Our First (and Last) Peters of Conroe Garage Sale....

As if we don't have enough going on these days, Justin and I had the bright idea to host a Moving Sale yesterday morning. We have heard nothing but rave reviews about having Garage sales from our family and friends so we thought 'What the heck..we can do this'.
Do you ever notice how kids don't really play with certain toys anymore until all of a sudden you place them out on the driveway for someone else to buy?!?! It was very funny to see 4.5 year old Kate play on some of her old toys that she outgrew when she was 1!! And Wesley found TONS OF FUN on the bouncy chair he and Kate both loved when they were much younger. I actually snapped a picture of him playing on it b/c I specifically remembered taking a picture of him when he was 1 month old on that very same bouncy seat...so I posted them both below just to see how much my little man has changed.

All in all, it was a huge success. We got rid of everything and what still managed to be lingering after we closed for the day, Justin and I donated. And while the intent was to NOT keep anything and have to move it in 2 weeks, I just had to keep the clothes of Kate's that didn't sell and they are for Miss Peyton. I just love when Tara sends pictures of Peyton b/c she is ALWAYS wearing something passed down from Kate and she looks so precious (and I love being able to save Tara $$$).

And to other news..our house is in complete disarray right now. Everything has been cleaned out and about 75% has been boxed up. Justin and I were packing up the kitchen yesterday and Justin remarked 'Remember when we moved in this house....and how I kept saying that the next time we move we are hiring someone to do this for us?!?!' I giggled b/c yes I did remember him saying that over and over and over again. But my understanding from those that have hired movers, is that the movers don't do the packing and cleaning, so we would have to do this tedious part anyway!

I've always been the type of person to learn from every experience (mine or others) and I definitely am learning that items are just that...items. Most of our family memories haven't been made with 'items'. ....they have been made by being together! And my grandma helps reiterate that point everytime she calls me (every few days) and talks about the economy and how she wishes she would have not acquired so much stuff over the course of her life b/c she really didn't need all that stuff..and if she had saved all that money she would have been a millionaire!! So she probably wouldn't have been a millionaire but I get her point!?!?!

We also had special visitors on Friday night...Wes and Joan and baby William. Absolutely gorgeous baby. He is so sturdy for being so young and is already starting to show his own traits..some from his mom and some from his dad. But he was a great baby...I never heard him cry the entire time he was visiting! And he fell asleep on me which makes me feel super great b/c I am not the best baby person. I can't wait to watch him grow up. He is going to be so handsome!

Kate's end of school year party....

was held at her absolute favorite place..PUMP IT UP!!!

On Thursday @ 3:30pm she and I headed to Pump It Up and met her friends(and their parents) and her teachers. Much fun was had by all! Mrs. Cindy wanted to make sure the class knew how much she enjoyed teaching them and how hard they worked all year long. On Tuesday (June 2) they have their Spring Show in the Sanctuary at her school. Both Kate and Wesley are performing with their individual classes and Kate had been rehearsing at home (and Wesley has too...he is quite the little entertainer). Justin and I can't wait to see them so watch for a post on that experience sometime mid week!

In the meantime, here are some pics from Pump It Up!

Our Memorial Day Weekend.....

Whew...what a busy weekend it was! A lot of fun but definitely busy..but I've realized that is what life is all about! I LOVE IT!

Our Memorial Day Weekend officially started on Friday after a week of vacation at the beach and it was a day to celebrate! We officially finalized the house deal! We had officially 'closed' the Friday before we left on vacation but having a buyer that lives in France causes a bit of delay in certain areas so the deal was finally 'CLOSED' a week later. I'm starting to tear up just thinking of leaving this house so I'll save the sappy 'farewell to our first home' blog for a few weeks when the UHAUL officially pulls out!

On Saturday we headed East on HWY 105 to Lumberton (just north of Beaumont) to Miss Riley Cate's first birthday bash! I can say now that I have officially taken 105 from start to finish (West to East) in its entirety!! Riley had the cutest birthday party with a rubber ducky theme. She had a good time munching her cake and helping her mom open gifts. She got lots of cute outfits! Kimberly and Davon have a beautiful home...I'd love a replica of it build for us in Victoria! As always Kimberly's friends and family were amazingly cordial and great to be around. The kids had a blast! Kate and Wesley took off in Ryan's Artic Cat and almost nailed the fence. But it did give me a good idea of a birthday gift for Wesley.

On Sunday (and I forgot my camera so I'll just have to narrate) a few of Justin's coworkers threw him a small bash as a farewell. We took the kids so he could show them off since they have grown so much since they saw them last. It was nice getting to see people I had only met through conversations with Justin. I think (outside of leaving our house that we've manicured for 6 years...see here I go again getting teary eyed!) leaving some of his coworkers that he's been around for 9+ years is going to be the most difficult for him.

And finally today (Monday) we spent a lot of time outside, getting ready for the garage sale next Saturday and BBQ'ing. I'm not normally a rib person but Justin made really good ribs and sausage today..good job, Justin!

I am a Garage Sale novice so I had to reach out to Kimberly for some advice. We are officially calling it a Moving Sale so that people think we have better stuff and need to get rid of it (aka..make me an offer and its yours!). We have tons of stuff to part with; mainly kids stuff. We'll need to make at least $16 to cover my advertising cost in the Courier. I had a hard time pricing things, too. I know that most of my stuff is in really good condition and is probably worth a lot more than what I priced it at....but I also want people to buy it..anyone just buy it so I don't have to haul it to Goodwill!

Our 3rd Annual Port A Beach Trip

I meant to blog about our trip earlier but after a very busy Thursday (the night we got back into town) I have slacked a tad and am just now getting to post. We were in Port Aransas at this place called Beachgate (http://www.beachgate.com/ )that we found 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Wesley. They have 5 different units you can choose from and we have stayed in 3 of them and this year's unit was the nicest and roomiest of the 3 that we've stayed in but it is the farthest from the water and in order to get a gulf view you have to stay on floors 3 or 4. We were joined by Justin's brother Robbie and his wife Marianne and their kids Mary Grace(4) and Cade(1). Justin's parents and his other brother Scott and his wife Michelle and their daughter Ashley(2) came to visit a few of the days. Vanessa(23), our niece, also came to visit Tuesday and Wednesday. It was nice spending time together.


1. Did we have a good trip? YES...the trip went very quick and the kids rode very well. As usual Kate looked forward to getting to the ferry and we saw tons of porpoises while riding it.
2. Did we have a great beach experience? YES...I was very weary of how the beach and Wesley would mix this year since last year he spent the majority of the time trying to eat the sand. But this year since he was much more mobile, the sand didn't even impress him. He and his sister have a new found LOVE of the water!


3. What was Justin's favorite part of the vacation? Probably the most obvious..NOT HAVING TO WORK! Although chasing around 2 young kids and heading up 3 flights of stairs each time you leave your condo keeps you pretty busy so maybe it wasn't easier than working...so his favorite part would be fishing with his brothers and seeing how much Kate and Wesley loved the fishing experience. Kate even bought a little fishing net to hold the fish. What can I say? He recruits them young!
4. What was my favorite part of the vacation? I, too, must admit that my normal 'job' must be too easy b/c keeping up with the kids and all their excitement was much more exhausting than any late night project I've ever had to deliver =) My favorite part of the trip was seeing how much Kate and Wesley both loved the beach and the ocean and the fishing with Justin. You see, I have this issue with ocean water (well actually any kind of body of water that I can't see my feet in..we just don't mix). So I was pleased that my kids haven't been influenced by my yuck factor. And fishing....well, I too, don't really enjoy fishing...I don't have an attention span long enough to sit and wait for some little creature to decide to bite a hook. However my entire family LOVED to fish. My dad was probably a year shy of being a Pro Fisherman, my grandpa Sam was like Justin in that he could sit for hours and wait for a nibble, and my grandma still loves to fish well into her 70's. So to see that my kids have this bond was pretty cool!
5. What was Kate's favorite part of the vacation? Definitely the FISHING! She couldn't get enough of it. Then it would be MARY GRACE. She loved spending time with Mary Grace and running around the condos acting like kitty cats and watching movies together. They played hard! She also loved having Vanessa there. On Wednesday morning Vanessa, Kate and I had a pancake breakfast on the island and went to a little shop to do some shopping. She and Vanessa had a good time looking for things to bring home. Vanessa left with some cute flip flops and Kate got some sand dollars and a t-shirt. Kate reminds me a lot of Vanessa so it was cool to see them together even though there are 18 years separating them!




6. What was Wesley's favorite part of the vacation? The seagulls! On Wednesday we took the kids and some extra hamburger buns to feed to seagulls early in the morning before other people got on the beach....you hate to send thousands of seagulls around other people who aren't as thrilled with them as you are! I have never heard Wesley squeal with excitement so much. He thought they were so cool and when Justin put a piece of bread on Kate's head and the seagull swept down to get it off her head, Wesley laughed hysterically. Kate laughed after the fact =) This one is so cute of my little man...he was zonked! He played so hard but he sleeps so well (as long as we remember to pack his blue blanket! I think that thing is going off to college with him!)
7. On the way back home we stopped in Victoria to show Justin our new rent house. Did he love it as much as Kate, my grandma and I did a few weeks earlier? YES...he was very pleased and not only loved that the house is slightly bigger than our current house (minus our HUGE back yard now) but he also loved the proximity to his work and the kids' school. When we took him by the kids' school he was extra amazed. It is a beautiful place of worship and you can tell that they adore youth. We are very excited for them to start their new school and make new friends!

Swim Lessons are Complete!!

Two weeks ago my precious Kate started swim lessons with her friend Nadia and Nadia's friend and neighbor Maddie. All about the same age and super cute little girls. My goal originally was to get Kate as close to swimming as possible so this next week at the beach, she could practice her new found skills in the condo pool....however, yesterday our experience took a turn for the worst and I'd rather not talk about it much. OK, so I'll talk about it b/c I feel the need to vent.

Out of no where Kate decided to NOT COOPERATE at all. So she spent a few minutes each day out of a 45 minute session OUT of the pool. Did she learn how to swim? NO Is she scared of water? NO Why did she not want to participate? Well, that's the MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION and if someone can give me an answer I'll treat them.

So we left Mrs. Mary Kay's house this evening very sad. I was frustrated with Kate, she was mad at me for being frustrated with her and Wesley was mad at her b/c he was still trying to figure out why his sister wasn't IN the pool b/c he was just dying to CRAWL in?@!?!?!?

So here are a cute pictures from yesterday before the mood changed. The girls were precious!

And here is one of my little man trying to take the camera from me!! Where does he get that dimple from? I wonder if it will go away when he thins out? Kate has one as well.....

The house has SOLD....

I've neglected the blog for the past week...and I have neglected taking pics too. Things have just been crazy busy. Last Wednesday Kate and I headed to Victoria with my granny to iron out some important things....their school, a place for us to live...you know..just little things!?!?

I had gotten some really good recommendations on a few Christian Private Schools for the kids. I have cousins that grew up in Victoria so their opinions helped tremendously. In the end we chose Faith Academy b/c of the dedication to Christ and promoting spiritual growth in our children. The principal and faculty were all amazing. Kate will start in the summer program on June 15th which is our first day in Victoria. Wesley will start in the childcare center at the same time. I honestly was impressed with how super sweet everyone was.

Then we headed over to look at a few rental properties. One was a town home that was the perfect size and price and literally backed up to the kids' school but it was across from a skating rink which I'm sure is just the happening place on Friday and Saturday nights. And it didn't have a yard...but then we found the cutest 3/2/2 house in a very nice subdivision. The property manager was an Aggie (WHOOP!) and she also was amazingly helpful. We knew some of the same people and chatted forever. The rent house is about 2 minutes from Justin's office and about 5 mins from the kids' school. It has sidewalks for my little monster to drive his tricycle.

I feel a sense of peace about everything going on. People keep asking if we are nervous and maybe I should be?!?! But being down there really solidified why this is the best thing for our family. I felt like I belonged there all this time. But I know that if we hadn't lived up here in Conroe I wouldn't appreciate this move as much. There are things I will definitely miss (mainly the people that have meant so much to us over the past 10 years!) But there is definitely this sense of small town that I am getting back to. I was super surprised when I went to make a left turn on HWY 77 and there was no Protected Left Arrow - they actually let people turn left w/out an ARROW!!! You could never do that in The Woodlands or Conroe......there would be even more wrecks than there already are!

We have a scheduled closing on our house for Friday, May 15th. Then we head out on vacation Sunday, May 17th. PORT A OR BUST!!! Kate and Justin are so looking forward to the beach! I am too....but hoping Wesley leaves some sand behind this year and doesn't eat it all!

What does a Late Night Offer?

Well, its 1:46 am on Saturday night (college day reference)/Sunday morning(old person on the verge of being 31 reference) and I AM STILL UP AND GOING STRONG?!?

What is wrong with me?!?! Well, considering I slept for most of Friday with this horrible onset of Strep, and Justin let me take it easy today as well, I could not sleep tonight. So after laying in bed for a while tossing and turning and noticing how loud Justin was breathing (so I'm being very sweet by not calling it SNORING)...I decided to get up.
I obviously had some work to catch up on since I mentioned above that I slept MOST OF FRIDAY!!
But we also got an OFFER ON THE HOUSE?!?! Yes, you read that correctly. We got an offer on the house. The first looker wants to be a buyer! Of course they offered LOW and we countered. Our realtor is hoping that we should hear something back tomorrow (or later today now that its officially Sunday).
Justin and I were offered such a great deal that even if they don't meet our counter, we will most likely accept...the deal is a cash offer, no inspection and they want to close on May 14th.
Oh yes..I said May 14th. Like NEXT WEEK May 14th!
So we'd most likely have to do a month of a 'lease-back' b/c Justin has to stay around and work until June 15th when he starts in Victoria.
So now the hunt will begin on a rental property in Victoria. I quite honestly would be fine with a super clean 2 bedroom apartment with a pool for the kids and most allow pets and will go month to month. However, my wonderful husband thinks that moving back into an apartment would be putting us back in our college days and he is absolutely against it. However, I think he doesn't understand how we will struggle to find a rent house that is fairly clean (b/c remember we have the kid with terrible allergies) and will take our dogs and will not cost us an arm and a leg. The idea of paying twice what our mortgage was on a rent house does NOT sit well with me.
So tonight/this morning as I write this post, I have been searching the web for rentals. Found some good hits that I bookmarked to show my wonderful husband tomorrow morning.
I will keep everyone posted on the finality of our house. Keeping fingers crossed all looks good!

And just in case you were wondering why I said I'd be fine with a 2 bedroom apartment when we have a 3 bedroom house...well..remember Wesley migrated to Kate's room when he started climbing out of his crib. Then the crib migrated to Grandma's closet in Schulenburg when we put our house on the market. So I decided to go check on the munchkins earlier b/c I missed them and wanted to make sure they were ok and I had to run back out to get my camera b/c they looked so cute. The room was dark so I couldn't see how Wesley was sleeping. When I snapped the picture I saw how he was situated near his sister....close to her heart as always!

MY GIRLS!!!

Today is May 1!

For my entire life that I can remember May 1st was always one of the more special days of the year b/c it was DAWN'S BIRTHDAY! HAPPY #31 DAWN!

Dawn is the most amazing person. She and Kevin have the two most beautiful kids (Meg and Karson). If I had to say the one thing about Dawn that has always fascinated me, it would be the fact that she is the most genuine person ever. She's taught me more than she'll ever know. Once again, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

But....back in 2004, when I was 4 months pregnant with Kate, May 1st also became Tara and Brian's anniversary! I remember at their wedding, Brian brought Dawn a German chocolate cake. It was part of the deal they had for using her birthday as their wedding day. We probably should have put it on the cake table since all the people started eating Brian's kolache's BEFORE pictures!!

So here it is 5 years later. Tara and Brian have a beautiful daughter Peyton. Tara has always been the Best Friend to all of us that you could ever imagine. Brian is very lucky to have her! Many more happy years to you guys! Much Love!

Prayers..please!!

We need prayers...as many as possible...for a lot of good reasons!

(Not in order of importance)

1. Our house is officially on the market and the FOR SALE sign with brochure holder is out in our front lawn. Please prayer that our house sells quickly, that we don't have to give it away, and that Kate stops asking me every time we pull out of the driveway why the sign is there!!

2. Wesley is 22 months but that is close enough to TWO to classify us in the official 'terrible twos'. What are a few months anyway?!?! Please prayer that he gets tired of being disciplined and just decides to be the sweet, charming little man that we all know he can be. I'm fearful that if he doesn't go through the terrible two's rather quickly, that soon He will become a clause in our Sellers Agreement...something to the effect 'If home is purchased prior to July 6, 2010, and therefore Wesley Samuel Peters is officially still 2 years old, he becomes permanent property of the house on 10532 Fallow Lane and therefore becomes the Buyers child....'

3. No more monsoons (as my friend Kimberly likes to call them). Please pray that we continue to get rain on a consistent basis throughout the spring and summer, but not consistently for hours and hours. This is ridiculous. When my friend Maria cannot get home from the gym b/c the streets are flooded...that is just ridiculous. When my granny AND Justin's father both call at lunch to check on us and make sure we haven't floated away...that is ridiculous.

Once again, after our house is sold, I don't really care how much it rains in Conroe but for the time being....please Lord..no MORE MONSOONS!

4. And finally......please pray for our most precious Rex. He's been squealing when we pick him up recently. It is like something hurts him but there is no immediate sign of pain (bump, cut, blood, etc). Of course, Justin is scared he has cancer and that is why he has been sleeping so much and just 'isn't himself'. The practical part of me says it can't be cancer b/c he still eats good and still weighs a lot and other than the occasional yelp, he is just our very lethargic Rex. However, there is the part of me that realizes I'm in denial and Rex is getting old and has fought through some pretty tough health issues as a young pup. I realize that the surgeries he had in 2004 gave him extra time to enjoy life. I guess I assumed he'd be around forever. Please pray for our little guy that if he truly is sick we have some more obvious signs because our vet is pretty laid back and if we take Rex in and say he's eating fine, he sleeps a lot and he still likes to go for car rides, the vet will look at us like we are idiots. However, if there is something seriously wrong with him, we'd like to know so we can have tests run and get to the root of the issue. Rex was my 21st birthday present. I remember picking him out and convincing Justin why he would be the perfect companion for Jake. He's the love of our lives. Sexy Rexy as I call him when he gets excited and 'smiles' at us. I love him so much!

A Little Lesson on Life (courtesy of Grandma)

Anyone who has ever heard me talk about my childhood has definitely heard me say how I had the best grandparents EVER! Hands down my grandmas and grandpas were the BEST (and yes, I called both grandpas - grandpa, and both grandmas - grandma). Everyone knew which one I was talking about when I spoke of them. Anyway, now that I have kids of my own I get to appreciate my grandma through an entire different set of eyes. I never in a million years would have thought my grandma could be this whimsical and creative. She's not touchy feely, never has been, never will be. She's always expected a lot from me and at times growing up she seemed very abrasive and demanding. HOWEVER.....now that I have a daughter of my own I realize the many different hats my grandma has had to wear. She went from being my grandma to my mom and now she's become one of my best friends. Never when I was 18 would I have thought I'd be saying that my grandma was my friend....but its because of her high expectations and demanding approach that I made it through high school while living by myself. I made it through a top notch college in 4 years and got a great job and have stuck to it for 9 years now. It was also b/c of her intense unconditional love that Justin and I made it through some rocky roads and stuck together and have now been together for 14 years and have two beautiful children.

So a month ago when we were at her house for SeaWorld/Disney on Ice/Justin's bday, she took the kids across the road to the vacant lot where my grandma and her neighbors share a garden and chickens. Its Kate's favorite place to go when we go to Grandmas. She gets to see the Rooster and pick the fresh laid eggs and sit on the swing while my Grandma pushes her and Wesley. Dylan (the neighbor boy) joined us this time and picked a caterpillar from the dill plants my grandma had planted. He had been harvesting these caterpillars for a few weeks. My grandma had even bought him and Kate these little bug containers. So Dylan found a nice fat caterpillar for Kate and she put it her container and closed it up. Here is a picture of the caterpillar on Day 1 with fresh dill plants.....

Then after about 3 days we noticed that the caterpillar stopped moving around and stayed perfectly still on the dill stalk...

If you look closely you'll see how the caterpillar has already formed the cocoon and is holding itself on one silk strand...Justin thought it was dead at this point b/c it never moved again..... But on Sunday morning (04.26.09) Kate and Wesley were checking in on their caterpillar and MUCH TO OUR SURPRISE.....

What came out of the cocoon? A beautiful black butterfly with yellow and orange spots!

We had already prepared Kate that when the caterpillar became a butterfly we'd have to let it go b/c the container was too small. So they took a final look at their butterfly and we opened it up outside and let it go. It stammered for a little while and then flew into a tree and stayed there for a while. Probably taking a much needed break after going through so much change in a few short weeks. How Amazing!

So the moral of this posting is to stop and soak up the experiences around you. Something beautiful comes of everything..ever experience, every moment.

And just to close this posting....we washed the bug container and just a few hours later the kids were playing outside and got very very quiet. I went to check on them and found Kate and Wesley giggling by the water hose hanger. I thought for sure they had found a lizard but that would have been to easy. They actually found the cutest little green tree frog. In an attempt to save the little frogs life I bargained with Kate to stop trying to catch him and we'll put him in the bug container. So I grabbed the container, went back outside, put him inside, gave him some water and sticks. He slept in her room last night and went with her to school today to show her classmates. We are going to let him go when we get home from school today (and I just pray its still alive!)