Happy Weekend!

Slowly, but surely, life is getting back in shape.  

There's quite a bit to get done this weekend.  We're wrapping up our third annual Cousin Week today and tomorrow.  We're getting some curtains hung so the entire neighborhood doesn't know all our business.  Sometime before Tuesday, I need to get my homeschooling mother mode back from where I left it in May.  That includes getting the school room up and running.  And I should probably take my new curriculum out of the cellophane wrap.  And tomorrow, we have a baseball tournament.

Other than that, we'll just be relaxing and enjoying Labor Day weekend.

If you need some great weekend reading and inspiration, check out Ashley's blog, as she's currently in China with her family, and they are about to bring their newest member of the family home.  Go back and read from a couple days ago.  And get some kleenex before you do.

Also, if you want to read a pretty incredible birth story, read Sara's story here.  She dropped her oldest son off to college and went into labor that night!  It's a great story, and I'm so happy for her and this addition to their family.

I'm Still Here.

But with no new pictures to share.  I have lots and lots, but they're all on my lovely memory card.  

We are in the new house!  We moved in, unpacked a few boxes, and headed to Family Camp last week.  Being in our home is wonderful.  Camp was just what we needed.  And now we are home to our house full of boxes.  

We don't have wifi yet, so I'm sitting at Starbucks ordering home school curriculum.  It's fall already and I'm in complete denial about school starting.  Time seems to moving in ways I don't want it to these days.  Nathan turns four in about a month.  Can my youngest child be FOUR?  It feels like he should be no older than two.  

Hopefully, sometime in the near future, I will have the time and energy to blog again.  I miss it.  

Okay, just one picture in closing.

Something totally random like Graham vacuuming.  In his socks.  Listening to music.

Isn't this why we have children?  So we don't have to vacuum.

Where Has All the Summer Gone?

My favorite pic of Cry Cry last summer.

Last summer was lovely.  We had a great routine.  We slept until about 9:00, ate a leisurely breakfast, changed out of our pajamas into our swim suits, packed a snack and headed to the pool.  At the pool, the kids swam away the summer heat with their little friends while I chatted with friends (and of course, cared for the needs of my children at the pool).  On the way home, we stopped at a gas station for some cheap sodas.  Then Joseph and Nathan took power naps and the Big 3 did some school in my perfectly quiet and clean house.

This summer couldn't be any different.

And I'm bemoaning it a little.  Losing a summer.  We've been to the pool 2 times.  We've spent most of the summer in the car going from place to place.  My house has officially been beyond messy since about springtime.  The "knowing I'm going to pack up and move" syndrome kept me from doing any organizing since then, and the piles around here are showing it.  My diet has consisted mostly of my morning cup of coffee, my lunchtime diet coke, and my afternoon iced coffee... throwing in whatever fast food item I might pick up in the meantime.  My kids have watched more Netflix (or as Cry Cry calls it-- Flix) on the iPad than I would like to admit.

My reason for saying all of this is to confess that I haven't handled this busyness all that well.  Sure, I could make excuses.  Excuses for why I dropped my Bible reading plan sometime in March.  Excuses for why I haven't exercised for nearly a year.  Excuses for why my fuse is short with my kids, especially my older ones.  I could say that I can't do it all.  But really it's my fault.  Life got very busy, and I turned to my own strength and get-it-done work ethic instead of keeping my focus on what God could be teaching me through a busy season like this.  My heart has been anxious, not peaceful.  Worry has stolen what should have been joy.

I know not all is lost.  I know that God's timing is perfect.  I know His timing is intentional.  I know He wanted me to have this crazy summer, otherwise I would have had a restful one.  He knows what I needed to learn.  I know more about my weaknesses, and am excited to work on them, so that next time there is a season like this (because I know there will be), I'll do better.

Packing up boxes now, and hopefully will get more pics on here soon.  Our new and bigger hard drive is here.  Now we just have to figure out how to install it.  Anyone ever done this before?

Thanks for listening, friends.  I feel better having confessed.  I'm so thankful His mercies are new every morning.

4 years ago.

We are having computer issues.  It's our own fault.  The busyness of life has overtaken us and our computer.  Our computer is totally full.  We also need to switch to iCloud by June 30.  I'm just not sure what to do.  I don't think we have enough space to update to the new operating system so that we can switch to iCloud.  Help.  I have an appointment at the genius bar tomorrow night and I'm hoping they can solve all of my woes.  Meanwhile, since my computer won't let me put one more image on it, let's go back in time.  These images are from four years ago, 3 months before Nathan was born.

Graham was six.  We hardly had any evening activities.  

Our nights were free for things like shucking corn on the deck.

They didn't seem like babies at the time, but they were.  

All of them.

We read more books.  They were really into Richard Scarry books.

Joseph would sit in this chair for nearly an hour and eat corn and watermelon.

Asher took that string from his blanket and rubbed his ear with it when he was going to sleep.

He doesn't do it any more :(

Heading to church one Sunday.

Me (and Nathan) reading to Joseph.  I loved that pacifier.

He was the perfect baby because of it.

Asher used to check out every Berenstein Bear book out of the library, back when we made time to go to the library every week.

Daddy showing the boys something on the world wide web.

The Lego craze had just begun.

We set up a card table in our living room just to accommodate.

Mostly, I'm reminiscing these days because they seemed simpler.  In some ways, the days were more emotionally exhausting.  I counted down the MINUTES until Chris got home.  The boys were sweet, but you know how toddlers can wear on you.  At about 4:00, my bag of tricks was empty and Chris often didn't get home until 6:30 or 7:00.  Those hours were long. 

What has changed?  The boys are older.  They have activities.  School takes more and more time.  Things like piano, baseball, swimming, basketball, and Scouts take over those quiet evenings.  It's rushing here and there constantly through the day.  Back then I was a little lonely and bored.  I can't complain about that now.  There's hardly a quiet evening around here, and when there is, it's treasured. 

I guess there's nothing I can do about it.  Those early years are gone.  My boys are older.  Life has a different pace.  In some many ways, I like this phase more.  We are out and about more.  I get to see my boys growing up before my very eyes.  I get to see them interact with this great big world. 

I tried to enjoy those early years as much as I could.  I was pregnant and nursing so much of the time.  In some ways, it's all a blur.   I think I could have done better.   I could have lost my temper less and cleaned the house less in order to enjoy them more.  

With each one of them, it comes and goes only once. 

And pretty soon, the Thomas trains are replaced with baseball mitts.

It's just that sometimes, like today, I miss those train noises.

And I miss those early years.

Cabinets

I have a confession to make.  I'm many weeks behind (blog wise) with where the house is.  I haven't been able to keep up with it all.  Blogging, baseball, home schooling, feeding my family, keeping my house clean.  This last month, we've eaten out more than we have in our family's history.  My house is borderline embarrassing.  I quit schooling a couple of weeks early because it was just too much.  We'll finish when we get in the house and the afternoons are long and hot, and when we don't have to start getting ready for baseball at 4:00.  

The good news is that we are having lots of fun.  We are out late most nights eating out after a baseball game or practice.  While the boys don't enjoy going over the house as much as we do, they usually find something to do.  Lately it's been hitting little pebbles with a stick in the back yard.

And for me, it's loads of fun to see what you dreamed up in your head come to life.

It's fun to see your boys have fun playing on their baseball teams with super families.

But as a mom, I'm failing in so many areas.  I know life won't be prefect when we get in the house.  But I'm hoping that it will be different.  That being in a permanent place will inspire me to be more disciplined.

On to cabinets.  The cabinets arrived, and by the next evening, they were up and looking pretty.  

Our cabinet guys, Hank and John, were fabulous.  They never made me feel like the stupid girl that I am who knows nothing about cabinets.

Enjoy these pics of how our living room and kitchen have taken shape.

TV cabinet to the left of the fireplace.  Those doors slide out to hide the television, which I love.

We watch some tv as a family, mostly sports, but I didn't want it to be the focal point of the living room.

The kitchen cabinets being put in.

Open cabinetry to the left and right of the sink.

These particular cabinets were inspired by Sara at August Fields who got her inspiration from Sally Wheat.  

This is where the sink will go.  I love that I get to look out that window on to the front porch.  

This was our architect's idea.  Originally, we were trying to get the sink to overlook the back yard, but it just wasn't working because I didn't want the main sink in the island.  I think this was the perfect solution.  Plus, it's tucked away so I can hide my dirty dishes :)

The island.

I love the way the hood turned out.  I think I looked at every hood on pinterest and houzz before deciding on this style.

My desk in the pantry.

I know I'm not neat enough to have a desk out in the main kitchen area.  This way I can stack my piles in here when company comes over.

In the meantime, the kids messed around in the back yard.

 Or peaked in through the window.

This is a different day when it was all done.

I can't wait to cook in here.

Five on the 5th (late again) Mother's Day Photo Flop

Sometimes it just doesn't work.  

The boys were all cute and coordinating in their navy and aqua for Mother's Day.

But they weren't feeling photogenic.

They were either not looking.

Or looking like they were the most miserable children on the planet.

The pictures just keep getting worse.

The goofy one turned out the best, I think.

The boys and me.  I'm not sure that there's a worse pic of Asher and Graham.

But even a bad photo is better than no photo at all, right?

Happy Mother's Day to me.

Wood Floors

After the sheet rock came the wood floors.  I think they install these before the other flooring because they have to sit awhile in the house to settle before they sand and stain them.

First they labeled all the areas that were wood.

Next came the subfloor. 

Even that gave it such a different look.

The school room.

And office.

I think the wood floor people really embrace the whole idea that it looks worse before it looks better.

Because it was a mess everywhere.

But by the afternoon, it looked like this.

View from the top of the stairs to the living room.

Kitchen.  This is where the island will go.

Installed it looked like this.

Isn't it pretty?

View into the pantry.

The school room all finished.

Living room.

This was the first time it felt more like a home, and less like a construction site.

I love the floors and am excited how they will look finished.