summer has finally arrived

Today, summer finally arrived. With a beautiful 90 degree beach day, I'm sorry to hear it's going to be 50 and hail tomorrow. However, we made the most of today and had a wonderful time at Pike Lake! We went to the lake with Grandma Horstmeyer and Uncle Billy, Aunty Nicole and Aiden. Being there only a few hours we all managed to get lots of good sun (except the kiddos). Gretchen slept in a little beach pop-up tent with the cool lake breeze (thanks a million to my cousin Melinda). Char played with Aiden in the sand and practiced their skills at making sand castles with really long rivers. I know this is just a sneak peak at what summer will look like. With such a great beach only 5 miles from the house, we'll be there often.

Gretchen also got to test out the jumperoo today and I think she liked it! Time to work those muscles!

baptized in Christ

Today was a special day. Gretchen was baptized into the Lord's family and we celebrated with two cakes and lots of family.  It was a beautiful morning and a beautiful mass at Lumen Christi in Thiensville. After mass we joined two other families for the baptism of our daughters. Both Gretchen and Charlotte were so good during the mass. It was hot and they were being patient and fairly quiet; that's about as good as it gets with two kiddos in church!

Getting baptized.

Gretchen was so tired she fell asleep on me during the baptism. Uncle Billy and Grandma LaPean helped as her Godparents. Bill got to hold her over the fountain during the baptism-- it was very special. She's just a sweetheart and this was just another amazing step in our lives. By the way, Gretchen is 4 months already!! We have her 4-month check-up on Tuesday so I'll have some details then.

Deacon Joe, Me (Gretchen), Kevin, Uncle Bill & Grandma LaPean

Afterwards we all traveled back to the house for some good grillin'. Unfortunately it rained a little, but still a great day. Charlotte was a trooper! For a little girl that still needs an afternoon nap, she was a good kid! The life of the party, she was running around the house and sure gave everybody some belly laughs. When company was just about leaving I set her up in the man cave with a movie and she passed out before it even started. Now she's passed out again on her Dad's lap watching the Formula One Race in Monoco. She'll sleep good tonight! (Update: She did not go to bed until 10:45 pm and was naughty by not staying in bed.....)

Party 'till you drop!

My take from today is how thankful I am for a beautiful, healthy family. Extended too! We are blessed to have so many good people in our lives. This is what it's all about folks! Much love from us to you...

here comes the sun

Today was an amazing day outside!! After grocery shopping with Great-Grandma Burton, we spent the morning with Uncle Billy, Aunt Nicole and cousin Aiden. The girls had a great time and everyone behaved. Charlotte got $20 from Grandpa before we left so she rode the pony, rode the merry-go-round and had an ice cream cone. Lucky duck. Gretchen even enjoyed a little sun. At almost 4 months old, she's really starting to sit up well yet still saves some awesome naps for mom.

Gretchen, Me & Charlotte

While the kids napped over lunch I was able to get some quilting done on Gretchen's string quilt. I apologize for not having a photo, but I did get the quilting finished. Now it just needs binding and it's finished. The quilt has turned out amazing and might just be my favorite yet. Just wait!!

Two weeks here at The Horstmeyer house and it's been a smooth ride. I also got an "ok" from the Richfield MOMS Club to join for the summer. I'm hoping to find some kids within a 10 miles radius that Charlotte can play with. She's having a great time with the dogs, but sure misses her friends.

My new job is going well too. I've seen two clients and will see two more next week. So far, so good!! I was a little apprehensive at first because it was a lot to remember, with regard to all new processes, but I have faith this is really going to work out.

Speaking of faith, I'm sure glad we have some of that around here! Gretchen's baptism isn't for another week, but if the world is really ending tomorrow, I have faith she'll be spared. Off to bed...say your bedtime prayers!

king quilt in the making

This past Christmas Kevin and I bought a new bed, a king sized bed. The one we had was his and over 15 years old, it was also a queen. After searching, we settled on a Sealy and it's absolutely wonderful! But, this left us with a king bed and queen bed linens. It's been working so far, but a change will have to be made eventually. The covers just to stretch far enough.

Enter new house. I've been looking for a new quilt or duvet for a king bed. I can't find anything that I remotely like. And what's worse, everything I've seen has been super cheap feeling (scratchy). Not good to cuddle with. I have found a few that I like and that are good quality but the price is around $300: crazy!! I suppose good things cost more money. We can't do a duvet again because the weight is too hot for Kevin. So, a quilt it is.

Luckily, I quilt in my free time. A king quilt is quite a feat, but I'm going to do it. I might have the quilt quilted on a long-arm, but I will at least make the top and back. Here's what we are going to do; I'm excited!

Agreed upon color palette:

Inspiration quilt. Similar but the inside colored blocks will be larger. Another version of the string quilt.  There are going to have to be 18" or 20" blocks I think as I'll have to make a lot of them to be king sized.

Cara from Me? A Mom?

another complaint

Sorry for the double posts! Looks like my Wednesday post is back up, making my Friday post fairly redundant....what's up with that Blogger?!

take a breath

Ok, that's discouraging. Yesterday I wrote two blog posts, saved one and posted the other. However, they are nowhere to be found. Talk about a waste of time! Time is a precious commodity right now. With two kids, 20 acres and 4 dogs, it's a little hectic around here.

We are all moved into my mom and dad's house, almost a week. Things are going really good and we all seem to have our own space worked out. (Three big screen TVs seem to help a little.) The girls are doing great; Gretchen is 15 weeks old and still a happy camper. She makes me want to have like 10 kids (ok, that's an exaggeration.) Charlotte has been a pain in my you-know-what. Terrible two's are among us. She's a know-it-all, persistent, whiny kid. Ah, patience. I just repeat my daily mantra, "I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids." To her defense, she has had a fever the last two days. I'm fairly certain it's due to her 2-year-molars coming in-- she's not sick. After trying to take a temp under a toddler's armpit, I bought an ear thermometer and wow, GET ONE! Totally worth the $30 from Target.

We closed on our Thiensville house this past Tuesday. The buyer was oh so very excited. It only took 25 minutes to sign everything; I'm thankful for short closings! She still promises to leave the wedding pine trees intact.

I've officially started my new part-time job. I saw my first participant last night and the meeting went really well. So much for my mentor following me out on the first few visits, they just kinda threw me out there. Whew! I managed just fine. As for now, it's just a daily "occupy the kids" and "stay alive." Can't wait to get into the new house!! Bring it on summer!

summer...is......so........close...

I know, it's been a week since I've posted anything. That's because it's been a little crazy around here. Last weekend we moved our whole house into a PODS and a storage shed. Tuesday I handed over my garage door opener and house key to a very excited new homeowner. She still promises to leave my wedding white pine trees intact. We are all moved into my parent's home and things are going to work out just fine around here. We all have our own space (with the help of three giant TVs) and there is practically a dog for each person here.

The girls are doing awesome, Charlotte thinks it's fantastic to live here. I made it out to see my girlfriends today and 35 minutes is just too far to drive for a play date. Gretchen is almost 15 weeks old. She is getting so big and talks all the time. We love looking at her little smile and sweet personality. Really, she is making my job so easy, and good thing because Charlotte is still testing the waters about every 3 seconds around here.

July can't come soon enough! We close on the new house June 30th but because Kevin is in Alaska until July 5th, we'll be moving the next weekend. At least that will give me time to clean and paint the new place.

The weather sure has been teasing us around here. Summer can't come soon enough! It's been wonderful to get out and run around after dinner. Wearing out the kids (dogs too) is such a good thing. Everybody sleeps better.

I have no more fun news so I thought I'd share a video from SNL on Mother's Day that a friend shared with me. Tina Fey is always worth a good laugh.

it's official - we're becoming graftonites

It's 6:08 p.m., I'm giving Charlotte a bath and my realtor Bruce Nemovitz called -- the call we've been waiting for all day long! He told us the seller countered our offer and I immediately thought the worst. For once, it was good news! She countered only $2,000 over our offer. YES!! And, the riding lawn mower is included...(Kevin). So, we close on June 30th (when Kevin is in Alaska) and will move in in July.

Look out Grafton, here we come!

we put in an offer

Well folks, the LaPean family took a big step today. We put in an offer on the house below. It's in Grafton and in a great neighborhood; even close to the bike trail still. We both feel this is going to be a great home for us, maybe not forever, but for the now. We've looked at it twice and after a lot of talk and  conversing with the neighbors, we sat down at McDonald's with our realtor and filled out the paperwork. We should know by Monday if there will be a counter offer or if she'll just accept. I'll be keeping the phone lines open!

front of house

3-season room

kitchen

family room