Juli & Co.

You did it, Bubba!

We are so very proud of you and the big kid you have become. You have learned so much this year and you've made so many great friends. And you've worked so hard! All with a huge smile on your face, always keeping us laughing. You make life so much fun!

I can't believe my little baby that I sent off to kindergarten last fall is now a BIG FIRST GRADER! Let's get this summer started!

We love you so much, Bub!

I feel like the only pictures I get of Emily these days are of her crawling away. And there is a good reason for it, I suppose.

The girl is on the move! She never stops! She figured out this crawling business and has taken off. And she's so fast too. She can be half way up the stairs in the amount of time it takes me to throw away a diaper! True story. Rest assured, we know have baby gates up at all times. This little monkey is on a mission and reminds me so much of her big brother. He was such a busy little boy and was constantly out smarting me when it came to getting into mischief.

She has also learned a few tricks recently. She started doing what we call "are you sweet?". You ask her if she's sweet and she pulls up one shoulder and presses her cheek to it and then squints her eyes. It's so ridiculously sweet! Apparently this is what I do when I talk to her some times and she just started doing it back. I never actually noticed that I was doing it until she started to mimic me. Sweet girl!

We've also been working on some baby signs. So far she can do the signs for "milk" and "more" and we are working on "eat", "mommy", "please", and "all done". She gets so proud of herself when she does one too and then will clap for herself.

She will be 11 months old in 3 days. Slow down little one. You're growing up too fast.

This is Sissy right before her Spring Performance last week at MDO. She was SO excited to get up on stage and perform her little songs for us. Being the little sister, she has become quite good at sitting in the audience and cheering on her big brother. But this was her day. Her day to shine and to show us what a big girl she is. We loved watching her do all the little hand motions that went along with the song "My God Is So Big". She really did such a great job and we were so proud of her.

Buying and selling houses is just never fun. It stresses me out! Mama bear needs a home for her baby bears. Something about moving just hits a cord in me, it's so emotional.

This is the first time that we have attempted to by a pre-owned home. We've dealt with builders and with selling our own homes, but never with another family who is just as emotional charged.

The reason I feel sick is because I just emailed off our "best and final" offer. There is another offer that we have been told is better than our's, but for whatever reason they asked that we put our offer in writing. We have been told, in so many words, that the other offer is higher and is not contingent on selling another home. But they still want our offer in writing. I'm so confused, frustrated, tired.

I like this home, but it is not perfect. There are things that I wish were different, but it is the best option for what is available right now. Sure we could wait it out and hope that a better home comes up for sale. But I'm tired. I don't want to be packing up and moving the baby bears again. I don't want to live in an apartment or rental house. I don't want to store all of our belongings all summer. I want to be settled.

It's hard to hold out any hope after being told our offer is not as good as the other. But we don't have options. Crossing my fingers that they pick us, but I'm not going to hold my breath.