The good news is..

We officially moved into our house the 1st of June.  It has been a crazy 3 months since that finally happened! When you're in the midst of those transitional moments, they seem to drag on FOREVER, but when you look back, it's much easier to say, "huh, that wasn't so bad!".. I'm assuming it'll be the same for when our belongings finally arrive from Brazil.  The good news is, they're FINALLY on their way!!  The bad news?  It didn't quite make it in time for my parents' 13 day stay with us this past week and a half.  The good news?  It was pretty cute seeing my dad work in a borrowed camp chair, with his laptop propped up on an empty moving box.  The bad news?  My dad worked in a borrowed camp chair, with his laptop propped up on an empty moving box!  Oh, and they slept on an air mattress on the floor.. some host I turned out to be! :P

For having "nothing", it really is amazing how dirty a house can get!  I mean, before the Texas heat turned up, it was fine being empty handed - we were outside playing ALL DAY every day, and LOVED it!!

We've met some awesomely authentic neighbor friends too!  Okay, so my real neighbors are MUCH prettier, but isn't that little baby cow just adorable?!  Nothing says Texas quite like a sweet and happy baby cow.. well, happy until his mom ends up on your plate anyways..

It's AMAZING how much "stuff" there is to do in the States!  I didn't realize how incredibly spoiled we were!  I swear there are probably 1000+ museums, theme and water parks, zoos, libraries, recreational facilities, and SO much more within a 20 mile radius of us (I'd be more dramatic and say 5, but we kind of live in the middle of nowhere..)!  Now that we are stuck inside due to the heat, you would think that would stop us from enjoying nature, but no!  We Hooley's just bring nature on inside..

Impromptu Roly Poly Farm anyone??  Good news is, I have a pretty decent sense of humor.  Bad news?  This carpet was installed literally DAYS before this happened..  Good news is just days before, I also received a lovely new vacuum courtesy of Amazon (and my husbands check book..).  Bad news?  Watching mom "kill nature" may have permanently scarred my tender hearted son.. oops..

"Creative" is a word that I like to think I can identify with, but 3 months with limited toys (blocks, barbies & cars) are enough to test any creative mom's skills!  Thank goodness for boxes!!  Proceeding the relaunch of my online boutique (http://www.baileysblossoms.com/), we had many a shipment arrive.

Would you believe me if I told you I had this all unpacked and cleaned up before my husband got home so he could park his car??  Good times..

But what did we do with all those boxes??  What did we NOT to do is an easier question..  We've played in them, colored them, slept in them, stacked them, smashed them, gone sledding on them, and when their life has run out (or a new shipment of nice "new" ones arrives), we recycle them.  Ahh, a box has never seen such love..

And a box has never seen such.. uhh, shall we say drama??  *My work office sits midway up the stairs, underneath it there is a "secret room" - the coolest, biggest "kid room" you've ever seen!  With ceilings at 4.5-5 feet high, it is the perfect playroom escape for all of our little Hooligans!  The following video is a clip Miss B shot (unbenownst to me) after the attempted set up of a box party fort, complete with 31 boxes! :) Every time I watch it I swear it makes me laugh harder.. but perhaps that's just because I'm their mom and I understand how well this personifies the two of them right now! #kidsmakemelaugh #bigsistersyndrome #NOideawhereshegetsitfrom ;)

I guess now would be the time to wrap it up with some witty moral of the story type thing, but the moral of the story is, there's no moral!  Because this journey to attempted normalcy is FAR from over!  Good news is, I'm pretty patient! :)