Meet Cappuccino!

He's a 9 week old chocolate lab. He's very cute and very naughty. We call him Cappy. We've had him for two nights and have endured as many mostly sleepless nights. He's very difficult to capture on film unless he's sleeping, so here are my amateur tries.

It seems like some months are shorter than others. This month has been for us- even though we're barely into it. It started with a very fun trip to Omaha for Roger and me and some close friends of ours. We had a fabulous time. We did all the eating, playing and (much to Roger's chagrin) shopping a body could handle. Our favorite dining experience was a fondue place where they brought four courses: salad, cheese fondue, broth/oil fondue and then the best- chocolate fondue. We had one of the best coffees I've ever tasted (second only to my sister's White Chocolate Mochas) at Crane. It was a Silk and very smooth. If you are a coffee drinker then you must taste it. If you are not, I really am not sure how you manage to fit into society.

This weekend we are very excited to visit some of our friends in Des Moines. So my week is filled with the motherhood tasks of laundry and more laundry and cleaning and bathing and schooling. I suppose it's really not much different than other weeks.

Joel's room
Cate's room

And this is the difference between my two children.

Roger was recently promoted to 1st lieutenant and received his silver bars. He is deploying this Summer for awhile again. We told the kids that they needed to be brave for daddy while he was away protecting us from "bad guys". We'll miss him, but we're so proud of him and all he does for us.

After many requests to see more pictures of my new house...here they are. This is our dining room and fireplace. The lovely green carpet (which is sadly still in good condition) is courtesy of the previous owners. We will someday put hardwood flooring in.
My cute little kitchen. I actually like the size, but we will someday put in more cabinets. I will be painting over the salmon color as soon as I decide what color I want to go with.
Here is the master bedroom. Aren't my closet doors pretty? I would like to put a wood floor in here as well.
These are the built-ins from the 70s. We are going to tear them out and put an arched doorway where the right side of it is- which will lead into the living room.

This is the living room and front door. One wall is a nice brick red color. The other ones are all what I think was supposed to be taupe, but it turned out a little pinkish. The steps lead to Cate's and Joel's bedrooms and a full bath.

So, there is a lot we would like to change, so if any of you have hidden talents you would like to share, come on over!

It's official. We're all moved in and I have pictures on my fridge. We have most things unpacked and put away (as long as you don't go in the guest/sewing room!). The house was built in the 1970s so all the trim is very dark, but it has beautiful six paneled doors, and a wood burning fireplace. I'm very excited to start painting!

One thing I really appreciate about my church is that we always do fun and inventive things together. Every month we have a family day when we play games and do activities to draw us closer together. This month we all went to an indoor water park and played for hours. My kids are waterbabies and had a grand time splashing around. Cate held the attention of our new minister, Matt, for several hours- who walked up the stairs to the water slides with her at least a thousand times.