While I wait for summer to start....an update for you....

How is it that I can sit here and stare at the computer screen with so much to say and not one clever way to start my blog post? LOL....there's your intro.

Pete is still working....same job, but now much better hours! Okay, maybe not better in the sense that he gets up at 3:45am every day, but that does mean that he's home by 11am. That's the "much better" part. It's almost as if he's not even working because we get to spend every day together...as a family. It'll be hard to adjust back to real life once he's on a more typical construction job. Regardless of the hours or the location, we are forever blessed that he is working. 

Pete has also been busy gathering up scuba gear so he can go scuba diving at his parent's cabin out in Gig Harbor. He's dying to catch crab with his bare hands....or go spear fishing. While I can never relate to his desire to go down...down...down deep under the water, it's a good hobby. 

I'm getting ready to start school soon...July 2nd is the big day. I've already enrolled in summer and fall classes and am very excited to get my books and get started! It is going to be quite strange to be back in school...hopefully I find success this time around just as I did the first time. 

I've also been busy making wedding invitations! Mid-2011 I had my first order, my second came earlier  this year - a baseball-themed wedding. While they were quite labor intensive (round, rhinestone-studded, layered invitations), it has now spurred my first referral order! With that referral order and the requests of two other friends for their invitations I'm definitely keeping myself busy with that. How awesome would it be to have my own invitation business? Albeit a ways down the road, getting a graphic design degree will help me so much!

In addition to all of that, I've also gotten several etsy.com orders from my shop. It's always such a great feeling to see that order pop into my email! Strangest thing....all of the wine charm orders have come from the east coast. I've still got plans to get more posted into my shop, but alas the time just flies by and that still hasn't happened. It will though....it will.

Now...on to the big news. No, I'm not pregnant! But, at this point even a little more exciting than that...Pete and I will be in a house as of September of this year!! If you've had any conversations with us over the past year, you know very well that we were flat up against a wall with ever being able to buy a house. It just wasn't even going to be an option, but I'll spare you the details. However, we were made an offer by Pete's parents to rent-to-own Pete's childhood home. While our first answer was no, we both thought about it and made a list of pros and cons....leading us to the conclusion that this really is a great option for us. It does need some work....updates and whatnot, but it has a great yard plus a garden, it's large enough to raise a family, large enough to add a garage down the road, it's in a good neighborhood....and it's PACKED with memories. Right down to the height chart on the wall of the laundry room and their childhood dog buried in the back yard...memories. It just didn't seem right to let it go to a stranger. The only downfall of us living there that I see, is that his parents won't be a short jaunt down the road anymore. They are moving to Gig Harbor to their cabin so they can finish remodeling it and retire there. As of September, we'll be proud residents of Preston, WA. Snoqualmie Valley....here we come! (again)

(This blog is stacking up to be a long one....)

Piper....Piper....Piper. Our little pip-squeak. She has got a personality all her own, that girl. What she's been up to lately:

• Last week she pooped on her potty - seems to have been a fluke at this point, but was still VERY exciting! Now she understands the routine I (*try to*) have her on, but no action since then. 
• When we went camping over Memorial Day she decided to take her diaper off and put poop all over the pack-n-play. That was a fun little mommy moment. (okay, poop talk done....she is almost 2 though...that's what we have to talk about)
• She loves macaroni and cheese and calls it "maca-momi" (tee hee hee)
• This morning I heard her from our bedroom yelling "OH CRAP" (oy vey)
• She loves American Idol and knows the theme music - still need to get that on video next season...maybe SHE'LL be the next American Idol someday? (ok, a mom can dream!)
• Yesterday, she was coloring and while Pete and I were distracted, she filled her mouth with crayons...YUCK!
• She loves to hear the "ribbits" when she goes to bed at night - we have to leave her window open so she can hear them
• Pete and I call each other baby, so she's started yelling "baaaaby" when she needs one of us
• The cutest phrase she's picked up from me - "oh, honey"
• She loves to visit her cousins! We only live 10 minutes away from Pete's parents, but last week when we got in the car to head that way, all she said was "kids, Jenna, Ally, piano"....
• Oh yeah....she loves playing the piano too! Luckily, that will be left behind for us at the house - maybe Pipes and I will take lessons together someday.
• She's starting swimming lessons on Monday! It'll be SO FUN!
• While she loves to count, sing, dance, and say her ABC's....she practically refuses to learn her colors. Weirdest thing.

Phew. I feel like I just needed to get all of that outta my head and on to "paper" so I don't forget. There are so many things she does and says every day....unfortunately, I know I haven't captured them all. 

Big changes coming our way....and, yet again, seemingly all at once. I'm looking forward to making roots and memories in our new home. We all are.