We've Been Ambushed

One of the best things about not living in an apartment anymore is the fact that my kids can play in the backyard! They have loved being outside (when it's not too excrutiatingly hot) and playing and exploring. And they love that Grandma and Grandpa have swings.

 Unfortunately, William was not so happy because he didn't have anyone to push him at the time.

But, since we have been here, Lily has been asking about the well and what is in there. So, Grandpa came and opened the well, tied a bucket to a rope and we drew some water out of it, which was SO cold!

 The kids loved it! They thought that it was so cool.

And, if you thought that was cool...

We were able to see my Dad play in his super cool band at a Fourth of July party.

 The band's name is:

 And they all look like this:

It was such a fun evening and we loved seeing and hearing Dad! I recorded some of the songs on my camera, but they didn't turn out. Boo. They were pretty awesome and we're hoping this will be an annual thing. Even though it would be cool if we got to see them all play before then too..

In the Month of June

Well, looking at our blog, it wouldn't seem that things have been going on in the Townsend House. But, that's not true. June was one of the busiest months I have had in a LONG time. So, here's a June in a Nut Shell Review. Going all the way back to the first of June. Along with Matthew's Birthday (Woohoo!) William and Lily had their Preschool Graduation (Woohoo!). We had been doing a neighborhood preschool this past year and we got certificates to show that William and Lily passed with flying colors! They learned to count to 20, learned all of the alphabet and a small word that begins with each letter. We had so much fun doing this preschool and making new friends.

However, this graduation wasn't the only one we attended the first week of June.

Brittany graduated this year from Murray High School and I was able to see her do so. We are so incredibly proud of this girl. She'll be going to BYU-Idaho starting in January and then on to turn this world upside down with her mad teaching skills.

And then, the day right after that... we moved from this wonderful place:To this wonderful place: We moved across the country to my neck of the woods. I miss Utah and the amazing family and friends we have there so much, but we are so excited to be in Tennessee and some more of our family and friends. Oh, and for Matthew to have an incredible job!
THEN.. On the move out to Tennessee, the kids cleaned my car. Lily was more happy about it than William.
And minutes later, a pretty huge SUV backed into the front fender of my little Versa. Sad. But, we are in the process of getting it fixed and finding that little blessings come out of everything.

THEN.. we got Lily's haircut. Our baby girl transformed from these two pictures (which she obviously was not happy taking)..To this silly -va- Lily girl. And it was just in time to take pictures for Matthew's Father's Day present that I made! Matthew stayed behind in Utah to get things settled for a couple of weeks while the kids and I drove with my mom to Tennessee. I was able to get this project finished for him and he loves it. I'm so happy with the end product.

There are so many more things that happened in the month of June. Some things I don't have pictures for. Some things I'm not so sure I'm ready to blog about yet. But, June was a month full of new things for me. And experiences I will never forget. Good and bad.

July has me getting back to normal and I'll put some more things that we've been up to soon.

Happy Birthday to Matthew!

Yeah, he's pretty awesome!

In the Name of Love!

I had the opportunity to go see these guys last night:

And it was pretty darn awesome. They sure know how to put on a great show! The special effects were incredible and they played a lot of the more familiar songs. And... they probably sound better live than they do on their cds. It was great!

I have since then decided that I don't use the phrase "In the name of love" often enough.

Lily's Eyes

I was trying to get my children to take a nap yesterday afternoon. I don't usually do this because they don't usually sleep at night if they have a nap. But, yesterday morning was a LONG morning and my children were practically begging to lay down. William zonked right out. It's always Lily who has more of a problem napping.

After a little while of her being in there, I had a talk with her. I told her that she wasn't being punishes, she wasn't in trouble, but I knew that she needed to close her eyes and give her body a rest.

Lily: I can't go to sleep. I can't close my eyes, they're broken.

Best line ever for not taking a nap.

In other news concerning Lily's eyes, last week, she went on a playdate with William to a friends house. Henry is in our preschool and the kids absolutely love to play with him. Henry's mom told me that Henry and Lily were playing together and Henry kept looking up at Lily over and over again until he just said, "Lily, you have the most beautiful blue eyes."

Isn't that adorable?? Little did he know that those eyes would soon be broken because Lily didn't want to take a nap.

Like My Mama and Papa Say

Big Daddy said it to my Mom and my parents say it to me. There is nothing sweeter or better to hear.

William's Party

Yet another reason I need a new camera. These are the only pictures I have of William's 5th birthday. I don't have any pictures of him opening presents or of his cake. Granted, at the party I didn't have time to take pictures, but on his actual birthday I did. They didn't load.

But, William had a Thomas Birthday party. We played pin the number on Thomas, Hot Thomas (like hot potato), and we had a bean bag toss. The winners of the games got those cool Thomas bracelets. William got a lot of Thomas toys and goodies, which he loved! His "friend" party was a little crazy. We had 15 kids in our little apartment. Only one of William's friends wasn't able to come to his party. We all had fun though.

It's really weird for me to think about William turning 5. I remember being 5 and it's weird to think that I now have a child that is that age. I did good this year at not crying on birthdays, but I'm wondering if it's a mix of the stress of throwing a fun party for 5 year olds and it not really sinking in that William's another year older.

He's starting school on August 29th. That doesn't feel real either. But, he is ready and that is all that really matters!