3 houses WHAT?

Yeah, we really are living in 3 houses right now.

The good news is that we got possession of our new house an entire week earlier than we anticipated. That presumably gave us 1 entire week MORE of being able to work on stuff before we have to be out of our old house.

The bad news is that our old house has a MASSIVE tree in the front yard that is threatening the home. About 6 weeks ago, a huge arm broke off and landed in our front yard. It was so loud it sent neighbors running down the sidewalk to see what happened. Last week, another (smaller) arm broke and landed on the neighbor's property. The tree is now incredibly off balance and the arm that is left is the biggest and baddest of all---leaning right over the house. The tree people suggested we not be there because it's rotted out (large mushrooms growing out of it) and could break at anytime. The new owners, for some reason, don't want the tree removed. UGH. P.S. If that tree falls, it will break through both stories of the house. It's not small. And it hangs right over the kids' bedrooms. NO THANK YOU.

This leads me to explain how we have three homes right now.

1. Our furniture/beds are on Densmore

2. Our kitchen and our TIME is spent at River Ridge, where we'll eventually live

3. Our sleeping takes place at my parents' house...just a few miles from the new pad.

We are now feeling rushed. Ryan and I are 100% totally working overtime. He's working 16 hour days. I'm feeling my duties are around the clock, as the kids are not sleeping as well at Nana and Papa's, and I'm getting up several times during the night. We are making a lot of progress at our new house. Much of the wallpaper has already been removed and the kids' bedrooms are 100% painted and ready for furniture. The dining room and living room are next on Ryan's to-do list. I'm gonna tackle the rest of a half-bath today that has wall paper in it.

So here are a few sayings we've heard around our "HOMES" lately...

Emma: Morning mommy. Which house are we going to now?

Ellie: Mommy, this is so annoying. My toys are not where I want them to be.

Me: Well, I threw the trash down the laundry shoot and put the clothes in the trash can- whoops.

Ryan: How are my kids Lib? Do they remember me?

Ellie: (Through tears) I don't WANNA move from our old house because i'll never get to watch care bears on netflix again. .....She doesn't realize that cyber space will bring netflix with her.

Me: Mom, it's a good day if one girl got a bath and the other girl brushed her teeth, right?

Ellie: Mommy, I thought of another kind of consequence we can use when I disobey. How about you make me go do QUILTING?!

Me: Emma, I don't have a tissue in the car for your booger. Just hold onto it until we get home.

EVERY GUEST that's come to see the new house: Oh how ironic (or NOT)! My mom (or aunt, or grandma) had this EXACT same wallpaper in her house when I was little!!!! Yeah...the wallpaper was quite overwhelming when we first walked into the house. But we saw the home's potential and pictures will come as the house transforms!!!

And to top it all off...I heard my dog crying at 4:30 this morning. I got off the pull out couch and started walking to the back door. SMOOSH. My feet stepped right into two large piles of dog poop. It smeared all through my toes, all over my feet. A mess. Disgusting. Smelly. Annoying. Even my poor DOG is stressed right now! What are we putting everyone though? :(

Snow Quotes round 3

Ellie: "Mom, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about one of "these," but now that he's around, I really like boys!" (Obviously referring to Griffin...)

Emma: "Hey God, can you see THIS?" (She followed that question with a snazzy little dance)

Ellie: "Mommy, you know those people on TV with dark stuff under their eyes. The stuff that comes when they're tired? Well...you have that under your eyes too..."
(Awesome).

And here's a bit of a "Griffin gallery"...

Growth Spurts

So these baby growth spurts are just NOT FUN. I've had Griffin "on me" for pretty much every 2 hours for 2 days. Fortunately he is still sleeping through the night, BUT I am so tired. 3 months old and growing like a champ. Hopefully these next few days will bring us back to the same old-same old. :)

Ryan and I are going through a growth spurt as well! We are about to "grow into" our new home. Tomorrow morning is our closing on our new house. We get the keys and will get into the empty home on Sept. 23. Then let the painting begin!

If anyone has any tricks for how to remove wallpaper (particularly the kind that looks like Old Mother Hubbard), let us know. Or even better, if anyone has a desire to come remove wallpaper with me---come on over!!! We are pumped, nervous, excited, and blessed to be able to move into the home awaiting us. Soon and very soon...

Kindergarten presses on

Ya know, lots of people probably wonder if Ellie begs me to go to a "real school," or if she asks about when she can ride the yellow school bus, or if she wonders why her friends are in school all day--and she isn't. To be honest, she hasn't asked me one of those questions. Not once!

Ellie absolutely loves having school at home. She is learning SO much, she is incredibly motivated, a hard worker, and a great helper around the house. She's learning to help mommy and realizes that being "AT HOME" throughout the day doesn't mean she is just playing all day long. She has responsibility, chores, school work...and she knows that she is a big sister to two others. That's a big role! :)

Earlier this summer I was worried about some of her attitude issues. She was pushing buttons to see what would happen and she was busting out some disrespectful comments. I feel that each day we get to work on that junk. We get to have real conversations, talk about real things, use real life HARD MOMENTS to ask for forgiveness and to learn to share even when it's hard. (That goes for me, too. I have to apologize when I lose my patience and wanna blow a gasket. I also have to model what it looks like to walk with Jesus. Kids don't just one day understand it. They need to SEE it. Talk about hard...)

In the meantime, Emma is still adjusting to being the middle child. And it's not easy. On some days her warm spirit seems to becoming more of a HOT spitfire. We're working through those things. I think it's time for a mommy/Emma date---just the two of us. :)

recent Sarah pics...

10 weeks old...

AUGUST 30, 2010

Well, yesterday we officially closed on our house. It's nuts. It's done. We're actually (technically) homeless right now. What a weird feeling. The closing on our new house is in 15 days, so we're pretty excited to have that happen as well. The keys will be given to us Oct. 1. HOW EXCITING!

Life is busy right now, to say the least. The months of September and October couldn't be more packed. Ha...that's the story of our lives it seems. But now in-between the math, science, phonics lessons, soccer practice/games, dance class, mom's morning out, Friday morning Bible study with my fellow mom friends...we're going to be packing up a house and moving. OHHH and painting, taking down wallpaper...and did I mention that's in addition to nursing a baby? HeHe. I'm not complaining. It's awesome. And frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Life is good. God is good. He is most definitely worthy to be trusted and praised amidst the chaos.

And this morning, Ellie and I belly laughed during our science lesson. The lesson was on the sense of TASTE and we did a taste test with her blind-folded. I loved sneaking funny foods in her mouth (and gave her the most unusual breakfast in the process). It was great. Love it. Meanwhile, she called our taste buds (vocabulary word for the day) taste MUSCLES. I just love the things that come from the mouth of my babe.

Blessings!!!
And of course...a few shots of the itsy babe...

"Ok guys...you tell me I have to wait till 7 to go to bed. I just can't do
it anymore. Give me 15 minutes...just 15 minutes..."

Ellie's first day of school

Sooooo...Here are the awesome things about OHVA (Ohio virtual academy), Ellie's school this year:

1. I can still do half day Kindergarten with her. This is impossible in all the districts around here.
2. Emma still has her best friend and companion around so she doesn't go crazy and nuts given this new baby in the house
3. We can travel and do what we want, when we want...as long as we have access to the internet and bring a book or two with us. :)
4. I get another year with my babe. Another year to teach, shape, prepare, correct, pray with, learn with...the list goes on. (And yet she's still learning routine and hard work. She's not allowed downstairs until she's dressed, teeth brushed, bed made. I'm so mean...)
5. AND....we get to go to the zoo on the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!! The first unit in Science deals with the 5 senses. We had a hayday with that at the zoo...and I got to clock that as an hour or more of attendance for the day. Perfect. Aunt Sarah, Jack, and Charlie joined us. Perfect morning...

Happy 1st day of Kindergarten Peanut!! Wednesday Aug. 25, 2010
Rise and Shine! Early morning breakfast with Ems.

Car ride to the zoo with the cousins

Ellie and Jack

She brought her magnifying glass (given to her in the Science kit)---
great for looking at those ants working so hard!

More exploring

This face couldn't be any cuter

Buiding a dam in the stream @ Nature's Neighborhood...

Language Arts lesson--and a pretty tough vocab word! HeHe

And of course, Mr. Serious Simon as the PICTURE OF THE DAY!!!