Biebighauser Bliss: Blessings and birthdays

No one fall over from shock. Yes, I'm back on line --- on my own computer, in my own house! Praise the Lord, and I mean that. We are officially (mostly) settled in to our new house, as long as you don't count the 4th bedroom of still-not-put-away-doom and the garage that we can't actually put a car in yet for all the boxes being in the way. We moved in July 26th, but at least 2 of us at a time were sick for the next 3 weeks, so all in all I think we've done pretty well considering.

The girls are loving the new house. If you ask Grace what her favorite part is, the answer will be something of a tie between her room ("Oh Mommy, it's beeeaaauuutttiiifffuuulll!" she said with a gasp when she saw it the first time) and having her two kitties outside. Lily is putting MILES on our hallway carpet, since there is a long straight-a-way there and she no longer walks anywhere, but rather runs. Lee and I are enjoying having our own space back (especially not sleeping in the same room with any of our offspring) and the tranquil evenings on our back patio. Lee's parents are just happy we're out of their house! In just over a month, we have had five illnesses, 2 black-eyes, broken at least four items, had an armadillo in the front yard, made several hundred trips to Lowe's, and spent an ungodly amount of money. But, we have also had two birthdays, Lily FINALLY sleeping through the night, lots of new memories made, and tons of laughter. Thank you God for blessing us with this house!

As for pictures of the house, there aren't any yet it seems. I've been too busy taking pictures of everything else and forgot to do that I guess. I will be deliberate in getting those blogged soon.

As usual though, I have some great pictures of the girls, albeit not many of Lily's actual birthday, as those are pending from Uncle Eric. The video of her eating her birthday cupcake is up, and adorable. Her birthday went well; a lot of our family was able to be here. She loved being the center of attention of course, although Big Sister wasn't too sure about that. It took her a while to get warmed up to opening presents, but she loved all the tissue paper and sacks. She got tons of cute clothes and lots of other stuff, but the favorites are the baby doll, blocks, books, and push-toy. Lily is growing like a weed, and just this past week looks so much older to me -- she has lost so much of her baby-fat cheeks and legs. At her one year appointment she was 20 pounds, 4 ounces and at the tippy top of the chart for height. She is talking like crazy, adding new words everyday, but the cutest ones are "kisses" and the particularly emphatic way she calls for her Daddy. She ADORES the cats, and thank goodness they're tolerant, because she chases them all over the yard and picks them up any old way she pleases.

Grace is Miss Independence as usual and rarely slows down. She is starting to pre-read and work on the computer, and her current passions are (still) Ella the baby-doll, Play-doh, running in sprinklers, playing with Ferdinand the kitty, and the cartoon "Little Einsteins". Her favorite phrases are "of course", as in "Grace, what are you doing?" "Of course, I am playing with Ella"; "I can't believe it" as in "Dear God, I love my Mommy so much I can't believe it!" (that doesn't hurt my feelings any); "Well . . ." said in two syllables and usually starting a sentence in which she is going to confess some deed that is likely going to get her in trouble. Most of the time she is very helpful with Lily and around the house, and she is really starting to show Lee and I that she can handle more responsibility. I look at her now and see a kid, rather than a toddler, and it freaks me out! Grace will start at her new preschool on Monday and go 3 days a week. She is super-excited about it and every day, all day, asks if it's time for school yet.

We're all doing pretty well, I think. Now if we can just finish getting the house settled . . .

More house info next time. Enjoy the pictures!

Lily, after having enjoyed a particularly delicious meal

Swinging the hot summer days away

Look at how big she looks! Lily, 11 months

A little sisterly advice/torture

Grace helping Pop load the trailer when we moved out

First night in own bed in new house, Grace, 3 years 8 months

Grandma teaching Lily to say "Baa" for a sheep. I love Lily's expression!

Chocolate doughnuts are best enjoyed smeared on the face.

Lily cradling a bar of soap, which she is currently obsessed with. She kept busting into the bathroom cabinet where I store it to steal some, to the point I had to child-lock it!The bruise on her cheek was from a bad fall and took 2 weeks to completely fade.