J.P. & Zach's Visit

J.P. and Zach came through town on their road trip to Kirtland, Ohio and Cedar Point (amusement park). They just stopped in for a few hours one evening, but it was still great to see Sawyer with his uncles!

Joe & Sawyer's Swim

On a cool, overcast, 70* Saturday afternoon, Joe decided to go swimming in St. Joseph Lake on Notre Dame's campus. Here are he and Sawyer (I was too chicken to go in the cold water) enjoying their swim. Sawyer only stayed in for 10 minutes before his teeth chattered! Also, enjoy the video clip of them playing (I apologize that it's sideways- there's no way to rotate the image on the computer).

Notre Dame Stadium Luncheon

Joe's MBA program had a tour and lunch at the football stadium with their families. Here are a few pictures from the tour, as well as us up in the press box with the field in the background. There was also a short program where Digger Phelps (sp?) spoke.

The Student Housing~

The student housing isn't quite what we pictured, but after lots of cleaning and decorating it's come together nicely. It's been a month, and we're getting used to the small spaces. Luckily, we rarely need to use the bathroom at the same time! A big thanks to Joe's parents for letting us use their old entertainment center which is beautiful and an enormous help in making this an organized home! And, of course, a HUGE thanks to my parents for bringing all of our things here! There are some families that came with nothing!

Our Start at Notre Dame

Now that we're living in a different state than all of our family, I thought it'd be a good idea to have an easy way to share pictures and other things going on in our lives. I started a Facebook page, but that's mainly for the kids & a little more complicated. This will be a really simple way for other family members to just jump on the internet, type in this web address, and see everything we do!

Sawyer Says

Sawyer's been saying so many fun & interesting things, it's time to document them and share them with you!

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~~~Some Past Favorites~~~

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January 2008 (almost 2 years old):

At church, Sawyer begged for a piece of the sacrament bread, so we gave him one. He popped it in his mouth and during the silent, reverent service, echoed out a big "Mmm!", followed a few moments later with "Good bread!!"

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February 18, 2009: Joe was eating soup and blew on it.

Sawyer: "What did you do?"

Joe: "I blew on it."

Sawyer: "There's BLUE on it?!"

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January 17, 2009:

Sawyer asked for a snack and Joe offered him canned goods as a joke. Sawyer actually chose canned corn, so Joe started preparing it for him. Sawyer just stood there behind him in the kitchen waiting, then casually said "Corn makes me feel good."

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January 29, 2009:

After eating out, Sawyer put a piece of his leftover chicken into a napkin and then in his coat pocket (keep in mind it's winter). While driving home, he put his hand in his coat pocket and says "Chicken keeps my hand warm."

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December 15, 2008:

Joe and Sawyer were building with wood blocks, when Joe commented on Sawyer's structure:

Joe: "Hey, that looks like a buttress."

Sawyer: "I know, I know, I know..."

Joe: "Do you know what a buttress is??" Sawyer: "No."

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~~~More Recently (Come back and check the bottom for updates)~~~

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**"Alligator" is his word of choice for both Elevators and Escalators.

**U-haul trucks are lovingly called "Eee-Haws"

**If it's raining outside, we need a "Gubrella"

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April 3, 2009

We drove past our bank, and were shocked when Sawyer recognized the building, yelling out "It's the piggy bank store!"

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August 5, 2009

We were all kneeling together getting ready for evening prayer, when we noticed Hunter was watching us and tapping his fists together, almost like he was trying to get into "praying position" like we were. Sawyer got all excited and says: "I think Hunter's doing 'Book of Mormon Stories!" (the hand motions to a fun kid's church song)

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August 8, 2009

Sawyer watched Hercules this morning, and left to use the restroom as the final song/credits were showing. By the time he came back, we had turned the tv off. We explained how it was over, and it was time to start getting ready for nap. He made his way down the hallway towards his room, hung his head in sadness, and we heard him say, "This is so terrible".

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August 9, 2009

Last night before bed, Joe and Sawyer had a nice talk about the Holy Ghost. It's a hard concept for a child to grasp, as you can imagine. Half an hour after going to bed, he came back out with something wrong:

Sawyer: "I heard the Holy Ghost in my ears!"

Joe: "Really?? That's so wonderful! What did he say??"

Sawyer: "He said this: *pant*pant*pant*" (like a woman in labor)

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August 17, 2009

Hunter was playing with Sawyer's ear, and Sawyer wasn't sure he liked that.

Carrie: "Well, he's probably just learning what ears look like. Can Hunter see his own ears?"

Sawyer: "Well, he could just pop them off and look at them." (meaning pop off his own ears to look at them, and stop playing with Sawyer's)

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August 26, 2009

We were driving, and I noticed a little hole ripped in the fabric of the sun visor:

Carrie: Oh no, how'd this hole get here??

Sawyer: Maybe an animal did it.

Carrie: You think there was an animal in our car?

Sawyer: Uh-huh

Carrie: Like what?

Sawyer: Maybe.... a little beaver?

Carrie: You think there was a beaver in our car??

Sawyer: Yes.

Carrie: How did he get in here?

Sawyer: Maybe he crawled out of the blue river, then walked over to our car, then "scratched scratched scratched", then walked back over to his home in the water.

Carrie: Hmm... maybe...

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December 31, 2009

Sawyer : Mom, is a birthday a party?

Carrie: You CAN have a party ON your birthday, if you want to

Sawyer: OH.... thanks!

Carrie: Uhh.... not worth explaining...

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March 18, 2010

Sawyer was eating a snack at the table, and Hunter climbed up on the chair next to him.

Sawyer: Mom, what's Hunter doing?

Carrie: Just coming to sit by you, it looks like. Maybe he just wants to chat with you.

Sawyer: What's "chat"?

Carrie: Just to talk with someone a little bit.

Sawyer: Oh.... (about a minute of silence passes)... Mom, Hunter's not saying anything.

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March 9, 2011

"I HATE raisins! They taste horrible, like POOP on a CAT!"

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March 22, 2011

Sawyer had his friend Heidi (5) over & they were play fighting. Sawyer said he wanted to be Captain Moroni, and Heidi responded that she didn't know who that was. Sawyer ran off to his room, got his Book of Mormon, handed it to her and said "Here! Take the scriptures! You can learn ALL about it!"

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April 1, 2011

Sawyer was watching the movie "How to Train Your Dragon", which he loves. When the part came on of the dragon flying the kids up into the beautiful sunset and clouds and stars, Sawyer said: "I wish I were a dragon, so I could fly up to God and Jesus, because I want to be with them."

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Atlanta Kindt House!!

I didn't want to flood my blog 'showing off' my house (that feels kind of weird), but I'm also an HGTV junkie so I understand all of my friends/family who just like seeing more pics & details of houses. :) That's why I made this separate post that I could link you back to.  It might come in handy for myself as well, when I look back years from now to see what my children have all destroyed since it was new & beautiful.  Haha :) Or just the differences that will happen along the way, as we make it our own.

 

 

The crowning glory: 2.53 acres of land! Grassy backyard, long flat driveway at the end of a cul de sac, then tons of woods which include a stream.  Near total privacy.  I think it will be absolutely heavenly.  The main thing we wanted was a property that would facilitate an outdoor-living lifestyle, to keep our kids off the video games & TV.  We'll be putting in vegetable gardens, a fire pit, and planting at least one Magnolia tree (my favorite thing in Georgia).  :)

 

 

The double door, stone entrance blows my mind & is one of my favorite things.  I absolutely LOVE IT. 

Master Bedroom.  It's painted the same color as the color we painted the master bedroom in our first house in Wisconsin (8 years ago!)! :)

Master bath:

Second floor laundry, by all the bedrooms.  Heavenly!!!  I'm really clumsy & bad at stairs, so this is a massive, ginormous dream to me.

Guest bedroom with small bath:

Bonus/Media room upstairs (no doors, just open space upstairs).  They painted it in a poker room theme to match their poker table colors.  We'll use it for the boys' play room. I'm ok with the green, but I'll just want to paint that trim back to white to match the rest of the house again. :)

This will be the boys' room.  They'll still share since they're little with bunk beds. They love being together & giggling all night.  When they're bigger/older/sick of eachother, there is a jack-n-jill bathroom attached here, so a boy can just go across to the other bedroom that's basically identical.

Living/Family room (main space across from kitchen):

Seriously looking forward to a pantry & double ovens!!!  But what do Mormons use the wine rack for? ;)  We'll probably just put in fun soda bottles or bottled water. Any other ideas? 

We actually bought this dining room set.  They gave us a great deal like they just wanted to unload it, so we're incredibly grateful that we'll have something in that room!  Otherwise it might've been awhile & looked ridiculous being empty.  :)  Their style is exactly what we would've all done anyway, so we're very grateful we don't have any big changes to make!

 

Backyard, from back by the edge of the woods:

It's a tiny stream, but it's a stream!  The water is moving!  :)  It grows wider in some spots, but this is basically how big it is, & you can see our house in the center, back through the woods.