Happy 2012!

2011 was quite the year for the Sanders household and I apologize for the lack of post the last part of the year. I will try to do a little re-cap of the craziness that this last year was for us.
January: My grandmother got sick, got better, got sick again, got well again and moved into an assistant living home. Oh, and Auburn won the National Championship.
February: Baby Meg turned 2 years old, where does the time go? We also finalized house plans for our renovations, known as Phase 3.
March: Phase 3 began. Andy and I did as much of the demolition as we could and then we packed up and moved out. We thought it was only going to be for 12-16 weeks.
April: Andy took over as President of the bank. That is still crazy to say, Andy is the President of a bank and he is only 35 years old. And yes, that would make me the First Lady of a bank - ha, ha!
May: Still out of our house. Wenn finishes pre-K but not without her "friend that is a boy" breaking up with her on the last day of school. She was okay and said "I will just make somebody else love me".
June and July: Still out of our house and working on it every chance we get.
August: Still out of our house. My hope was to be back home when school started but it didn't happen. We moved out of the house where we were staying and in with my mother. Not fun!
Wenn started KINDERGARTEN! Can you believe it? I still can't at times.
September: Still out of our house, for most of the month. I think we moved home right around our anniversary on the 28th. We had no kitchen but we were home and happy to be there.
October: Wenn turned 6, it takes two hands to show somebody that you are 6. We surprised her with a trip to see Taylor Swift in Memphis. It was a great show and she loved it.
November and December: Holidays, family and friends.
And that brings me to now. Santa brought us painters to finish everything up in the house and we are so thankful. We have learned that it is nearly impossible to do the painting yourself, be a decent parent and work day jobs and not completely lose your mind. Thank you to everyone that helped along the way, we appreciate everything! I'm not sure I am going to keep this blogging thing going or not but I at least wanted to touch base. I don't like to do things half way and this blog has been a half way job at best. I'm going to think about it and decide but for now, Happy 2012! May your year be full of abundant blessings and love!

Raise the Roof and DANCE

Raise the Roof because we got one. A new roof that is, we had been without one for about a month which made for some sleepless nights during all of those storms that rolled through. Since the roof has been on we have only had rain one time for about five minutes - go figure.
And DANCE - Wenn had her dance recital June 4th and she was great.

This is her class minus one girl. They all loved this costume and they got to dance with maracas and glow in the dark. What more could a 5 year old girl ask for?

Wenn knew every move and was right on cue.

And behind stage they acted like crazed monkeys! She had so much fun. The girl has got some moves!!!

The House

I haven't posted pictures of the house in a while, mainly due to the insanity which is known as the month of May, oh and the whole potential flooding thing and just life in general. These were taken a couple of weeks ago as they were building the carport and changing the roofline. They have made pretty good progress since then and I will take some more photos tomorrow. No we are still not in but they are about to move back inside to work so hopefully it won't be too much longer. I am hoping to be back in by the 4th of July. Really, really, really hoping. It will all be worth it, it will all be worth it, it will all be worth it....

We Survived

School is out and Wenn survived 4 year olds. Her friend that is a boy broke up with her the last day but she didn't seem too upset. And....

we survived the "Flood of 2011". Thankfully the water did not get as high as they projected and all of the levees have held.

Old Man River

Old Man River is on the rise. Most of these pictures are from Saturday night when the girls and I rode and then walked to see the water before they closed the levee. I have always measured how high the water was by counting parking spaces on the waterfront. Saturday night there were 2 spaces, last night there were none. The water is high, really high and the river is not supposed to crest here until Monday. The levee is closed for vehicle travel but you can still walk to the top and look and at all times of the day there are people going to look. Everyone is watching, waiting, praying. The news has named it the "Great Flood of 2011" and I am hoping, at least in this part of the Delta, they have named it wrong. It is odd to me that during any other time of the year we live on Lake Ferguson, we forget about our proximity to the river but now that is all anyone can think about. For now we will keep watching, waiting and praying - praying that the levees hold, praying that this place we live will be spared, praying that God will continue to be with those who are responsible for keeping us safe. God is good, so just keep praying!

Easter in the woods

We had to be out of the house we are staying in Easter weekend so when the Snipes invited us to spend some time at the cabin, we quickly said yes. The cabin is great. Really that is an understatement, it is wonderful. We wear a lot of orange & blue (well, not all of us), we play outside, we ride 4 wheelers, we do crafts, we cook, we do a lot and it is all fun. For a place in the middle of nowhere, there is a ton to do. Andy went running Saturday morning so the girls and Peggy declared him the winner of the Meadow Brake 10K complete with a chocolate bunny trophy. Meg spent most of Saturday in big girl panties which was a big step. But the highlight of the weekend was chasing cows. Yes, I said chasing cows. Some of the neighbors decided that they were tired of feeding their livestock so they just let them loose. We herded cows with the jeep then Andy and Wenn tried to run them off on the 4 wheeler. I love that my city girls get a little dose of the country life every once in a while and I love it even more that it is with Charles Ed and Peggy. Sunday we went to the Carrollton Methodist Church for their Easter service. It was a fabulous weekend and we loved every single minute of it. Thanks Snipes!!!

What's been happening

Progress looks like 4 concrete trucks lined up at our house at 7:00 in the morning. We are making progress but it is a little slow and these April storms aren't helping much.
It will all be worth it in the end, it will all be worth it in the end, it will all be worth it in the end. Can you tell that's my mantra?