The Lost Summer!

Our new house!

Author's Note: Whew, one whole summer without Internet has been much more difficult than I realized! I think all of you know what we've been doing this summer, but I wanted to write this blog entry so that I could remember months or years from now. So if you get bored, just look through the pictures, and come back for a new post when we get our Internet service.

What a big summer for us! Preparing to write this blog post, I am just blown away by everything that has happened in the past few months. I call it the "Lost Summer" because it has gone by in such a blur! We rented out our house, moved most of our belongings into a storage space, starting living in the farm house in Sikeston, found out we were having another baby, celebrated August's 2nd birthday, found and closed on our new house, went to a big family wedding, vacationed in Minnesota, and then moved into our new house! No wonder I'm so tired.

Hanging out at the beach in Minnesota

Our old house on West End is now rented to some really great SEMO students. We're hoping that they will stay for 2 years before we have to find new tenants. So far, everything has gone really well! They haven't called for any repairs (mostly because Eric did a TON of work to the place before we moved out), and the only problem we've had is some branches falling down after a major storm.

Of course, right after we moved in the farm house, I found out that we were going to have another baby--and this baby liked to make me sick, sick, sick! I think that's the other reason I refer to this summer as "Lost," because I certainly didn't feel like myself for most of it.

We really did have a great time living in Sikeston, though. August watched all the tractors right outside his window, Kaiser ran wherever he wanted, we spent a lot of time with my family, went swimming a lot, and realized how nice it is to live with less "stuff." The drive to Cape every day did wear on us, so we were anxious to find our new digs.

After a looooong home search (I thought Eric and I were NEVER going to agree on a house!) and considering lots of other options (building?), we finally found our home. A brand-new, open lay-out, with a finished basement and a kid-friendly deck and backyard. Now we just had to wait for it to be completed.

During this time, we celebrated August's second birthday! He had a wonderful fire truck themed birthday party, and he received too many toy vehicles to count--not to mention his prized fireman boots & hat! We had a wonderful time celebrating with the entire family.

August was (and still is) definitely in the throes of his "terrible twos," although I have to say, if this is as "terrible" as he's going to be, it's not that bad! Okay, so maybe it means that we can't take him to a restaurant (or a wedding!) for a year, and grocery shopping is pretty difficult...but really, he's such a loving, affectionate boy who loves to help Mommy and Daddy with household tasks (his favorites: taking out the trash and helping with the laundry).

Back to our summer activities: our next event was our house closing, although instead of moving in right away, we rushed off to Kansas City to witness the wedding of Sarah and Justin. And by "witness," I mean that Eric was able to be a part of the festivities while I dealt with a grumpy toddler (see above paragraph).

Bike riding in Minnesota

THEN, we headed straight up to Ruttgers Resort in Bay Lakes, Minnesota for a Strom family vacation.

THEN, we headed home and moved in to our new house.

Are we crazy or what?

Stay tuned for our flurry of fall activities as well!