Catch-up

It has been two weeks since my last post. Sadly the camera hasn't come out much but we have had some exciting changes in our family situation- 
1. We celebrated Dustin's birthday. The kids were so excited and they thought really hard about what they wanted to get him. I didn't hint, didn't suggest- they came up with the presents all on their own. Halle got him a new razor and shaving cream, Bennett got him a new toothbrush and gum, and Miles got him some chapstick. As you can see Dustin was ELATED with his presents- but the kids were so thrilled to watch as he opened the presents that they picked. 
2. We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary (woohoo) and what a wonderful eight years it has been. This year we said no gifts (more on that in just a minute) but of course Dustin was creative and got a deck of cards, bound them together and wrote the top 53 reasons why he loved me.  I made a delicious pork loin, rolls, salad, baked potatoes...yum. 
3. Rowe is doing great, we think he has a nut allergy just like Bennett though- (super sad). So since I am nursing I can't have ANYTHING with nuts (dieing for some peanut butter right now) and he has a milk intolerance so if I have anything with milk he spits up too. Great way to lose this baby weight- no chocolate, no icecream, etc...
4. And most exciting of all-  This past Sunday night a home went on the market- we saw it and called our realtor and told him we wanted to go see it. We went and saw it on Tuesday night, and at that point the house already had 8 offers and one was being heavily considered. We still looked through the home and it had EVERYTHING we have been looking for in a home! We decided it didn't hurt for us to put in an offer so we put one in on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning our realtor called and said they were considering another offer...then called back a couple hours later and said that ours was so competitive they opened it back up. And because we wanted such a fast closing date they really liked it. By Thursday morning the bank accepted our offer, and this past Saturday we had our inspection! We close on the house on May 11th (yeah, like 2 weeks from now)! The timing has been perfect, our lease in this apartment is up on June 30th and before we move into the house we have some work we want to do. We are going to rip up all the tile on the bottom floor, replace kitchen counters, replace appliances, a LOT of yard work has to be done...we are going to be busy. I think the one thing that is slightly daunting is riping up the tile- we have about 1700 sq. ft of tile to rip up. (Anyone ever do this before?) We know we will save a bundle doing it ourselves so we are going to go for it! 
Once we get the keys I will take before shots so that hopefully once all the dust settles we can really see that all the work we are putting in will be worth it. I wish Drew (my brother) was here to help us...he is one hard worker! We are SUPER stoked though, moving from our 1300 sq ft apartment, to a home that is 3300+ sq ft, it will be heaven!!! Wish us luck! 

Blessing Day

We blessed Rowe on Easter Sunday with all of our family! It was so much fun having so many people there to show their love and support! 

Here are some pics- 

Sugar, Pops, and Alex (miles has a super cute grin in this one)

 Our family shot...and Miles is taking care of some business in his nostril for this one...nice.

 Grandma Jean and Grandpa Russell-

 (kids were done at this point) so we did a pic with Poppa, Brooke, Natalie, Grammy, Grandma and Grandpa Peterson.

 Grandma and Grandpa Peterson

 4 generations of Peterson men

 And another one of Poppa and Grammy

It was such a beautiful blessing and (once again) so glad that so many people could come down and celebrate this sweet little man that has come into our family! 

Family Hunt

Later that evening we enjoyed a great BBQ then had our own "little" hunt. We had ALL of our family here!!  (minus the sisters at school, and Drew!) 

Here is Grandma Peterson, Grandma Jean, and Brooke with Rowe

 Jean wanted to make sure it looked like he was holding his rabbit-

 And the kids are off- (Sugar was helping Miles...who by the end decided didn't need help)

 Natalie and Grandpa-

 Grammy and Rowe

 Counting the loot with Sugar, Pops, and Alex. (Halle ended up with $5+, Miles $5+, and Bennett came out with $9+)

 All the family enjoying the nice evening and chatting. It was so much fun!

Rice Easter Hunt

This year we had the privilege of having family in town for Easter! We started it off right by going to the annual Easter egg hunt that they put on. It was a little bit crazier this year than last, but still fun! 

Here is Halle and Aunt Brooke having some one on one bonding time

 Aunt Natalie holding Rowe-

 Kids getting ready for the big hunt- baskets ready (Miles had no idea what we were going to be doing)

 Looking at the loot- surprisingly not candy!! Mostly toys (must have a nice budget)!

 King of bouncy balls just got another one for his collection-

 Grammy taking care of Mr. Rowe-

 Listening to the whispers- there are certain places that have neat things you can do at Rice. This is one of them, if you whisper something into this wall, there is one right across from it and you will hear exactly what has been said!

We had such a fun time with family at Rice!! 

Strawberry picking

We have a local farm, about 5 minutes from our house that has strawberries that they let the public come and pick- so we headed out a couple of Saturdays ago and loaded up on some strawberries! Halle was very diligent at picking only the ripe ones- 

Bennett only looked for the biggest ones- and was delighted when he found them

 And this one....guilty. You aren't suppose to eat as you go- but once he saw what we were picking he couldn't eat them fast enough.

 And Rowe just slept the whole time- enjoying the fresh air.