A fun new (old) toy!

Maren got a new (old) toy yesterday. Its a little swingset, slide, climber combo thingy that Preston actually received for his first birthday. We had it for a few years, gave it away and somehow its made its way back to us. Maren is quite happy with it and slides down it all day and night. Even the baby dolls get to go down the slide.

And about Preston's braces. He was supposed to get them off yesterday but one of his teeth shifted and that meant the retainer would not fit, so a new power chain was put on and we'll go back on Thursday to get his braces off. Poor kid was so excited to get them off.


Swingset from Ahnah Lingard on Vimeo.

Fun with frogs

We find frogs big and small all over Jesa's neighborhood. The kids love it, except Maren. She has decided that if it moves, its no good. This was a big frog they found back in May.

End of June update

June is over??? The year is half over???

Its been a busy month. LOTS of swimming for the kids. A trip to Texas for Adam to get his braces off and to close on the sale of our house, which ended up being delayed. The sale of our house should happen today sometime. It better work! We took 2 of our nephews on the trip with us. We had lots of fun. We stayed in a hotel with a pool and visited family and friends.

Today Preston gets his braces off. I'll post pictures later today when its all done. Maybe some pictures of Adam too!


Maija, Sydney, Maren, and Ethen dancing at Chuck E Cheese

Maija, Preston, Cohen, Ethen, and Sydney at Chuck E. Cheese

Maija and her best bud Sydney. We miss you Sydney!!

Maren wanted pizza.


Maren was not happy to be on the ride.

Adam and his 2 Texas wives! We miss you Lauren and Barbara!! (totally joking about the wives....)

Maren loves her baby and is learning the proper way to feed it!

The usual attacking of daddy in the morning.

Hanging out with baby doll and daddy at the hotel.

Ethen and Maren watching some TV before we all hit the sack at the hotel.

Maija, Preston and Cohen watching TV before bed.

Two of our nephews, Ethen and Cohen. They came to Texas with us!

More messing around at the hotel.

Maren wanted to go swimming. She had 2 pairs of goggles.


Video of part of our ride home. The kids were dancing to the end of The Pink Panther movie. Sorry the quality is bad. I don't know what happened during the upload.

The painting has begun, sort of...

We actually need to scrape the house first. Lots of old peeling paint. Thats gonna be oh so fun! We put up some paint so we could get a real idea of what it will look like. I think it really needs to be darker for the 2 main colors and more of a step between them so they aren't so close in color. But, the paint has been purchased so its a done deal. It will still look awesome though. What do you think?



The plum color is for the shutters and front door. It will be darker than this since it needs a few coats.
The cream color is so pretty. It will be for all the trim.

Tales from the Crypt...oh, I mean the basement

Hanging out in the basement with the boxes, bugs and SPIDERS is fun during a tornado warning! The sirens have been going off all night long. Normally we are at my sister's house who has a beautiful FINISHED basement during storms but not tonight. Stuck at home, in the crypt. What fun! Picture quality is bad, these were taken with my cell phone camera.

New friends and big girls

This is my new friend George. He came to live with us today. We hope he's happy here. He has a tank mate named Toxicroak, he's an albino frog.



Maren got a big girl bed today. She's pretty interested in it but mainly likes to get up on it and then get off of it. We even got her a pillow! This is a good incentive for me to actually finish her blanket.

We did it!

Only 6 weeks on the market! We did it! I paid my last mortgage payment just the other day. Now onto a HUGE savings spree so we can start on the new house! Wahooooooooooooooooooo!