bravo, Ben Dow! 

Hiking in Palo Duro

Nothing beats a Sunday morning hike in Palo Duro Canyon as the park is opening for the day; you almost have the entire canyon to yourself.

Laci, Laura, and Kristin

Making our way up Comanche, down Rock Garden, and back via Paseo del Rio

picture for Ben as he was sitting in church with the kids...

Popsicle time outside. 

Grace wanted a "hat hat" like mommy .

Big Girl Bed

How did this happen?

One Saturday afternoon, your daddy and I were sitting/relaxing in the living room when suddenly we heard a loud THUMP... cry come from your bedroom.  

Ben jumped up to discover that you had scaled your crib and jumped out... 

Nonnie's dream coming true:

making a bed for a little girl.

This bed frame used to belong to Aunt Dorothy... and then Ben for a bit.

So far you are napping in your bed and sleeping all night in your pack-n-play (because the mesh sides are too hard for you to climb).

We've Moved... AGAIN.

Yep... again...

Same town.  Same OLD neighborhood. 

3913 Doris Drive. 

Just three years ago we swore we'd never move again... Just like I swore I was done having babies... 

But then this house came along. And the trees… And the four bedrooms… And the great price…

checking out some new items for different rooms of the new house 

Trying to remember what the inside of Doris, tagging favorite photos on Pinterest, and marking ideal paint colors....

Inspections, negotiations... fixing....

all new plumbing underneath the house. 

All while trying to manage schedules and keep the kids on a normal routine...

Thank God for a little help from LaBella's giant takeout pizza.  :)

before & in-progress floor...

same behaviors, different corners...

Eight kids running around while we try to paint the living room… Why not?! 

accent wall

Only a couple tiny mishaps

mudroom before... and in progress... Owen 

Owen itching to paint... anything.

Projects taking WAY longer than originally thought... "I'll just run to Doris and have all that wallpaper down in two hours...."

1 week and at least 6 hours of peeling later.... Closer. 

Working in the spaces of nap time

and taking friends up on their offers to lend an hour or two here and there with random trips to Home Depot. 

the sunroom

scraping and repainting the shed

We. Are. Getting. There. 

And it feels so right. 

I think we are going to be on Doris Drive for a LONG time.