Happy July 4th!

We invited our close friends (Randy, Sara and Gracie) to go watch the fireworks with us for the 4th. Sara even got them matching shirts! We had a good time and the girls LOVED it, but it was a VERY LONG walk to and from the car! We got there later than planned and had to park at the grocery store and walk (at least a mile, maybe more!) carrying all our stuff and keeping up with the girls! I was really worn out by the time we got home and the next day!

Eating some yummy snacks


Laying down being silly waiting for the show to start

Yeah, they've started. Here are the girls jumping for joy:

Here's a little video of some of the show - if you turn up your volume, you can hear them chatting with each other!

When we got home, even though it was really late, we let the girls have a sparkler (they wouldn't let us use them at the park):

The fireworks were the night before the 4th. On the actual 4th, we had our wonderful neighbors, Cindy and John over for a cookout. We welcomed one of their friends (Rich), as well and had some good food with some good friends that we will dearly miss when we move up to Wake Forest.

And we got to use the rest of our sparklers! Everyone got to light up a couple - but Livi got most of them!

Summer Fun and Updates

We had some family pictures taken a couple weekends ago (after we got back from the zoo) by Lundies Photography. We did an outdoor session with them and the pictures turned out great! Here are some of the samples they sent us:

FYI - this is not our dog - this is the owner's dog.

Ok, so let me give you guys a quick update on our house situation. We had been looking at moving up to Wake Forest to get closer to Grant's work and get a little bigger house since we are quickly outgrowing this one! Anyway, we saw a beautiful house that was a new construction, reduced into our price range and we fell in love with it. But we wanted to look at other houses, too, so not to jump at the first one we saw. We went out a couple weekends later and saw several other houses, then went back to this first house. Yep, we loved it! So we decided that we wanted to put an offer in on it. Unfortunately, while we were at the house the 2nd time, it went under contract with someone else! :( So, we were pretty bummed.

However, we decided to see if the builder would grant us the reduced price to build the same model home on a new lot in that neighborhood - and they did! YEAH! So, we have asked for a couple changes, but other than that, we are going to build the house we fell in love with and we will actually get it on a nicer lot! So, things do happen for a reason. Anyway, we've already signed the contract and been approved for the loan and put our deposit down. Now, we are just waiting for them to get the permit to break ground. The only downside is that it won't be ready before little man arrives in September. It is expected to be done at the very end of the year. Oh-well, can't have everything. So, in the meantime, our house is on the market (for the last ~3 weeks) and we've had 2 showings. Hoping for some more showings, but don't really want to sell it quite yet and have to figure out where we'll be living between then and when our new house is ready. Just hoping for a smooth transition, but expecting that we probably won't have one. We'll take that as it comes.

So, this is a picture of our lot! Yeah!

That's the update on our house stuff. As far as the pregnancy goes - everything is going well. No issues or problems to report. Just growing and having normal prego aches and pains. Still need to figure out little man's name - we just need a night to sit down and spend some time figuring it out, but we haven't had ANY free time at all in a while. We'll have to make some time to get that done BEFORE he shows up! ha ha!

Here's a picture from when I was ~25 weeks along:

Ok, so that's the house stuff and the baby stuff. Oh - did I mention that I am also changing jobs! Ugh! Long story, but the short of it is that this company wasn't exactly panning out the way we had hoped and after much consideration, we decided that it would be more stable and and secure to move to a better established company in the area (doing the same thing that I am currently doing). And, my team is also moving over with me - so we'll get to stay together. Yeah! I am going to start with them at the end of the month and am very excited about this company.

So, needless to say - EVERYTHING is a bit crazy for us right now! Hopefully things will start to settle down soon!

On a more fun note - here are some pictures and a video of Olivia running around in the sprinkler. She had a blast!

The other night Grant found a pretty good sized turtle in the yard and we brought Olivia out to check it out. Here she is (in her jammies right before bed), checking him out:

Here is just a random picture of King Chuck (at least he thinks he king - when Olivia isn't around!):

Here is a funny video of Grant and Olivia playing hide and go seek:

Well, that's a quick update on what has been going on around here lately. (and another excuse for not blogging more often!). We are headed to the beach in the morning with Grant's family for our yearly trip. Looking forward to it - but hoping it isn't too hot out! I may be spending a lot of time in the shade or indoors if it is too warm! ha ha!

NC Zoo

A couple weekends ago we took Olivia back to the NC Zoo. It was a good day and it wasn't too hot. We went in the morning and were headed back home by a little after lunchtime (we had to get back for a family photo session that afternoon). Olivia had a great time and we got to see lots of fun animals. Here are some pictures from the trip:

Check this next one out - That is a gorilla behind us laying on his back taking a snooze right next to the glass!

Here we are going to see the Dora 4D show at the center of the zoo:

And, of course, we cannot miss the carousel:

Here is a picture of me with Olivia - a chance for you all to see how big my belly is getting!

These are air vents and Olivia thought they were awesome!

We have 2-year passes to the zoo that will expire next spring - so we will definitely be heading back to the Zoo again shortly - maybe at least one more time before baby brother arrives!

Durham Museum of Natural Science

Last month we got to meet some of our college friends (Ralph and Sheetal) and their kids at the Durham museum of natural science. We had never been there and were excited to go. Olivia got to meet their kids: Lilly, Ethan and Leeya and hang out with them while exploring the museum. They all had a great time and we were all pretty worn out by the time we left!

Here are some pictures from our trip:

It was a good time and we look forward to going back again!

3rd Birthday Slideshow

Click here to view these pictures larger

Water Bug and New Rooms

The other day I was working from home and went outside and came upon Olivia at Ms. Angie's house "helping" her water the flowers. Needless to say - I'm not sure how much "help" she was, but she had a good time and got soaked in the process!

Silly girl!

I wanted to show you guys pictures of her new big girl room, too! This was her present from Mama and Daddy for her birthday. We got her some big girl furniture and a new bedding/room set with flowers and butterflies on it. Granddad helped get us a great deal on the furniture and even delivered it for us! Thanks so much for helping us out with that and to you both for helping us set up their new rooms!

It turned out so pretty and we all love it!

And when she got her big girl furniture, little brother inherited the baby furniture for his room and put his bedding together and hung the valances. His room still needs a lot of work, but is looking pretty cute already!



Now our dilemma is whether or not we will still be in this house when he comes! So here is the run down of everything going on in our lives right now.

1. We put our house on the market on Monday this week. (now we just need to keep it looking clean and pretty EVERY day to show!!)


2. Our air conditioner broke on MONDAY - yep, the same day our house went on the market! So, we had a very hot night and a very hot Tuesday, but it is fixed now and back to the coolness! Thank goodness!


3. We have decided to build a house (since the one we fell in love with sent under contract with someone else while we were looking at it for the 2nd time!) - so we are building that same house on a nicer lot! We should be *hopefully* signing the contract with the builders tomorrow! Yeah!

Oh, yeah, and did I mention that we are having a baby and have no idea if we will be homeless when he comes! If we sell this house too soon, we may be homeless for a bit before our new house will be ready at the end of December. And possibly by the time baby comes. So, we'll have some juggling to do if we sell our house before our new one is ready! We will keep you posted on that one!

There are a couple more things going on right now, but I'll save that for another post. for now, just know that we are doing well, but have VERY full plates and are trying to get everything worked out. One thing at a time.

I'll leave you guys with a cute video of Olivia spelling her name for you guys. This is something that she has known how to do for a little while now, but we were finally able to get it on video. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Olivia!

So our little Olivia has turned 3! I have been trying to get this blog entry out for over a week, but the blogger wouldn't let me upload the videos. I finally got them uploaded today! AND I already put a slide show from all the wonderful pictures that my great friend, Jenn took at the party for us. THANKS, JENN!!

As always, I had to make a fancy cake for Olivia and mom came and helped me out this time. Not quite as elaborate as last year, but still came out very good. Here is our cute Minnie Mouse cake:

We had her party at a bouncy place called Jumpin Beans up in Wake Forest. It was a perfect place to have a 3-year old party! The kids LOVED it and the adults got to mingle and some of them even went in the bouncer to play with the kids!

I only got a couple pictures of the occasion, but the slide show from Jenn (in the previous blog entry) has TONS more.

Thank you to everyone who was able to come share Olivia's special party with her and for all the wonderful gifts that she received. We have such wonderful friends and it was great to see everyone!

Here is Olivia when we all sang to her:

Here she is with a couple of her buddies, Reece and Jordyn:

We had a great time at the party and I think everyone else did - I KNOW all the kids did and I am sure they all passed out on their way home after all that jumping.

Olivia's actual birthday was on a Tuesday, which just happens to be Grant's night off - yeah! We decided to do something simple and take her up to TGI Fridays for dinner.

She has always loved when they sing to other people at restaurants for their birthdays and wanted to have them sing to her. Unfortunately, she did get a little scared when they started because they were so loud, but she loved that they sang to her. Here's a video of it:

She even got a special birthday treat from them . . . ice cream! Yum!

When we got home we had one more gift for her (her big present from us was her big girl furniture and bedding). Here is a video of us giving it to her:

This guitar is a little nicer than the toy one we got her last year. We can actually tune this one (more or less). We decorated it with princesses and flowers for her and every day since she has told us how much she loves her own guitar.

Here she is playing us a tune: