52 Project 2015: Week 26

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Jackson: In our town, we have a pretty garden where they've started growing prairie. It is beautiful right now with these yellow wild flowers. They have a walking path through the prairie so we decided to finally stop last Saturday and check it out.

 Avery: Checking out the wild flowers.

Five on Friday

Happy Friday!!

I'm linking up with Darci, Natasha, April and Christina for Five on Friday!

A few randoms on this rainy Friday. I hope you all have a great weekend!

A fun thing that Jackson loves to do in the evenings is catch lightening bugs (or light light bugs as he used to call them.)

An update on our house for sale:

Today marks week 3 of our house being on the market. We had around 8 showings in the first week and even had an offer the next week! Unfortunately, later last week that offer fell through and we've gone a week and a half with Not One Showing!!! I'm a little discouraged, but trying to stay optimistic.

I've been doing a "photo-a-day" project on instagram titled #100daysofsummer. (Here's where I got the idea and here's where you can follow along with me.) It's been super fun and I'm actually considering keeping it going even after summer is over. I've made it really easy on myself and just use my phone for these pictures. Here are a few of my favorites so far.

After seeing April post about this adorable smocked bubble I had to head over to Zulily myself and check it out!  Isn't it the cutest? I have one on the way now for Avery. I can't wait to see her in it.

I had the cutest 4th of July headband waiting in my mailbox for me yesterday! Thank you Sassy Sweet Pea Designs! I can't wait to get some pictures of Avery in it for the 4th.

Our Weekend Via My iPhone

Friday night, I picked up the kids from Maw Maw and Papa's house (my parents) and headed home. It had rained non-stop all week and the kids had been cooped up in the house. So since there was a little break in the rain Friday evening, I took the kids on a little wagon ride adventure. We went searching for puddles to jump in. :-) We headed up to the park and there happened to be a big puddle up there. So we splashed around in that for a while and then played on the playground for a little while as well.

After jumping in muddy puddles, we headed home to take a bath. After bath-time, I got the kids in their jammies and then we decided to run to Schnucks for a few quick things. Jackson saw that they had tiny shopping carts for kids last time we were there and I promised him he could push one the next time we went. So he was super excited to push his very own tiny shopping cart!

Saturday my sister and brother-in-law moved, so during the morning and early afternoon Jake went over to help with the heavy lifting while the kids and I went to the pool with my mother-in-law and niece. After spending the day in the pool, I left the kids with my MIL and Jake and headed over to my sister's new house to help unpack her kitchen. :-)

Here are a few pictures from the pool. (It was Avery's first time swimming and she loved it!)

Jackson got brave and started jumping in, as long as we were there to catch him of course. ;-)

Then Sunday we celebrated Father's Day by going to church and then going to my Aunt and Uncle's house for lunch. We had a great time and the kids even got to play in the sprinkler for a little while. After spending time with family there, we headed home for a relaxing evening of doing a whole lot of nothing... something we very rarely ever get to do.

First picture: Myself, my Dad and my Sister - Second Picture: My Mom, Papa, Sister and Myself
 Bottom Pictures: Jake and each of our kids.

My husband happens to be a KC Royals fan (He was born in KC, but has lived here in the STL a majority of his life, yet he loves the Chiefs and the Royals.) so the kids and I got him this Royals Jersey for Father's Day! :-)

I happened to be off work yesterday and we spent a majority of the day just hanging out at home. It was nice to not have any appointments or errands to run. :-)

I hope you all had a great weekend as well.

52 Project 2015: Week 25

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Jackson: Last week it rained Every. Single. Day.!! We were so sick of rain! By Friday evening, after being stuck inside all week, I decided to take the kids for a walk to look for muddy puddles to jump in. It had stopped raining for a little while and I thought it might be a way for us to embrace all the rain we've gotten in a fun way. Jackson loved it, to say the least!

Avery: In the wagon while we were at the park jumping in muddy puddles. Jackson was pulling her through them and she loved it.

And a few more photos from our fun evening at the park.

And I added this same picture in black and white just because I love it.

52 Project 2015: Week 24

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Jackson: I was off work this past Monday and I let the kids play outside in the sprinkler and in the hose. :-) 

 Avery: She didn't play in the sprinkler much but liked playing peek-a-boo with the beach towel. Ha!

 (Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)

For Sale!

If you're friends with me on Instagram or Facebook, then you already know that our house is officially on the market! We decided about a month ago that now seemed to be a great time to list our house. This was something we weren't really planning on doing until next Spring, but because of the "Seller's Market" right now, we decided to go ahead and list our house asap. It went on the market this past Friday and already we've had 3 showings!! We are excited and nervous about this big change. We're praying that it sells quickly because keeping the house show-ready all the time with 2 kids and 2 dogs is nearly impossible. 

At this point, our plan is to sell our house and then move into a small condo that a friend of ours owns. The condo is in the town we live in now and we can rent it for as long as it takes for us to find a new house (which hopefully isn't longer than a few months). The condo is a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, second story condo. It will be tight and it will be a pain. We will have to walk the dogs every time they need to go out and Jackson will have to room with us. The washer/dryer is shared within the building and there is no dishwasher!! When I said it would be a pain, I really mean it will be a pain. We plan to just bring the necessities and get a storage unit for the rest of our belongings in the mean-time. The rent will be inexpensive though and it is better than intruding on family (though I'm sure they wouldn't mind).

We are mainly moving for better schools. When we bought this house, our plan was always to move in 5-7 years and as of April, we've owned the house for 8 years. We knew we wanted to move before Jackson started kindergarten and since we weren't sure how long this whole process would take, we thought now would be a good time to start. We will be looking for a new home in a few of the suburbs across town from where we are now. We plan to remain in the St. Louis area, just in a different part of St. Louis.

So we've been getting our house all ready to sell these last few weeks. Our house was already in great condition, so there wasn't a whole lot we had to do, but a few things here and there have kept us busy. I imagine it will only get worse once the packing and moving process begins, of which I'm not really looking forward to. I am, however, looking forward to being moved and situated in our new home (which hopefully is our forever home because I don't really want to have to do this again any time soon).

So chances are, I may be a little hit or miss around here this summer, but I hope to keep up with my Project52 and post when I can. :-)

Here are a few pictures from our listing:

The Front Yard

The Entryway/Living Room

The Dining Room/Kitchen

The Upstairs Bathroom

The Master Bedroom

Jackson's Room

Avery's Room

The Basement/Family Room

The Basement Bathroom

52 Project 2015: Week 23

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

 Jackson: Playing his first Pee-Wee Baseball game this past Saturday! He did so good and had so much fun!

Avery: Watching her big brother play baseball! :-)

 (Linking up here at Practising Simplicity)

And here are a few more from Jackson's first game!

 

52 Project 2015: Week 22

"A portrait of each of my children, once a week, every week, in 2015."

Jackson: Picking strawberries at Eckerts. We went with Jake's Family on a rather cool day. We had a lot of fun, despite the cooler temperatures. I'd love to go back when it's a little warmer.

 Avery: Picking a few strawberries at Eckerts as well. She wouldn't try eating them, but she did love squishing them in her hands! Ha!