Finally- mama.

Without further delay, we've finally got some pictures of the house. These are the highlights, there are plenty more on our picasa page that you can access by following this link.

This is the view from the road. We live on a big hill. The neighbors across the street live farther down the hill so that their roof is below the road. We like the view from up here. The grass looks okay despite a year long drought that has hit the Piedmont. Papa has only had to mow once, and we're looking into solutions for the really steep section in the front. I'm taking a class at the Botanical Garden about gardening in southern soil.

Everything in Clemson is built on a hill, so we love that the backyard was graded to have a little bit of flat ground. We need to plant something or put up a fence to protect little ones from the 3 foot drop, but the kids haven't even gone close yet. The playground is too appealing. Behind the playground is bare dirt covered in leaves and sticks. The former inhabitants were also a professor's family and we think they spent so much time updating the inside of the house, they never got around to working outside. We poked around on the pile of wood sitting in the side yard and it all disintegrated instantly because termites got to it. We're going to get rid of that soon. They also left this grill behind for us.

This is the back bedroom downstairs. Note the guest bed (we haven't got a frame yet). This will ultimately also double as a craft room. T

The downstairs bathroom. The tub is olive, but olive is in right now, so it doesn't look too bad.

The front downstairs bedroom is the office and needs the most work. But we can't do anything until we buy about 8 bookshelves for all the books.

The front room is the tv room. It's looking a little bare and is also in need of some bookshelves and artwork. We just found the lampshade to our big light, but need to work on getting it higher before we can sit on the couch with the shade on.

Another view of the front room. Here's the front door and the stairs upstairs.

The next room is the toy room. And there are a lot of toys. We got these white bookshelves from Ikea and love them as toyshelves.

Henry just today noticed that we have a fireplace. Well, a woodburning insert in the fireplace. I'd like to take it out, but we're going to wait for Grandpa Seibert to come down before we undertake that task. Note the other front door. We have two back doors too.

Our laundry/utility room, right beside the doors to the garage and the back yard. Perfect for stripping down and washing off filthy kids.

Our very white kitchen with ample storage. For the first time in my life, I can fit all of my kitchen accessories in the kitchen. The only thing I want to change about the house is these countertops. They are white, stain easily and show every crumb. I far cry from out old black marble countertops that disguised filth so well, you could lose multiple chocolate chips for days.

The dining room. I really like this room. They painted over the old textured wallpaper and it looks very cool. I was very glad to have hard floors under the table after eating on carpet for the past 8 years, but it requires contant sweeping with two kids and my worry of large disgusting southern bugs feasting in my house. I can even see crumbs in this picture.

I'll take pictures of the upstairs tomorrow. The kids are sleeping. If you want to see more, check out this link.

Around the house-Juner.

We were glad to be back home after 3 weeks of moving and traveling. On Monday, we just hung out around the house, napped and watched some tv. Mama tried to get a picture of me laying on the ground clutching my new best friend- this ceramic doll- but she didn't get there in time.

My new doll is the best. Actually, it's mama's bank from when she was a little girl, but I've claimed it as my own. I carry it everywhere, which makes mama a little nervous, especially when I'm walking on the tile in the kitchen.

Buster was too engrossed in his new Banjamin Bear DVD from GG and GG to look at the camera.

Today, Henry had his first day of his new school. There was no separation anxiety when we left him, though I was upset we didn't get to stay and play with all the toys in his classroom. His teachers said he did great, but when questioned, Henry just kept saying "I said I didn't want to talk about it!" What an attitude. But he must have liked it because he keeps asking when he can go back.

Tonight, I wanted to play at the table with Bubba, so mama got some foam sticker out and I spent 40 minutes putting them in my dolly.

She's pretty and functional. Mama said she'll take a video, because you have to see how much I love this ceramic doll. When I see her, there is much hugging, glazing and sighing.

I wanted to sit at the table because Henry was busy working on his new love- workbooks. Now that he's getting older, mama lets him stay up a little later after I go down for my nap so they can work on workbooks. (Don't worry, he still take naps- mama insists on it.) This workbook features hidden picture pages (the hardest), connect the dots (Henry's favorite), and mazes (the easiest).

Tonight mama made salmon roulettes with a crab florentine stuffing (it was delicious and a premade entree from the grocery). I refused to eat it and Henry probably would have too, if it weren't for the caramel apples mama bought today. He ate his broccoli and baked potato without complaint and even seemed to enjoy the salmon! Could Buster finally be entering a stage when food is eaten willingly? Don't count on it.

"That's pretty good."

Lazy 5 Ranch- Henry.

By Sunday morning, all four kids were getting pretty tired, so mama decided that we better leave so the Paytons let us come back again. We called up mama's cousin Andy and his wife Christina and agreed to meet at the Lazy 5 Ranch.

We feel dumb for never having gone down to Lazy 5 Ranch before. It's an enormous drive-though exotic animal park with a petting zoo and a huge playground shaped like a ship. We had a great time on the ship before Andy and Christina showed up, but mama didn't get any pictures because the whole thing was 5 feet off the ground and she spent most of her time trying to make sure June didn't fall.

We stopped first at the petting zoo to feed some animals. I had the method of flat hand, stright fingers down, but June wouldn't do it, so she didn't get to feed the sheep.

I fed this goat because all the other big ones kept pushing him out of the way.

After we ate ice cream, Mister Andy bought us a big bucket of feed. I couldn't wait to find more animals to feed it to!

These camels were very eager to get some food. They would press their mouths wide open against the fence and then would use their big upper lips to get food out of the bucket. And it's true what they say about camel spit. They didn't spit on us, but it was really thick and gross.

Mister Andy and Miss Christina surprised us by making reservations on the wagon ride instead of just driving through in the mini van. This was a great idea because the animals came running when they saw the wagon because they knew there was plenty of food. This antelope licked all the spilled feed off the floor.

Mama loved the big animals. They strolled up, lifted their heads, stuck their tongues out and waited for you to feed them. This bison couldn't even keep his tongue in his mouth.

This little zebra was only 5 days old. It's skinny legs and knobby knees reminded us of Natalie.

This water buffalo got out of its mud hole just to see us.

June played it cool in her hat and sunglasses. We were glad Miss Christina held her for most of the ride so mama and I could feed animals.

This African cow (we can't remember its name) has the biggest horns for a cow. They wouldn't let us feed it because the "horns always get there before his mouth does."

The best part was when we visited the giraffes!

I got to feed a giraffe some leaves!

I told mama "it has a blue tongue" and "I can't wait to tell papa!"

This huge cow (it had to be 6 feet tall) was special because it was in the HBO miniseries John Adams. Mama and papa are watching it now and mama makes sure to point it out every time it's on the screen. This cow got a hold of our bucket and ate everything out of it and almost ate the bucket itself.

Thanks so much to Mister Andy and Miss Christina for spending the day with us and then inviting us back to their house for a cookout. I think we might have freaked them out a little bit when they found out that tired kids just get more hyper. We were so wound up that we may have worn a hole in their carpet when we ran laps around their house.

After supper, we headed to the Charlotte airport to pick up papa. We loved this airport because it has a cell-phone lot- a parking lot made just so you can wait for a call from the baggage claim. And you don't have to pay to park! Genius. Too bad Juner and I didn't have any patience for sitting in a parking lot. We drove around the loop and mama drove down a restricted road and almost drove onto a runway. It was awesome! We got to see 5 big planes up close!