playing catch up

this is a catch up post. I have fallen way behind so we are doing a quick run down of the past few months.

lets start with ice and snow. we had some ice storms last year and we've seen a few snow dustings but this year we got actual snow. I think mason's school was cancelled a combined total of 3 or 4 days which is not cool to make them up but my kids got to build a snowman! they loved playing outside!

mason had a spring kindergarten program that was super cute!! all four classes participated and sang a ton of fun songs with actions and props.

these are a few kids from mason's kindergarten class. the girl in pink next to him lives down the street from us and is super cute and sweet!

next up, easter. in all the pictures I took when we were dying eggs, my kids are in their underwear so didn't want to post those online and I didn't really get any good shots easter morning either so a picture of easter outfits is about all I have to show for that holiday :)

we just renewed our zoo pass a few weeks before we found out we were moving to Idaho so we have been squeezing in as many trips as we can before we leave.  we have definitely already put that pass to good use! we will miss living so close to the zoo!

the dallas zoo just opened up a dinosaur exhibit a few months ago. we attended a really cool show which uses really big puppets and sound affects to make it seem as if the dinosaurs are real.  my kids thought it was pretty cool. 

the dinosaur just spit out water!

 if there were a picture to capture "real life" it would be this one. it cracks me up every time!!

 mason has been in piano lessons for almost one year and has exceeded everyone's expectations. he is so talented and I'm not just saying that because I'm his mom. he really has a gift and I'm so lucky that he had a great teacher to guide him. hopefully we can find a new teacher for him in Idaho because I have a feeling he will go far!

so there ya have it! the past few months wrapped up in a nutshell!

idaho!!

most of you are aware that we have made the decision to move to Idaho!! it is a big decision and has turned out to be quite a hassle but we are so amazingly excited!!  lets start at the very beginning....

curtis has been looking for the chance to move up from a supervisor to a manger for a while now. there have been quite a few opportunities but none seemed to work out how we wanted. when he got the interview for chobani in twin falls we wanted it SO BAD but were trying not to get our hopes up too high.  the interview went well and sure enough he got the job!! oh my goodness. I was so happy I couldn't contain myself! curtis is moving to the next step up in his career ladder, the money is good, we will only be 6 hours away from our hometown, the lds community is bigger and less spread out and just everything is awesome (minus the fact that curtis has to work the grave shift...blah!). they are paying for our realtor and closing costs both for selling here and buying there, they are paying movers to come in, pack and move all of our stuff and they are paying for curtis' hotel room until the kids and I get out there. another huge bonus is curtis wont have to spend 45 minutes driving to work and then 45 minutes driving back home which will save us about $200 a month. he will only be driving about 5 minutes to work now! I can't even say how happy we are about that!! so first things first, we had to put our house up for sale. turns out it was worth a lot more than curtis and I thought it would be.  two days on the market and we got two showings the first weekend.  we had 14 showings in one week and someone made an offer.  only a few days later that offer fell through. then two days after that contract terminated we got another offer. that one is still going well. the inspection was a few weeks ago and everything is still right on track for them closing in the middle of june. as for our housing in Idaho we weren't really sure what we were going to do. we didn't want to get into a rental contract then find a house and be unable to get out of our contract but we couldn't live in hotel for several months either. it didn't help that the area we wanted to live in had few houses for sale (we were really hoping to move to Kimberly, Idaho which is just outside of twin falls). so we decided to look into building a house just to see if that could be an option.  curtis met with a couple of different reputable contractors and one of them happened to have several lots available not only in the town we wanted but in the exact subdivision we wanted!! they worked out what we could afford in our budget and curtis could even get the basement that he was really hoping for ;) when curtis told him we couldn't make any commitments until our house in dallas sold, the builder said we could put down our earnest money, pick the lot we want and he would hold the lot for us.  he told us we could pick out the floor plan, colors, features, the whole she-bang and as soon as our house here closed they would start building. I cant even wait!! this guy is supposedly a great person to work with and he builds super quality, well constructed houses.  several people that curtis works with at chobani have also used this guy to build their house and they have all good things to say. if all goes as planned we should be moving in by December!! in the meantime curtis was able to find us a rental house. we've heard these are hard to come by especially when you dont want to commit for a year contract. luckily this lady was kind enough to let us sign for a 6 month lease or longer if our house isn't finished by the projected date. mason is graduating from kindergarten the morning of the 4th so as soon as that is over we will head out on our first stretch of the drive to Utah. the kids and I will stay at my parents house until our furniture arrives in twin falls then we will head up there where we will finally see curtis again! it will be almost 8 weeks since we have seen him! its been really hard not having him home.  its hard to take over absolutely everything here at the house and deal with all the moving stuff by myself. luckily my awesome mother in law was able to come down for the last few weeks here in texas and help out and brave the drive with us! as much as we all love having grandma here, the kids and I all still miss curtis terribly....b walks around the house saying "i want dada". we are so ready to be in Idaho as a family! we are keeping our fingers crossed that things continue to go well for us and are anxious to get settled in again! we are going to miss all the wonderful people we have met here in texas. our ward has been amazing and we have made some really great friends. everyone has been so willing to help us out and I hope that I can follow their example in the future! here's to the next adventure in our crazy life!

birthdays 6 and 4!

 mason loves having party's for his birthday. unfortunately I am not a party planner so I usually keep it short and sweet :) he invited some friends from church and our next door neighbor. the kids had a blast together!

mason loves the original ninja turtles (ya know....the awesome 1980 ones) so he wanted a ninja turtle cake. this was pretty much the best I could do...Leonardo, your looking great!

 

 the group of kids who were able to make it

this water gun has been by far his favorite toy this year!

and then he was 6! holy smokes! we love this kid. he has loved being in kindergarten but he is more than ready for 1st grade. I hope its more up to his speed than kindergarten was...I feel like this past year was a little boring for him but we got through it. he is such a great big brother and I'm grateful that I can count on him to act responsibly.  he is so accepting of others and his teacher is always commenting on how he works hard to include others and treat everyone kindly.  happy birthday mason!

 

 next up we have sophie's birthday. I really didn't want to through together a party in the midst of getting ready to move and we were already planning a play date with some friends at an inflatable slide place so we turned that into her "party". she loved it and we are so happy for everyone who could join us!

this is sophie and abby. sophie LOVES abby! she asks to go to her house almost everyday. I'm so sad my kids are leaving great friends behind.

cute kiddos!

 

this is sophie's cake. she wanted a "frozen" cake. I had no idea what to do. I went to the store, grabbed a few items and this is what I came up with. didn't turn out too shabby considering I went into it with no clue how it would turn out.

I love, love this picture! sophie hates getting her picture taken. she refuses to look at the camera or smile or hold still or all three of those at the same time. this just shows the joy on her face :) notice how I didn't have enough beads to go all around the cake? oops!

sophie has such a unique personality. she is one tough cookie but also very tender hearted. she is so smart and loves animals. she begs us for a dog and we take frequent trips to the pet store just to look at all the animals. she is my tom boy, loves the outdoors and will play with a bug she found on the sidewalk for hours, even though she crushed it the moment she picked it up.  I cant wait to see the person she becomes over the years!

happy birthday sophie!