Sold!!!!

So, as many of you know we have been trying to sell our Augusta home since April....well it finally happened! On Tuesday, June 30th we officially became homeless...at least in the sense of owning our own home, homeless! We spent Sunday evening and all day Monday...and I mean ALL DAY Monday getting our junk out of the house! One heaping load to the goodwill, one heaping load to the dump and one heaping load sitting at the curb waiting for the trash on Tuesday and we were ready to move what remained of our junk to my Sister's new home! Thankfully, we only required one of the rooms she offered us and some room in her shed! The feeling of leaving our first home behind has taken a while to hit me! I think the whole transition has been made easier by living in Washington for 2 years....I have had the chance to seperate myself from the blue house---We have so many memories in that home...both of our boys were brought home there, we lost our first pet in that home, so many crazy first time homeowner memories were formed there....I love that house, but I can't wait to start making memories in our new home....when we get it!!!!!!

Saddle Up Ladies....We're Headin' To Dodge City!!

The Seiler Cousins headed to Dodge City for their 2nd Annual Cousins Weekend...and did we have a ball!!! We ate some wonderful Mexican food...I think I have found where my love for Mexican food has stemmed....I have met my match with Beth and Rebecca...I really thought I was the only person in the world that could eat Mexican everyday, but I have found my soul sisters! We toured the Famed Boot Hill, had some old fashioned Sarsparilla, played cards in the saloon, watched a gunfight, had a old time pic taken, took a trolley ride, was held up on the trolley, smelled one too many feed yards!, did some shopping, did some more eating, and shared a whole bunch of laughs! We also stayed in a Bed and Breakfast while we were there---there is nothing better than to wake up to the smell of your breakfast cooking!! We had a great time....I am so lucky to have these wonderful gals for not only family, but also some pretty awesome friends!! I can't wait for next year!

AquaSox!!

Wednesday night we headed out to our 3rd AquaSox game!! We had a blast---as I have said in the past, these games are so much better than the major league games!! They have the best music, the crowd gets into the game--and the players actually hear you!!, they play fun games in between innings, and the snacky food is the bomb!!! The AquaSox had a great start in the first inning with 6 runs, but things started quickly spiraling downward after that...the final score was 18-9...Bummer! But, the nachos, popcorn, peanuts, M&M's, hotdogs, and pop made up for the loss! We stayed until the end of the game hoping for a ninth inning rally....that obviously never happened, so we ended up getting home around 10:30 with two exhausted parents and two little fellas very hyped up on junk food...go figure!!

Puppet Show!

Grady, Gabe and Josiah ready for some puppets!

Today we headed to a Puppet Show at the Lynnwood Library! Gabe and I went in with very low expectations...doing this completely as an activity Grady was wanting to do....but as it often happens we all had a blast! The puppets weren't the silly little hand puppets, but Pinocchio-type with stings and all moving parts! The whole show was put to music and the ladies really got the children involved! Kids of all ages enjoyed the show....The last song in the show was about a bear that had lost his long underwear---the song was funny, and the long underwear eventually found him! They also had a song teaching kids about fire safety, so it was fun and educational..can't beat that! We had a good time...it is always nice to be pleasantly surprised!
Gabe is in the yellow and Grady is beside him...the are really checking out that dog!

A frog on a unicycle...how often do you see that??!!

At The Carwash!!

Today Silver Creek Family Church hosted a Free Carwash. We were doing this as a service to the community...not only to do something nice, but in hopes to bring more people into our wonderful church! It was a full family carwash...anyone willing and able was put to work...nothing like a little slave labor! HA! We had a great time and amazingly we were not completely soaked when we headed home---at least I wasn't totally soaked when we headed home! It started out kind of slow, but as the afternoon went on and we got our car washin' groove on we were whipping out those clean cars right and left! What a great way to spend a day working for the Church and God!

Happy Father's Day!!!

We celebrated Father's Day just a smidge early this year!! Shawn has some mechanics up from Wichita fixing some sort of issue, so we just decided to celebrate when he was home!!! So, on Friday we headed to the The Burger Place for dinner, and then back home for milkshakes, a movie and gifts! Shawn is the most perfect father I could have ever imagined for our boys...he has taught our sons the morals that are so important for children to learn: belief in God, responsibility, honesty, respect, and determination! Even on the days he works 14 hours, he still comes home and wrestles with the boys, reads them stories, or practices baseball!! I am so thankful and so blessed to have married such a wonderful man!! Happy Father's Day, Shawn!! We love you!

Gabe's Last Day of Second Grade!

Friday was Gabe's last day of second grade...and I have had the chance to check out his report card, so I can safely say it was his LAST DAY! He is so ready for third grade! I just can't believe he is going to be in third grade...it seems like just yesterday I was walking out of Lincoln Elementary on his first day of Kindergarten trying so hard to keep the tears from rolling down my cheeks! He has done so well this year...he can write in cursive, read 4th and 5th grade level books, write stories, spell words most adults can't, multiply and do simple division---WOW! We can't wait for next year!!! Congratulations Gabe---We are so proud of you!!

Picnic Point Beach Field Day!

On Thursday, Gabe's class took their last second grade field trip to Picnic Point Beach! We started out with a scavenger hunt...finding all sorts of interesting items! The hardest part of my job was keeping the 5 boys on task...they were totally intrigued with finding crabs..dead or alive! I was fortunate to have a great group of young men; they listened so well and NOONE from my group fell in the water! After the scavenger hunt, we enjoyed a picnic lunch and then an hour of total chaos! The kids had one hour to just run and play and enjoy their last day before the end of the school year! Grady got to go along with us on this field trip...and he enjoyed every minute! The kids are so great with him; they treat him like one of the group, and thankfully Gabe doesn't mind him hanging around either!

3rd RUNNER-UP in the S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G-B-E-E!!!

We are bursting with pride today!!! Gabe came home on Friday and announced that he was a finalist for the Second Grade Spelling Bee!! We practiced the "suggested" words all weekend.....and this morning.....we, oh I meant Gabe, felt ready to tackle the Bee!! There are 4 second grade classes, in which there are approximately 24 kids per class..that of which the top 5 spellers went on to the Spelling Bee today....so just getting to the finals was a huge accomplishment! This morning Gabe woke up with a tummy ache....I assured him he was not sick those were just the "Spelling Bees" in his tummy! I gave him my Mommy pep talk letting him know how extremely proud we were of him...no matter how he did---and I told him that there were about 70 other kids that would love to just get the chance to be in the finals---so no matter if he was the winner or got out in the first round...there would be absolutely nothing to be ashamed of!! So, off to the Bee we went....practicing the hardest words on the walk to school! Gabe did fabulous--He was the 3rd runner up overall and the top speller from his class! He made it through all of the rounds in the spelling words--words they had had on their weekly spelling tests and to the 3rd round on the challenge words--words that are from 4th-6th grade spelling tests. And I'm sure the question on all minds, "Which word got him?" ABBREVIATION!!! Crazy a word that means shortened---why in the world does it have to be so long??!!! He did however spell DISCRIMINATION correctly----Pretty impressive if you ask me!!! There were 2 young ladies that had the bee to themselves for 7 or 8 rounds when finally one of them misspelled "spry". But, before that they spelled words like algorithm, paleontologist, arachnid, and parallelogram! I'm wondering how many average adults these second graders could have beat??!! Gabe we are so very proud of you------Way to go---3rd RUNNER-UP is AWESOME!!!
The Final 4! Gabe is sitting behind the girl standing up.....who happens to be the Champion!