Offer approved on this new house, we got some work to do to close in a month and get Fannie Mae to pay closing costs, but we are moving right along, no hick ups yet. This is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath nearly 2200 square foot home located in Homestead North in Maricopa. Seconds from the Fire Department, church, park areas, and down the street from Wal-mart and my commute is only 1 hour! ok really its 45 minutes, still no that bad. It's kind of like living in Troy, Mo and working in St. Charles, for thos eof you that live there. Here are some shots of our new house. We should be closing end of Oct.
Front of the house blocked by our beautiful tree.
The big backyard, perfect for my fire pit and bbq pad.
Dinning room, we'll swap out the light fixture, since it's past 1994...lol
This is the entry, there is an office right off to the right that you cant see, and a bathroom right in front of you, the wall is the stair case going up.
Kitchen with tin back splash, of course i couldnt talk Mandy into keeping it lol, tile back splash is on the list.
Living room great size, carpet has to go, prolly will swap out for hardwood floors before we move in, Jo can't play on that.
huge loft perfect for jo, and the space where the pic was taken in is our new media room, or 4th bedroom if we decide to have more kids lol
Master bed room leading to the bathroom and walk-in closet.
There are 2 other bedrooms for the kids which are just normal size, and they are across the hall from the master. She needs a little TLC but we're excited to DIY a little on our new house!

After looking through a few home we feel in love with this one! We are putting an offer in tonight and hopefully all goes well! here's hoping!
Backyard
Front
Kitchen
Kitchen
Living Room
Living Room
Loft

Don't even pretend like this isn't tender

Last week Ema and her kids took Jolene, me and my mom to the library with her. It was Jolene's first trip, and it was a heaven for her! The minute we walked in she squealed and ran straight for the books. She's such a book girl. 
We all had a lot of fun but considered we skipped Jolene's nap to go- she quickly turned into a beast. She kept standing up on chairs and despite me telling her repeatedly to sit down, she would continue to do it and stare at me with a smirk until I would go over and spank her bum and put her down off the chair. One of the times, I was reading on one chair to Jenna and she was about 5 feet away on another chair standing up. I said "Jolene, sit down!" and she did, right over the edge of the chair and onto the cement floor that had the thinnest industrial carpet I'd ever seen. She screamed her head off of course. In a library. I took her outside to walk it off (as to not disrupt the other patrons) and brought her back inside explaining to her as I pointed to the chair that she was not to stand up on chairs. I put her down and a short time later she was back up on a chair. I said "Jo, sit down." she stared with a smirk. I said, "Jo, sit down!" smirking still... "Jolene! SIT ---" and before I could finish she says  "DOWN!", smiles and laughs then goes to squat as if she's going to sit down, then pops up laughing. As I stood up to go spank her, she goes to flop down and falls off again, hitting her mouth on the table on her way down. Second trip outside to scream it out.
Exhibit A- she's a beast. (This is not your opportunity to give me unsolicited parenting advice on how to handle a child like this. We think we are doing pretty good and like our methods, thank you.)
Needless to say, Ema was gracious enough to cut her fun trip with her kids at the library short so that we could get the beast home and in bed. THANKS EMA for understanding! :)

Well the weather has been pretty warm lately (understatement) but we do live in Arizona so what do you expect? Today Jonathan and Dad worked in the backyard first thing in the morning- so the Griffins stopped by and we played while the men worked (muwahahaha)


Jo loves the swing. She freaks out if we take her out before she's done (we're working on that). Aunt Kimber recently introduced her to the spinning affect the swing can have. Our little daredevil loves that too. She's so crazy.

It is rare that Jolene likes to cuddle. When she first wakes up you get about 90 seconds of a cuddle sesh before she realizes she could be down playing. When she's not feeling good she gets to lay on you but you aren't allowed to cuddle her... so that's almost a cuddle. But every once in a while, she'll surprise us and just jump right up and cuddle. And this time, it was daddy's turn!

I'm so glad when daddy comes home, glad as i can be! Clap my hands and shout for joy and climb upon his knee. Put my arms around his neck, hug him tight like this
Pat his cheeks and give him what? A great big kiss!

Here are some fun pics from the 4th of July weekend up at the cabin in Pine, Az..with a high of 76 it was a great weekend break from the heat of the valley.

Here is a video for everyone as an update on jo's walking ability..she sure is getting quick.