more on the house

Downstairs bathroom

yay! it has a shower that works


Katie's bedroom--she's was totally willing to take the smallest bedroom on the condition that she didn't have to share.


We put the closet organizers in every closet. It makes me so happy to open them. One of my favorite things about the house is the doors--I love them.

the big move

Christmas isn't the ideal time to move. Moving in a storm isn't ideal either. Moving to a house that's not quite finished isn't probably a good idea. Moving, then having Christmas, then going out of town 2 days later isn't the best idea either. Getting home from vacation and preparing for a new school less than 48 hours later can get a little hectic. Aren't our lives EXCITING! It turns out driving 12 hours to get to my brother's wedding was a little stressful. Do you know that parts of this country got 57 inches of snow in 12 days? We happen to drive right to that area. Stores were being shut down for collapsed roofs--pretty crazy. The miracle is we did it all and are still alive. There was only one small accident when my dad backed his tractor into our car while clearing the driveway (tractors are needed for very long driveways in the country). I suppose its not very funny, but it makes me laugh thinking about it.

Anyway, as of last night we have closet shelves installed in 2 out of 6 closets. The others have no rods and no shelves which is continuing to make the house messy. Oh well, come what may and love it right? We hope that the dryer outlet will get swapped out for a new one today so that we can finally do laundry.

Isn't it so beautiful. Its definitely my favorite room. Its so nice to be able to fit our table in its own spot. The skylight gives some great light too. You'd be surprised how much I had to clean just to get this picture. Other pictures may be weeks away.

Getting Yelled At

Yesterday my kids missed the bus. Since it was only their second day at a new school I happily drove to the school to pick them up. As I approached a bus that was stopped, the bus driver (who happened to be our bus driver) waved me down to stop. Seeing that the kids were safely off the bus I rolled down my window and stopped to talk with him. I thought he had some information on why my kids missed the bus. Anyway, as I got closer he yelled stop, stop STOP. By this point his face was really red and he was obviously mad. What I thought was him wanting to talk to me was really a motion to stop until he had shut the bus door. Yeah, I know, pretty dumb of me not to have thought of that. I was a little distracted about the kids missing the bus and wondered if they would be safe standing outside the school waiting for me. Anyway, even after I profusely apologized he was still obviously mad. He impatiently waved me to move along. As I drove on I felt that terrible "being yelled at" feeling. You know the one, someone hates you (or at least it seems that way) when you didn't intentionally make a mistake. You even apologized for your mistake and they are still holding it against you. It made me think about my own yelling I sometimes do at home. I thought the kids probably feel the same way, like they're hated. I think speaking kindly to them even while dealing out consequences will help them feel happier and better about themselves in the long run. Sometimes when I yell at Grant (seems the thing to do when he's wielding a sharp knife) he just lays down and cries. He obviously doesn't understand and doesn't really deserve to be yelled at. So I'm determined not to yell anymore.

LET THE FUN BEGIN

Christmas was all wrapped up and ready to go just in time to buy a house last week. Closing is exactly one week away. We can't wait. The plan is to load the kitchen in the car and then unload it into cupboards, then come back for the closets while Carl is at work. Hopefully by the time he gets home mostly only furniture and boxes of stuff that goes in the furniture will be left.

We ran into a great house for a wonderful price in an excellent neighborhood, in a town with a good reputation, just in the nick of time. The house has just been remodeled top to bottom, so we won't need to even paint. YAY! Everything is working out so well for us. We are very grateful. I wish I had a picture of the kitchen to post. Its my favorite part!

Now we just have to organize, declutter and pack one more time. We plan to stay in this house for A LONG TIME.

ONE FUN FAMILY

Have I ever mentioned how fun my family is. An observer was mentioning just yesterday that our family seems really close. Well shoot, we don't get along perfectly but we really do have a good time together. I'm so glad I have them and we're able to get together often, especially since moving here.

Here's another fun thing we did over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was an adult only prefab Gingerbread House decorating contest.

CONVERSATIONS

We've had a couple of funny conversations over the last 24 hours.

Mom: Jordan you should probably tell your teacher we're moving.
Jordan: I did today, I told him we were being kicked out of our house.
Mom: What? we are NOT being kicked out of our house. We have to move because they want to sell the house.
Jordan: Hmm? I told him it was too much money and we couldn't pay it anymore.
Mom: That is not true, where in the world did you get that idea?
Jordan: I heard you talking to someone about it.

I think the conversation he was eaves dropping on was the one I had with a neighbor about not renting another house in the neighborhood for $2000/month. That's way too much for rent.

Early this morning:
Grant: Mom, I dinky den (I'm stinky again)

I change his diaper because Carl has already left for work.

Grant: Danks mom (thanks mom--its nice he can be so mannerly early in the morning)
Mom: Your welcome Grant, go to sleep
Grant: Ding a Dong mom (sing a song mom)
Mom: No, I'm not singing this early
Grant: Bye mom

Indians vs. Pilgrims

This year's Thanksgiving was filled with a little more physical activity than usual. All my family, except for my brother and his family, were in town for the holiday. So after the turkey was in the oven (the best turkey we've ever had) we met at a nearby track for some relays.

We were split into teams, the Pilgrims and the Indians. The first activity was the TURKEY RELAY where flour bag turkeys (made by Katie) were passed from one contestant to the next.

Next was CHUBBY TURKEY, exactly like Chubby Bunny but just different words. Though some of us have been known to have big mouths nobody but my dad has a physically big mouth. He was the champion of this game. We couldn't stop laughing and we watched the contestants shove marshmallow upon marshmallows in their mouths. Its important to note that some people get sick while watching this game. Next up was

THE PUMPKIN ROLL. Sounds like you roll a pumpkin right? that's what I thought but this was a little harder than it sounds. Each team had to roll a pumpkin with the stick side of a broom across the finish line. DRUNKEN INDIANS was the next on the list. Though not a very politically correct named game this is where the adults spinned (spell check is telling me this isn't a word) the kids around for several seconds and then watched them dizzily race to the end of the course. Afterward we had a wonderful CRABWALK match, which turned out to be a little painful on the track.

We ended the festivities with a CRANBERRY ON A SPOON RELAY, the idea was to keep the cranberry from falling off the spoon but someone forgot to tells the Indians that they couldn't actually hold the cranberry and the spoon at the same time.