Holy Post Batman

So we bought a house. 
Is that a valid excuse for the fact that I haven't done anything on this blog for almost two months? I should think so. 
We moved into our home over Memorial weekend- it was a HOT move with little help. (grumble) Saturday night of that same weekend we realized that our downstairs AC wasn't working. Nice. We finally got that fixed by that next Wednesday- it was 88 degrees in our home and humid. 
We put new granite counter tops into our kitchen.
Got brand new appliances...the fridge and deep freeze were dented. bummer. We kept them and they said they would deliver new ones soon.
I had to fix the grout and caulk in all the bathrooms. I am a fan of caulking but grouting the tile floor was not much fun. 

We got the second delivery of appliances-fridge looked great, the new deep freeze was dented. again.

I spray painted all of our chandeliers....if you have a gold chandelier and want to change it but are nervous it is SUPER easy. 

Here is a picture of our dining room. I am still looking for rugs for the whole house, along with curtains but you can see the great looking chandelier. The candelabra covers are coming via mail HOPEFULLY today. 

Dustin left on business so the kids and I headed to San Antonio to go to Sea World with my parents. Then we went up to Denton for a full week of swimming and playing. It was a nice break. 

Kids loved seeing Sesame Street characters

And playing at my parents place

They came with our third deep freeze. Want to hear something REALLY funny? It was dented. 

We had a tropical storm that scared me into getting our 72 hour kits ready. Scared me enough that i had them done in 1 day. 

 FINALLY they came with a deep freeze that was not dented. Fourth times a charm.

 Dustin took a week vacation from work, and he spent the time making this:

Each kid has a hanger where his/her stuff goes, we just need a picture for Rowe and we are set.

I bought couches. My sweet patient husband went to EVERY furniture store in Houston. Literally we saw every couch you could look at. I found couches that I liked and bought them. As of right now Dustin hasn't seen them... I think he will just be grateful that we now have somewhere to sit. 

This little girl's birthday was yesterday. Both my mother-in-law and my parents came down to celebrate the big day.  

 Needless to say we have been very busy. Hopefully I can continue this catch up...

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.

Brief Moment of Sanity

For the first time in a very long time both of my older two are at school, and the younger two....duct taped in the closet...

TOTALLY just kidding, they are down for naps.  (My husband was just a tad bit worried when he called during lunch and it was quiet. "Where are the boys? Why is it so quiet at home?" I told him I needed alone time and I think he panicked...then i told him the truth and laughed.)
Have four kids has been an adjustment. I keep reminding myself that the first two months of having a newborn are always hard, but this is just insanity. We are slowly starting to get used to the hecticness of it all- i am sure that once we are stable the rug will get pulled out once again. Here is a brief update while I have the chance-
Dustin- doing great at work. They are gearing up for their summer SME program- (summer mentorship program). The Rice kids get to apply to an internship program located around the world and he is in charge of placing the kids THEN visiting all locations. Some of the locations he will visit this summer are New York, DC, Chicago, Austin, San Fransisco, Paris and India. 
Me- holding down the fort. Trying to keep things together with 4 children...man how did women ever have 11 children?? I would be on some serious medication. I had my 6 week check up with my Dr. last week (at 5 weeks....crazy Dr.) I am down 30 lbs and just have another 15 to go. 
Halle- is finishing up 1st grade. They are gearing up for their zoo fieldtrip this month. She has been a great helper with Rowe and has started reading the boys stories at night while I feed Rowe.
Bennett- we had the talk a bit ago that he is now the oldest boy and I need his help. He has really "manned up" and will help willingly when I need him. He has made a couple really good friends at preschool, which makes me so happy.
Miles- little man with a large personality. He currently is sporting a rather large goose egg on his forehead- which reflects his personality. Miles is eager to keep up with the older siblings, and panics whenever Rowe screams (fun for us) and will usually try shoving his binkie in his mouth. He loves going to the park but HATES the slides- so he chooses to climb on everything. You know- like the 12 foot tall climbing walls?? Makes me so nervous! 
Rowe- he is a little champ. He is finally ok eating off both sides (tmi?) he favored one side and it was like pulling teeth to get him to eat. (cue Rowe waking up hungry) He just ate, gave a nice burb so I threw him up on my shoulder so i could finish and he spit up down my back... nice. He is the KING of spitting up though. I am pretty sure he is allergic to nuts (no peanut butter for me) and has a milk issue too! Boo for both of us
My quiet time has ended- Bennett is home from school, Miles is wanting a snack...so the rat race continues. Pictures may come soon... who knows.