Big Move For The Chalmers Family!

Well, this post is a BIG one!! Below I have written about a MAJOR decision that we've recently made. Following that are some summer highlights and then a slideshow of some of our favorite summer pictures & memories. Quick pregnancy update... 6 weeks till baby #3 is due and I'm feeling great. Things have gone very smoothly and we are SO excited for another baby. On to the big news......

James recently read a quote saying ““If the highest aim of a captain was to preserve his ship he would keep it in port forever.” Well, the Chalmers family is setting sail! We have a made a very big and difficult decision to leave Omaha and buy a Home Instead Senior Care Franchise in London, Ontario, Canada.

As many of you know, James has worked at the home office of Home Instead Senior Care for the past 3 years. His role has been working directly with franchise owners in Canada and 5 states in the US. An opportunity to purchase a franchise became available in London and we’ve decided to take the plunge and open our own franchise, implementing what he’s seen on a daily basis for the last 3 years. This is a business model that he has seen work and that we STRONGLY believe in, it is growing at a rapid rate because it is an extremely valuable service that can change the lives of seniors.

This is an extremely bittersweet decision, as we love it here in Omaha. James loves his job and the people and company he works for are incredible. My family is close, we have wonderful friends, deep roots, and a church community that is a constant encouragement to us and a place where we are challenged to grow daily. We love our home and the life we’ve made here for our growing family. It’s crazy to think we are leaving but there was an opportunity and we felt like we had to take it. We don’t want to have any regrets and this is an opportunity to build something together, as a family.

We will be moving to Canada in January, if all goes according to our plan. We will then open the doors of our new business in February. It will just be James & I and a little office looking for seniors who need assistance and support staying in their home so they don’t have to go into a nursing home. This requires networking and getting out in the community letting others know of the services we provide. As we are doing this we will be hiring caregivers who will be the ones providing the service to the clients. James will be the one driving the ship and, since I still get to remain home with the kids, I’ll be helping him with whatever I can, mainly bookkeeping and office/administrative tasks. James’ family will be an hour away and has offered their support wherever we might need it.

This was a tough decision but, after all the prayer and counsel we have sought, we feel at peace with our decision. There will be a lot of changes! Nothing like having a 3rd baby, attempting to sell or rent our home, packing up, moving to a different country, opening a business, and starting over in a new city and new surroundings!! But hey, we’re up for a good challenge and we’re confident this will be an experience that will grow our faith and trust in God and his provision for our lives.

Summer Recap!
May -
* We took a weekend trip with the kids for our anniversary. We enjoyed the country and relaxing together.
* We took a couple of camping trips
June
* Natalie turned 3
* James and I took a trip to Sarasota, FL for 6 days of bliss!! It was wonderful!
* We've enjoyed working in the garden often, reaping the produce has been fun for the kids, they just eat the tomatoes off the vine!

If you're wondering why, in the majority of pictures, Michael doesn't have a shirt on, it's because he is always HOT!!! Natale & Michael are both hot all the time, although I usually put a shirt on Natalie! :)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Natalie riding her bike

Here is a little video of Natalie riding her bike. We picked this up last year on Craigslist for $15. Sometimes she wants to ride this one and sometimes she wants to ride her tricycle. She is pretty independent and can go down to the end of the block by herself and then drives into the grass to stop. She turns her bike around and comes back, it's fun to watch her. I love Spring. We have been able to spend so much time outside, playing in the dirt, riding bikes, picking lilacs, and just swinging on the porch swing. It's lovely.

Easter

Here is a video of Natalie searching for her Easter basket this year. She was so cute when she was looking for it. I didn't actually tape her finding her basket, James got that part on the other video camera. Michael is not in any of our pictures/videos from Easter because he was sick and slept all but 1 hour the whole day. Last year Michael was just a couple weeks old so he was sleeping the whole day then. So, we have gone through 2 Easters without evidence of Michael but he was with us. :)

Catching Up

So, I decided to make a slideshow of pictures dating all the way back to Christmas,
I haven't exactly been on top of everything lately!! For those of you who don't know, we are expecting baby #3 in October!! We are very excited about adding another baby to the Chalmers family and are excited to see if we'll have another wild girl or boy. We'll wait to find out till the little one arrives. We're thinking through names and I think we've decided one for both a girl and boy, that will be a surprise too. :) Things are going well so far. Natalie talks about the "new little sister/brother in her tummy", she doesn't have all the details correct yet but she'll get there. Well, hope you are all doing well and take care!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I decided, after looking at the price of some maternity jeans that they are so crazy expensives, to attempt to make my own. So, I looked online, found some instructions, borrowed a pair of a friends to copy and went to work with James' mom to make my own maternity pants. I used a pair of American Eagle and a pair from The Limited. They were a huge success and fun to make so, here are the pics. :)


Here is the pair that I copied:


Here is one of the pairs that I made:

Michael's 1st Birthday!

That is the video from Michael's party with my family. I think he was tired and couldn't decide if he was excited to eat his cake or if he wanted to go to bed, it was pretty funny.

We had multiple parties for Michael's first birthday. We had one with Michael's friend Sam Clatterbuck, who was born 4 days before Michael. They had a lot of little friends over to celebrate with them, and for a morning of mommy time. :) We also had a party with my family and it was also Christian's (my nephew's) birthday the day before Michaels. The kids played at the pool and had a great time. The last party we had was tonight, just our little family of 4. This is a picture of Michael with his gift from us, a Philadelphia Flyers mini hockey stick. He loved it and started chasing Natalie around with it which was hilarious.
Here is James giving Michael his cupcake.
Michael didn't waste any time getting to work. I think he might have mommy's sweet tooth. Natalie on the other hand, asked me to take off her frosting. Who does that??Michael was really frustrated when his cupcake was gone. He ate the entire thing!!


Here is a picture of the kids in the hot tub with Grandma, taking a break from the pool. Caroline, Natalie & Michael.

Here is Michael's first birthday cake. I decided after making this cake that I'm going to take a cake decorating class because I need some help!! It was fun though.

Here is Michael & Sam, getting ready to dig in to their cake.

Here are all the kids that were over to our house for the morning. It was so much fun!! This picture was hilarious, there were screaming babies, I guess that happens when there are 14 kids on one couch. :)

Here is Natalie "helping" me make Michael's cupcakes. Yeah, she is in her pj's, meaning it was about 9:00 in the morning. Oh well, she had fun!

5-5-5

Ha! I love this one! I was tagged (by Christi) to post the fifth picture in your fifth folder and tag five people. Love it.

I can not believe what picture it was!! It was a picture from Rothenburg, Germany in 2004 that we took with Jared & Christi and Brent & Kerri! I loved this little walled city, oh it brought back memories!

1. Michele Senkbile

2. Tracy Krelle

3. Mindy Bednar

4. Chad & Maria Kruse

5. Elizabeth Lewis

Here is a little video of what my days look like at home. These two crack me up and love eachother so much. They each think the other is so funny and have these great conversations with eachother.