a season of busy.

I really shouldn't title this post a "season" because I'm starting to discover that this type of busy might just become the norm for the next few years. So, I guess it's a long season of busy! A good busy. But, I am so glad I have alert reminders set on my phone for every single activity we have so I don't forget. It's not just busy with activities right now....that will begin next month. First, we tackle more house projects! Matt and his dad worked tirelessly on our house when we first bought it, spending countless hours working on every room of the house. We moved it, got settled and left little projects to be completed as time went on. Well, that time is now! With an active, moving baby we needed to check some more things off our list to keep him safe and keep our things organized. And that's exactly what Matt did all weekend long. 

I was on kid duty. First up....feeding this little one. He is now so happy to be eating finger foods and prefers them over any spoon fed option. It means a lot more mess but also so fun to watch.

 And then, stairs! Oh my goodness, this little one seems to be fearless. Check out the look on his face....you know he's saying, "Come on mom, watch this!" And off he went. He still likes to rock back and forth when climbing so someone has to be right behind him so he doesn't fall backwards but he's getting pretty good (and fast) at going up. Now we are determined to teach him how to go down.

 And standing. All day long he's pulling himself up to stand and get a better view of the world. Every phase is new and different with each child and this one is pretty darn fun right now.

Last week Carter finally had his science fair where he got to bring his board with his results to school to show off his experiment. I couldn't believe how many other kids participated. The room was packed! It was actually really awesome to see how creative some kids got with their projects and how many were clearly done by the student and not the parent. Carter had 2 options, to either stand by his board and wait for people to come around and check it out or sign up to present his experiment to a small group of adults in a private room. I thought for sure he wouldn't want to present. After all, he was one of the youngest kids there and there were so many other fun things to do and see. But, he said he was feeling brave and wanted to sign up! So he went up on stage, set up his board and told everyone all about it. Proud mom moment right there (well, proud when I watched the video Matt took since I stayed out of the room with a talkative baby). He already has ideas for what he'll do next year too. Love this scientist and his curious mind!

 This was the view of the few hundred people who came out to the science fair, such a fun night!

 Okay, back to house projects. To let Matt and his Dad have a productive day at the house I took the kids up to the beach house with Grandma Kathy. It was a beautiful warm day and since we hadn't been up for several months the kids loved to be back. Snack time outside, checking out the view with their binoculars and a trip to the beach and park. Simon loved exploring too since the last time we were there he was a teeny baby.

 And, after a long day of work at home, we now have new cabinets in our laundry room!! We still need to put hardware on but it looks so good and really opens up the space, plus it provides a ton of storage! Matt also put up new lights, cleaned out the crawl space, put new house numbers on the house, touched up paint throughout the entire house, cleaned out the garage, continued prepping the backyard for the play structure, made 4 trips to the hardware store and installed new thermostats. Whew! Talk about busy. This run-down foreclosed house is slowly becoming our home and we are both really happy here. It might not have been the house we envisioned for ourselves when house hunting but it's turned into a place that feels just right for our family.