Memorial Day

by Holly

We hosted a backyard cookout for Memorial Day for some of Holly's family. My parents had been fishing the week before, so the meal consisted of grilled salmon and trout (and chicken for Justin), corn on the cob, boiled potatoes, yummy breads, cornbread salad, fruit salad and of course pie. Thanks to Mom K (my grandma) for serving up the coconut and chocolate delights!

First time using Eli's new pool, but he was more interested in watching his cousins than getting in himself. Jared's in the pool and Tyler is testing the slide. Look out!
Playing in the water makes me so hungry Mama! Eli actually slept through lunch and then when he woke up everyone was here, so he had to eat before the big meal was ready. He did love corn on the cob though and would lean towards mine with his mouth open when he was ready for a bite.

Mom K, my aunt Bobbi, my mom and Eli, who was playing peek-a-boo through the folding chair. (yes, he plays peek-a-boo with any and everything!)

And in the other corner... PawPaw, my uncle Larry, Dad, Justin, Teresa and Kelly

Nothing more precious than little boys! Jared and Tyler call Eli their 'little buddy' and are showing him all the ropes. I don't know what Jared and Eli were scheming here, but I loved it!

New Home, After

by Holly
Well, here are the much anticipated 'after' photos. This is just a glimpse of our new home- for the rest you have to come visit! :)

Our sanctuary- the covered back patio with our Mother's Day/Father's Day gift to each other, the patio furniture. We eat dinner out here 2-3 times per week and watch Eli play. He's got a kiddie slide, balls, rocks, pinecones and sand. What else could he need?
Eli's bathroom. Yes, I found a shower curtain with monkeys on it! There are adorable pictures of a monkey and a giraffe playing peek-a-boo over the toilet that he really does play peek-a-boo with. Adorable!

The guest room. The wall is torn paper sack and looks really interesting. We did one wall in here and one in Eli's room as well. Sorry no pics of his room tonight. He's supposed to be in there going to sleep but I can still here babbling and his feet thumping the wall.

View from the front door through the entry way into the living room. This entry had the worst wallpaper, scroll down if you don't remember. The sign over the doorway says "Happy is the house that shelters a friend" and truly it is. Please come visit!

Our bedroom. No, Justin had nothing to do with the green wall and this is probably his least favorite part of the house, but I think it turned out to be quite the romantic hideaway. I pretend its from a magazine, or perhaps Heather's blog! :)

Moving Day!

by Holly

Moving day was finally here! We had a lot of help thankfully and the actual moving in of furniture and boxes went faster than I expected. The boys here are taking a break and watching some toons and having a snack. I believe Jared and Tyler were sharing their jelly beans with Eli- quite a treat!

Eli helping Papa and Nanny, Justin's grandmother, with the kitchen table assembly. I think that's Justin's dad on the right actually assembling, but whoever had my camera cut him out of this one.
A portion of our help: Pops, Holly, Papa with Eli, PawPaw, Mom (Holly's grandparents)

Come on Pops! We've got work to do!

Eli finally got placed in the laundry room to play with his wagon of blocks as he was constantly underfoot 'helping'. Justin's grandmother sat and played with him- its not like he was locked in a room by himself!

New Home, During

by Holly

Here are a few pictures of the 'during' process, some of the projects one of you mentioned not liking. :)

We had to wet the wallpaper with spraybottles and then scrape it off. Eli caught on fast and was 'spraying' for us. He doesn't quite get pulling the trigger on the spray bottle, but he was very proud of himself nonetheless. Moma and I were glad for a little distraction amid all the work!

Holly's cousin Rusty hanging one of our new light fixtures. This is the living room chandelier and is a major improvement over the one that was there! Its available for sale too, along with the aforementioned bathroom fixtures, if you're interested. If Rusty looks official, it is because he actually is an electrician. :)

This one is a little dark, but you can see the mess I had scraping wallpaper in Eli's bathroom. He came to help me out by climbing on the stepstool, one of his favorite new accomplishments.

A little blurry, but you can see my mom is painting the kitchen, after she had textured it. Don't call child labor on us- Jared begged to help do something and was thrilled when we gave him a paintbrush! I think that's my brother on the floor in the background working on the dishwasher installation. Fabulous Craig's list purchase!

And a little later on, after we'd moved in, Eli helped Daddy install smoke detectors. When he saw Justin with the tools, he rummaged through his toybox to find his John Deere toolbelt and tools. Precious!

Blog Transitions

By Justin

Our blog is going to be in a state of transition as we try to determine what to call our blog from West Texas! Suggestions and comments welcome!

New Home, Before

by Holly

We finally have possession of our new home in Lubbock! There is much to be done before moving in, including removing wallpaper, painting every room, changing out light fixtures and installing blinds. The rest can wait, but these were on Holly's priority list and had everyone scrambling! My parents, my brother, aunt and uncle and grandparents were all in and out before the actual move-in, and thank God they were! This is a shot of the front of the house, a little off center, but you get the point. Eli's bathroom light fixture. The same one was hanging in our bathroom. Vintage? Yes. And if anyone is going for that 70's look, we have them both for sale! Also note the wallpaper.

The entryway. Beautiful crown molding and... Well, we scraped the wallpaper off, restained the front door and are dealing with the tile for now.

The kitchen. Thankfully the previous owner had installed wood flooring, new countertops and tile backsplash to help the sale. It worked! We did remove this wallpaper as well and replaced it with texture and paint.

View of our bedroom and into the bathroom area. Yes, the carpet is pink but is in very good condition so we are embracing it. This bathroom also had wallpaper which has not been dealt with yet. Its my last hurdle to making it home!

Easter and Mother's Day

by Holly

Easter was cold and rainy, but still fun for Eli! He hunted eggs with Pops, Grandma and Daddy at Tech around the Will Rogers and Soapsuds statue. Great idea!
I found another one Grandma!

Look at all these eggs! (Note- it is mid-May now and Eli still plays with the eggs every day!)

Holly and Eli with Papa, Holly's Dad, on Mother's Day

Holly and Eli with Nana, Holly's mom, on Mother's Day

Livin' On Wheels

by Holly
Here are a few of Eli livin' it up in our temporary quarters, the RV. We were there 2 months, which is longer than we anticipated but it did go by rather quickly.

Eli had never really been around steps too much and was intimidated but very curious about the two steps up to the bedroom of the RV. By the time we left though, he was a pro and played on them continually without needing supervision.

After one week in our new school, Eli was hit by a new round of germs and the doctor diagnosed him with bronchitis and conjunctivitis. So here went another series of breathing treatments, antibiotics, cough syrup and eye drops. This was our first time with the in-mouth nebulizer attachment and Eli thought he was big stuff 'treating' himself and took it without a fight!

He's also a very big help with cleaning now! After watching me sweep the kitchen area, he decided he could handle the bedroom/bath area himself. I held the dustpan and surprisingly he did get most of the dust and grass into it. We dumped it in the trash and then he cheered us on with clapping and Eli 'yea's'.

Another hurdle was getting him accustomed to the shower. Eli loves bathtime, but without a bathtub, there really wasn't a choice. The first few nights were a sprint to see how fast we could get him washed and handed out to the other parent before the screams did us in. After that though he adjusted and by the end of our stay, he was sitting on the drain to pool the water in hopes that 'bathtime' would not come to an end!

Goodbye Allen, in Retrospect

by Holly

I have the camera cord on the desk, have downloaded pictures and lo, and behold I am sharing them with you! We have a lot of ground to cover, so there will be several installments over the next few days, but here is the first one. These are some pics taken in our last few days in Allen. We miss you!!

Erin, Holly and Eli at our Sunday School class going away party. Yummy Napoli's!

Holly and Eli with our friend Gaby from school. We miss you Gaby, and Kids R Kids too!

Justin and Holly in front of our Allen home, one last time. Sadly we had already strapped Eli in the car when I thought to run back for a photo. He was there though!

Congratulations!

by Holly

Well, we are getting settled in our new home and I am officially back to working from home, but the office is just manageable enough for me to do just that and nothing more. I know you're tired of reading this, but please stay tuned for pictures!

In the meantime... Congratulations to our friends who have new babies!!! John and Charissa (note Ludlow's blog at right) are the proud parents of baby girls Elizabeth and Cosette. Also, Sarah and Mike (note Plemons' blog at right) are the proud parents of baby boy Nathan. We're so excited for you all and hope you are all doing well.

In Transition

-By Justin

So we have slept two nights in our new house. If you can find my shoe box, I would appreciate it. Our posting will be slim over the next week or so as we try to find all the pieces of junk that we put together and call our stuff which dominates our life. Many thanks in advance for your prayers for a quick and painless new home transition.....