Things have been kind of crazy around here lately. Besides the normal stuff like Home and School board, managing Aiden’s soccer team, homework, soccer and lacrosse games, we have started the process of moving! We are building a home in Brian’s “childhood" town about 35 minutes away from our current neighborhood. It was with incredibly mixed emotions that we made the decision to go. We love everything we’ve experienced here – the friends we’ve made, the school the boys attend, the thrill of seeing a small town grow and develop – it’s been a blast…and we won’t be far away!

So…we’ve had meetings with the builder, meetings with contractors to fix some issues we have with the current home (like the 20+ windows that need replaced due to broken seals…all under warranty thankfully!), meetings with realtors and a fun day I spent with the mother of one of Brian’s best friends who is an interior designer! She and I poked around the builder design center together and she gave us some great tips and helped start the process of selecting everything that will go into the new house. Then there’s the massive to-do list we made to get our house “sale ready”. I have no less than 15 bags of stuff to donate…and AmVets comes next week – yeah! We’ve cleaned closets, entire rooms, the garage, the pantry…and there is so much more to do! (totally avoiding the basement for now!) Yesterday, I spent the morning thinking I was going to measure all the windows that need replaced. After I popped out a bottom window above the kitchen sink on accident and then almost killed myself getting it back in (cut three of my fingers, bled all over the kitchen, scrapped up the wall, almost toppled out of the sink where I had to stand), I decided to organize the linen closet and hire a professional to do the windows!

So – that’s my long rambling excuse as to why I haven’t posted lately. I have pics to share from my phone and the camera!

My children are definitely the sons of their father. Here they are celebrating HOT SAUCE on tacos!

Logan photo-bombs Aiden

Brady – lover of hot sauce, hater of shirts!

Dinner outside (one of the only ones we did this summer – early September!)

Farmer’s market corn and asparagus – steak!

One day it was SO HOT at soccer practice that I took a cooler of ice water and some rags for all the players to use to cool off. The younger brothers all took off their shirts and had at it – dipping rags in and throwing them at each other. I should have taken a pic of the water in the cooler at the end…they stood it in and it was NASTY with dirt and grass. Poor “real” soccer players!

This is the map of the subdivision where we are building. See the green pins? That means the lot is available.

Well, we needed to change one of those to a red pin. 8/31/13 – Brian and our new buddy RoxAnne lift the glass…

I get to do the honors!!

Good-bye cloths that don’t fit anyone! My guest bedroom closet is so very Zen and clean now!!

Sometimes Logan forgets to bring his snack containers home from school. He hoards them in his desk and brings them home all at one time! I might have to give up my earth-conscience ways just to make sure there are not SO many containers that Logan can’t find his school books in his desk every day!

I love nerf guns!

Soccer makes Brady sleepy!

beautiful

Art project: turn $2 tiles into something I can hang in place of “personal” pictures for when we put the house on the market

I like the way they turned out! I framed them in big black frames and hung them along the big hallway upstairs.

This is a GoPro camera that the boys received from the director of a little film they did over the summer. You can buy attachments like helmet straps, chest straps and bike clips. The GoPro films ACTION shots and they LOVE it!! I let Logan take it to school one day. I have a 14-minute clip of recess! That one may need some editing ;)

facebook post: Brian and Logan watching the Bears and celebrating their culinary victory over today's "chopped challenge" (custom designed by me, Brady and Aiden for Brian and Logan the sous chef): game-day chili with the following - strawberries, red velvet cake mix, chicken nuggets & ground beef. They made: a mole (chocolate) beef/chicken nugget chili with a strawberry and chili-powder infused crema. Fine...I'll get them next week! — with Brian Houck.

(next facebook post): Well...we can't let unused red velvet cake mix go to waste, now can we? Logan created a little desert masterpiece for us complete with shot glasses of milk.

Two weeks ago, we had a DOWNPOUR of rain right at school pick-up time. Um…don’t think my boys minded walking home and getting wet.

Rain rain don’t go away!

The GeoTracks made an appearance for a couple of nights. Aiden and Brady built a BEAUT in the basement…this ended up extending to the far back wall.

Hey! Where are daddy and I supposed to sleep? We found the boys in our bed one night when we went up. You’ll notice that Brady has his Team Chicago shirt on. Guessing this was a Friday night because he has very early morning games on Saturdays and he likes to wake up “ready to go”

Logan’s soccer buddy slept over one Saturday night. Aiden had a game, then Logan, and Brady had played that morning. LOTS of yellow in my car!

2nd chopped challenge weekend. Logan’s basket for dessert: bacon, potato chips, whoppers and ice cream sandwiches. It was a “gimme” in my opinion!

Unveiling the basket!

Brian’s dinner basket: ground veal, tarter sauce, brussel sprouts and ramen noodles.

Good thing we have a well-stocked pantry!

Logan dipped the potato chips in chocolate (happened to have it around the house – ha!) and then covered them in crushed bacon. He cut the ice cream bars in to tiny squares, dusted them with crushed whoppers and layered the whole thing. Like I said – total gimme! :)

Brady is super helpful in the kitchen! He licks spoons covered in chocolate!

step back – master chef at work here!

Brian’s dish: Tai veal-meatball stir fry. He used the brussel sprouts like cabbage, used the tarter sauce as a binder in the meatballs, the ramen as a noodle (obviously) and made an Asian stir fry sauce. It was actually AWESOME. I think he added basil and red pepper from the garden.

No one passed on dessert either!

Pictures of our sleepy puppy on the couch

Looks like a little wolf, maybe a fox, from this angle…howls like a wolf too (don’t tell her, but she’s very tiny…she doesn't’ seem to know!)

Logan’s teacher sent me this picture to make me laugh one day. It’s Round II of “not bringing my snack containers home”. Notice how he’s hiding in shame behind a book ;)

Me trying to measure windows. Yikes! This is not the most graphic picture I took…I’ll spare the blog the true bloody mess I made!

Phew – I think we’re up to date! :)