When daddy comes home...

He takes the kids to the Renaissance Festival

Jake dressed up like a pirate. Here the boys are posing with the real Pirate Jack Sparrow (not that the kids have ever seen the movie...but he looked like a pirate...and that was cool)

William chose to dress like a knight. And it was a good thing. He ran into the Real Knight, Sir William. Now that is cool. They even cheered for him to win the deadly jousting duel bwteen Sir. William and the evil Black Knight. Can you guess who won?

Before the festival. Naomi was of course, the princess.

More swimming. There are about 6 different pools that we can go to any day of the week...for free. I don't know if we will ever move. It is amazing!

And did I mention that there are DQ's on every corner? We are in Heaven!

Busy helping me re-finish garage sale furniture.

And let's not forget...OUR SURPRISE VISITORS! The worst part about leaving Akron..."we are sooo much farther from Josh and Maddie and Ty Ty."

The morning they came to visit, I didn't tell the kids. I wish I could have video taped Will's face when he saw Josh. Let's just say, PRICELESS.

watching a movie in our neighbor's backyard

When Daddy's not Home...

After our three day drive to our newest place called home, James flew back to Akron to finish up residency. I was left with the kids to unpack and entertain. BUT...before James and his brothers even left, (his two brothers flew in to help unload the truck. I didn't get ONE single picture. I think I was in a daze) My parents flew in to help me out.

So this is what you do when daddy's not home, Grandparents come in, and the unpacking is too overwhelming to finish... we take minor detours.

picnics on our front lawn

cub scout camp for Will

grandma and grandpa

Grandparents buying us pets. Wow! Do we sure love them.

This is Jake with his new Gecko.

And Will with his new pet Beta fish.

Waiting at verizon for grandpa to buy his new cell phone that went through the wash machine the very next day.

Daily walks in the gully behind our house with Grandma. Even in the rain.

Sprinkler and silly string Father's Day celebrations with our new neighbors and best friends

learning how to cut artichokes

reading in our new book nook

eating dinner at our new favorite restaurant, Noodles & Company

Swimming at our pools

and of course...working like crazy! Thanks mom and dad. We love you.

oh wait. My favorite part of my parents visit. My mom has been off Coke for 6 months. By the middle of their visit she turned to me in the car and said, "I may not make it without a Coke. This might be a time where I have to give in." At this point the kids are screaming in the car, we have been to three stores looking for unnecessary plastic objects to create storage space in the kids rooms and we were DONE!

But after all was said and done...SHE MADE IT! Not ONE Coke. Me, on the other hand, am up to two a day. It used to be one. But like my mom said, it's been a little rough.

Last days...

Our last two days in Akron were packed! (so did we) We packed...get it? it's a joke. ha ha.

We left for our trek back west on graduation day. Lunch time. Graduation day.

This is minutes before walking out the doors of the school where my two oldest children were educated for the last three years. We left in the middle of chaos. Cameras. Crying. (not for us). You know, typical last day of school stuff. It worked out perfectly!

Jake and his teacher, Mrs. Semelsberger. (at home, we called her Mrs. Cheeseburger)

This picture speakes a thousand words. Jake couldn't be happier to be done with school. William just loves learning so much he was pretty sad to not be in the school environment for another three months.

William (sorry, it's Will now. He officially asked us to start calling him Will.) With his teacher Ms. Howes and good buddy Ethan.

Oh, I miss this little friend. Hannah Banana. We still talk about her daily. We think one of these days she may show up to nursery. We'll see.

The night before we left we hit the park with our Teftellar buddies. Check us out.

Will and Leah

Omi and Hannah Banana

These two speak for themselves. Goodness. Jake and Noah

Look at the smile on Jaker's face. You have no idea how much I have missed that smile lately. He and his good buddy Xander.

Jake especially misses his friends and seems to be having a little bit of a hard time adjusting.

We hit the beach for the last time with our neighbors. Sarah Maddie Mom. That's how Ne Ne says their names.

The week before we left Will was in the 2nd grade musical. He was one of the narrators. He loved it. (I forgot to post it earlier)

So long Akron.