Touch a Truck

Roanoke put on a "Touch a Truck" event on Saturday.  A bunch of different kinds of work vehicles were there for kids to sit on and look around and of course beep the horns!

She called Blake to tell him all about it!

Getting off a charter bus

On a pirate ship!

She loved the tractor, too!

She HAD to ride on the pink truck!

Gavin loved it all, too (except that one time when he was almost asleep and someone beeped a horn... that bottom lip pooched out pretty quickly!)

 Driving a garbage truck!

The claw was about to get her!

They let the kids swing in the big straps, too!

Of course she had to get a pink fire hat

Riding in the police car... it was nice and cool in there!

She did not like the bubbles from the fire truck!

In the back of an ambulance like Uncle Benji drives!

What a great idea!  Everyone was having such a great time, and all the volunteers were really nice to the kids that were climbing all over their stuff!

We miss Zoe!

Zoe stayed at my parents house so we could have a dog-free home while trying to sell it.  Rachel calls her on her play phone and tells her we will see her soon!  One day she did have a conversation with herself that went a little like this... "There's a doggie like my Zoe, she's at Mimi and Poppy's house, I really miss my Zoe."  I may have teared up a little...

Luckily Poppy and Mimi send us pictures of her and tell us all the stories about how she nudges the ball into the pool and then decides that she needs to go in to get it, even without anyone else out there, and how she tried to dig a hole to get to her ball from the other side of the fence, and how she may have killed a mole in their yard... but how overall she's being a very good dog (hmm)

All that trouble wears her out!

She looks for us out the window, too!

Too wet to come back inside

Home For Sale!

Well, a whole FOUR DAYS after we got the word we were moving, our house went on the market!  (No stress at all...ahh!)  Somehow we are keeping it presentable and ready to be shown at all times.  It's a little difficult putting everything away perfectly every time we leave, but I am determined that I won't stress out if someone wants to see the house at the last minute and we aren't here to fix something.  This is especially frustrating when Rachel pulls out a baby, blanket, or some other toy from one room when we are straightening up another room... it's really a vicious cycle!

So far the house has been shown twice (not bad for less than a week) and a group of realtors came by to view also.  The first people to come by wanted a bigger yard and a place to park a big work truck... nothing we can really do about that!  The second couple was here for over half an hour, but we haven't gotten any feedback.  Hopefully the open house on Sunday will bring the perfect buyer!

In a way I am SUPER STRESSED about all that has to happen in the next 4 weeks, but in another way, I'm at ease with everything too.  I know that God's timing is everything and me stressing won't change that!

Just in case you want to check out our home, here's the listing!

http://vickieclarke.com/listings/86D79F70-D583-BA4C-A7671EBF3C6CF253.shtml

Weekend Getaway

One of my roommates from college got married this weekend!  I am so happy for Jean Ann!  She was always so much fun and has such a caring heart.  Her mom lives in Abingdon, and Jean Ann happened to be visiting her one time when we were on our way to Wise a few years ago and it was great catching up with both of them then.  Of course through Facebook we've been able to keep up with each other some too, but it's always nice to see people in person, especially on such a happy day!  We let Grandma and Papa McCollum have some quality time with the kids while we were at the wedding (it was about an hour and a half away from their house), and Dustin and I actually got a nice hotel and spent a relaxing couple of days together.  This was much needed after the past few weeks that we've had with getting the house ready and everything!

So Grandma, Papa, Rachel and Gavin headed to the aquarium in Myrtle Beach for the day.  (I'm not sure who was more excited, Rachel or the Grandparents!)  They said that Rachel had a great time and liked the fish and the mermaids, but was pretty terrified of the dinosaur exhibit!  What a fun bonding time for all of them!

Oh, Rachel may have told Dustin and me, "I liked the mermaids... you go with Daddy somewhere again."  I guess she thinks if we leave then she'll get to go on another adventure!

We're Moving!

What a roller-coaster these last few months have been!  With our family growing and the desire to spend more time together, we decided to apply for jobs in Chesapeake.  It would also be helpful to have family around for help with the kids occasionally!  We put out our applications around Christmas, and things have been up and down since then.  We had initial interviews at the end of February that went well, then I went to the job fair and had a couple interviews, but staffing was not complete, so nobody really knew what they needed and if they needed someone with my qualifications at all.  Dustin also had an interview at the end of the week for an elementary music position.  He said he didn't think the interview could have gone any better, but was not sure if the job was something that he was interested in.  Well, time went on and we didn't hear anything at all.  As the school year ended, we figured that we would be staying in Roanoke (so I took a job as preschool teacher at another school in the county!).
I ended up getting a call for an interview on July 5th for a preschool position.  I thought the interview went well, and got a tour of the school and was talking with another preschool teacher in the school like we were co-workers, but of course didn't hear anything until the following Monday since it was a holiday week and there were people on vacation.  (How dare they!)  So we were both offered the jobs that we interviewed for and are excited about what God has in store for us.
Before we accepted, Dustin said that he felt crazy/excited at the same time for the opportunity to work with 3-5 graders.  Crazy because Hidden Valley is a great school and his job was a great one.  At the same time, excited to only have a handful of programs to prepare for and be able to leave at a decent time every day.  He will also be able to spend more time getting his photography business up and running the way he really wants it to be.
So, in just over 4 weeks, we will be in Chesapeake!  Please be praying for our house here to sell quickly and for us to be able to find a place to live there also!

4th of July

Warning:  Picture overload ahead!  We had a great time at my parents for the Fourth of July.  For the first time in years, the pool water was great and there weren't fires so we could breathe outside while we were there!  We enjoyed getting in the pool EVERY DAY at least once, and spending time going to the zoo and two sets of fireworks!

Gavin and Rachel both LOVED the pool!

Zoe loved the pool, too!

We all headed to Grassfield High School on the 3rd to watch fireworks there!

We went to the Norfolk Zoo, too.  It was a little hot, but we all had a great time.

Gavin had a good time, too!

Yes, this was a real sign!

Even the giraffes were hot!

Kim said Brent and I were definitely siblings... you couldn't tell, could you!?

Alli was getting a little hot at the end of the day!

What little girls... playing in the leaves and dirt!

Mom, Dustin, Rachel, and I went to Norfolk for fireworks on the 4th.  Dad's knee was hurting him (he had surgery scheduled the next morning!) so he stayed home with Gavin.