What's happening with the Stewart family?!

Eric is on his annual boys' weekend...much needed and well deserved! I'm home packing and organizing sans husband input. :)

Moving into our rental house (which we have secured one not far from here) is first and foremost happening. My friend, Nancy, offered her house up for rent, but unfortunately for us (ie ERIC) the commute would be too much. I'd love to do it --- Madeline would love all the playdates! Nancy's friends/neighbors look like so much fun!!!! :) I'm not terribly excited about the rental house simply because it's temporary, so we're only unpacking (not really packing just moving (in our car) the dishes, clothes, etc. in laundry baskets and unsealed boxes) the things we really NEED for 6 months. Other than that, we'll be living amongst sealed boxes, random misplaced furniture, and clutter. Well, in my OCD world it's clutter. It's all good because we are building "the house", and we are so excited about that. It's VERY much worth the wait. It's interesting trying to pack with a one year old underfoot by the way. Our current house is set to close on September 18, and so far, inspections, etc. have gone well. We're pretty sure things will go as planned. We have our movers, rental house, etc. all set up for next weekend, so that I can do any last minute things around here if needed.

And, as I've mentioned before, Eric and I have become more involved in our church. I've said this before and will say again, we will never be "Mr. and Mrs. Church", but we want a solid, Christian foundation in which we can raise our children. We love our church although it's a bit traditional, and the majority of the congregation is significantly older than us. Our minister is youthful and inspiring! The church is making great strides to bring young families into the congregation. However, there are 3 couples (us being one of the three) that are working towards building a "young family" group/Sunday School class. The six of us clicked as if we'd been friends from way back. I say all of this to explain the following pictures. The six of us (and hopefully some of the other youngin's in the congregation because there are a few!!!) are planning to study the Love Dare bible study in Sunday School this fall. We plan to watch the Fireproof movie and follow up with the Love Dare curriculum. Our church is holding a rally on September 12 to showcase the different Sunday school classes, and our fellas created a fire truck to demonstrate our group. The boys got together (and had a BLAST) doing the "construction" while the girls will do the decor. Decor pictures to follow....the boys assured us that once we "staple" our decor to the outside of this frame that it will look like a fire truck. (As a side note, I've decided that my husband "borrowed" this four wheeler from a friend in order to test it out because it's for sale, & my honey just happens to want a four wheeler. Small coincidence...) Boys just like to build stuff.....

On a Madeline note, she IS walking 100% although if she's looking to get somewhere ASAP, she does her crazy crab crawl. However, her preferred mode of movement seems to be walking because she does walk more than crawl these days. She's cutting two molars and another bottom tooth just popped through, so her attitude has been a bit snarky lately....so much so that I baked fresh-that-morning-with-steam-in-the-Tupperware-container chocolate chip banana bread and pecan pie muffins for the ladies at the gym that keep Madeline because her attitude has been MUCH less than sweet as of late. But, they assure me that she's still their favorite! :)

And, WOW! Does this child have a mind of her own?! Madeline can't crawl INTO the dishwasher and play with dirty dishes or pull out clean knives for that matter, or Madeline can't play with the remote controls or touch the TV screen, or Madeline can't dig out the dirt in Mommy's houseplants and eat it!? Seriously, she has all these GREAT toys and touchy-feely books that she loves, and these are the things she wants to do lately?! So, needless to say, this Mama is doing A LOT of "No, Ma'am" and swat the hand...I guess that's why so many children are allowed to do whatever they want b/c this is time consuming and draining when you have a toddler living in your house. (I've gained a new appreciation for well behaved children and their parents. I hope to join those ranks!) Oh, and she KNOWS what not to play with because she looks at me and puts her pudgy finger NEXT to it...sneaky little devil. Unfortunately, the temptation is too great, and she touches, and Mommy has to scold. Crying ensues. It's all good...she'll figure out that this Mama is VERY consistent and isn't mean but means what she says! I do pick my battles...how many times have I refolded the laundry into the basket or put the clothes back into the drawer?!

My parents are enjoying Australia right now, and I'm happy for them. My dad just recently "retired" (I use that term loosely as he still keeps his hand in the working world.), and my mom has always traveled with her lady friends. Well, since my dad has claimed retirement, he's decided that traveling and seeing the world is not so bad. So he's jumped on my mom's bandwagon to see the world. My mom has been everywhere from Thailand eating crunchy bugs to Greece's feta cheese to New Zealand's alpacas. Needless to say with three grown children, now is their time to enjoy life for themselves and their grandchildren. They're "young", in good health, in good financial status, and willing to see the world. Unfortunately, in true McCarthy fashion, they didn't share much of their travel itinerary with us because no news is good news, right?! Well, my mom's dad passed away this morning very unexpectedly (he was 94 years old and in good shape considering), so I've had to spend much of my day tracking down my parents in Australia! Luckily, I know enough of their friends and neighbors that I could piece together enough information to figure out the travel agency they used to call the customer service line that let me know how to get in touch with them in Australia. So my brother and his wife were able to get in touch with my mom and dad to deliver the not-so-good news.

In a nutshell, we're busier than normal, but we're good.