Because the Birthday Boy Loves Green...

My baby boy is now seven. SEVEN! I am so proud of the young little guy he has become. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't just melt my heart. I asked him the other day if we could just not celebrate his birthday so he wouldn't have to turn seven. "As long as I can still open the presents, we don't need party." Well...that's not how it works. "Then I guess I'll have to turn 7." Ugh. I know he's *only* seven, but I carried him to the bus stop the other day. I'm not going be able to do that for much longer...

 I just love him so much! Just look at that cute little two-year old face of his!

He's been anxiously awaiting his birthday, especially this week, as his presents started arriving from his relatives and stacking up in the corner. I ventured out earlier this week with little C to Toy 'r Us knowing it was going to be a rough trip. She did alright all things considered. There was a lot of reminding going on..."We're here for JP. We're looking for something he will like, not you." Her willingness to not pout through the entire store won her a trip to the pet store to look at the kitties. Win win I would say! Because dad had to go into work early today, I let him only open one present before we managed to scoot out the door for school. (Thank goodness my little sister called *at the crack of dawn* to talk to the birthday boy, or we might have all over slept since my alarm was set for 6pm...)

 I had every intention of getting a really good jump start on his cake yesterday. I baked it first thing in the morning and then while it cooled I took upon the task of painting the ceiling in the dining room. Not all of it, but some of it. But since I did that, I figured I better just go ahead and paint the short wall so we could put the old curtains back up. And you know, the other wall is only a couple feet wide... so by 5:30pm H was cooking mac 'n cheese for dinner. So much for working on the cake. Today was the deadline and JP was already asking about it at 7:30a. Such a procrastinator I've become. I remember when I'd start cakes on Tuesday to be done by Friday night! C tested her patience by holding spatulas and beaters and later danced her Barbie dolls around the kitchen while I she tested my patience. I finished it up with 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to dust off the powdered sugar and walk to the bus stop to get H, JP, and one of JP's new friends.

He misplaced his glasses somewhere in the house last week and we've yet to find them. He looks so young without them on! You knew he was going to have a green cake, right? He's that predictable. A couple weeks ago I realized we hadn't had the "birthday cake chat" yet. He rolled his eyes and knowingly said, "A lego cake, of course." Of course... I made H a lego cake for his 6th birthday, but yeah, we'll do legos again. As his big day neared, he made it known that he specifically wanted a Lego Ninjago cake, but didn't specify which one. I should have messed with him and made the blue or yellow one. 

I resisted and made Lloyd. I gave him yellow hands at first but his hands were struggling to stay up (you know since I procrastinated...) so I switched it up and used black. He looks a little more Ninjago-ish with the change. 

Though we didn't originally plan it, we had an impromptu sleepover with his friend. I didn't realize it until it was bedtime, but this was our first sleepover! JP has been to a sleepover before (I don't think HD has though...) but we've never had the opportunity to have a friend stay the night so the boys were extra excited about that. Getting three boys settled down for bed is no easy task, but we conquered :) They seem pretty excited about puffy pancakes for breakfast!

Super Bowl Sunday Highlights

My kids have been anxiously awaiting this day for weeks now - mostly because of all the snacks we have out to eat, but hey, family time is family time. I was somehow blessed with a husband who is a fan of the Patriots, and I, being his loving wife, always, ALWAYS, cheer for whoever is playing against them. It keeps it interesting. Unfortunately for me, every team I cheered for during the playoffs lost, so it was only fitting the Falcons would lose too. I'm hoping this losing streak I'm on doesn't carry over to the Lions' next season!

Aside from the ups and downs and cheering and screaming from our Super Bowl "party", we had a fairly mellow day. We finally had a weekend free of commitments and temper tantrums. (Yes, I had a rough weekend last week trying to decide what color to paint the living room. It's such a hard choice when your husband is color blind and you yourself are indecisive!) I had spent this past week painting the walls with the little energy I could muster up, and sleeping the rest of the week away. My energy levels became so predictable that my 3 year old was asking me when I was going to lay down for a nap.

I'm not staying up any later than I normally would and I'm not getting up extremely early. I get a solid 8 hours of sleep each night, but by 1:00p I'm so done with the day. It's terrible. I'm starting to wonder if I might be displaying a few signs of depression or if it's a problem with my thyroids. I just want to feel better overall, but I also don't want to jump to conclusions, since I did just move here. I wouldn't say I feel lonely, just unmotivated to do anything. I'm surprised I didn't put off painting the living room longer than I did...

I am happy to report that today was a better day overall for me though. We had plans to go to church at 9:00a, but we didn't get out of bed until after 8:00a so we opted for the later service. I spent some of my free time on Saturday searching for churches in our area to check out. I stumbled upon Crossroads Community Church and after some reading, I decided we'd check that one out first. A huge plus that it was in an area of town I was some-what familiar with. My hubs cooked breakfast for our crew while I finished getting ready to go. Life-saver! I wasn't expecting the church to be so big, but it also has a school on the same campus so that made it feel much much bigger. Both boys contained their excitement when they walked into the kid's gym and saw a bounce house. Inside their little heads I knew they were screaming! The younger kids were broken up into classroom by their age and my little girl was like a magnet to the play kitchen they had in there. All three kids said they are excited to go back. That's a win right there! Hopefully that means no more whining when the word "church" is said.

I enjoyed the sermon too, but I'm a little hesitant to jump to claiming this church as "mine" because of the size. I don't want to be another face in the crowd so to speak. I can clearly see why it's so big though, I mean, like I said, I enjoyed the sermon, and it was obvious the Pastor was enjoyed by many. They're in the middle of the book of Daniel - this week he was speaking on the multi-metallic statue Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt about from chapter 2. His sermon revolved around the idea that God knows our future before we even do. That really resonated with me as I kept thinking back to early this summer when I confessed to my sister how I felt I was ready to move and start a new chapter in my life. Over and over my Hubs kept asking me about jobs here and there and I was always overcome with anxiety at just the thought of him applying. This time around, regardless of everything else that was going on in my life, I just felt at peace with him applying and going through the motions to earn a higher position. I was confused as to why the thought of staying where we were caused so much stress and grief to develop inside but moving, which is supposed to be very stressful, caused the opposite feelings. I felt good about it and so I realized this week that God was just preparing my heart this past summer for a new adventure. He knows the path I'm supposed to be taking, that's why moving never felt right - it wasn't His timing.

Now I'm here in the house I cried in when we toured it 4 months ago. I felt guilty for wanting to take a nap after returning home. Perry is constantly on the go doing something productive and I'm over here barely able to keep my eyes open for 5 hours. I powered through the afternoon, and with some help from the kids, managed to remove wallpaper from a small wall in the dining room. It's ready for paint now but the ceiling needs a little love first. I finished up just in time to see former President Bush being wheeled off the football field.

I'll tell you what though, wallpaper removal is not for the faint of heart! I'm seriously considering painting over it on the long wall in the dining room... There is two different patterns of wallpaper going on, and it took nearly two hours to remove one PANEL of it. That's like a 1.5'x9' strip. And we have 50? more feet of it to remove...I don't know if I want to invest that kind of time...

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!

Welcome Back!

Welcome to my "new" blog! It's a new version of the "old" blog. Our new house needed an updated blog, but I didn't want to lose the memories of the former, so I brought them along with. Win-win for everyone, plus I love going back to read random posts!

As timing would have it, it is also the beginning of a new year, and I am so ready to put the harassing I received from my blog (that I thought was over) behind me as I start over building new friendships and networks in a completely new area. I used to update my blog pretty frequently and enjoyed sharing the links for everyone to enjoy and I'm really hoping to get back to that. It'll take some time, but that's what I'm striving for - to get back to doing what I enjoy and that's taking pictures of my family and sharing our memories.

Over the last few weeks I have been racking my brain to come up with a new name for my blog. I wanted it to still be about me, but less personal. One of my finalists was "Mud in the Entry" and I almost settled on it, even though I wasn't in love with it. It references my home and my children - because you know it wasn't me bringing in mud into my house. Plus now that we're in the Pacific Northwest, I imagine there will be plenty of mud to trudge in with all the rain. It also nods at my housekeeping skills - no matter how clean the house rest of the house is, there is always going to be one place that still needs some work. Isn't that true about our lives too, though? No matter how put together we seem to be, there's always at least one aspect of our life that needs some work, whether it be emotionally, spiritually, physically, or mentally.

The night I came up with "Coffee in the Cupboard" might have been the same night, or the night after, I read a post on Facebook from a dear friend (you know who you are!) about drinking her morning coffee that evening. This is me to the "T". Except I'm probably worse, because I often wander around the house with my cup of coffee and then set it somewhere and forget about it. Perry is always asking me why I bother with even pouring myself a cup if I'm not going to drink it. It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have 15 minutes to just sit and drink it. It instead gets brought to the bathroom and left on the counter. It gets toted to and left in the laundry room for me to find that night when I'm re-fluffing the already re-fluffed laundry. It gets sat on the mantle because it was out of the way when I started the fire that morning. It gets placed on the counter when making breakfast and then I walk away to get something and completely forget about it. While I haven't actually put my coffee in the cupboard yet, I'm sure one of these days it just might happen with all the chaos around here. I honestly don't know where my coffee is right now, but clearly I need some more... It's like a spin off of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but "If You Give a Mom a Cup of Coffee..."

Maybe some day I finish a cup in the morning, but for now "Coffee in the Cupboard" is my life as a mom. I'm all over the place between cooking and cleaning and this little human needing that and the other two little humans fighting over toys - it's chaos around here. So welcome, or re-welcome as the case may be.

Sit back and enjoy your coffee (or glass of wine if it's after noon ha!) as I go on the never-ending search for mine. Side note: If you're reading this on your phone, just know that it looks cuter on the computer. :)

P.S. I love knowing who my readers are! You guys keep me going! Feel free to leave me a comment before you leave!

The Journey Begins: From MT to WA

Looking back, I envisioned moving to be more stressful on everyone than it was. Don't get me wrong, it was stressful enough, I just thought it would be more stressful. More than anything I was just anxious to get our family back together again, and start a new chapter in our lives. 

The Thursday leading up to our big move was a rough day for me. It was everyone's last day. It was Ms. Gail's last day of pre-school and childcare, followed by my last day helping in the library, then my last day at work, followed by an emotional last day of school. I felt like I was crying all day! Each of their teachers will be missed! JP has already told me he wishes Mrs. Reiley was still his 1st grade teacher. Ms. Gail hasn't processed that we're not moving back and has asked a few times when we'll get to go see Mrs. Klemp again. :( Breaks my heart! It goes without say that we had a little emotional good-bye as we all gave out hugs to everyone in the family Monday morning as we loaded the last few things in the car. It seemed a bit surreal. I knew it was going to happen, I just couldn't believe that we were actually moving. 

Before we left town we stopped by to see JP's friend one more time and then stopped by the hotel to pick up my last paycheck. That seemed so weird after working there for nearly 10 years. It's a good thing we didn't go too crazy with Christmas presents (could their be a worse time to do a final move?!) because we couldn't fit one more thing into the back of the car. We're lucky we had room for Roxy, even though it wasn't much. 

I was so very thankful that not only was Perry with us for the holidays, but that he willingly drove most of the way. 

I lucked out and had a nice view out every window. I love looking at snow on the trees. I love snow but I don't love driving in it.

We had plans of stopping in Spokane for a brunch, but opted for a little bit further down the road since Ms. Gail fell asleep. She's the only one that fell asleep during the trip. 

We also had our share of fighting along the way. It really made me appreciate the third row seating. 

We had to do the trip all in one day in order to be reimbursed for it. It was a long day in the car, but we made good time. I think we left town around 9:15a (mountain time) and pulled up to our new house at about 5:00p (Pacific time). It was light enough for the kids to kind of still see the backyard.

As soon as the kids were inside the house, they took off in what seemed like all directions. It actually took them a while to make it into the living, which is straight ahead from the entry. When one of them remembered Santa stopped by our new house too, they all went running to find the living room. Ms. Gail found a dollhouse and HD and JP each found a beanbag. They all loved their new gifts! 

*Side note* We had our hopes set on getting new carpet before the kids arrived but the install date kept getting pushed back. It worked out a little bit better with it not being installed before arrival because we had extra time to paint the ceiling in the living room. (More on that later...) The tack strips left around the living room and a few bedroom doors did make it quite the hazard zone though...

The next morning the kids did a bit of exploring of the backyard when it was nice and sunny out. HD and JP are really excited about the pond. HD even found a salamander! By night fall, the kids were anxious to help dad build a fire. HD loved every minute of it!

Everybody say "cheese" for mom! 

One More Christmas in the Books

Christmas! The time of year everyone seems to love, except me. I'm not naturally a gift person (I'm more of a quality time person) so figuring out what to get everyone is quite the task for me. I'm always less stressed once it's done. I'd rather go to church and sing Christmas songs, drive around and look at lights, or play games with the family all season long. But... I survived another Christmas, and I prepared for it with Perry 550 miles away. Having him gone was stressful enough. 

 I was so happy to finally have him back with us Friday evening. Kile + Chris + kids arrived Thursday and words can't describe how excited my kids were to see their cousin again. It had only been a few weeks between, but still. I was just excited my youngest nephew wasn't terrified of me and actually sat with me to help make Papa Craig's neckwarmer. JP spent part of Christmas Eve morning making an elf hat to ensure he was going to be the first one to open a present.

This Christmas we instated the Ugly Sweater Day. Our plan was to wear them on Christmas Eve because unlike every other year, we changed our plans and were going to go to Christmas Mass on Christmas morning. Mid-way through Christmas Eve, our plans changed as Santa arrived sooner than expected, giving us more time to scurry out the door to Mass that night. 

The kids paced around waiting for Santa's arrival. JP basically camped out in front of the door. Story has it that Rudolf stepped on Santa's foot and injured him this year so we weren't sure if he'd have time for an in-person visit this year. I love the picture of Santa with the kids - especially Dyl popping up in back and realizing how close he was to Santa!

This is probably the last year Santa will be able to stop by, so this is the last picture we'll have with our childhood Santa too. It's too bad I don't have a picture of us when we were young to compare it against. 

After rode off in his sleigh, the family gathered to play the Saran wrap ball game. Robin and I spent a good hour wrapping up the "prizes" a few weeks before hand. There were things in it such as mini hand sanitizers, candy, Starbucks gift cards, cash, GI Joes, wine, shot bottles... there was something for everyone and at the end we were able to barter to get things we wanted. I forgot my dad had a Starbucks card and I traded him my magnetic metal pan for a bottle of wine. Should have went for the coffee... We also created our first kid's table. Not much was eaten but hey. I finally didn't have to sit with the kids. I'm movin' on up. 

I don't know if you remember from previous years posts, but on my side of the family, we open presents on Christmas Eve. (As an adult now, it drives me nuts because we don't start until late. I'm a stickler when it comes to bedtime routine...) As with any Christmas, there was wrapping paper everywhere. There were kids digging under the tree and handing out presents left and right. It didn't take long to make a "kids can't leave the carpet" rule. 

HD peaced out for a while when he open his present from Perry and I - a boom box. (I'm beginning to regret that decision now! But he loves it.) Charlotte has a dream of becoming a mailman so she was equally excited to open up her mailbox. I made JP wait to open his present from us until all other presents were opened. I think the wait almost killed him. Ms. Gail saw me bring it in the house after my shopping trip, so I sarcastically told her it was a dollhouse. She went on to tell JP it was a green dollhouse for him to play with. When he opened it, he discovered it was actually the Terra-Climber remote control car he really really wanted. He knew if we didn't get him one, Santa would, but Santa already had plans... It's pretty cool though - it can climb up stairs!

 Many family members spent Christmas morning trying to get a car up the hill. They apparently lived a few blocks away and were going to a friends house just down the road a ways, and managed to get stuck in the snow. (Robin always has this problem after it snows!) My parent's house is located in a slight valley on their street - it's uphill either way you go, and it's difficult for lightweight cars to pass through in the winter. There was a lot of pushing and shoveling and plowing done before they finally gave up and parked their car on the side of the road. Meanwhile, HD helped himself to the tractor and drove it around the driveway. I was impressed with his skills! 

The rest of the day was spent packing and cleaning. How lame, right? Who moves the day after Christmas? We do. It was probably best that we did all of our Christmas "activities" the day before so we could have time to pack and arrange the car. Perry and I along with Kile and Chris spent the evening playing Tri-Ominos and then later my mom joined in halfway through a game of Apples to Apples. After play Cards Against Humanity, Apples to Apples just doesn't compare, but it was still enjoyable, and relaxing. (Like I said, I love playing games!) 

While we don't have any plans set in stone yet, Perry and I are hoping to have Christmas in our new house next year (this year? next season?) so we can start to figure out our traditions. We've been lucky enough to have had most of our Christmas celebrations near home, but of the 9 Christmas seasons we've been through, we've only celebrated at our home once and we're ready to make our own traditions. As children, we both remember waking up and running upstairs to see what Santa left for us, and now that the boys are getting older, I feel like we're running out of time to make those memories at home. I really don't like having to make up reasons as to how Santa knows where the kids are and why he leaves presents here and there...it's so confusing. I'm just ready to be home for the holidays! We'll see how that unfolds! :) 

Collages From our Time at the Missoula House

This winter has been a blur with all the chaos and changes going on for us. Never would I have guessed I would be moving back in with my parents but it happened. Being in limbo between two houses was quite the challenge! We kept busy none the less!

We spent Thanksgiving at Kim and Julian's brand-spankin' new house. It's beautiful! Unfortunately for Kim, she broke her wrist in a few places short while before Thanksgiving and jut had surgery on it the day before. Fortunately for the rest of the family, Kim can give pretty good directions and Julian prepared and cooked dinner. We spent the afternoon watching the Lions play the Vikings. The rivalry was pretty heated between Julian and me...there were some choice words said when my Lions pulled off a victory! Hahaha! Robin, Ramzi, and myself play Tri-Ominos while the boys occasionally sat down to play as well. Nap time on the couch was amazing. Ms. Gail never willingly takes naps :)

 I think the most annoying part about moving across town was having to drive the kids to school and pick them up every day from school. The bus was much more convenient... Ms. Gail and I often had plenty of time to kill before the boys were released from school. She's still working on her silly faces!

 To kick off the holiday season, I reluctantly purchased a village gingerbread house kit because I was simply tired of saying "no" to everything they wanted at the store. Ms. Gail and I decorated ours while the boys were at school. They were so anxious to get theirs decorated, but found it too time consuming. While I was cleaning up their mess, they stole my phone to do some night sledding. If you missed it or need to see it again, they made this video. I couldn't even be mad.

 We also managed to squeeze in one more fun evening at the hotel waterpark before we left town. It's too bad the boys didn't like swimming more when they were younger!

To finish up a little catch-up post, here's a few more random pictures from our time at the Missoula house. When we first moved in, Ms. Gail slept in Robin's bed, HD slept in the spare room, and JP slept on the floor in the playroom. The arrangement changed so many times because everyone wanted a turn sleeping in my bed. For a good month, I would wake up an uncountable number of times. By the end of our stay, all the kids were sleeping in some configuration in my room. I had a love/hate relationship with the whole thing. But we powered through!