Went to Silver Dollar City and White Water – a very fun weekend in Branson with Grammie and Papa.

Nick and I took dancing lessons and discovered that we are pretty stinkin’ good!  I think it’s safe to say we got our groove on.

Thad attended basketball camp at JBU and loved every minute of it.  We were graciously given a nice basketball hoop by our neighbors so Nick and Thad are in heaven.

Went camping at Beaver Lake and had a blast!  We came home and immediately made reservations for the best campsite in mid-September.  Looking forward to that!

Went to 2 Naturals games and we were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves despite the ridiculous heat.

Celebrated Christmas in June complete with fake tree, chili and cornbread, and one present for each kid.  This is an annual tradition for us and is always lots of fun.

Nick preached twice this summer and did a superb job each time.  I am so incredibly proud of my husband!

Saw Toy Story 3 with Thad and Gwennie and we all really enjoyed it.

Went Hiking at Devil’s Den and had WAY too much fun wading in the creek and throwing rocks in the water after our picnic.  We pretty much had the park to ourselves!

Went to the dentist way more times that I want to remember.

Gwennie got her ears pierced!  She was insanely brave and they look great.  I’m so proud of her!

Went swimming countless times and never once did anybody get sunburned.  Yeah!

Spent a week in Michigan!  We went to the zoo; visited Nick’s grandpa; played with cousins; had an amazing day at the beach; hung out with Nick’s brother Zach and our sister-in-law Katie and Nick’s mom, Becky; and just had an all-around awesome vacation!  The kids did super well in the car, especially now with the dvd players in the back (best Father’s Day gift Nick ever got).

Went to see Beauty and the Beast at the Walton Arts Center and we were all thoroughly impressed.  It was quite a production!  I think if we lived in NYC I would be addicted to Broadway!

Now Thad has started first grade and Gwennie is anxiously awaiting the start of preschool in the spring.  All in all it was a perfect summer and we had way too much fun!  I promise to write more frequently now.  I was just a little busy this summer.  I plan to post more pictures very soon because Katie took some awesome pics of the kids in MI.  That’s all for now though.  More to come very soon!

Sophie, Thad, and Gwennie playing in Thad's toy barn this weekend

Nick – (as dictated to me by Nick himself) Doing great. I don’t know.  Keeping busy with work, family, church, and … that’s about it. I don’t know.  (Okay, he’s back to playing his new Star Wars wii game – that was his Christmas gift – so that’s all from Nick.  Ha!)

Sarah – I’m so thankful for a hard working husband!  Nick’s taken on a few freelance jobs this past year which have allowed me to stay home full time comfortably.  I’m excited about the thought that we’re going to be in our own beds for more than a month straight.  I got two aprons for Christmas and plan to become “the apron lady.”  I’m proud of myself for having kept my 2009 new year’s resolution and read the entire Bible cover to cover in a year.  This year I hope to get pregnant with baby #4 and thereby complete the DeYoung family.  I’m in awe each time Thad reads a new word and tells me something I didn’t know, something he learned at Kindergarten – I learn something new every day!  I’m thankful for such a sweet Gwennie who keeps me company (and challenged) each day.  I’m so blessed with three beautiful children who never cease to amaze me and can genuinely crack me up.  Laughter is the best medicine and our house is FULL of it!!!

Thad – Thad starts his spring semester of kindergarten on Monday.  He got a bike and a guitar and a cool dinosaur set for Christmas among other things.  He desperately wanted the guitar and is stoked that he got one with a dragon on it.  It’s a real guitar and he is anxious to learn how to play it.  He loves to sit on the couch and just fiddle around with it.  We’re going to have to get him some lessons soon I think.  He’s also become quite the accomplished artist.  He can draw animals (his favorite things in the world) especially well and practices every day.  His teacher even framed one of his razorbacks and has it hanging in her home!  She is a real sweetheart and we’re so thankful Thad has Mrs. Whittington as his very first teacher.  After our trip to the San Antonio zoo, I think Thad is definitely going to be a zoo keeper or veterinarian some day and very possibly in another country.  He is such a joy!

Gwennie – There just aren’t enough words to describe Gwennie.  She is a hoot!  She is sweet and wild and crazy and fun and defiant and a fast learner and potty trained(!) and loud and emotional and silly and goofy and giggly and strong and obnoxious and just the best sister in the world.  She plays so well with Thad – rough and feisty and plays so well with Sophie – sweet and gentle.  She also got a bike for Christmas along with a dress up trunk full of princess clothes and a dance and twirl castle.  She has a new butterfly room complete with pink walls and butterflies and flowers on the walls.  She is VERY girly and loves to twirl like a princess.  Every day for the past year she has told me that I’m her best friend.  I just can’t get enough of this little girl!  She is such a joy!

Sophie – As I mentioned earlier, we are finally settled and I hope that sleeping in our own beds each night will make Sophie a better sleeper.  At 7 months old she still wakes up at least 2 times each night and sometimes MANY more.  She has started solids but much prefers to just nurse.  She might eat half a jar of baby food on a really good day.  She loves her new Christmas toys, especially this little pop up toy. Despite her sleeping problems, she is my sweet little angel baby and by far our happiest baby and possibly the most outgoing.  She’ll smile at anybody and everybody who will smile at her!  She is fair like her brother and blonde like her sister and has the bluest eyes of the three.  Her hair is really starting to grow now and is just white blonde.  She looks a lot like Thad still and some of her expressions look just like him at this age.  She is such a joy!

Bonny (our golden retriever) and Buddy (our Beagle) are going to be 10 this year and are back to being indoor dogs and are loving life.  The move was probably the hardest on them but they survived and are thriving now.

The new house – Our new house is 1664 square feet (400 more than the old one) and sits on a half acre (twice as much as we had before).  We have a nice playground now that came with the house and a large raised bed that will make a perfect vegetable garden in the spring.  We have two huge mimosa trees that will be gorgeous when they bloom.  We also have a huge oak tree in the front and a bunch of pine trees in the back corner.  We had the back yard fenced in for the dogs and so I can comfortably play with the kids in the baby pool in my swimsuit in the the summer.  The house has 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths and is very similar in floor plan to our old house.  The kitchen is smaller but I have a laundry room in the house now that also serves as a pantry so there actually is more room in the kitchen.  I also have all new appliances including a much larger fridge and a gas stove which I love!  We have two patios off the back of the house through sliding glass doors (one off the dining room and one off our bedroom).  Each room has a walk-in closet and the huge stone fireplace is great!  Little things like a window in our bathroom and a window over the kitchen sink make such a huge difference.  We took many before photos and will post the after photos as we complete projects – there are MANY.

That’s all for now – you are ALL caught up on the DeYoungs.  I promise to update more frequently now that this big one is done.  God bless you in 2010!

In late August we decided to put our house on the market.  We’d tried to sell our house ourselves a little over a year ago and had 37 people look at it and not a single offer.  That was a bummer.  We knew that the $8000 1st time homebuyer credit ends in December and that our house was the perfect 1st home so we thought we’d jump on that bandwagon.  This time we knew we should go with a realtor.  So in early September we listed the house and two weeks later we had two offers!  After a little countering we agreed on a price with one of the buyers and will close on the 30th.  Crazy!  We totally never expected it to happen that fast.

The first two days it was on the market we showed it 4 times and all this right as Nick’s mom came down for a visit.  We had a great time with Grandma Becky and were so sad to see her go.

So now we have started packing.  We knew that with 6 full weeks to pack, we could make it an organized move.  Is there really such a thing?  I feel like we’re living in organized chaos.  In the midst of all the house selling and packing we started another season of soccer and now we have 2 out of 3 playing soccer.  Thad is in the under 6 league and Gwennie started iddy biddy soccer.  Gwen’s is already over and she did a great job!  Thad’s is still in full swing and he’s also doing great.  He’s a little timid about trying to take the ball away but he’s super fast so if he can break away, he does great.

All was well, crazy but well.  Then two weeks ago tonight Thad said he didn’t feel good but we thought he just wanted to skip his soccer game.  The next morning he seemed tired still but he went to school cheerfully.  I took him out of school early that day as a surprise to go to the apple festival with my mom, me, Gwennie and Sophie.  We had a LOT of fun but after a ride on the train his eyes were bright red.  I mean BRIGHT RED!  That is usually a sign that he has a fever but when I asked him he said he got train smoke in his eyes.  He felt warm but we were leaving anyway so we went on home and he even sang on the way home.  When we got home he had a fever of 102.1 and went straight to sleep for hours.  Gwennie felt fine so she got to go with my folks to the high school homecoming football game – a very special treat for her.  She and my mom ran into all the cheerleaders in the bathroom primping before the game and Gwennie was elated.  The homecoming court also went on the field before the game and she thought they were all princesses.  Too cute!  The next day Thad was REALLY sick and Gwennie went downhill super fast in the afternoon.  Their fevers never went over 102.6 and came down quickly with tylenol so we rode it out for a few days.  We quarantined Sophie to our bedroom and put the gate up in our doorway so the kids couldn’t even get close to her.  By Wednesday the fevers were mostly gone (only getting in the 100 range) but they still seemed pretty miserable so I took them to the doctor and he tested them for the flu.  It came back positive for flu type A – SWINE FLU!!!  According to the doctor, a positive type A is basically a positive for swine flu since it’s this early in the season.  My greatest fear this fall had come true!  Fortunately, the worst was over.  There wasn’t anything we could give them at that point, just a lot of love and tylenol.  But we did get a cough medicine with codeine in it to help them sleep.  And did they ever!  Within a few days they were back to their normal selves but we stayed home and away from everybody just to give their little immune systems a chance to recuperate and get back up to 100%.

Thus, we have survived the swine flu!  Thankfully Nick (who was quickly put on tamiflu just in case) and I (who can’t take it because I’m nursing) and Sophie (way too little to be on any meds) never got sick at all.  Praise the Lord!  I’m kind of glad they did get it and did fine with it because now they’re naturally immune to it.  I thought it would be much worse.  The weekend they had it the worst was the weekend 19 kids died from it so I kind of feel like we dodged a bullet.

Now Thad’s back in school (he missed all of last week) and our schedules are slowly returning to normal.  As normal as packing and moving 5 people and 2 dogs to who-knows-where-next can be.

We’ve looked at a TON of homes for sale because now is a great time to buy but nothing quite stands out to us.  There was one home we really liked but they wouldn’t budge on the price and it’s WAY over priced.  We’ve looked at a few really old homes but aren’t sure we’re really fixer-upper kind of people.  The newer homes are nice but kinda small.  Do you go for the giant/old/cheap house that might turn into a money pit or the small/newer/expensive house that we might feel cramped in?  Right now we decided to find a super cheap rental and wait for a few more homes to come on the market.  We’re in no rush to buy.  Thankfully, we have found a cheap duplex that has a fence and will allow dogs.  Those three things were hard to come by all in one place.  We check it out tomorrow so I hope it’s livable.

We’re using the money we make in the sale of this house to pay off a large student loan and will be DEBT FREE.  WOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!!  Words cannot describe how great it will feel to have that hideous monkey off our backs.  To celebrate, we hope to go to Silver Dollar City in November.  We were planning to go to Disney World when we paid off the student loan but have decided to wait until we’re done having kids and the youngest is old enough to walk and enjoy it too so SDC will have to do for now.  Plus we need all the funds we can get for a down payment on the next house.

All in all life is AWESOME.  Crazy and busy and hectic but great.  The kids are healthy again (and thankfully alive!) and we’re moving on to the next step in life and hopefully a bigger house after a drastic but temporary downsizing.

Real quick, before I go, I’ve given you a good update about Thad and his school and soccer but now I’ve got to tell you how wonderful our little girls are.  Sophie just turned 5 months old and is just a JOY!  She is definitely the smiliest (is that a word?) baby we’ve had and just adores her older siblings.  She erupts with laughter at Gwennie and talks to Thad more than anybody.  She’s rolling over and almost sitting up and sleeps okay at night.  Not great at that yet but we’re working on it.  She smiles more than the other two did but sleeps WAY less.  I’m pooped.  Gwennie is a hoot.  She’s an emotional, active, funny, sweet, hyped up 3 year old.  I was afraid for a little while there that she was strong willed but it turned out she was sleep deprived too.  Turns out she’s a light sleeper and when Gwennie doesn’t get sleep – ain’t NOBODY happy!  That has since been fixed though.  Here are some awesome quotes from Gwennie lately:

At the news that Thad had school-work sent home from school to catch up on – “What’s homework?” (oh to be so naive!) followed almost immediately by “Thad, you GET to do HOMEWORK!”  (she was genuinely ecstatic at the idea)  And here’s a great one – “When I grow up I want to be a duck.”

There’s my update.  I hope you’ve enjoyed it.  Please comment – I enjoy that.  We may be offline for a while during the move so it could very well be after the holidays (as in January!) before any other updates are posted.  In the meantime, please pray for us as we move and God bless you!