In With The New

It's been a month of new things for our family.  The biggest news is that we bought our very first house!  We're excited, even though we don't plan to move in very quickly.  We are tackling the kitchen renovation first and trying to do most of the work ourselves, so it could take some time.  I say "we" even though I'm past the point in pregnancy where I'm of any use.  But my dad and Dan's dad have been wonderful and have spent many hours helping to tear out the old cabinets and appliances.

Also, Emma attended summer camp for two weeks at Dan's school, where she was the youngest kid by at least a couple of years. She had lots of fun and enjoyed field trips to the swimming pool, a bounce house, and a farm!  Keeping up with all those older kids wiped her out, though, and if she didn't pass out before the end of the day, she was just about asleep over dinner.

Now that we're less than two months away from our baby girl being born, I'd like to say that we're preparing for that change, too.  But with everything else taking up our time and energy, we have done almost nothing except make it to my doctor appointments.  But my coworkers were wonderful and threw a surprise baby shower for me last week.  They chipped in to buy a double stroller, a car seat cover, and some other sweet gifts.  I'm so glad that someone is thinking ahead about this child coming!

The weather was stifling for about three weeks in July with a heat index of 115+ degrees. Ugh. We made the most of pool time and an evening at the beach when we did venture outdoors.  It's gotten cooler recently, which is a welcome relief!

Here are some photos from our exciting month!

We are proud new homeowners!!

We asked Dan's brother, Tim, to come to our final walk-through before closing on the house. He is a civil engineer and Dan wanted his expertise regarding the crawl space repairs that were done to the house before we finalized the sale. Dan geared up, too, and got an education on our crawl space.

This kitchen is our first major project before we move into our new house. It's time for the original cabinets and countertops from the 70s to go.

Dan, my dad, and Dan's dad have been working hard to remove all the old cabinets so we can replace them. We also plan to replace the flooring and open the wall between the kitchen and den.

In other news, Emma had a great time at summer camp. On their field trip to the farm, she got to milk a goat!

After a field trip to the swimming pool one day, she fell fast asleep until camp time was over.  She wouldn't budge when they tried to wake her, so Dan dragged her down the hallway, still sleeping on her mat, from the classroom to his office so she could continue her nap there. Ha!

The wonderful ladies at my office threw a surprise baby shower for me! It was so much fun, and we are grateful for their love and generosity.

We got to visit Dan's sister, Robin, and her family at their new house to celebrate our brother-in-law, Rob's, birthday, and our niece, Abi's, high school graduation.

While everyone else visited and played, Rob grilled his own birthday dinner. In the 95 degree heat, no less.

They had a great kiddie pool for the little cousins to play in.

 The older cousins played football and soccer.

 We weren't brave enough to face the heat during the day, but we went to the beach one evening as the sun was setting.  Emma loves to climb and play in the sand, and she was braver in the ocean that night than she's ever been.  She usually refuses to let the water touch her, but this time, she waded right in with Dan holding her hand so the waves wouldn't knock her over.

Dan also loves to build sandcastles for her to destroy. He is a glutton for punishment. Heh!

 And here's a cute bonus picture of the two of them having a tea party. Dan's the most incredible dad to our little girl. I can't wait until we have another princess in the family!