WE ARE HOME OWNERS!!!!!!!

Sitting out front on the housewarming bench our Realtors, Karen Miller and Mary Ann Kahb, gave us!! They were so wonderful to work with and we would recommend them to everyone! It's worth moving just so you can meet them and work with them!

Karen took this picture this morning when we went for the walk through... now we are loading up everything at my parents' house and then over to the Lockharts' for the rest of our stuff tonight! I don't know when we'll get our computer hooked up, so I wanted to get this picture up as soon as possible! I'll post pictures of the inside when we get sorta unpacked!

Happy 30th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

My parents celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss tonight!! They are still in love after 30 years and their marriage only grows stronger as the years go by! Thank you, Mom and Dad, for your example to our family in your marriage, not just your commitment to one another, but love and enthusiasm for one another!

Surprise for "Miss SHeeeeee"

Our growth group through a little surprise party for my friend Sherie today, who is affectionately called "Miss SHeeeee" by Mackenzie. Mackenzie practiced singing Happy Birthday the whole way out to Fort Dix for the party, but then didn't sing a word of it when it came time! Here's our "big" girl hanging out eating pb&j waiting for the birthday girl to arrive! She didn't know that we would all be there!

The kids happily watched Elmo so we could eat lunch... it was a loud day, but they were all really good!

Aubrey chillin' with her boy Isaac!

And we had the best surprise announcement from our friend Maribeth today... she's expecting baby #2 in April!! Congrats Maribeth!! (Unlike me, Maribeth didn't want to pose with her tummy sticking out... I had to beg for this shot of the happy new Mama!)

A Few Pictures of Our New House!!

Here is our beautiful house that we are settling on at 10 a.m. this Friday!! Not a great picture, but just wanted to point out a few things: They have a wonderful wood burning stove, they are leaving us the couch, the piano, the sound system, and all of the little knick-knacky things around the fire place. They are even generous enough to leave the deer head over the fire place... hahahaha... you know the first thing Jake will be putting in the trash when we move in!! But seriously, she is being so sweet and anything they can't use in their new house they are leaving for us!

And this is my very favorite part of the whole house... the border in the kitchen! After everything we've been through with waiting for a house when we walked in to the kitchen and saw the scripture verses it was decorated with, we knew this was the house God had for us!

On Saturday night we went out to visit Mommom and Poppop for Poppop's 73rd birthday... we got stuck in a terrible traffic jam on the way there so I crawled in the back to play with the girls and kept them occupied... Mackenzie now thinks I should ride next to her anytime we get in the car! These close ups are of them in their car seats!

We all ate yummy icecream cakes Mommom made and honored Poppop... it was a great family time!

Enjoying one more day outback with our Lamp Post friends... this dream summer is almost over!

Life with Lizzi: Part Two

Lizzi was a blessing the entire time she stayed with us! She played so nicely with Mackenzie and Aubrey and was so respectful and helpful!

The"big" girls slept together in Uncle Andy's room...

Lizzi thought the baby monitor was the coolest thing... and I realized that they are actually two way monitors so I could talk to them from my room... would have been nice to know that the first night so I could tell Mackenzie to quit jumping in her pack and play!

Dear Miss Marybeth pulling Kenzie and Sam around back! We are going to miss them so much!

I am only putting this picture on for my mom's sake... I know she'll love his expression... however, I want to forget I ever played Monopoly with Stephen for three days straight! It ended with no money left in the bank because Stephen had every single dollar bill there was, plus he was owed $4010 from the bank... and I had everything I owned mortgaged!

Life with Lizzi: Part One

We have the privilege of watching "Little Lizzi" while her family is away at youth camp and today has been one of the most fun days of the summer! It started with Lizzi coming with us to the Finn's pool day for our "Mommy and Me" swim day. However, it was anything but a "Mommy and Me" day... we ended up with almost 30 kids ranging 6 weeks to 11 years old! Everyone is busy serving the families that went to youth camp so families that would typically have 2 kids had 3 others from families that went to youth camp. It was a FUN filled pool day and all the kids got along wonderfully! Then... we hit up the wonderful Chickfila in our area that is going broke with all it's free giveaways that our church totally takes advantage of (every Monday night for the rest of the summer they are giving away free Chickfila sandwhiches... you're guarenteed to see at least 7 or 8 families from our church there eating together!) They were giving out free kids meals today so we all got free food and played some more... however, that part was crazy with not enough seats to go around and me trying to nurse Aubrey in the midst of all the craziness! Luckily, Lizzie is a HUGE help and did a great job being an extra pair of hands for me! We came home and Mackenzie slept while Lizzie and I watched a movie and then our fun continue when we made zucchini bread together and did a craft project while we waited for Kenzie to wake up. The girls played great together the rest of the night... sword fighting with Jake and Stephen and playing kitchen together. Then they brushed their teeth together and got in princess pj's and they are currently "sleeping" in Andy's room: Kenzie in her pack and play and Lizzie in her pretty sleeping bag on Andy's bed. I can hear Kenzie saying, "Lizzie, Jump! Jump!" and her pack and play is nearly falling through the ceiling! Lizzie is obediently saying, "Backenzie, it's night-night time, Shh!" I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning... wondering how late they'll sleep and what the day will hold!

Lots of Happenings in the Boettcher Family!

Yesterday was a really big day for just about everyone in the Boettcher Family. We still need to pray for healing for Jeff or he'll need surgery in Sept. Angie had an interview yesterday for a teaching position in Sept.... she was made an offer and now they are praying through that decision. Amy and Andrew were praying about signing contracts on a house that we almost bought ourselves! It was a beautiful home that we looked at and I thought, "Man, my sister would love this house!" and they went to see it and did indeed fall in love with it! It is a short sale, but unlike the crazy short sales we've been involved in, this one is already approved by the bank for the amount they are buying it for. Andrew and Amy took his parents to see it last night and they loved it too... my parents had already seen it when they went to look at it with us! So I believe they are signing contracts today. Andy was at an all day audition out at Sight and Sound in Lancaster. He made it through every round of cuts, so now he is just waiting to hear if they will offer him a part... they fit him for his costume and everything! (if they do offer him a part, he still isn't sure if that is the path God has for him!) Stephen had his first day of football camp and Aubrey had her four month check up and got three shots... so basically everyone had something huge happen yesterday except for Mackenzie... who was busy with her babies anyway!! She asked me for a wipe because her baby was "whoowee!"
She helped Aubrey to snuggle with her baby!
Just happy hanging out with her high tops and her thumb!
Here's our little 15 lbs. 12 oz. 26 inches long 4 month old... doing what she does best, sucking her thumb and being content!

Even Aubrey likes watching "I Love Lucy" reruns with her Uncle "DeeDaa"