handsful

Everyday, I squeeze in time for either unpacking and/or organizing. I’ve been crazy busy lately, and not home much, but the next few days are fairly open so I plan on getting a LOT done. I’ve focused mainly on the kitchen and family room, followed by our bedroom. The big kids are working on their rooms, and the little kids are waiting patiently (ahem) for me to spend a good chunk of time in there.

Family room, looking into the kitchen. The red chair won’t stay forever, it’s on it’s last leg. The couch we purchased from the owners for a crazy good price, and the recliner is new. I want to incorporate some COLOR in here, still trying to decide on color schemes, window treatments (just want panels), etc.

Kitchen. This is one room we painted…it’s a warmer tone than it looks in the picture. I’m loving this kitchen, there’s so much space. Ahhh…

Ahhh!! This greeted Randy the other morning. You never know what you’re gonna find around here…or where.

View from the front door. I just missed the sunset, it’s gorgeous. Love the red barn across the street. Oh, and ignore the horrible yard…weeds that need cutting. We’ll work on the yard at some point.

View from the back deck. The dirt road winds down to our “shop”, as we’re calling it. It’s a large building that the previous owners used for a workshop. We’re considering making it into a hang-out for our kids and their friends. Not sure yet. To the left of the fir trees, you see what looks like stubby sticks? It’s an overgrown garden, that I hope to get our hands into soon!

Payton is always ready with a pose…

First plants, that I actually potted today. The tomato is meant to be a small, container type. Not sure how we’ll do with the strawberries, never tried them before. I’m hopeful, though :)

Next up, bedrooms…but, I’ve gotta have some time to make them blog-ready!

Taken in “their tree” when we drove down to FL a couple weeks ago.

Sorry for the blog drought, we’ve been a little busy around here.

Tomorrow will be 1 week since moving into our new house…in some ways it’s flown by, and in others it seems like we’ve been unpacking for weeks already. Sometimes I feel like we’re making huge progress in settling in, and then I look around and see boxes and things out of place. And, I inhale…exhale…and realize it’s going to take some time. Clutter has a tendency to “wig me out”, so it’s a challenge!

Re-cap of last weekend, without pictures (taking pics was the last thing on my mind, but I wish I had!). We were up early, with Randy picking up the 26ft truck and me going for doughnuts (hey, we had to eat breakfast, right?). Friends started showing up to help, some we weren’t even expecting. Some of those brought friends. We were silly with helpers and it was such a blessing! We also hired a group of guys with a Christian moving company, and they were work horses and did a great job. Truck loaded, Randy drove it over to the new house, and the unload began. Repeat the whole process over again, and the day was done. Well, not done exactly. We’re renting another smaller truck tomorrow to unload the rest of the garage.

Re-cap of this past week…took Payton to the doctor on Monday, he now has Mono AND Strep. Funny thing is his throat doesn’t hurt very much, but he’s been very tired and napping a lot. We did let him go to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games (tickets ordered weeks ago), and he did fine. (a few pics to come…) Most of the other big kids are knee-deep in allergy issues, with red eyes, lots of sneezing, and tissues ankle deep. (Abbey is currently beside me on the couch, feeling rather miserable)

We’ve done a lot of unpacking, sprinkled in a little school here and there, and I’ve even cooked a few meals. Not bad for a first week. Again, though, no pictures to speak of. I just can’t document clutter, it’s against everything I believe in!

I did pull the camera out last night for a few minutes. Like I mentioned, the big kids ordered their movie premiere tickets weeks ago, and were EXTREMELY excited about going to the theater at midnight. We had 6 extra teens here, hanging out until Randy piled them into the van to drop them off. Abbey and her friends Jaiden and Kayla dressed up as some of the characters. Yes, they are HG fanatics.

Taken from the family room…kids everywhere.

Abbey as Katniss

Abbey and Jaiden (dressed as Peeta) laugh ALL the time. Seriously, they do.

The trio, Katniss, Kayla as Effie, and Peeta…they worked on these costumes forever.

All the kids, ready to head out. Randy handled the late shift, dropping them off and then staying up till 2am to pick them up. I love that about him. They all crashed at our house for the night.

This morning, Marley, Payton, and Ethan had an EARLY orthodontist appt, which means they had about 3-4 hours of sleep. But, they all agreed the movie was worth it.

Tonight, we sat down for our first “all of us at the table” dinner. We’re beginning to feel at home here, and how thankful we are.

it’s easy to tell that something’s up around here…

Names on cups are a must

empty turns into…

full (no, this isn’t all…they’re spread out all over the house)

Aren’t you jealous of my pricey “silverware”?

Walk-thru today
Closing on Friday (same day we leave for Florida to pick up our storage room contents!)
Big move happens in 10 days :)

(Taken as we drove by…again. I’m sure the current owners think we’re stalking at this point.)

Have I mentioned we’re moving? To be exact, the new house will be OURS in 13 days. And, we’ll officially move in our house in 22 days. To say I’m excited seems so completely inadequate. I’m incredibly thankful that we found this house, and that we get to make it our home. I’ll never take owning a home for granted again.

I’m also very grateful that we’ve been able to rent this house. We’ve SO enjoyed living on the lake, being able to swim or jump in the boat for a spin whenever we wanted. But, as nice as that’s been, this house has never really felt like home…it’s just where we’ve lived.

Will we miss living here? Yes, but mainly because of the water. We tried to find a home that would 1) fit us and 2) was on the water. However, people with houses that fit those criteria are VERY proud of them and aren’t exactly giving them away.  And, we’ve grown accustomed to frivolous things like eating.  So, we found a house that fits us well, and has the bonus of being on some acreage. I’m beyond grateful…and, did I mention I’m excited?

What will I not miss about living here? Silly things like not being able to open the pots/pans cabinet if the dishwasher is open. Bumping the freezer door into the pantry, and the coat closet door into the bathroom door. Not having a garbage disposal. The boys extremely tiny room – and the fact that they’re in the basement which means all their “stuff” flows out of said tiny room. The fancy (i.e. irritating) light/fan switch in our bedroom, and the fact that the door sticks and makes a huge thud when opened at 3am by a child who needs to potty. Silly, little things, I know.

What am I looking forward to? Space. Inside and out. I can yell (ahem) at my kids and not a soul will hear.  Walking out the back door could turn into an all day nature walk.   A family room with enough seats for ALL of us at one time. Having all the kids bedrooms on the same level. Being able to decorate (since this is a rental, we’ve hung a total of 2 things on these walls), pick curtains, paint rooms if we want (and we do want!). Getting our grill and other things back (we currently have 2 rooms of storage in Florida…we travel to get those prior to our move).  Room for a garden!  A separate school room (our first!)…and, so much more.

Slowly but surely, we’re becoming over-run by packed boxes around here.  It’s a beautiful thing – and we’re grateful.

Thought I’d share some randomness that I found on my cell phone…

This won’t excite you as much as it did me. Years ago, I was at my sister-in-law’s house and she gave me a Mrs. May’s almond crunch bar. It was very simple…almonds stuck together with sweetness. Since then, I’ve been on a quest to find these things (she couldn’t remember where she’d bought them), but to no avail. Then, on a random trip to TJ Maxx, I’m standing in line and look to my left. Oh my! Yes, I bought them, and yes, they are wonderful. If you find them near you, let me know!

Okay, I’m cheating here…found this photo on FB. But, it’s so cute I had to share. This is the North Meck Testify group from about a month ago. A great bunch of kids. Ethan is in the middle right (getting crushed), Abbey middle left (crushed also), Payton is in the back, 2nd from the left, and Marley is front, 2nd from the right.

Here are the “littles” in our homeschool co-op. This was their Valentine’s brunch :)

Co-op again, this time middle school history. That day, the kids were having a debate – communism vs. capitalism. It was very interesting!

Lainey and Dylan were super excited on Monday, to find out we were headed to Hollyn’s house for a playdate. Hollyn and Dylan are “prosthesis buddies”…hers is on the right, Dylan’s on the left. They played their hearts out (here, they are busy cooking with rice) and then we had a yummy lunch. What’s even more exciting is that our new house is MUCH closer to Hollyn’s house! I see many more playdates to come.

That’s it. Other than the 2,135 pics of Lainey sticking her tongue out. I’ll be deleting those :)

And, in case you’re counting, we move exactly ONE MONTH from tomorrow!

As of last Monday, our church’s 21 day fast was over. My first piece of chocolate? A delicious “kiss” wrapped in silver. Followed by another one. Oh, how I missed you. My tea maker is humming again, too. All in all, the fast was hard and wonderful. I’m so glad that I listened to God’s prompting to join in.

Last Monday, I had to wake up BEFORE the birds and drive Dylan to his Shriner’s appt in Greenville, SC. Payton, sweet guy that he is, joined me. We were only going for a check-up to make sure his little leg healed completely after surgery, but the prosthetist immediately saw that the socket of his prosthesis is now too large for him (he said it’s normal for the leg to thin out, as they lose baby fat)…that’s why his leg has been turning in while he walked, his little leg has just been too loose to control it. So, they’re making him a new prosthesis, he should have it by mid March. He’s thinking Spider Man print this go round.

Here he is getting the new mold of his little leg so they can make the new socket just the right size. The gals doing it, Crissy and India, are so great with Dylan, they spend the whole time laughing. That’s me on the left, holding the wobbly boy up, and trying not to get plaster splattered on me.

After church last Sunday, all the big kids scattered away with friends, so it was just us and the littles. We took advantage of what would be a cheaper lunch-out and headed to Joel’s Grill and Sushi. Since we had worn our qi pao to church that day, it kinda turned into a 2nd CNY celebration :) Joel was a hoot, taking pictures of the kids and us in our Chinese Sunday best. We’ll be back to Joel’s for sure.

He eats his sushi the correct way, all in one bite!

Of course, so does she.

We participate in a homeschool co-op on Wednesdays. The kids take american history, writing, and science. I help in the nursery, middle school history, and preK-K classes. My friend, Holly, does an amazing job teaching history…she really brings it alive for them (and me!). We were studying WWII, and the holocaust about a week ago and she decided to try and find a local survivor. And, she did. Do a web search for Suly Chenkin and read her story…you’ll be amazed. We were so blessed by her sharing her history with us.

Abbey likes to grab my phone (all these shots are from my phone, which is why some of them aren’t so good…) and take random pictures of me. I didn’t even know she took this one till I found it. It struck me how long my hair is getting. I’m pretty sure I’m going to keep growing it, so that I can donate it this year. I’ve always wanted to do that.

Ethan takes guitar lessons every Friday for an hour. His teacher is an awesome young guy from church, who is an extremely respected musician on our church’s worship team. He also leads one (there are two that rotate) of the Jr. high worship bands, and he offered Ethan an acoustic guitar position on one of those teams today. He’ll play every-other-week for both Jr. High services. He’s wanted to do this since we moved here…well, since beginning guitar back in FL when he was 10 years old. He’s psyched.

I took this shot of Lainey tonight. She’s been complaining of a sore throat since yesterday, and tonight she went downhill fast at dinner. Her fever was 102.2, and she crashed on the couch. She’s sleeping soundly in bed now, poor girl.

So, let’s recap. Dylan is getting a NEW leg. We have a NEW favorite Chinese place. We have a NEW appreciation for survivors of the Holocaust. I’ll be getting a NEW haircut sometime this year. And, Ethan has a NEW “job” at church.

I left the best NEW thing for last. We’re moving to a NEW house! Out of this rental and into our own home. We’re so crazy excited. Thankful. Amazed at the house that God provided. We’ll still be in the same town, but in a more rural area, a mile or so from our little “downtown” main street. Cows across the street, horses behind us. Only one neighbor within normal walking distance. I’m in heaven! Move-in is scheduled for mid-March. Feel free to drop what you’re doing and pack a box or two for me. I’m in denial about that part of the move so far. ;)

A sneak peek…

Dog crate in family room (not usually…)
Kids find a creative use for metal rings and clippies
Timed to see how long it takes them to get out
Marley doesn’t let playtime keep her from finishing her writing assignment

I walked in on this one
Payton was involved with the making of it…surprise

I love my crazy kids