we are almost completely settled in and unpacked over here on archery lane! a few boxes remain in the kids' room, and the office needs artwork hung on the walls and the shelves loaded up with books. there are a lot of boxes of books and DVDs in the office closet that need to be unpacked. i am trying to come up with storage ideas for the kids' playroom. i want one of these storage systems from IKEA to house all their small toys, dress-up clothes, etc. maybe i can get them this for christmas.

micah and rowan are loving the new place! they love the backyard, even though we don't have a swing set or anything out there yet - again, hopefully christmas! we do have a small toddler slide that they're enjoying in the meantime. and of course, the sprinkler is always a hit. my grandparents have a blow-up kiddie pool they're going to bring over sometime next week; i'm excited about that!

josh and his twin sister, jill, turn the big 3-0 on monday, the 22nd! we had a birthday party for them at their oldest sister, melanie's house this past wednesday night. it was such a blast. i will post pictures soon. we swam and listened to music and ate brisket sandwiches, and had the yummiest cupcakes you've ever tasted for dessert. josh got a charcoal grill with all the accessories, a new wallet, a stainless steel water canteen, a drafting pen set, a gift card to hobby lobby (which he's already spent on some brushes, paints, mineral spirits to use with oil paints and to clean his brushes, and a sketchbook), and an awesome t-shirt with a record on it (his younger sister, katy, made it).

before the party, jill and katy stayed with us for one night each, which was wonderful but - our A/C was broken for part of the time! our landlord came out to the house four differet times to try to fix it, and he finally determined what was wrong and got it repaired. but, ugh... it was kind of a pain having it broken while we had company. i love, love, love it when josh's sisters come to stay with us.

we've also had my dad and vesta over for dinner, and my grandparents (jo ann and sheridan, my dad's folks) over for pizza, my friend alison and her boys over to play and help unpack, and last night katherine came over with smoothies and hand-knitted gifts! she made me a dishtowel with the breastfeeding advocacy symbol on it (i will post pictures of this very soon, and can't wait to take it to my next LLL meeting to show it off...) and she made micah two knitted chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting and chocolate sprinkles!! they are amazing. she also showed me pictures of some of her other projects... she is so incredibly talented, and she's only been knitting a short time. she just has a knack for it.

in other news, rowan is still not saying much at all, but has no trouble communicating. he uses hand gestures and little sounds to get what he needs, and he's started to sign more. he signs for milk, all gone, and thank you (sometimes). and of course he waves bye, and stretches his arms out for a hug. it's really cute. : ) he has his pacifier in his mouth a lot, and i've wondered if that might be contributing to his speech delay... so maybe this week i'll try to keep the paci away as much as i can. i'm not worried about it; i'm sure he'll talk when he's ready.