Picking Up Blocks

Marek loves helping pick up blocks . . . and I love watching him do it . . .

The pictures don't do it enough justice so I had to take a little video clip . . .

BeYOUtique and KLUV

So our business is still moving right along. We still have our products in Mana Beauty at the Hulen Mall. However, we are doing a radio promotion with 98.7 KLUV for their "Business of the Week" promotions. Our promotion started this Monday (9/24). They basically advertise our business several times a day and listeners can go onto their website and buy a gift certificate good for one of our products and an i.d. Bare Minerals makeover (up to $50 value) for only $25. You can check out the promo on KLUV's website: http://kluv.mediawebconnect.com/?deal=3331

Because of the large listening area of the show, the Mana Beauty owners put our products in ALL of their stores! We are now located in the following locations:

MANA BEAUTY at Collin Creek Mall
MANA BEAUTY at Dallas Galleria
MANA BEAUTY at Hulen Mall
MANA BEAUTY at Vista Ridge Mall
CHOIX BEAUTY CENTER; 3131Custer Rd, #100, Plano, TX
INSTYLE BEAUTY; 9005 Garland Rd, Dallas, TX

It's been such a blessing but it has definitely kept us busy. We started to bring all of our products to each location at the end August to ramp up for the Sept 24 promo start date. We've been going to each location every Tuesday and Thursday, since the kids are in school, and Fridays, since Nana doesn't work and can watch all 6 kids! It's been logistically challanging but not nearly as tough as the cart was over the holidays last year! All stores are now trained on everything BeYOUtique and they have all been so wonderful, encouraging, and helpful. They tell us it's easy to sell our products and really, their sales show it!

Between the business, packing, moving, and my two kids - I'm exhausted but eternally grateful for all of my blessings!

A special thanks to Mimi for always being everywhere we need her to be. She is definitely in line for sainthood. . .

First Day of School!

Madelyn started preschool right after Labor Day (Sept 4). She absolutely loves school! It's nice because I sometimes get some one on one time with Marek.

Chase is such a boy! Dylan was sick the first week of school but he bounced right back for week two!

BRIAN AND JESSICA ARE ENGAGED!!

That's right! He finally popped the question. I guess he wanted to wait until they were in France - something about it being one of the most romantic places on earth or something . . .

Here is the beautiful story - very worth telling (I'm so proud of Brian!):

They were in Beaune, France in the Burgundy region. Brian did so much research on everything - from the ring to the town - every little detail. He found the church prior to their trip. It was the Cathedral de Notre Dame de Beaune. He then followed up with the hotel manager to make sure the church was big and romantic! Their first night, August 25, (he couldn't stinkin' wait!), he told Jessica that they should take an evening stroll and tour of the city. She agreed thinking that they were just wandering around . . .

They walked up to the church holding hands and Jessica was admiring the architecture (hehehe). Brian pulled on her hand to make her turn around and there he was on one knee with the ring in one hand and Jessica's in the other. He said, "I have a question for you." (naturally, Jessica started to cry). "Will you be my wife for the rest of my life." She, of course, said "I would love to be your wife!"

It still gives me chills, makes my nose sting and eyes water! I am so proud of Brian! They called the next morning just giddy on the phone (spending ~ $1M/minute) and asked me to be one of their bridesmaids!! I, too, started to cry. I thanked them for giving me a year to lose weight! ;)

Brian designed the ring all by himself and it is exceptionally BEAUTIFUL!

Congratulations, Brian and Jessica!

Semmler's Labor Day Lakehouse Party

Scott and Susan had their rained out 4th of July Crawfish Boil at their lakehouse over Labor Day Weekend instead!

The kids had so much fun as usual.

Madelyn was jumping off the dock in no time . . .

My little swimmer . . .

Miss Gabby is getting so BIG! I still can't believe she's started Kindergarten . . .

Madelyn knows just what to do when mommy has a camera . . .Marek was playing and sharing (sort of) with Nicholas.

There were so many kids it was hard to keep track of all of them!

Water Balloons with the Hicks'

Riley and Aidan came over a few weeks ago and they all went slip-n-sliding and played with water balloons.

Adam with the final SPLASH!

So much fun. I'm sad to leave this neighborhood and our wonderful neighbors . . . :(

Parent Teacher Night

Marek is SUCH a boy. He can't sit still for a minute. At Madelyn's Parent/Teacher night for her preschool (back on August 30), Marek was trying to make everyone laugh by saying "bonk" and hitting them on the foot with a hair brush! While the Director was talking, of course.

Madelyn was an angel and loves that she's in a class with both of her cousins, Dylan and Chase!

Marek and his girlfriend, Macy. She is Kylie's sister (Madelyn's friend)!

House Closing

My sister, Stephanie, is such an angel. We closed on our house August 30th and she came with us to the closing so she could watch our little rascals. Thankfully, they had some toys and games for the kids to play . . .

Here's one of those "times" where they don't play well together. Madelyn shut Marek's arms in the drawer. I know you're thinking I'm a horrible mother for taking the picture but I didn't realize it until after taking the shot . . .

That is because Marek's favorite thing to do is put stuff in things. Drawers, baskets, cabinets, couches, purses, bags - you name it. . .

It's made it really fun packing. I keep finding his things spread out around the house shoved in a drawer or bag or something . . .

Tea for Two

They Play So Well Together . . . sometimes . . .

I'm so sick of packing. :(

Last Swim Class

Well, we had our last swim class on Aug 24. I wouldn't say they can swim on their own yet but the're much better equipped! Now that school has started, we've stopped the swim lessons and gymnastics. Just dance and school!

Refurbished

Our neighbors were throwing away a cute little picnic table. It was a bit weathered and needed some new screws. Tom and I grabbed it from their trash (nice) and brought it home. Becky was in town and painted it while I was out one day. The kids love it because it's just their size.

Such posers . . .
Thank you, Mimi!!

Maddie's Art

Here is some more of Maddie's art - she loves drawing - LOVES it. Now you can really distinguish the "girl" stick figures from the "boys".

Also, Madelyn had spelled her name backwards on the white board (below). I was a little concerned (dyslexia?? I didn't know!). So I asked her to spell it forward. I was amazed to see that she did it correctly and even backwards - every letter was even flipped correctly!

Long Time No Blog

We sold our house! So I've been crazy busy. And might I add that if you are trying to sell your home, you MUST bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard. Our house went up for sale mid June. Trying to save on realtor fees, we went with a realtor service (creekviewrealty). We were a little nervous when, after about a month, we had only shown the house approximately 3 times! Realtors don't like these services much, I guess. To make matters worse, there was a house that went up for sale about 5 houses down from us (the same house; with more upgrades; and in a better school district) for $30K LESS than ours. We were very discouraged.

We had heard about the idea of burying St. Joseph from several people and decided to finally give it a try. The week we buried it, I saw a man outside our kitchen window and Madelyn was waving saying "hi, I'm Maddie". Nice. I noticed he had our flyer in hand and his mother was with him - they looked harmless. I motioned for them to go to the backyard from the window and eventually invited them in. The next day, we negotiated the price and we closed on August 30. Days later, Countrywide tanked. What a blessing!

So now we are homeless! We're actually renting from him until mid October - then we'll move in with my parents if we don't find a house. Since Tom's new job is in east Plano, we're looking in Coppell (nice middle of the road). Please keep us in your prayers!

I'll be adding blogs with more pics soon.

I must go dig up St. Joseph now and thank him profusely.

God Bless!