Our Future Home!

Today we went under contract with our new home. The layout and design is everything we have ever wanted and dreamed of!

Front view. I love the front porch. It is beautiful!

Back yard. Tire swing. 2 car garage with a small workshop area.

The yard is small but well taken care of. The school is across the street so there is plenty of room to run around there. Plus that puts us in a safety zone from the possibilities of some unsavory neighbors.

As you walk in there is a cute little entry way. I just love the wooden blinds!

The kitchen has plenty of space and  this angle makes it look smaller than it is.

The dining area and front room. The archway is cute.

There are 5 bedrooms located in the house! Here are a few of them.

 The pink room

The Baseball Room

No name for this room but here she is

The upstairs bathroom

The finished room in the basement

As for the rest of the basement that is on a need to know basis. Aberdeen has some pretty crazy looking basements and this is one of the best I have viewed in a home this old. It has never flooded and doesn't smell bad. It is huge and unfinished. But who needs a basement in a house this big!!! Another great addition to the basement is the special little bathroom down we are saving for our very special guests. :) Especially those who think our current house is bad because there are no locks on the door. At least we have doors...right!

So another awesome point is that this home has over 3000 square ft! Every nook and cranny has been turned into a closet or room. I feel pintrest is going to be my decorator/organizer for these spaces! There is a great little room under on of the dormers that I may some day turn into a reading nook or art room. I would love  an art room like the blog from play at home mom's website. That link shows a few of her shelves. As for the small drawbacks...the home is heated by water. I have never done that before but I am excited to try. I have heard some great things about it. Another funny Aberdeen issue is it takes almost 10 weeks for the appraisal to be done...so now to wait...we have until October before we can move.

Kathrine is 4 months...

and a week or so! I am a little slow at blogging. Katherine is 4 months and is such a happy little girl. She has been so delightful to have in our family and she is just getting so big!

I frequently find myself putting Katherine in beautiful puffy dresses. She isn't a big fan of them. Sometimes she cries until I take them off. This is how she spends most of her Sunday.

I think Katherine has gained a bunch of chunk the last few weeks. The following picture was taken 2 weeks after the first two pictures!

Katherine loves her hands. Occasionally they get "stuck together" and it takes her a good five minutes to figure out how to let go of them. She gets very serious as she figures out how to let go!

Katherine also received her first bowl of cereal. She hated it. Despised it. Thought we were trying to torture her. I attempted again after 24 hours and she loved it. She is still learning to swallow and it didn't help her sleep through the night but at least she can eat it!

I have been experimenting with big flowers in her hair...not sure what I think yet but I will keep trying different looks until I find one I like.  In the first picture it was sliding over her eyes. But I love the picture it is me and my baby!

So that is sweet baby cakes at 4 months old. I think she is a such a doll. She weighs 12 lbs 8 ounces and is probably the happiest baby on earth. Why wouldn't she be? She is  living with 5 people who absolutely adore her!

As for the reason this post is late...we put an offer on our dream home today and are just hoping and praying they accept it tonight! It is a five bedroom home and none of the bedrooms are in the basement. Greg and I are just completely in love with it!!!

The Bed Greg Built

A week or so ago I gave Greg a picture of a bed I had found on pintrest that I wanted him to make. Make it he did! 

Isn't it amazing! He even made the the tractor on the headboard.

Jacob just LOVES it and so he should!

It is the coolest bed a three year old little boy could wish for. 

 Isn't my husband AWESOME!

Visiting The Ranch

Monday we were invited to visit an acquaintance of ours at their ranch. It was a absolutely wonderful day and dream come true for my children. Upon arrival we found the ranch house to be beautiful. I felt like I was in the middle of a South Dakota puzzle. It was a perfect yellow house surrounded by golden fields! I really wish I had taken a picture of how beautiful it was.  The man of the house used to teach camps over the summer to teach children how to ride horses. He had invited us so our children could learn to ride.

First he took the kids to the horse pasture.

Then he asked Sabrina to come with him and help him lead the horses to the barn where he would saddle them.

I think Clara was  a bit disappointed that she didn't get to help but it was a big job pulling the horse in from the field and it was ever so hot and humid. Sabrina was so red after walking in the heat.

 Clara fell in love with the pinto named Breeze and Sabrina loved Spooner (pictured above).

 Greg, Jacob and I got to ride RED. He was a character. He would nibble on Jacob's hair when Jacob would be in reach of his mouth. He also nibbled on my shirt a few times. He had a mind of his own but I sure did like him!

Our horse trainer was great.  He taught the girls the proper way to start, stop and guide the horse and of course how to sit properly.

After the initial riding lessons Greg, Jacob, Clara & Sabrina all got to ride their horses around the prairie. All  I think they were gone for a little over an hour. They all just loved it. I couldn't believe that my girls were able to ride all by themselves.

As you can see Greg had his hands full with Red. He was always trying to eat or go home!
Katherine couldn't handle the heat and turned as red as a cherry so she had to spend most of the day inside. Sweet thing. She was happy as could be. No pictures of her on this trip but I will post some soon!

After everyone came back from their ride I got my own little private lesson and got to trot the horse around for awhile. I have decided that horse riding is probably one of the funnest things to do in the world! It is relaxing and fun. It makes me appretiate nature and all the God has given us. It makes me LOVE South Dakota. 

I am allergic to  horses so I kept my ride short and sweet and felt very happy when I left with only a few hives on my body.

It was a perfect day on the prairie! I just am so grateful my kids had the opportunity to learn to ride a horse from such a magnificent man. It was just so delightful. Learning of the life of this couple made me feel like I was witnessing a perfect hallmark movie. City girl meets cowboy. It was a day to remember!

Our First South Dakota Camping Trip

Tuesday evening Greg and I were chatting about going fishing and decided that we might as well try South Dakota camping instead. So Wednesday we did. We had a beautiful campsite overlooking the lake.  Katherine got to experience her first time sleeping outdoors.She did amazing. She slept all night without eating. She doesn't even do that at home! I think the funniest part of camping was that everyone packed the right clothes for a cool South Dakota night but Greg. The poor guy brought only shorts on the trip and I forgot one of the blankets...so he and I froze our tooshies off at night but the kids slept just fine.

 I caught my first fish :) Two fishes actually! I broke my pole pulling in a northern pike.

It rained off and on but gave us plenty of time to play some games and take a hike.




Sabrina caught a blue gill!  (Greg did too!)

We had a great time camping and I only saw 2 ticks and had to remove NONE from any of my children! That makes for good camping. We did however have a plethora of spiders...they were everywhere and kept crawling out of my shirt. Grossness.  I think I have the best little family in the world. They are so sweet and we had only good memories with them on this trip.