Wisconsin is now officially our home (at least for the girls and me). We arrived June 12th but not without a lot of drama and major delays. However, the travels brought us here safely, and we are now in our new house. The movers arrived with our household goods on Wednesday which means we were in this place for almost a week without any furniture. It was okay though because it gave me the opportunity to get the painting done on the entire first floor. After working around the clock the house is now unpacked. Obviously, being here alone with the girls made the task much longer and stressful, but I persevered and got most stuff put into place.

Mike was here from June 12th until June 15th but had to head back to MD to finish up at school. He’s set to return on July 1st or 2nd. While here he was able to get a few projects done such as helping me paint the kitchen and install the dog’s invisible fence for the yard. We also spent some time around the area and discovered that this is actually a cute town. They have their own trolley cars that run on tracks/wires, and the cost of riding is only $.25/person. Of course, there is a hot dog joint called Trolley Dogs just across the street from the tracks. Every Saturday from May until October the Harbor Market takes place downtown. There are several local growers, restaurants, and artisans that come each week to sell their goods and services. The downtown area has a few quaint shops and restaurants. Annie and Mimi were ecstatic to discover the Downtown Toy Store. It’s a huge toy store in a renovated orpheum theatre. Since the town is situated along the shore of Lake Michigan there are several beaches to visit. While on our short tour I also found several fun and unique spots for future photo shoots. On Father’s Day we drove Mike to the Milwaukee airport which is only about a 35-minute drive. The girls and I were sad to see him go.

The wonderful news about living in this house is that there are little girls Annie and Mimi’s ages on either side of us. Of course, the girls are constantly asking to have play dates with them especially since one of the girls has her own “convertible” and the other girl has a bouncy house and both girls have nice, wooden playgrounds in their backyards. It’s all pure heaven for them! The parents of these girls have been great, too. When the movers were here both moms took turns taking the girls.

I have taken a few pictures since we’ve been here but have not had the chance or energy to upload them to the computer. I will do that soon. Having the house unpacked means that I also have the guest room set up. Please feel free to visit:)

Just a quick update here. It’s an absolute madhouse around here the past few days. I really just want to be sitting in my new home right now with all this behind me, then I can miss everything and everyone later. I had a photo shoot late last week which I have not had time to edit yet. I have another tomorrow which I probably won’t have to time to edit. Then I had another request to do one this weekend. Knowing how I do not have the ability to say no, I will most likely squeeze it into my already jammed packed schedule. The fun part about all of this is that I now have both girls at home all day. I really do get so much more done with both of them around. Riiiiight! Now some of you are probably saying, “Wait, if she is so busy and doesn’t even have time to edit pictures, then why the heck is she posting this and with all these pictures.” In response to that: I feel like this may be the last or one of the last posts I’ll be able to fit in before the movers remove my computer (from my dead, cold hands), and I didn’t edit these pictures except for the storyboard below that I threw together in literally 30 seconds. So there! Are you satisfied?!?

Anyway, on to another topic. Trang emailed these pictures to me a while back from when we spent some time with the kids at their neighborhood park. Trang and I took turns with her camera and got some really fun shots. Of course, the set in the storyboard was my favorite.

The evening was perfect for the kids to monkey around…cooler temps, no bugs (unless you count the caterpillars that Mimi had crawling up her arms). We completely lost track of time until I caught a glimpse of my watch which read 7:30 p.m. Dinner hadn’t even been cooked yet. Oh, well! Once in a while it’s nice to just let go and enjoy life.

In other news Miss Leah and Uncle Tiger had their baby! They had a little girl who weighed in at 7lb. 14oz. Don’t ask me her name because they have not chosen one yet. Leah had a fairly easy labor/delivery and is doing well. Baby Bell is wonderful (and sleepy), too. The girls and I were able to squeeze in a quick visit today before having to rush home for the move surveyor to arrive (30 minutes late). Congrats to the Bells!!

One last thing. I shouldn’t have, but I met up with Tricia one last time at the Leesburg Premium Outlets in Leesburg, VA. We tried last week, but it just didn’t work for various reasons. So yesterday we made the commitment to do it. The drive was an hour or so each way, and I ended up spending the entire day there. Annie and Mimi were not thrilled by store 2,819, but I promised them a special treat if they could just behave for a few more stores. Thank goodness for the Hershey’s Syrup and 2% milk in my fridge. The one thing that I was looking for which I really didn’t absolutely need was a rug for our future living room. Our new house will have wood floors on the entire first floor, so I want to make sure to cover the main traffic areas with throw rugs. Pottery Barn made my day because they were having a 50% off sale on their rugs that are already discounted from the retail prices. So I “forced” myself to pick one that would coordinate with the living room and then called Mike as I was swiping the credit card to ask permission. I mean, I wasn’t being entirely greedy/spendy; it was 50% off and was already discounted. Come on, people, agree with me and leave positive comments so that I can show Mike how I was being the dutiful wife who wants only the best for her husband’s comfort needs. I did come home with a prize for Mike, too. Our ice-cream maker stopped working when we moved here. Williams-Sonoma happened to have one on sale for $32.00 marked down from $70. He was quite pleased with that purchase and has already set aside a time and recipe to try out this weekend (before the movers snatch it away). Tricia was determined to get a better picture of us together. She was appalled that I could post such an awful picture of us before. Was it that bad?!? Make no notice or mention of the fact that I’m wearing the same outfit 2 days in a row. Just keep it to yourself.

Wow, this really didn’t turn out to be such a short post after all. Like I said before though this may be the last post in while. I will try to sneak in a brief update here and there, but I can’t promise anything. Adios!

As ridiculous as it seems to Mike (and others), Annie graduated from pre-school on Friday night. Her school has an event in the church where each class accepts “diplomas” for completing the year. Since Annie’s class was the official “graduating” class, they had caps with tassels. Even Mike had to admit that they were cute. Leading up to the passing out of diplomas there were musical numbers and such.

At the end of the ceremony the group of kids returned to the front for yet another song, and one of Annie’s classmates, a cherubic, African-American boy became quite emotional with tears and saying he didn’t want it to end. I couldn’t help but get teared up myself and think the same thing for Annie and for us. We’ll be moving on in less than two weeks and will leave behind several good friends that may or may not ever see us again. It’s the one drawback to military life.

The next day a friend from Annie’s class threw a party for the grads. A bouncy house was part of the festivities. However, the rain made it nearly impossible to enjoy the outdoor activities. Luckily, Annie got a few minutes in the large, inflatable building not without getting soaked to the bone though. The hosts of the party had quite a spread of refreshments, so most of the time was spent wolfing down food. Of course, there was a graduation-themed cake. They even had a large graduation cap pinata.

We had to leave a bit early because we had another graduation party to attend. This time it was a celebration for Mike’s upcoming graduation. I’ll give more details on that later once I get some pictures uploaded from the event.