Have We Been Here a Month Already?

Where oh where did January go? Our first week settling in was chaos. Unpacking boxes and so much painting! We had a couple days to get settled and get the ceiling painted in the livingroom and the master bedroom before the carpet arrived. I couldn't wait! Gail had four encounters with tack strips on her feet. I think I might have had five. Just as soon as it was installed (with H's help!) we had Perry's sister + husband + daughter as well as one of Perry's friends + wife + son join us for New Year Eve get together. 

This was the first year we allowed the boys to *try* to stay up until midnight. JP passed out on the floor around 11, and H barely made it to see the ball drop. I continuously poked at him for ten minutes to make sure he saw the ball drop. Hubs konked out shortly there after. Gail might have made it until 10:30p. 

 The next afternoon we took a drive south and wandered around the Pearl District in Portland until we found Powell's Bookstore. So many books! I'd love to go back when I have more time. 

Just a couple days later, I took the boys to their new school, which looks like one of our high schools to get them registered. There is approximately 800 students compared to the 350 students they were used to... And every form had an English version and a Spanish version. I think about half the staff is bilingual. Hubs and I took them to school on their first day so we could meet their teachers. Unfortunately Ms. Gail was hacking up a lung so Perry stayed with her in the car. I briefly met JP's teacher before leaving him with her and wandering off with HD and his teacher. 

The next morning they rode the bus. Mornings are a little rougher now that they leave the house 45 minutes earlier than they used to. Luckily if we have a slow going morning, Perry can take them to school half an hour later when he leaves for work. That might be a common occurrence... Before we could get back into the routine of school, we were hit with a massive snow storm.

 8pm vs 11pm vs 8am

 School was cancelled Wednesday - Friday. We had about 16'' come in a matter of about 12 hours. All of our trees were drooping with the weight so Perry spent the day knocking snow off trees and shrubs. 

 Somewhere under there is a demolished reed bush-thing. 

 The kids had so much fun playing in the snow. Unfortunately we didn't anticipate getting any snow while we were here so we left all the sleds at Nanny's house. Not that we would have had any room for them in the car...

 JP spent an afternoon having a contest (with himself) to see who could make the biggest snowball. Him or....? HD spent his time eating snow. 

 Our deck has some kind of plastic covering it and with all the snow on top, the beam in the middle was starting to bow so Perry spent several hours pushing all the snow off with some kind of device he made. 

The sunsets were unreal though!! SO pretty! Check out that tree line though...we've got some trimming to do!

 Let's see, other happenings in January include Ms. Gail being her fabulous self and HD and I having handstand wars. JP has been working diligently working on putting his collection of puzzles together (and staying up too late to do so!)

 We also took a little drive to the north to celebrate our cousins/niece's 2nd birthday. H took great pleasure in helping making popcorn in their mini-vintage machine. It reminds me of my days as a popcorn girl at the Hi-Line Theatre.

My neighbor and I also ventured into Portland the other day to check out the Fabric Depot. The store is about an acre in size and there is so. much. fabric! I decided I was going to try to make this sweater and since she's into making clothes, she said she'd help! Mine is going to be a burnt orange color. Just as soon as I get all my sewing stuff set up...

In the meantime to fill up my days, Ms. Gail and I have been spending our time working on the livingroom - removing wallpaper and painting. We spent several days unpacking boxes to organize my "office" closet. I'm also happy to report I'm getting really good at starting a fire! I've never had to do it before. I'm also anxious to get our taxes done... I'm awaiting three more forms and then I can file. I'm not going to lie, money is tight right now. Between having an old thermostat, an ancient water heater, and original windows from the 70's, it's costing a TON to heat this place. We're working on upgrading things, but without the funds it's a never-ending cycle. 

So while I still have a little bit of motivation left, I need to a) find my coffee and b) re-start the laundry. Here's to a grand February filled with more blog posts and more coffee!