and did I mention....

It seems that many a people are shocked when I tell them who our neighbors are.... so I

 dont think I have shared who we moved next door to....

a rather cute and special family of 5 with 3 little boys that just so happen to be cousins to my 3 little ones. 

Yep! I moved next door to my brother. It was quite coincidental that the house next door to them came up for sale right about the time we sold our house in NM. 

We have pretty much been non stop partyin' since we moved in! Our kids are always together and they will grow up every cousins' dream life!!! 

Sometimes I'm still in shock over it all... 

like I went from being all alone, and very lonely living in NM to moving right across the road from my in-laws and loving the 6 months we had so close to them, to now moving next door to my brother, sister-in-law (whom I have common grounds) and my 3 nephews

There's been lots of sleepovers.

Lots of memories made.

Lots of diners shared together.

Lots of laughs

and lots of Joy!! 

and many more to come!!!

Blessed!

Well.... Somebody MUST be looking down on me, because the day after my post, we got a check in the mail for quite possibly the same exact amount of a new camera... and I'm rather certain that that is no coincidence and I fully recognize that that is the work of the Lord. I felt so wrapped in blessings and LOVED. My sweet, darling husband agreed to whisk me off to Best Buy to get me a new camera... and I feel complete again... driving everyone nuts with all my pictures.

One day they'll all thank me. ;)

My kids were spending some time with their Papa and Nana... so I had NO models to take pictures of... except one guy...

and the next day I snuck over and snapped a few pics of my sweet little nephew.

Sad...

Well...... I've been MIA for awhile..... and if I'm quite honest, theres a specific reason for that. 

Every single time I sit down and think about blogging, my heart sinks to my stomach and I sit in denial of something dear to my heart.

My camera is gone.

..... and this evening, approximately 3 weeks since I've laid hands on my camera, I'm facing the facts that I might not lay hands on it again. 

and I am

DEVASTATED!

I know, I know... I'm quite possibly taking it a little to far... but, taking pictures is something that I am passionate about... taking pictures of my kids, at that.... the memories. 

Agghh... my poor soul. I think the thing that gets me more than my $800 missing , possibly stolen camera, is that there are precious memories on that camera. Take the dang camera.... but please give me my pictures back. 

I'm bummed. But, I'll continue praying for divine intervention and I'll keep searching... and I suppose start saving for another... and in the mean time, pull out my point and shoot.

The Casa

Each and every day I find myself thinking that this house was made for us!! 

I know, cheesy... maybe its cuz we've been without a "normal" home for so long... and we've just been outta whack... either way, we are loving our house!! 

I LOVE that the kids have their own space upstairs, and I don't have to worry about "keeping clean" when/if people come over. 

I also LOVE the fact that after the kids are down for a nap, or for bed, I DONT have to worry about being quite, or tip toeing around. Quite a change from our last home, where we were in such close quarters, the TV was mounted on the wall of the kids' bedroom. 

I take full advantage of this, and even am a little on the loud side while the kids sleep.

Another little piece of perfection is the huge concrete slab out in the backyard!! We spend a lot of time out there!! 

and apparently I'm crooked... cuz all my pics are crooked... so tilt your head just a little. ;)

This is the front foyer area which I'm so thankful for, and so in love with. Its the perfect size to not  take up a ton of extra space in the house, but perfect size for a nice shelf and coat rack.

This is the front bedroom/spare bedroom/it might be turned into Madelynns room cuz she is begging for her own room... we shall see how that works out. 

The living room from the front bedroom.

                      

Mitsy helped me take all these pics. ;)

living room.

dining room... 

and our oh so lovely flowers from our oh so sweet valentine.

stairs going to kid land.

looking into the kitchen.

and my oh so sweet little kitchen of which I am in love with!! Its the perfect shape, perfect size, perfect amount of counter space....

But- not so perfect space for our huge fridge. My demolition loving husband will soon make room for our fridge... but until then, its gonna be wonky lookin.

We will eventually build an addition onto the back of the house to get the laundry "room" outta the kitchen. 

***HALLELUJAH CHORUS***

My PANTRY.... Ive never had the luxury of a pantry.... and I am TOTALLY loving that aspect of the kitchen. 

Mine and Nats room.

This is upstairs, the girls bedroom...

(dont mind the red towel... hadn't hung the shades yet)

and across the hall is bubba's room.

The Lord has blessed our family. and we are SO fortunate to have this beautiful home, and a hard working daddy who makes it all possible. :)

Ahhhh.

Excuse me as I let out that sigh of relief. 

We've moved... and we are officially town-folk. 

It has been a looong move (aren't they all tho?!?) 

We had stuff in many different locations, in 2 different states, so there were many a trips here and there, but alas, we have all of our stuff under 1 roof.... in 1 location. 

It is relieving!! 

It seems that we were teased with "we will close tomorrow" a few times... and then last Friday, it actually happened!!! 

We've been pretty much going non stop since then!! From sun up to sun down. 

I cannot stop until I've made my house our cozy little corner in the world... I haven't decided if this is a blessing, or a curse. My legs, back and feet would probably vote a curse... 

I must make a shout out to my dear sweetheart, who, as I've unpacked all the boxes, has made trips to NM... got all of our stuff here, spent half a day putting up blinds on the 25 windows of which had NO blinds, fixed stuff, put my garbage disposal in, and pretty much took care of anything "manly." I found myself many times in the past week in awe of the man I married, and all that he accomplished in the name of getting our house fixed up for us. I pretty much LOVE him... and cant thank him enough for all his hard work he put in on his days off.

I've had a pretty wonderful time fixing up the place and seeing all my stuff that I haven't seen in 6 months... Its always fun. 

.....and...

'the kids had Christmas in February when they got all their toys. :)

Anywho... thats a quick update. I've finally sat down long enough to write. Next up on the list is to take pictures of the new place!!! 

Buggin'

Whew!!!!!!! What a terrible terrible tummy bug going around. We have had it in our house for awhile now... we seem to be passing it around.... 

well, I saw we... I have not had it.. and I'm praying it stays that way!! Nat called me this evening saying he's feelin a little funky... 

Soo... we've been been hermits, trying not share.

Before all this junk, we did have Payton's annual appointment for her kidney reflux... (you can look here if you don't know what I'm talking about)  and I think that Its settled enough in my soul that I can write about it. We definitely didn't care for the direction it went this year. We learned that her reflux has indeed worsened and the Doctor is ready to see it corrected. 

I DO know that there are so many people out there that have children in way worse situations than this.

I DO know that I need to be grateful that this is the only "issue" we've had with our kids....

and that IS a blessing in itself

and don't get me wrong, I do fully recognize these things. I thank the Lord everyday for my healthy kids....

But Holy Guacamole.... the thought of them putting my baby to sleep, and cutting on her perfect little body gives me severe anxiety, and puts my stomach in all sorts of knots. I am going to be a complete WRECK that day. Well, unless many many people surround me with prayer and love. I finally had the guts to tell her what was going to happen... Putting it in 3.5 year old terms and all, she seems okay with it. All that to say, I am 80% positive she will do MUCH better than her mama will.

I explained to her how she was in the hospital when she was a little baby, and showed her pics of that time. She was most thrilled to see her blanket has been around since she was a little baby. ;)

So.. the countdown is on... and we are under the 2 week mark... and I'm ready for it to be over....

The difference....

The girls asked to paint, so I set them up, and went off to the bathroom to give Stetson a bath.... and I had a good laugh when I walked outta the bathroom and saw the girls painting status'.

Payton- 

Making a complete mess....

and then theres the perfectly clean, prim and proper artist of the fam, Madelynn.

The beautiful differences in my girls, shown perfectly today. ;)