Casa de Himmelsehr

I love this place. I wish you could all come see it. But since you can't (or won't...) I'll let you see what you are missing! BTW- we drove by that other house we were building and almost finished, and there was absolutely ZERO regret in our decision to back out.

The front of the house-

A view from the back porch-

A view of the back porch-

Our informal/ den-

A lovely evening

I mowed the front yard last night- it was the first time I've mowed a yard in almost 2 years. There is a definite difference between bermuda grass, which we had in Arlington, and the St Augustine we have here. The St Augustine is thicker and makes the process a little slower. Oh, and our yard is bigger than it was in Arlington. But it was wonderful. The sweat, the bugs, the grass clippings stuck to my legs, and the kids buzzing around the street on their bikes and scooters, chatting it up with the neighbors. I told Craig I was happier last night amidst all of that than I have been in a long time.

While Carleigh has gotten the general hang of the bike with no training wheels, she may be destined for NASCAR. She can only make left hand turns around our cul de sac. I tried to get her to turn right and go the other way, but it freaked her out and she stopped. Craig remembers that Jonas did the same thing for awhile, but I don't remember that.

I also watched a wonderful movie after the kids went to bed last night, Becoming Jane. It was beautiful, and funny, and I loved it! I like movies that don't have perfect endings, and this one surely fit my taste. I also like James McAvoy. I had a mild crush on him when he played the fawn Mr. Tumnus in Chronicles of Narnia, so I truly enjoyed seeing him on two human legs and with his normal nose and hair in Becoming Jane. And if Anne Hathaway isn't the cutest thing in movies today...

On the first day, of first grade....

Jonas started first grade today. And I'm so proud of how confident he was as he walked in to class and sat down. No clinging, no hesitation. He's a brave kid- most of the time. I'm happy to say that his teacher is a woman who a) has been teaching for 12 years, and b) is someone we KNOW! She goes to The Springs every once in awhile, and her daughter Gracie is Carleigh's age. Thank you God for such a blessing! I don't know her all that well, so I won't choose this school year to become her BFF, but at least I know she's a Christian and that she has kids of her own. My mom, and long time teacher, advised me to keep the relationship as it is now, and not to try to become too chummy with her while Jonas is in her class. It keeps things in perspective, and also makes Jonas aware of the position she holds as an authority figure. I agree.

Another fun note- Carleigh took the training wheels off her bike this weekend! I think both of my kids inherited the "bike gene" from Craig, as just like Jonas, she only needed one trip around the cul de sac with Craig holding the back of the bike before he let go and she was off!

I've also attached a picture of Speedy enjoying his favorite new place in our house... Cat- it's what's for dinner.

Meant to be?

When I was in the Army, I was in the Signal Corp. This means my job had to do with communications. This the symbol that represents the Signal Corps.

I was reminded of this when I went to Google today and decided to look up Himmelsehr in the image files. This came up in the search results, and it didn't suprise me until I remembered I was a Walzel when I was in the Army, not Himmelsehr. So I went to the related site and browsed through it only to find my father-in-law's name, Ron Himmelsehr. He, too, was in the Signal Corp when he was in the Army. How bizarre. But not out of the realm of weird for me and Craig. When we met, it was on Craig's birthday, and my birthday was the next day. For our first Valentine's day, we bought each other the exact same card. We had the same PIN for our ATM cards, and it stands for the same thing. Every one of Craig's older sisters married a member of the armed forces, all different branches. The only one not represented was Army, and Craig married me, so we solved that. Our moms have the same middle name (which is why Carleigh's middle name is Jean).

Just wanted to share that...guess I am missing my hubby!

Greeting from Sunny Arroyo City Texas!

I have not blogged lately, because I have been so busy with work. I do contract work for my father's business and August is their busiest month. When they are busy, I am busy. So I loaded up the kids (plus one- our friend Sidney) and drove down to my parent's house last Sunday. I am extremely lucky to have a job that doesn't require me to be anywhere in aprticualr, as long as there is an internet connection. So I do my "real" job with Citi from 7-3, and then switch over to work for my dad. My mom has been the full time babysitter and keeps the kids out of my hair so I can concentrate. It's been extremely nice. There have been a few problems, though.

The kids can usually spend 18 hours out of this house doing something fun. Playing basketball, hunting lizards with bb guns, swimming in the river, playing in the hot tub, or plain exploring. This trip has been dampened by the a)insane amout of mosquitoes that are plague-like thanks to the hurricane that came through 2 weeks ago (all the rain is still standing in the fields- no good run off) and b) the condition of the river water thanks to the hurricane (it's real murky and muddy when usually it is a lot more clear and a good sandy bottom) and c) the hot tub is broken thanks to the hurricane, and finally d) it's about 100 every day, and the hurricane can't be blamed for that. So, the kids have spent a ton of time inside watching tv.

Hurricane Dolly was worse than a lot of people expected, but it could have been worse. My parents screened in porch lost most of the screens and they lost some shingles on their roof. In other parts of town people lost their entire roofs, or docks, or patios. I even saw a few trailer homes on their sides. There is a ton of foliage debris that people have cut off their properties and dragged to the side of the road in front of their homes so that the piles can be picked up by the county. The problem is that there is no way of knowing when those piles will be picked up. It's the ugliest part of the aftermath, in general.

Craig is flying down on Saturday night and we are driving back on Sunday with a Penske truck full of the stuff that goes in our garage. Woo hoo! This means we can mow our lawn!