Busy, Busy, but WE MADE IT!

Hi everyone. Here is our first post from the Midwest! Can you believe it!?!? Moving halfway across the country (literally and figuratively) has put my blogging on a serious hiatus, but I promise (cross my heart promise) to be half as consistent with my blogging as my sister-in-law (which if you read her blog - that's saying a great deal). But I do realize that it will be a great way for you to keep up with our daily happenings now that we are so far away. Hopefully it will shorten the distance a little.

We are enjoying Nebraska so far. The last of the boxes are unpacked and I only have a few more things to rearrange for the second or third time before I get it just right. :) I am quickly remembering how overwhelming it is having a house and wanting to do so much to decorate and fix-it-up just the way you like it! But it's a good overwhelming, I guess. The kids are beside themselves at having neighbors, particularly the little ones their age. They have impromptu playdates everyday, and they are loving every minute of it. The adult neighbors are fabulous too. We seem to have a real 'old-fashioned' neighborhood. We've met everyone, and I mean everyone on our street as well as several of the neighbors on streets around us. And they are all genuinely friendly and helpful. We feel very blessed.

I don't have loads of pictures but here are a few of our journey and arrival to Nebraska.

The moving truck...Our things filled up only 1/3 of the truck. They stacked it to the ceiling! And let me tell you...movers is the way to go!!! We'll never go back to doing it ourselves!!!

When I took this picture Albert and Brandon were beneath it, but I think the reflective quality of the sign messed up the shot such that all you could see beneath it was pitch black and Albert's eyes. (It couldn't have been the photographer at all.) The three of us got into town at 10pm Wednesday night. The movers arrived one week later.

Grammy and PopPop arrived with the kids two days behind us. Nate and MariCagle didn't mind the air mattresses at all. And they did pretty well with little to no toys for 5 days. They were so excited, especially when they met their neighborhood playmates. A big thank you to Grammy and PopPop for enduring the long drive with the kids and helping us so much with getting the house ready. We continue to owe them big time!

MariCagle got right to work helping to decorate our backyard which is in much need of some attention. She named the tree the 'naked(pronounced 'nek-ed'" tree' because it has no leaves, or in other words, the tree is dead. :) But she is attached to it and chose to place her planters next to it. She can see the tree out her bedroom window and has since hung a birdfeeder on it's 'naked' limbs. It's going to be hard when we eventually have to cut it down.

The following are shots from a neighborhood 4th of July bicycle parade. There must have been about 50 kids that participated. MariCagle and Nate were too shy to introduce themselves to any of the kids, but have since befriended several girls from our cul-de-sac to play with each day.

A big thank you to Aunt Terri who not only helped decorate bikes and acted as parade photographer, but was a HUGE help in the unpacking process.

This is just half of the parade.

They took a big group shot after the conclusion of the parade - this was the silly shot. Hope everyone is having a fun summer. Ours has been eventful to say the least. :) Love you all!! Hugs and kisses from the newest Cornhuskers.