Summer fun and house is listed...

Life has been busy for us these days including coming to the realization that we are 14 weeks away (or less) from having twins dictating our every move; cleaning, organizing, maintaining and finally listing the house for sale; and for me...closing out our grant at work (only 4 weeks left of office work for me). But we have managed some fun in all the chaos as evidenced by pictures below from the last couple of weeks.

After watching an episode of Blue's Clues "Dress up Day" Fender wanted desperately to dress up as an astronaut so I did my best with what I had on hand at 8:30PM when your child begs for an astronaut costume "please, please, please, pleeeaassee."


Paint time.


Leatherwood cousins: Kinsey, Kace, Fender, and Kaden. (We obviously didn't follow the LONG time L'wood tradition of K names.


Just a special moment with Daddy. Fen made him the necklace. I braided, he picked colors, threaded them, etc.


Some swim time on a rainy day...



Fender loves his Memaw!!!


"Hey, Memaw, want to run?" Get set...


Go...


The house is finally on the market!!! I hope we find a new place, this one sells, and all goes smoothly and gets completed before the twins are born...though I know the chances in this market and with so little time...are slim. Have to try.


With the house listed and the work all done...it was time to celebrate...accordion style!

Hors'in around...

Each week my Great Aunt Virginia and her husband Tom, take Fender and about five of his "Leatherwood" cousins to play at their house one afternoon and then Bible class in the evening. Here are a few pictures she took of Fen playing at their house a couple of weeks back.





Fen and cousin Kaden.

Packing up...

Three terrific Powell women descended upon us this weekend with a mission to help us pack and declutter the house and get it ready to sell. Fender's "Great Linda (Drew's Aunt); his Godmother, Manassa; and cousin Loryn showed up on Friday and worked tremendously hard all weekend long. My sister showed up Sunday to help too. The Powell crew packed up, Fender assisted quite a bit, LaLa did some home repairs, Daddy was our muscle mover, and I made sure everyone had something to do and cleaned up Fender's toys. It was a huge group effort and somehow lots of fun too. THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE WORK AND ALL THE FUN!!

Oddly, we were so busy we didn't get many pictures of the grownups at work.

Fender and "Mama'Nass"




Taking a "scooter" break on Sunday. I rode my bike and he rode the scooter up and down the drive way for a bit.


Helping LaLa caulk the bathtub.


"Daddy and I have the same color eyes!"


"And here, Momma says I'm the spitting image of Daddy with this expression!!"


Me and Momma.


In case the packing surprises anyone, we are not officially moving anywhere yet, but the plan is to get the house listed and try to sell ASAP (in a month or two) so that we can get a house big enough for all of us and settle in over in the NE Dallas area, closer to Drew's work and with good schools for the kids. Our goal is to sell the house quick and get settled into the new place before the twins arrive. Yep...it is nothing short of a monumental task that will likely involve at least a medium to large size miracle. So I invite all your prayers that everything will work out with minimal stress involved for all.

And...in case you haven't noticed, I've begun occasional updates of the twins at www.growingupboswell.blogspot.com. There is a link to the left. And after Fender's 3rd birthday in October, that will become our family blog.

Videos...

If this works...you should be able to view several recent videos of Fender learning to swim.

He started with a total lack of fear, coupled with ability to hold breath and insatiable desire to be underwater. After that it has just been exploration and play.

Two weeks back, Fender discovered the underwater rings he could throw and retrieve.


Fender swims from Gran to Mamma on his own with his floaty.


Fender trys to swim on his back in the lake with hands behind his head.


Climbs up the ladder and jumps off the pier.


Recent swimming: These were from Thursday's free swim with Daddy.
Backflip from side of pool on his own. I missed the beginning where he kicked off.


A big swim from Daddy to side of pool. No floaty.

Happy 4th of July!!

Fender's traditional pose by the flag this morning (2009).

(2008)


(2007)


Well, Happy 4th of July to everyone on this side of the pond! We've had the day to ourselves so Fen and I went to the grocery store this morning then came back and I fixed A-1 cheeseburgers and chips for all three of us for lunch. Dee-lish! It is 100 degrees F. outside so we had Popsicles in the heat then came back inside. I have plans to bake apple pie this evening to serve with a bit of ice cream, of course. This has become one of our traditions as well. I don't bake it from scratch mind you. I did once, but once was enough. I figure Mrs. Smith has a pretty awesome recipe, why re-invent the wheel? :) We'll also probably drive down and watch the town fireworks this evening.

I have neglected to update on Fender's growth activities much, but for his book...here goes. In terms of speech, he has always been fairly clear and proper, so it is odd when you ask him a question now, he responds with "cousin I" as in "because I." So I'm currently trying to correct this lazy response. Another improper word in his vocabulary is girl. Instead...we girls are "grills." That one I don't mind so much. I figure he'll perfect that one soon enough. And we've officially hit the fun "why" stage. Everything is "Why this, Why that?" And if you give a response then it is "Why?" all over again. If I ever tell him I don't know the answer, instead of "Why?" he says..."Mamma, you do too know!" And on we continue.

It is also neat to see how he pretends now when he plays. It began a couple of months back when he started to take his toys and talk to them. But now he will take more than one toy and they talk to each other and they talk to him. Plus with his imagination his toys can be and do anything now. Lots of fun to see.

Oh...and I almost forgot to mention...his favorite meal at the moment is an egg, cheese, and jalapeno jelly sandwich. No kidding! He specifically asked for this combination out of the blue and has been eating it for about two weeks now! As for the jalapeno jelly...it is homemade and surprisingly good...a sweet flavor...and this is coming from someone who doesn't care for jalapenos or jelly! Either way...I don't think I'd ever personally try it with an egg and cheese sandwich! To each his own, eh Fender?

Here are a few pics from the first few days of July.

I tried to prepare fresh coconut for Fender's Hawaiian party at school. Never again. Anything that takes a hammer and chisel just to cut in half is not my cup of tea. We had fun trying though.