Life goes on

In case you wanted to see what our Root Beer Float house looked like, this is it.

I have been remiss in my blogging. I have so much to do, but that's not really my excuse, since I have not done that stuff either. I have been moving slowly this move. Usually I feel a frantic need to get everything unpacked now now now! This time, I have not. I didn't want to unpack till I knew where I wanted things to go. The kitchen is the exception. It has been rearranged several times already and I still need to work out some kinks and figure out where some things go, but for all intents and purposes, the kitchen is unpacked. Of course, it is completely unpacked simply because I made waffle batter before I realized I didn't know where my waffle iron was. (It was at the bottom of the last kitchen box.)

Despite the mess and disaster-struck appearance of the house, life has gone on. The kids run and scream with great delight on the slippery hardwood floors, they throw tantrums at bedtime, they complain about everything and fight like banshees. Despite the chaos, we have managed to work our way back to a small semblance of a routine. Here is what out week has looked like:

Notice the lack of cushions on the couch. The kids have enjoyed removing them to build forts with, to slide around the floor with, to whack their sisters with..... But I digress. Here, Joshua is demonstrating his juggling skill for his sisters, who are quite impressed.

I confess, that at this time of needing to downsize, I saw this little gem at the thrift store. I told the enamored children that if it was under $10, I would get it. It was about $7, so we did. Wedging it into the van was fun! The kids LOVE it.

Did I mention how much they love it? Delaney is mad that I made her rock more slowly because Rylee is on it.

The girls are struggling with their new room. Dan is still reading to them and tucking them in at night and I hope they will be going down better in another week. Change is hard and these 2 have not shared a room before.

As we were getting ready to leave, Rylee walked around the corner with this pen in her mouth. Wow, was she blue!!

This is what Joshua discovered he could do with Rylee while out at the Chiropractors. Rylee thinks it is very fun and usually has a big grin on her face.

Delaney found a snack in the car and managed to coat herself in chocolate. I had to clean her off before we went into the library.

I told the kids they needed to read 15 books this summer for the reading program at the library and they were actually excited to look for books. Marian even read this one out loud while we were there. I was thrilled!

I was not so thrilled with this one. She had a very good time. She was even managing to pull them down faster than I could put them back up!

The bottom line is, we are getting adjusted to the new house. I am rearranging stuff regularly and waiting to see how I feel about it. the other day I carted a set of drawers up to the master bathroom and that evening Dan was not pleased about it. So that was a no go. I have found a less offensive solution to that problem. I have rearranged Marian's room 3 times and I think I am happy with it now. The living room was shifted radically this morning and it still needs some adjusting. I haven't really worked on the basement living room yet. It will end up with all the furniture that doesn't fit elsewhere. I did organize the basement storage section a bit yesterday. I just need for Dan to find a spot for his 10 boxes of law paperwork and that will clean it out nicely.

Lastly, I need for the kids to get use to being here. I need for Delaney to go to sleep at a decent hour and stay that way. Currently, she alternates between napping and staying up till a ridiculous hour, or she goes to bed at a decent hour and wakes up to go to the bathroom but can't fall back asleep for another 3 hours. Its hard on me! Joshua and Marian have done well. Joshua is delighted with his own room and has done very well with bedtime and getting up. Marian seems content to share with Rylee and goes to bed unusually well. She seems to be doing a lot better than I thought she would. Callie is great up till bedtime. Then she is afraid of the dark, she needs a drink, she wants to sleep in my room, she needs a story.....

And I think that's enough about us!

Moving Day (AKA Just shoot me now!)

Moving day finally arrived. We got keys on Thursday and I ran a couple loads over to the house that evening. It felt good. Friday morning, Dan got the van at 9am. It was a 17 foot Uhaul. He had hired 2 young men to help him and they arrived and got to work. It was a sweltering hot, muggy day. The 2 boys and Dan worked hard and hauled a lot of heavy things. I realized that I tend to buy sturdy furniture so it will endure the moves. Unfortunately, that seems to backfire since it is so heavy it gets dinged while being moved. The point is, there were several items that nearly broke them, but they persevered and got all the big stuff in the house!

Here's my hunka-hunka-burning-love now!

Callie was a helper. Apparently she was enough of a helper that one of the young men commented to his mother how big a help she was! He said Callie and Joshua were great workers and did a good job.

The cable guy came Friday afternoon and hooked us up with cable, internet and phone. We hadn't brought the big tv over, so the kids crowded around this one. I was amused. And relieved, since it kept them out of the way while large and heavy things were being hauled through the house.

3pm Friday afternoon- Delaney had had enough! Yes, I did set those beds up all by myself! I set up all the beds. Dan assisted with ours and Marian's, but other than that, it was all me. I got the beds all set up while he was making his 4 runs with the moving truck. Everyone had a bed and clean sheets that night. Yay!

4pm Friday- After waaaaay too much incessant whining, Rylee finally went to bed. It was my fault. I had to wait for the tool kit to put her crib together and then it took me forever to get the darn thing together and I managed to break part of it in the process. Grrrrr. Once it was up, I didn't even put sheets on it. I just put the blanket down and put Rylee on it and walked away. She cried for all of 2 minutes and slept for 2 hours, which is really long for her. Isn't she adorable?!

Dan did 4 runs with the moving truck on Friday and on Saturday he borrowed a truck and we hauled stuff all day Saturday. He did 4 runs in the truck, and I did 4 with the van (with the seats down.) It was so hot that day as well. And Dan even spent a few hours on the yard. He mulched it and made it look so nice! And boy was he sweaty when he was done!

On the first trip to the old house, I handed each kid a bin and told them to fill it. They were AMAZING! They each ran around and filled up their bins with all the odds and ends left behind. The shoes, radio, hangers, random junk that didn't make it into a box. It really made a huge difference in how fast the work got done.

Joshua was excited to vacuum. Callie was cross that he wasn't letting her have a turn.

There she goes! I was surprised how good the kids were. (Well, they were great while doing the moving stuff, but evening/bedtime was a nightmare.)

Saturday after lunch Rylee is helping me to unload the stuff from the refrigerator. She had a blast pulling things out and throwing them down. just look at that grin!

And here is Callie, on about the 3rd trip. She's helping haul the bins to the van.

I asked Marian to help, but she told me she was busy "exterminating the flies."

Today we ignored the mess in deference to the Sabbath and our sanity. Here the girls are trying out the new bath. Dan calls this the A&W room, since it is the color of a root beer float. I realized the whole house is on that color scheme.

Yep, looks like just another normal morning!

And a normal chaotic afternoon!

Dan and I are currently in survival mode. We have a bunch of stuff still at the house and its all the things we don't want to deal with- the garage, the basement and the back porch. We dread it. We are consumed with the task of having the house empty and clean by Tuesday, so we have not thought much about the new house. We have a vague idea of where some things will go, and no clue what to do with other things. This house is so different, and a bit smaller, so we don't know how to put our stuff in it. Neither of us is good at interior design and neither of us know how to place our things to achieve the nicest setting. So we are currently now unpacking anything beyond the bedrooms and kitchen. Once the other house is done, then we will figure out how to configure the living space. Then we'll unpack out books and things. However, I'm starting to think that if we can live without it for 2 weeks, do we really even need to unpack it?!

I'm feeling the Love!

I love my ward! I love them! They are so fantastic! While I was taking down all the beds on Tuesday, people kept calling me. They wanted to know how they could help, and what did we need for the move and would they like them to drop off boxes? I felt so loved. I was surprised by all the people who knew we were moving and who cared enough to call and check on us, and it was nice. I hate needing help. I hate feeling helpless and dumb. I really feel helpless and dumb right now because I'm not sure what-all I need help with! I am quite sure I need help, but help with what? I have packed almost everything, and the stuff that is left, I have zero desire to deal with. I need to clean out all the stupid odds and ends, like the scissors and the buttons on the bookshelf, and the tape measure and the pens and the random items that somehow didn't make it into a box. How does one help with that?

Actually, I think I'm too embarrassed to have someone help with that. There is so much clutter sitting in all the nooks and crannies right now, I don't want anyone to know it is there, much less to have them pack it for me! Yikes! They might know how bad I am at housework and refuse to be my friend! Fortunately, I have a great ward with wonderful friends.

Yesterday my visiting teacher, who is also my friend, who I adore anyway, pardon my run on sentence; she came over and packed my kitchen. I held Rylee and looked useless and attempted to pack the food when I could, but she pretty much did it all. And did it amazingly well, and in half the time it would have taken me. Plus, visiting with her as we (which really means SHE) worked was a lot of fun. I really like her a lot. She is so neat and enough like me that we get along very well. And when she left, my kitchen was packed! Had I done it myself, it would have taken all day.... possibly longer. She was here 3 hours, including the time she took to run out for more packing paper, and it was wonderful. It was wonderful to look at my kitchen and to not dread the work it would take to clean it out. It was wonderful to have it all done!

Today I was able to drop off the 3 youngest girls at a friends house for about 3 hours. During that time, another friend came over to keep an eye on the other children and a third friend came over to help me out. I got the keys to the new house this morning and my friends helped me to pack up the odds and ends that could go now and that maybe shouldn't go on the truck. I had expected to transport one load over, but with help, we got 2 big loads taken over and unpacked! It was so great! I didn't have to worry about the kids, and I was able to get a lot accomplished. And, it was fun to visit while work was being done! I love the women in this ward! They are so fabulous! The best part is that they helped cut through some of the stuff I was dreading, and they didn't even act horrified! Yep, they helped pack some of the junk and the clothes and random stuff in the kids' room and did it with a smile. I suppose I will find out on Sunday if they have decided I am no longer lovable because of the state of my house!

On a serious note, I'm sure it wasn't a barrel of laughs for them to come and work on my house. I'm sure there were more fun things they could have been doing. But for me, it was an enormous help. I don't know that I can express how helpful it was for me and what a relief it was for me. It made my life so much easier and I am eternally grateful for their help. They may say it was no big deal, but to me, it was a really big deal. I hope that when I am no longer tethered down by children, that I can help others the way that I have been helped.

And I didn't even mention that other people brought by boxes- some even magically appeared on the porch! This evening, someone came by with his truck and he and Dan hauled a load of stuff over to the new house before dinner. It was amazing! I feel so blessed to be here and to have a ward that cares about us. With all the turn-over and so many people moving in and out, I didn't really expect a lot of help; especially since it is 24th of July weekend and we have a big ward service project on Saturday.

Tomorrow is actually the big day. We have a truck rented and some Young Men hired to assist. We shall see what gets done, and what I panic over! In theory, we will have internet tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. I fear I may be internet-less for a bit, but hope springs eternal!

Total Chaos

For those of you who are blissfully unaware, we are moving. I know, I was as shocked as you are. We came here planning on a 2 year stay, and we signed a 2 year lease on a house owned by a military family who was planning to be away for 2 years. I figured that the way the military works, either we would be gone, or they would get orders somewhere else when the time came. I was wrong on both accounts. So they are moving back and they want their house back.

We began the house hunt when we knew for sure we were going to need a new one, and we found something suitable that we are happy with, just a few miles away. Today is the week we get to switch abodes. This weekend, to be more precise. I have been in the process of slowly packing a box or 2 a day for the past month or so, and probably 50% of the house is packed. Unfortunately, its the easier 50%!

Yesterday I took apart the beds. Yes I did. I broke down 2 bunk beds, one Captain's bed, and a metal frame bed. I didn't do my bed, or Rylee's.

I told the kids we could go to the pool when I was done. It took me all day. The girls were not distressed by that. Here they are "swimming" on the bed. They were so funny!

They had a very good time playing on the beds as I took them down and I had to ban them from the room, eventually. I can only handle so much"help"!!

Joshua actually was a helper. This wooden bunk bed has 16 screws holding it together. Whew! He and Marian actually helped me to unbunk it and later, Joshua helped ratchet out the last 6 screws.

Without his help, I may not have finished. Well, it would have come to a choice between finishing or going to the pool. We got done and out the door by 3, so they had 2 hours at the pool to play.

This is the past month and a half of work, sitting in the garage.

These are all the beds, sitting in the spare room downstairs.

Here is my nakey Rylee, hanging out. Sure, she looks happy here, but she has been a pill. I have had to do a lot of Rylee holding. It makes it hard to get anything done.

This is Delaney this morning. She slept in till 10. See her bed, there on the floor. Rylee was delighted to discover it!

Yep, Rylee had great fun waking up Delaney this morning! Delaney was a good sport about being awakened with fingers in her eye and hands pulling her hair. By the way, Delaney was also dry this morning in her underpants!

So, the move thing is coming along. I'm not sure how well it is coming along. The children tend to run rampant while my attention is elsewhere. That means I will pack a box or 2 and be feeling pretty good abut what I have accomplished and then I'll walk into the living room to see cheerios all over the floor, cushions off the couch and a mess of toys everywhere. It kind of ruins my mood of accomplishment! But it is getting done!

This video is from out FHE this week. It is especially for my mom! Marian chooses this song every week, but I do not let them sing it like this all the time! They (mostly Joshua) are hamming it up for the camera.

Milestones

This week marks several impressive milestones. I suppose you may not care, but they are kind of a big deal to us, so I am going to share!

1. Delaney decided she wanted to wear underpants on Tuesday. So she did. She was quite cross with me when she woke up Wednesday morning to see that I had put a diaper on her after she fell asleep. She managed to keep a dry diaper 3 nights running, and I let her wear underpants to bed the next 2 nights. Unfortunately, last night she did not stay dry. Ug. She also may or may not have had an accident in her underwear this week. She says she did not, but the wet spot on the floor would say otherwise. She did admit that water ran down her leg, but she hastily assured me that it was NOT pee. Riiiiight. That was the only accident I know of. I don't really count the ones in the bathroom as accidents. She did make it there a few times, but wasn't fast enough to get her pants down in time. Since there is no rug or furniture involved, and she was in the right place, I do not really consider that an accident. So, at 3 1/2 years old, Delaney is pretty much potty trained. And just the way I like it- with no work on my part!

2. Rylee is walking. She is now walking more than she is crawling. She will stand up wherever she is and toddle where she wants to go. If she falls down, she is more likely to stand back up again that she is to crawl. Rylee will turn 10 months old this week. She's advanced for her age!

3. We paid off the van! A year and 2 months ago, we bought the van, our 2007 Sienna. Our goal was to pay it off in a year and we almost made it! We now own both our cars and have no car loans at all! Yay for us! The only debt we have right now is mortgage payments. I'm thinking we should have a party.

4. One of the older children, who has struggled with bed wetting, has made the step to go pull-up-free and is managing to stay dry at night most of the time. This is a huge thing and very exciting for us. The thought that we will only have one kid in diapers is a thrilling one.

Oh, what do you do in the summertime?

It is too stinking hot to do much outside this summer. The only good outdoor activity is the pool. Good thing we have a pass! It is worth the 20 minute drive to get there and we've averaged 2 visits a week, for about 2 hours per visit. The base has 2 different outdoor pools, and this week we went to the second one both days. We were there today!

The pool has these super-fun float thingies. Actually, they are only fun if there are not too many people at the pool. When there are too many people, there is too much drama and fighting to gain control of them and they tend to bang into people while kids brawl over them. Fortunately, the pool was nearly empty on Tuesday, due to overcast skies, and today it was also not overcrowded. Marian secured this float and her sisters immediately wanted to play on it. I asked Joshua if he would get out, dry off, grab the camera, and get a picture of them on it. He obliged and this is the result. Well, its the result, after I cropped myself out. The water gave me a very large derriere and I refuse to consider it may truly belong to me.

Callie is getting quite brave with her jumping in. The shallowest part of the pool is still 3 and a half feet deep, so she can't touch the bottom. Less fun for me. I have 3 girls at all times who require close supervision. Callie had a ball jumping in. Repeatedly. She jumped in with the pink tube there. Then she jumped while I held her hand. Then she jumped to my hand. She's got great hand-eye coordination! I would hold my hand on the water and she would leap in, grabbing my hand as she did so, and she got my hand every time! Delaney got brave at the end and crawled around the side of the pool, holding on to it.

Marian was queen of these floats. She doesn't care who is on it, she'll jump on and join them. Then she liked to jump back in the water. She's so fun to watch!

Up and down, that's what she spent the afternoon doing. I would look for her and get alarmed because I wouldn't see her. Then Marian would pop out of the water, where she'd been swimming on the bottom. Like I said, she's a lot of fun!

We brought Joshua's friend to the pool with us and he had a good time. They entertained each other, which was nice, because I was wrapped up in 3 little girls. I can't wait till all the kids are self sufficient!

And this is how tuckered out Callie was! 4:30 I looked over at the computer and noticed the screen was black. Callie had fallen asleep in the chair! Being the mom I am, I immediately grabbed the camera. Then I carried her up to her room.

Fun and Trouble

It has been hot and muggy here, but until this weekend, there has been no rain. The grass was so dry and dead that it crunched when you walked on it. It looked like it had been freshly mowed when we came back from our 2 weeks away in Florida. Yep, it was so dry and dead it hadn't grown at all while we were gone! To assist the grass is growing I let the girls play outside in the pool and they did a nice job of watering the area around them. And the next day we got rain. We've had rain off and on for the past few days and it is joyous to see the grass turn green and grow! I never thought I'd be happy to see rain, but I am.

Here are my swimmers. Delaney was so funny with her sunglasses. Marian wanted me to take a picture of her while she was swimming. She didn't understand that I want to see her face.

So, here is Marian, swimming. See how well she puts her face in the water? It comes in handy now that we're going to the base pool twice a week or so!

Callie played in the pool and then she was off with the tricycle making me laugh.

And I did mention that there is trouble brewing in the house, didn't I? Rylee is 9 1/2 months old and she is moving! Joshua and Marian count her steps whenever they see her walking and her record is currently 37 steps. Today I watched her stand up without help, toddle across the room, crouch down to pick up a toy and stand back up again. She is big trouble!

She's also a wee bit blurry. Its hard to get a picture when she moves so fast!

And her dress is too cute. I think Marian got it as a gift from my in laws and all the girls have worn it. I love it.

Check out that face. She is looking so grown up and adorable here.

I think I am going to have to start stalking Joshua, paparazzi style I don't have many pictures of him......

Pull my hair out vs. laugh at it all

The most common phrase around the house right now seems to be "Duh-LANEY!!!!" That kid. I swear she may be the death of me. She is such a crack up, and then she just does things that make me crazy. Last Sunday, in the middle of sacrament meeting, she threw her shoe over the pew in front of us. Since we sit in the second row, it rebounded off the podium with a thud. It was not my proudest moment.

This past week has been even more fun. The other night, all the kids were sent to bed and it was quiet up there. I went up to get ready for some shut-eye myself and discovered that Delaney was not only NOT asleep, she was not in bed. She was in the bathroom making the toilet water pink. Pink with what, you ask? Pink with the Dora toothpaste that was also smeared all over the counter and floor. She was stirring it in the toilet with her hands when I discovered her. And yes, the water was pink.

Another night, Joshua came to tell me Delaney had thrown a towel away. I wasn't paying attention, and thought he just meant that she had thrown the hand towel on the floor. When I went to the bathroom later, I saw that there was, indeed, a towel in the trash. When I picked it up, I noticed it was coated with lotion. My very expensive moisturizing lotion. Delaney had poured it out and wiped it up with the towel. Since there was so much on the towel, she thought it needed to be thrown away. Aaack!

Delaney likes to be independent. This means that this week alone she has spilled 3 cups of milk that she poured herself, dumped a can of pineapple on the floor as she tried to drain the juice, nearly clogged the toilet as she used half a roll of TP and 40 flushable moist wipes when she went to the bathroom like a big girl, and she smeared peanut butter all over the counter as she scraped the jar with a spatula so she could make her own sandwich. Did I mention that she is 3? Not even 3 and a half? She is a full time job!

She does make up the most fascinating stories. Today I was informed that her grandma gave her her "skirt" for Christmas. Since I had just given her the scarf (not a skirt) 2 days prior, I know where it came from, and from whom. She told me her daddy didn't like her to go to bed, and she related a very elaborate story about chasing kittens out of the tree tonight. I really need to just strap a voice recorder to her to catch all this stuff. There was something that had me in stitches and I was going to remember it to share with you, but of course I have forgotten it. My favorite one is still when she looked at me, then looked at her empty hand, and in that sweet voice said, "I don't have a cookie in my hand!"

Watch Out World!

Last week Rylee was getting comfortable taking one step at a time. Tonight, with much cheering and encouragement from her big brother and sister, she demonstrated that she has become much braver. Marian claims it is because she (Marian) has been teaching Rylee to walk. However it may have happened, Rylee is on the move! Here she is at just over 9 months!

Every good thing comes to an end

Our time in Florida is over. We had a marvelous time and it was even better than my wildest dreams. To be honest though, my wildest dreams really just had us surviving the 2 weeks there. The fact that it went so well, that everyone had fun, and we all got along was a bonus. Fabulous weather and wonderful memories was the icing on the cake. I was actually sad to leave! I thought going home would be a relief (due to my children, not so much the extended family!), but the time went so well that I did not want to go home. But we did. We got home yesterday evening after 2 days and about 13 hours of traveling. The kids were surprisingly great for the drive as well. So I declare the Great Florida Vacation to be a success!

For the most part, I haven't got anything new to say, except that with all these cranky kids, I'm wishing I was still in Florida! And I don't really have pictures of us doing anything new, but I'm going to put some up anyway!

This is us. This is all of Dan's side of the family that was there. These are all the people that were squeezed into a very large beach house for a week. And these are the people I had a wonderful time with!

And they did not spend all their time at the beach! Joshua was thrilled to have cousins who had Nintendo DSs. He has wanted one for a very long time, but I refuse to buy something so expensive that I really don't want him playing anyway. He was happy to spend his free time playing on the DS while he could.

Here are all the kids on the balcony of the beach house. Aren't they great?! And yes, that would be my child, climbing on the railing.

Delaney said, "Take a picture of me with my eyes closed!"

The kids and and adults spent a lot of their beach time over the course of the week digging holes. They dug one up high enough that it lasted a while. It lasted until Marian climbed into it and Callie and I helped to bury her.

After Marian climbed out of the fairly deep hole. Callie lay down in it and we buried her! I love, love, loved that the girls played nicely together. There was so much less unkindness going on last week. It was so nice to see my girls getting along.

And these 2 had a lot of fun too. I don't know how many castles were built and then stomped on. It was about as much fun as the water itself.

I am grateful to have a wonderful family. I am so blessed to have wonderful in-laws. I think it was my sister-in-law who said she kind of imagined that the Celestial Kingdom would be like the beach house. We would all be together and having fun and enjoying each other. I hope it will be like that. I am so blessed!