Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work We Go

We're off to Seattle this week for Ethan's work. We're going to be working a booth for some Christiam musician's something or other. Okay, really Ethan is going to be working; I'm just there to smile and make people want to come to our booth. :) Works for me!

I feel really bad because we have a baby dedication at church this Sunday and I should be there as the nursery director. But to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure I could handle it. This weekend we were planning to dedicate Ryan and Isaac. We did the girls together and it seemed perfect to do the boys together. So . . . that's not gonna happen. It hasn't even been three months yet, and the pain is still fresh. I packed up Isaac's memory stuff today to move to the new house, and I have this irrational fear that I'm going to lose the box in the move or something.

Happier news . . . Allie has her first loose tooth! Of course she's probably going to lose it when we're out of town, but I'm excited for her. She's saving up money to buy a pink, furry Bible cover, so a visit from the tooth fairy should make her pretty excited.

The lease has spoken! And it has said we are in the clear. So take that, rental agency. Aaaaahhhhh, it feels good to be right. :)

Thought I'd post some pics of the new house. Of course, it doesn't have any personality yet because WE haven't moved in, but it will.

I like the kitchen colors.

Not sure the pantry is big enough. Haha.

Ryan looking out the window in the girls' room.

This house came on the market when the deal fell through for the people building it. They had good taste on the inside colors, but what I don't understand is this: they chose a cream colored house with WHITE shutters on the outside! That should be illegal, don't ya think? I absolutely can't wait to get my hands on those shutters. I told Ethan this and he mentioned that we would need to buy an expensive, really tall ladder. Here was the rest of our conversation.

Me: I don't think we need a ladder. I'll just lean out the windows and paint the shutters.

Him: (barely concealing laughter) You will NOT lean out the windows. You'll fall.

Me: I will not fall.

Him: You WILL fall.

Me: What makes you think I would fall? I'll keep more than half of my body inside the house!

Him: That doesn't matter. I know you, and I know you'll fall.

Me: (glaring at him)

Him: There are some people who are good at climbing, and you're not one of them.

Me: What the heck! You don't even know how I climb! I don't even know how I climb!

Him: I just know.

And so on. So apparently I can't climb. Nice to know.

Memory Lane

All of this fun packing has made me decide to run away for a few days. Why not, right? I mean, it's not like we have a deadline or anything to move out. (Well. . . okay, that's not exactly true.) But I have decided to take a mental health break while Ethan's out of town and take the kids to visit Grandpa and Grandma.

Since I'm on their computer, I have to download pictures from their files. I just found a bunch of pictures of the house I grew up in. I lived there until I was eighteen and left to tour with the drum corps. While I was gone that summer, they moved. Nice, huh? (Kidding! Don't feel bad when you read this, mom.)

Here's some of our yard. Yard, yard, yard. Oh, I should mention that these pics were obviously taken on one of those delightfully freezing winter days, so it's not that pretty to look at.

We used to have deer come into our yard and eat the strawberries. It drove my parents crazy. We also had a cow wander through one time that I remember. I used to think I could survive on my own by eating honeysuckle flowers and apples off our trees. (This was when I got mad at my parents and wanted to live outside. I know, so mature.)

Here's the house. This was taken a couple of years ago when the current owners put it on the market.

Well. That's my old bus stop.

And the nearest paved road. Hmm.

My brother and I rode our bikes a lot when we were little. We also rolled down the hill in barrels. We didn't have many neighbors, so we kind of wandered all over the place. It was a good place to grow up.

I promise to answer those questions about our new home soon. Like maybe tomorrow. :)

Movin' Out

We are up to our ears in moving boxers. Boxes, I mean.

Here's how packing with my kids has been going. I put five books in the box. Ryan takes out seven. While I find something else for him to do, the girls decide to make a fort out of the neat stack of boxes up against the wall. I explain that we still need to walk through the house. They don't understand. Then I look at the clock and realize we're late for ballet. I grab my purse and hurry the kids to the car. When I discover no keys in my purse, I ask the girls, "Where's mommy's keys?" and they reply, "Oh, Ryan was putting them in the box that you were packing." Aaaaghh! So it's five minutes of frantically ripping neat strips of tape off three boxes, looking for keys.

I will never move again.

Thought of the Day

Life shouldn't be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather, to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly shouting, 'Wow! What a ride! Thank You, Lord!'

Pumpkin Carriage

Thought we would try something different this year than the traditional jack-o-lantern. Ok, I lie, this was actually my first attempt EVER carving a pumpkin. It was fun.

A few friends came over and we tried to work some magic. Unfortunately these don't look that exciting when they're not lit up. :) To see what we were going for, go to http://www.hallmarkmagazine.com/PROJ_HowTo_FantasyPumpkin

I should have gotten the mice . . .

Elephant

One of my friends has been patiently waiting for me to finish some paintings for her home. I'm happy to say I finally finished the elephant which will go with the giraffe one that has been done for about six months. :) Last to go is a tiger painting, and I hope to have that done before Christmas. Since the colors of the elephant and giraffe are somewhat different, I hope to tie it all together with the tiger.

Thanks for your patience, Sue!