Almost There

There is an end in sight! The cabinets finally arrived last week, and they finished installing them late this week. Our refrigerator and microwave also moved into the new kitchen, rather than being in my family room. Still no countertops - I think they are going to be cut this week, but we can really see that this is coming to an end. We have one last hurdle to clear, which will come in mid September. We have to move out for ten days while the floors get refinished. We plan on staying in a hotel during the week, and on the weekend we are going camping with Greg's family in Indiana. The hardest part will be getting everything out of the house so that they can do the floors. We're going to try to move most of the furniture into the garage, basement, and sunroom. I also will have to pack enough things for ten days in a hotel, so I'm not exactly looking forward to that either. But then, the house will be essentially finished!

Yesterday, since the weather was so nice, we went to Hacienda and ate out on the patio. If you haven't been there recently, they added a really nice awning to protect even more against the elements. Meg very much takes after her mother and loves the cheese. The girls are getting ready to start preschool in one week. Sophie will go for three half days, and Meg for two. I really am looking forward to seeing how Meg likes it, as she seems to be very social and adventurous. We are sort of trying to work on potty training with her, as Sophie was already done by her age. She has actually used it quite a few times, but for the most part, seems to care less. Oh well, I'm not really that anxious to get her out of diapers anyway.

These next pictures are of our trip to Cincinnati. Meg loved the cage again. Maybe we need to get one at home. We had a nice party for Isaac's birthday at Tony and Suzie's house, where we stayed. Talk about a house full of kids - their four boys and our two girls! Saturday night we went to a 40th b-day party for Marcus, Greg's cousin's husband, who is from Germany. Hence the awesome Oktoberfest theme. Giant pretzels and everything! Today we are going to Drew's first birthday party at Kirkwood park. We're supposed to bring swimsuits for the kids, but I think it's going to be too cold! Can you imagine too cold in August in St. Louis? Crazy.

Welcome To Club Ward

What a hot weekend! We shouldn't complain, as it has been a very mild summer so far. But this past weekend it was in the 90's. Sophie wanted to go swimming, so Greg inflated our "pool" and the kids had a great time.

On Friday, the girls and I went to the zoo and rode the train. Meg loves the tunnels, and kept asking for more. It has to be the cutest word in her vocabulary to hear her say. Afterwards, they wanted ice cream cones, so we went to Ted Drew's. I wish I had remembered to use my iPhone (coolest thing that I have ever owned - thanks Fred!) to take a picture of them eating their cones. It was so hot, and the ice cream was melting so fast . . . so I pushed the ice cream into the cone. Initially Sophie didn't like it, but she quickly discovered that it kept it from melting. However, when I went to grab Meg's cone she starts to panic and says "No Mommy, don't!". You would have thought that I had just thrown out her beloved blanket! She still ate it.

Last night we went out to A'mis for my mom's birthday. We had pasta and pizza, and Laura brought a little cake. Service there is notoriously slow, and Meg can only handle so much sitting in one place before she goes a little stir crazy, but it was still a nice time.

Our house is really starting to come together. Still no kitchen. They teased us by telling us that the cabinets were going to be in this week, and then changed their minds and said next week. But we have walls that are painted, and three working toilets. We have lights in all of the rooms as well. Greg and I have painted two rooms ourselves, the dining room and the kids playroom, and the painter says we have a back up career. We also have a back porch now, and a mailbox! (We haven't had one for over six months - the mailman was getting a little impatient!) So, hopefully the cabinets will really be in by next week so that we can be one step closer to having a kitchen. Any suggestions on what our first meal should be? Greg votes for spaghetti and meatballs!!!

The first picture is the girls' bathroom. The other two are of the upstairs landing and the new hallway. Joe saved the closet doors from another room in the house. At first I was a little skeptical about using glass doors for a linen closet, but it's really nice to save the features of the old home. This last picture is one that my sister had of Ben on her IPhone that she sent to me. It's now my background. It's nice to have a picture of him when he still looks like himself, without the jaundice and such. Just an NG. What a cute baby!