Moving OUT day!

Here are just a few pictures from our move out of the old house on July 7th. We had great help from Tommy, friends Katie and Kevin, and Jason's parents. Jason did a lot of work himself getting all of our belongings into storage the past month so the move out went very smoothly. Jonathan and pal Jackson seemed to have a good time playing!

Picture Time!

There were quite a few meltdowns when attempting these today and very few to choose from (again)....but I think we did okay!



Nicholas-6months

He has become more and more verbal (well loud, really) and so observant of those around him. He absolutely loves any attention he can get from his big brother, even if it's borderline abuse ;) He's definitely our little lover!

Jonathan-1 year/Jonathan-2 years

We will have to celebrate his birthday with friends and family a week late as we will be moving the weekend of his actual birthday. It amazes us everyday with how much he has changed in a year...with his vocabulary and his ability to count to ten, say his alphabet and identify numbers and letters. He has been such a joy to watch grow!

And I just had to throw these in because I thought they were just too cute!

Fourth of July!

Playing in the rain on the deck prior to heading to Fouth of July festivities...we had a tough time getting him back inside!

All of the great grandchildren.

Great Grandpa Votaw & Nick

Great Grandma Votaw & Nick

Aunt Glenda, Nicholas and Snickers


After a full day of packing (with Katie's gracious help) we headed to Eudora, KS for the Fourth of July. About 50 or so family members gathered together at Eric & Ashli Votaw's. (Thanks again you guys for hosting...we had a great time!!!)

Lake-Mark & Katie's Engagement Party

Here are a few pics from the Lake of the Ozarks....we celebrated sister Katie's engagement to Mark Mueller at his lake house this past weekend. Mark comes from a VERY LARGE family and many flew in from all over the country(over 50 in attendance). They are all extremely nice people and we are SO excited for them both!

One HOT Saturday at the KC Zoo!

Jonathan & cousin Daniel

Jonathan & Daddy
The monkeys!
(both in the foreground and background...hehe)

Jonathan & Mommy with the lions"Yeah, don't expect me to stay seated for long!"

Little Nick's first trip to the zoo...he slept 90% of the time.

The elephants

Mommy & Nick...like I said, he slept 90% of the time.
On our way home...tired little fellas!

Kazmaier #3

Here's the first U/S...we'll have another one in two weeks as Dr. Snider admitted he's not very good with the u/s machine and his tech is better at dating. Right now, (and it's still early and we're still cautious) we are due Feb. 11th. But seeing the heartbeat flickering away is always a good sign. We still couldn't believe it even when we actually saw the little peanut with our own eyes! We are in for quite the adventure!!!

Gymnastics

One of Jonathan's summer activities. Naps seem to be great on the days he participates.

Our stressful and shocking week!

This week definitely goes down in the record book for being one of the most stressful weeks in our lives to date! We successfully sold our house last week after over 20 showings and doing it For Sale By Owner (great, but still stressful) and we close in just 4 weeks (July 9th). We find out that the home under construction that we have a contingent contract on will not be complete for another 2-3 months. Then we learn to our SHOCK that we (cautiously)are expecting #3. YIKES! The realization of having 3 children under the age of 2 1/2 has not quite sunk in yet...I'm not even sure when the baby arrives that we will have accepted the idea. Not quite part of our master plan, but as Jason said, this little soul sure is in a hurry to get here! Sometimes our plans aren't God's plans.

We decided that we were going to look at other "completed" and "less expensive" homes rather than be homeless for 2-3 months and in consideration of surprise #3. After spending multiple afternoons and evenings this past week with our GREAT Reece and Nichols realtor, we found a home...one that had been reduced 20K after being on the market for over 250 days. It was perfect. We make an offer and wouldn't you know it, someone made an offer right before us! Devastated, the hunt continued. Now mind you, we are getting nervous about the idea of being homeless...almost sick about it, especially as we watch interest rates slowly rising. Finally we find a home that had only been on the market for 5 days...it's perfect. So we made a quick aggressive offer as the owners had multiple showings and second showings scheduled. We knew it wouldn't last long! Offer accepted. So we will be moving out of this house in 4 weeks and into the new one in 5 (homeless for one week...what can you do?). Looks like we'll be going to Clinton for the week.

Hindsight is always 20/20, right? Now we see the big picture. The home we bought is less expensive (great considering #3), it's on a great culdesac (less traffic, great for the kids), the lot is almost an acre (treed and private in the back...great for our soon to be little explorers).

Anyway...I had always heard that moving is one of the most stressful things in a marriage. I never understood that considering we moved every year of the first five years of our marriage including the cross country trek to NY and never dealt with any tension or stress as a result. That statement can be clearly defined to mean; "selling a house and moving to a new house" not apartment hopping. Children also add a new element. We aren't there yet! With the way this past week has gone, we are prepared for anything! Keep us in your prayers! :)

UPDATE: God's hand a work again...McBride Homes (the company constructing the home we had a contigent contract on) at first refused to let us out of our contract. They essentially said we had to move forward with the purchase and close on the home or pay 0.2% of the purchase price per day until we either closed or someone else purchased the home. After pleading our case and ultimatley contacting a real estate attorney..they had a change of heart and just released us! They are NOT known for being merciful. What a miracle! God is so good!

And a few more...

Jason was on call for Cerner this past Memorial Day weekend so we were essentially stuck in town. We did have 5 house showings over the weekend(one offer and two potential offers...when it rains, it pours!), so it worked out well...and we spent some GREAT one-on-one time with the boys. Jason's parents and the Hamm's (Glenda, Theron, Audrey, Alli and Austin) popped by on Saturday and my parents came up for dinner on Sunday. Jonathan got to go to the neighborhood park with his grandma and grandpa and they spoiled him with ice cream from the ice cream truck (I was hoping to convince Jonathan it was just the "music truck"). My plan was foiled by the spoiling grandparents. It was only a matter of time. The park pictures are from today, my official start to summer being home with my two little men (Penguin Park). Despite the intermittent rain, the boys had a great time with cousin Daniel and Aunt Nataliya and Uncle Tommy! Poor Nicholas just has to sit by and watch while the boys played...soon little man, soon.

Here's a short video clip of them running in the rain. http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=137940&cdate=20070529&ctime=114234