and the countdown begins

We are getting very close to moving now. Our official "move" date is Friday, August 3. Scott & Dillon (and uncle Randy) will leave on Friday with all our stuff in a trailer. Madison, Jared & I (and aunt Ellen) will leave on Saturday. THIS IS ONLY 4 DAYS AWAY!!!!!!!!! I'm trying not to panic.

Here's how things look right now:

The house in Waterloo has not sold. We have a rental house in Round Rock until Oct. 31, at which time we should be able to get into the new house.

We will leave 1/2 our belongings in Waterloo & take 1/2 with us (the part we really need). This works out great because the rental house is not as big... we'd never fit everything. Here's the latest pics of the NEW house.

Dillon has football practice & Jared has high school registration the day after we get moved into the rental house. Scott has some business meetings set for the next day too. Ellen & Randy will fly home to Iowa on Monday also. Whew! I'll need to keep my 'list-of-things-to-do' close by!!

Our whole family is dealing with the grief of moving this last couple of days. Jared said good-bye to his girlfriend yesterday (she's out-of-town for next 8 days), our church gave us the big farewell from the stage last weekend, and we try to stop at friends' houses while we are out running errands so we can say goodbye (sometimes that's a little awkward...) Scott is in Iowa City today because his dad is having a hospital procedure & he knew this would be a good chance to say goodbye to all his brothers & sisters. My parents & brother will be here tomorrow & Thursday to help us pack & load. We're making an effort to see many of our friends before Friday. Everyone is so busy!

The best part about moving is that you get to keep the old friends and make new ones. AND when your family comes to see you... you have 'pure' one-on-one time with them (that goes for friends too). We see Iowa as our home state so we'll be making frequent trips back to Iowa (pray for gas prices to come down!).

If I don't get to see you or talk to you before Friday, GOOD BYE and WE'LL SEE YOU LATER!!!

Friends we'll miss

This is Scott & Shirley (our friend & neighbor) visiting on our front steps. We'll miss many of our friends after we're gone... Shirley is one of them.... :(

Welcome Home

Today Jared, Madison & I went to the highway to park and watch the soldiers from the 1/133rd infantry come home. First was the police escort, then a huge motorcade of motorcyclists and flags. Then finally about 15 buses of soliders went by. We waved to them & could see them waving back through the glass.
I don't personally know any of the soldiers, but the tears rolled down my cheeks as they drove by. My chest swelled with pride and my stomach dropped with anticipation that these people were almost home after 2 years. Each of these individuals risked their lives (2 men were killed) to defend those who are less fortunate. I'm so proud of ALL our American soliders and I am equally proud to be an American! I pray God blesses each of their families.

Madison's braces are OFF

Do you see a resemblance?

Jared @ 16,

Scott @ 17

Another old picture

1996 - Madison is 2, Jared is 5, Dillon is 3 and I'm plain ol' CRAZY!

As I was packing...

As I was packing today I came across a big box of pictures, so I HAD to go through a few. This was fall in 1998 at the San Antonio Zoo. Madison is 4, Dillon is 5, Jared is 7

Scott & Jared, Halloween 1991 - Jared was 5 months old.

Can anyone say 'flashback'?? I can't believe our glasses were THAT HUGE! -1991

First of all...

First of all: I have to apologize for all the video clips. I can't help myself, I think they're so cool! Once I figured it out, I can't stop. Even when I'm not posting a video, I'm looking at all the funny ones other people post on YouTube. Really, you should try it... my favorites are the laughing babies, they crack me up.

Second of all: I also want to apologize for the obnoxious behavior on the video clips. Honestly, my kids are normal teens... it's their friends that we have to be careful about.

Third and last: SOFTBALL SEASON IS OVERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Madison's turn for a crazy night

The girls are a little hyped before they go out TP-ing one of their friends, I mean EX-friends. :)

Triple for Dillon!

Dillon's triple during game last night.

RUN Jared!!

Jared's first base hit during tournament. RUN JARED!!

The big MOVE is in sight

It is official, we have temporary housing starting the first of August! This is it. It's located in Round Rock, Texas about 5 minutes from the high school where Jared & Dillon will be going next month. We will stay here for August, September and October. My Aunt Jeannetta (bless her heart!) went to look at the place for us on Sunday & gave it the big 'thumbs up'. It's a bit small, very nice, just small - remember we have 5 people & 2 dogs. After 3 months in this 3BR house, I bet the new 5 BR house will feel like a mansion.
I was getting a bit nervous about the housing situation since the construction on the new house has been VERY delayed from all the rain Texas has had over the past 6 weeks. Our foundation is scheduled to be poured on Thursday (heard that one before) and the framing is scheduled to begin Saturday (this is new!). Of course this is barring any further rain delays.

Dillon's crazy night

Here is what a couple of teenage boys do after drinking too many energy drinks!

Happy Anniversary mom & dad!!

Rentals, rentals, who's got rentals??

Well, we have done everything we can think of. The new house will not be ready until mid-September. This is about 3 weeks later than we planned. The kids start school on August 27 & orientation is the week prior to that. I have been 'shopping' for a sub-let house or apartment for the last 3 weeks. Dead ends. The one place I thought was going to work out turned out that there were hundreds of law suits against the place for everything from mold in the apartments to trying to get their deposit back after moving out. The lady never called back & I'm not pursuing it anymore. yikes.
Did you know there are people called 'Leasing Agents'? They are similar to a realtor except they match people to apartments & they get paid a commission too. It's very cut-throat. I don't like it. We've talked to a couple of them & they've tried to convince us there's no such thing as a sub-lease (basically because they don't get full commission on it). They want to stick us in a minimum 6 month lease.
I'm calling out the personal stops now... I emailed our old church in Round Rock to see if there's anyone in the congregation who has rentals. Scott met a 'friend of a friend' while he was in Austin last spring, we emailed him to see if he knows anyone. I'm getting ready to call my sister-in-law's (Jill's) sister, Emily, who lives in Austin to see if she knows anyone who's got rentals available.
Worst case scenerio is that we'll pull the camper to Texas & hook up for a few weeks. The kids' faces turned morbidly white when I brought this up as an option. Can you imagine all 5 of us plus 2 dogs & a chameleon in one camper for 3 weeks during the hottest part of the summer in Texas? hahahaha An adventure is what I keep telling myself.... this is an adventure....
God will provide. He always does. Even if it's a camper. ;)

LOTS OF POSTS!!

We forgot our camera in Iowa City & just got it back. Look at all the stuff we've been doing! YAY!! This is the last week of softball!

Grandma Cole

This is a long-lost picture of Scott's grandma (Dick's mom). She passed away in 1986...? G'pa Dick just got this picture from his sister, Arlene, whom we haven't seen for years. This is a 'picture of a picture' ! There is certainly some family resemblance, if any of you know Scott's dad...

New business opportunity in Texas

These pictures are of some of the equipment from a business that Scott & I are trying to purchase in Texas. These trucks are called Combination Jet Trucks. They have a big blue tank on the back and hundreds of feet of hose on the front. These trucks are used to hose out underground water lines and then to vacuum up the junk that gets blown out with the water. Cities hire these trucks to come clean their storm service lines & contractors hire them to inspect new pipes.
The business has a fleet of these trucks. We are SUPER excited at trying make this purchase a reality. We spent 3 days with the owner looking at the business & negotiating a sales price. We have another week to commit to this purchase. Yikes! We have a bank ready to make the loan, now we need to come up with downpayment! We think we've made some good investment contacts and now we have to wait (patience is a virtue!) to see if they think it's as great as we do.

Progress on the new house

When Scott & I went to Houston a couple of weeks ago we made a quick trip to Round Rock to check the status of the new house. Here's what it looks like. The big tree on the left side is gone now. :( The boards you see here are the foundation outlines. The concrete was to be poured a few days after this picture was taken. They have had lots of rain so the construction hasn't been moving along too quickly. They assure us that once the slab gets poured then the walls & such will go up fast.The builder decided to move the house towards the rear of the lot a bit more than we anticipated. This is a bummer because the back yard is not very large after this. I tried to convince Scott this is a good thing... less to mow! I like the trees along the rear of the house. It makes it very green. :)

Madison can mow!!

Madison is not allowed to use the riding lawn mower, even though she wants to (her dad says her big brothers should do it instead). Right now the rider has a problem with the blade so Madison was recruited to push-mow with the neighbor's lawn mower. I had to get a picture of her mowing. She was so proud when the yard was finished and looked nice. Good job Madison! (Do you love the long socks her dad insisted she wear... I swear he'd have forced her to wear protective goggles if we had them!)

I never said I was a beautician

Madison wanted her hair highlighted, so we bought a kit. I didn't think I did too bad of a job... considering it was my first time. Thanks Madison for being a guinea pig!