Tuesday, May 20, 2014

"N"

Reason #705,022 that it's better that I don't home school:

I saw this activity on Pinterest this morning and wondered why on earth they would use macaroni to learn the letter N.



{DUH. Apparently N is for "NOODLE" not macaroni.}


Thursday, May 15, 2014

the life

Fischer loves seeing the kids get on the bus and wave as they drive down the road and disappear around the corner. I love watching him shimmy and shake with excitement right before he shuts the front door, runs and grabs my hand, and guides me to his basket of "choo-choos" and tugs on my hand to get me to sit on the rug next to him where we play with trains for a time.

I know I've said it before, but this boy has just exuded joy from the very beginning. Don't get me wrong, he's still a toddler who throws fits like he's getting paid to do it but most of the time he's just joyful. And it's contagious. When I'm stressed and running around the house like a chicken getting chased by a cheetah trying to get everything clean/put away/ready to go/made up/washed/emptied out/filled up he's there, reminding me through his sweet inquisitive, "Mama?" that the things that matter in this life don't really have anything to do with things. For me it's about being present and living each moment resting in confidence knowing exactly who I am in Christ and living out my moments in dependency on Him. It's about the people. The time we invest. The moments we cherish. The memories we make. Not the money, the stuff, the "success," or stressing about having, doing, or being "it all."

Little things like sitting on the rug with my three times reheated coffee in hand and my almost-two-year-old son on my lap playing with wooden choo-choos that remind me that this is the life.

 


Wednesday, May 14, 2014

it is well

Normal has always been a relative term, especially when it comes to us and the way we seemingly do life, but we're finally sort of feeling like we're resting in our new normal and I'll be honest, it feels good to have one.

The kids get on and off the school bus at the same time every day (I don't drive them anymore) and they're loving that. Since the weather has been nice they've been shooting hoops on the cement pad and basketball hoop in our backyard both before getting on the bus in the morning and right after getting home (you know, right after tossing their backpacks on the back porch and grabbing an apple to eat while they're out there).

Fischer is getting used to a house-with-no-stairs and we're all mostly loving it. I love that he's just out and about all the time, but don't absolutely love how he's into every.single.thing.we.own, especially since we don't really want everything we own broken, but, you know, that's life with a toddler and we've certainly done this before once or twice three times.

We still have a number of things to be hung on the walls and could use one or two or three or four more pieces of furniture, but we don't feel rushed to get it all done rightthisminute because we are already feeling like this is home.

Deep breaths all around.

It is well.

Monday, May 12, 2014

feels like it never ends

No one has had Strep in over a week! Yay! Now we're on to throwing up! Notsoyay.

Natalie had to miss her first District track meet on Saturday because she was throwing up all Friday night (poor sweet girl! This is after missing half her regular season meets due to Strep!) and she was disappointed about it, but sick enough to rather be home anyway.

Mother's Day was awesome. Everyone felt great yesterday! The sun was shining, I got to sleep in (at least I thought I did - someone moved the hour ahead on my clock beside the bed so I would think I was sleeping in). Anyway, I got totally spoiled by my husband and kids and we just had a marvelous day.

Then, around midnight, Jeff and Jack started throwing up. All. Night. Long. It was miserable for everyone (especially them, obviously). No one slept. Everyone who wasn't currently throwing up was just waiting, knowing they were going to be next. So far so good though. Natalie and Carter are safely at school and away from all the germs (ha. haha.) and Fischer and I aren't showing any signs yet either...which is good because I'm the care giver (and not good at needing care) and, well, Fischer can't aim yet so you know, there's that.

We're just slowly making our way through this Monday praying that it all passes quickly (the Monday part, and the sickness part). It's too nice outside for us to be sick!

Here are a few pictures for a pick-me-up after a downer post (and also because I haven't put pictures up in months!) of our trip to Portland to go to OMSI...

This is what happens when your son is begging you to take a "funny mirror" picture of him and you're not paying attention.








Friday, May 9, 2014

settling in

Siiiiiiiiiiiigh.

We're here.


Moved.

We still have boxes stacked up some of the walls and our mattress/box spring set is just laying on the floor of our bedroom, but we're actually in the house. Living here. For real. So real, in fact, that I made cookies from scratch this afternoon in my new-to-me kitchen just so our house would smell like cookies obviously.

I spent 6 hours cleaning my parent's place on Tuesday, Wednesday we took the last load of garbage and recyclables to the dump, and then last night we went and picked up my parents from the airport and brought them to their much less occupied home.

This is an adjustment that will take time for all of us to get used to, but I think it's going to be good. Pulling out of the driveway last night with a confused (and very sad) toddler broke my heart a little and almost brought on my ugly cry, but knowing my Dad was heading over this afternoon to hang out with the kids made it all more bearable for all of us. Like I've said before, we're still only about a 7 minute drive from their place and I foresee us being back and forth a lot (like twice already - today).

We're settling in to life even though it's different. Very different. We lived at their house just shy of three years, but since living with Grandma and Grandpa is all Fischer has ever known it's been hard and heartbreaking trying to view the changes through his perspective, but he's resilient...and besides I made cookies today and cookies make everything better...right?




Friday, May 2, 2014

and we're off

It's amazing to think that in just 3 short years I completely forgot how much fun packing up all the crap stuff for a family of six is and moving! {I'll take a side of sarcasm to go, please.}

Along with one of the kids' toothbrushes, my extra pillow cases, and nice cool Spring weather, I think I've lost my sanity over the course of this week.

We can barely get from one room to another without literally climbing over boxes, which Fischer actually loves when he's not stuck in baby prison the pack-and-play. The house looks like it threw up but whatever (I know, I know - it's all part of the "process").

Early this morning Jeff pulled up the YukonXL (with the enclosed trailer hooked on behind it) to the front door and I'm finally feeling like this might actually happen maybe even before I get prescribed a straight jacket and padded walls. He took today off work (but not before heading in at 5am to tie up some loose ends - I swear that guy's work ethic is stronger than my addiction to coffee) and we're excited to literally get stuff moving!

Alrighty, friends, here we go!

{Feel free to pray for my children. This could be a long couple of days for them to have to be around me.}