The boxes are finally unpacked.  I'm finding the sunroom/library is one of my favorite places to be.

 

 

It is hard to believe summer is coming to an end. The kids and I enjoyed some really good books this summer.  Here's a little recap of our favorites!

 

Wonder ranked #1 with both Owen and Meg.  This book is amazing!  We had tons of discussions on this book and the kids asked lots of great questions.  I wasn't hooked until a good 1/4 of the book through but then somehow you find yourself thinking about the characters and it is truly an inspirational read.  This book really spoke to us as a family and we are big fans.  You can go to the author's webpage and watch a short trailor on the book. 

 

#2 How to Steal a Dog   Owen and Meg always enjoy books where animals are involved.  This is a sweet story.  We were hooked by the title and loved that it took place in NC.  A great read!

#3.  Born to Fly  I picked this book because it was set during WWII and featured a plane Owen loves called the P-40 Warhawk.  I had no idea this book would keep us up late at night as we read and read in order to figure out the mystery.  This book had excitement, an element of mystery and I also loved the heroine of the story was a little girl!  Owen was given a wooden model of the P-40 Warhawk from our neighbor in Saluda.  He was a dear friend and the model was already super special and now has even more meaning after reading this book.

We are big fans of Barbara Parks.  The Kid in the Red Jacket  was a quick read but delt with being the "new" kid and about moving. This book brought up discussions on how it feels to be new and how moving is never easy. She has an amazing sense of humor which the kids love!

#5 Holes  This book was very popular when I was a teacher back in the day.  I had it on my shelf and had always wanted to read it but never got the chance. So we used the book to get us through a very long road trip!!  I didn't love this book but the kids thought it was good.  It is quirky and weird and kinda strange.  It is not an easy read it jumps around from current day to days in the past without warning.  Once finished the kids were super excited to watch the movie.  I have never seen a movie that was JUST like the book.  For once they said the movie was just as good as the book!

 

And that's a wrap of some of our summer reads! 

An update!  Last week we decided to head to a zoo just about 20 minutes away.  I thought I would come away with some great pictures for the blog.  It was a very small zoo, we first headed over to see the monkeys, we looked high and low but no monkeys could be found.  Next stop the lion, as we approached we saw a sign that said, the lion had recently passed away.  We did see a turtle, some birds and the grounds were beautiful.  When we got in the car, I felt Owen summed it up best by saying, "Mom, that was a great place to have a picnic." 

 

 My one and only picture of an animal!

 I had a race over the weekend called the Prairie Run.  This was my 9th road race this year.  I ran 8 in AZ and this was my first here in KS. I really enjoyed it and was so glad the weather had cooled down a bit last week.  There were two days in the 70's and it was so cool we didn't even go swimming.  This week there are heat advisories.  104 today and 107 on Friday!!

 Our household goods ARRIVED!!!  We were so thrilled to see that BIG truck pull up to deliver our stuff.  The boxes were overwhelming. 

 I took pictures of the kid's rooms because they are put together for the most part.  All the boxes are unpacked.  I thought I cleaned and got rid of stuff before we left AZ but I hauled another load to the Salvation Army yesterday! 

 Owen's Room!

 I had a brainstorm to put his bed up on the antique dry sink from Grammy.!  You should have seen the look on the mover's faces when I asked them to take it to the attic.  I felt bad asking them to take it up all those stairs but I think it makes for a super cool bed!

 Owen's room doesn't have a closet so this is what we came up with it.

And that's a wrap!  More pictures to come as we get the rest of the house in order!

We headed off to Hutchinson to visit the Cosmophere!

 Meg and Lucky were brave and tried out the Tornado Chamber!

 They were showing a D-day movie and Owen was super excited.  We left our name and email address in hopes they will give us a movie poster once the movie is over. 

 Meg said she didn't really want to be an astronaut she said their outfits are not really "fashion."

 I love how Lucky got in on this one!

 We go to the pool most everyday.  This is such a blessing with our stuff still not here, it gives us something to do.

 Most days there are just a few people there.  The kids love it! 

 They have a laundry facility there.  I often put in a load and then put them on the chairs to dry. I did refrain from hanging underwear... I thought I might get some strange looks.

 Some shadow shots!

 These beautiful Chapels are on our street!  I just love them and one has bells that ring every hour!  Just like Europe!!  We were so excited!  We missed the bells and now we have our bells back! 

 

The movers packed our stuff on May 27th.  We packed enough clothes for two weeks and those two weeks have turned into almost 7weeks.  The moving company keeps pushing the date to deliver our stuff... today I just felt frustrated about it all.  But as I put these pictures on the blog I realized how the kids are happy and don't care.  In the end its just STUFF and so I take a deep breath and ask God to give me patience and trust that His timing is always best.   

 

 

We had a great July 4th out at the farm with some great friends who let us crash at their house while we waited for our place to be finished up.  The boys had an epic tank war.  Each year the day after the 4th they have a huge tank battle we were fortunate enough to be able to be a part of it this year.  Owen was thrilled!  It lasted over 3 hours! 

 The boys divide into teams and then light these little tanks and watch the tanks battle it out. 

 We got in some pool fun!

                              Meg is a water girl!  Put this girl in water and she is happy for hours!

 Meg and Lucky set  up a popsicle stand!  I think they sold out! It is super hot and humid here in Kansas!

 The boys played Airsoft for hours! 

                                              After 36 days we got to see our new place!  Here are a few pictures of it empty. We are hoping our furniture will arrive next week.
                                                                     Dining Room

                                                               Sun Room

 Living room

                                                            Meg's room

 Our first place to have stairs!  The kids are thrilled!

 

I'll post a few more pictures once we get moved in.  It was a wonderful feeling to finally unpack our cars and have a place to call HOME!

 

On a funny note.  After 36 days 26 of which all four of us shared a room at night Owen and Meg have been bickering more than usually I think partly because we have just been in close quarters for a long time.  It was really getting to Pascal and myself so we decided to start making them write notes to each other.  Here is just a sample of some of the letters written.  We make them read them to each other, and I found it really hard not to bust out laughing.