Picture Updates

I think we have some major silliness headed our way.  6 wks old and already pulling faces for the camera. ;)

 Ahhh...six weeks with a baby.  Chloe is:
recognizing mom and dad's voices
eating  4 oz bottles
not really loving her baths
loves her changing table
that's where we do tummy time
is super snuggle
has those gorgeous dark blue baby eyes
sports the sweetest little cheeks you've ever kissed
can pull a pouty face like no one else has here
is super snugly
has her big brother wrapped around her little finger (and grandpa and dad and....)
is a complete joy to have in our family

 Sophie loves:
dressing herself
decorating Christmas trees (or doing anything else that requires attention to detail)
having friends come play at her new house in her new, big bedroom
her baby sister
Dale Twinkle (our Christmas elf)
Grampy (my dad)

 McKay is into:
1st grade (loves it)
making up games with "levels" in our new house (which also has many levels)
Polar Express
Singing
doing projects (like this fun sand art from cousin Kaylee)
his baby sister (I knew he'd fall in love when he met her)
Harry Potter

Lyndsi is:
nearly 9!  Impossible!!
a bit camera shy (unless it's her idea)
enjoying her bedroom on the same floor as everyone else
learning to do some simple gifts and sewing (and doing well at it!)
always dancing around the house
a leader, especially with her brother and sisters
starting to enjoy reading a bit more and doing it on her own without being asked.

I'm Still Alive

A week and a few days after moving in, I"m still alive.  Moving weekend was a bit stressful.  First-not knowing if everything would be closed and funded for 3 different families to simultaneously move.  Second-we ended up moving in on top of the former owners of this home.  The poor people had no extra help and were having to unload boxes at their new house before they could come back and get more.  We were blessed with lots of help, great people who not only helped us (thank you! thank you! thank you!) but also just jumped in and helped the other family too.  It was well after midnight that we went to bed here.  But, nearly everything was out of the old house and thanks to Lyndsi's help and my sister-in-law, Lisa's, help my kitchen was pretty well put away. 

How are things a week and half later? Well......the kids are still on mattresses on the floor.  There are still lots of boxes to unpack.  We haven't set foot inside any home improvement store to even start the process of choosing paint colors.  However, we do have both Christmas trees up, have hosted a small family party, set up the craft room, loaded the food storage shelves back up and moved the dog back home.  (Poor thing is a little confused about it all still.) 

With Christmas this weekend we've had a big slow down in setting up the house, but are really looking forward to being able to get it all done soon.  We've had lots of amazing help from good friends and family.  I feel so loved and blessed.  I have literally been moved to tears several times by the small random acts of kindness people have done for me and my family.  I was thinking it was all just coming from our family and old neighborhood, but we have received neighbor gifts from people in our new circle and from another family we don't know (but know aren't in the circle).  It makes me feel so good to know people here are aware of what's going on in the 'hood and are stepping up to help us feel welcome.  It's all been very humbling and I've realized just how far I still have to go to be who I want to be.

Moving Day!

I didn't know if it would happen this weekend.  We've had a crazy week trying to get closed and packed, etc.  But, everything came through fine in the end and we are moving today!  I'll be offline for a while til we get everything hooked up at our new place.  Call or text me instead of email/facebook if you need me.  See ya in the new house! (And yes, Em, there will be pictures of it soon.)

Packing is Messy

It feels like we've been boxing up our house since June.  Oh..lol..I have!  We had to box up loads of stuff to get our home ready to show.  That stuff we got to take to storage.  Out of sight out of mind.  Then we took a little break and spent 2-3 months keeping the house in tip-top shape.  A lot of work with 3 kids and life in general, but really nice.  A little time to do prep for the new baby.  Then we sold the house and all semblance of order fell apart.  There are boxes stacked everywhere.  Even if, between packing, Christmas-ing, and the baby, I wanted to vacuum I couldn't.  I can't find enough floor space to justify the effort. Jeff and I were talking about it.  He blamed the messiness on the kids.  With good reason.  They had left school stuff out and toys and coloring stuff, etc.  But, as I pointed out to him, take away the boxes and there wasn't much mess left to complain about. 

Yesterday I had a goal to get as much of the kitchen done as was reasonable.  With the help of Cami-a big check!  The other goal I had was to get my craft room all packed up.  I made decent progress, but ended up finishing this morning.  Of all the packed up spaces, right now this is my favorite.  It's stacked neatly, and the floor is vacuumed.  There is order. (Excuse the laundry.  That's the next batch in line.)

Now imagine the exact opposite of this room and you have the rest of the house.  ;)

Christmas Advent

I wasn't planning on doing an advent calendar this year.  I haven't really done one before, especially a really cute one with activities or even little treats for the kids.  They are ALL over blogland right now.  Something about having the house in boxes and no Christmas tree up (yet) is squelching the Christmas spirit 'round here.  It wouldn't be such a big deal, but my kids are at such a fun age.  After feeling a little sorry for myself, I thought, "Why can't I still do one?  So what if I start it on Dec. 6 instead of Dec. 1?!"  And so I got to work.

This is the finished result:

I did it all with the (very limited) supplies I had on hand and it took maybe 20 minutes.  It's not much to look at, but the kids were so excited when we hung it up. I also borrowed an idea from this post (thank Marlene!) and added a scripture for each day to help all of us learn a little more about Christ.

After dinner tonight we got to pull out the first slip.  We learned about how much Jesus loves the little children.  For our activity we made ourselves into festive little elves. We love doing crafts together, so it was a great way to kick of our little advent!

Lyndsi had her annual Christmas dance recital last night.  For the last 2 or 3 years their school has focused this performance on the Nutcracker.  Which in theory was a good idea.  But.  Her school also does a lot of jazz and hip hop besides ballet.  It was just too much.  This year the director opted to go back to just a plain ol' Christmas theme.  It was nice.  Really nice.  The show ran smooth and was pleasant to watch. 

Lyndsi did a great job!  Her class danced to "The First Noel" and she was so graceful.  I love watching her dance.  She just has this angelic expression on her face while she is dancing.  You can just tell she loves it.  She really enjoys her class and her teacher. 

(Sorry for the slightly goofy picture.  My flash wasn't working and I didn't want to hold up the rest of the family from leaving.  We'll try for a better one in the spring!)  

A Note About GoodReads

It's no secret.  I love to read.  Good Reads has been a great place to log what I've read and to keep track of what I'd like to read.  Not to mention see what all my real life and cyber "friends" are reading. But, I hate trying to write up a review on books.  It always feels like some lame statement or a 6th grade book report. (I'm speaking specifically of my own reviews.  I do enjoy reading others.)  I have a hard time with the rating system too.  So much how I feel about a book is based on my present mood, my life experiences and beliefs, standards, etc, my current stress levels, etc.  And I tend to be somewhat enthusiastic about things I like therefore tend to rate things a little higher than maybe I would if I waited a week to review/rate a book.  Same with books I don't like.  The other thing that's hard (for me) to account for in a rating system is how even if I don't like the book overall, I can appreciate it for something-a lesson, the writing, literary devices used...  Sometimes I leave my ratings blank.  If we're friends on GoodReads, assume that this is because I found the book very interesting in one way or another and want time to mull it over.  However, the whole rate and review process does make me think a little bit harder.  What I liked about the book, what I didn't, things that made some sort of an impression on me, things that changed me.  All great things to go into a review.  Too bad a lot of those things contain spoilers.  I hate spoilers.  (I don't even watch the movie trailers for the Twilight series, despite having read the books an embarrassing number of times. :)  Now the world has some insight to my mind when reading my GoodReads page.