Settling In

So it's been a long month of unpacking boxes, throwing stuff away, trips to my favorite Swedish furniture store and then hours of putting together the fun stuff I find, and lots of fun adventures getting used to a whole new life for us. Why is it so new, when all we did was move? Well, we're in a totally different part of town, which means our grocery stores and our gas stations and the places we run to for a quick unhealthy bit to eat--all these have changed. So we're just getting used to it all. The creaks our house makes or trying to make our house smell like us like our old one did. We've had 2 rodent adventures (those of you who know me know how much I hate rodents). We've had a couple falls down the stairs. We've thrown out a ton of stuff and will be having a massive garage sale soon. Anyway, that is why I haven't blogged for the whole month--each time I sit down, I'm too tired or I hear a box calling my name.

We have a jam packed summer of fun activities. I probably overbooked the kids, so we'll see how well we all do. Mimi almost broke her nose yesterday, we're waiting it out today to see if the swelling goes down. If it does and her nostril is still plugged, then we have to go see the dr. about fixing it! Never knew VBS could be so violent! The funny thing is it's at our old church--we jokingly told each other it happend on purpose to get back at us for leaving! That's funny because it's not true, but it has been bittersweet going there everyday. As much as we know God wants us where we are, and as much as my husband would rather eat dreaded pineapple everyday than go back there, I still miss it. I miss a lot of the people, I miss the smell of the place, I miss our pastor. But I also know it's not good for me to be there and I need to obey God and my husband, and part of that obeying is not bellyaching about missing the old place or bellyaching about the people there that still hurt me or get to me. Either I commit to God's plan for our family or I live in a state of constant rebellion, which is no fun. So this whole year has been a HUGE learning process and I'm anxious to have some down time at some point this summer and reflect on where we've been and where we're going.

I'll try to be more regular about posting-but for now, I"m off to enjoy the 90 degree weather!

First post from the new house!

We're in! We're not settled and there's lots of boxes in my house still, but we're in. The kids are doing so much better; we've met a lot of new neighbors and they seem very friendly; I've found a dead mouse in my Tupperware (I knew our old house still had mice in the garage!); and I'm not getting any sleep! But each day we love it more and more and we're getting used to all the sounds this house makes and trying to make it smell like our home.

Two nights ago, I made my first full dinner here. Ben, my 7 year old, came in the door and said, "MMM, something smells good!" (Oddly enough, it was chicken and rice, which 20 minutes later he promptly turned his nose up at it because he doesn't like chicken or rice, but I think it's only my chicken because he eats chicken nuggets, baked chicken breast, KFC, etc.!) Anyway, I heard him go into Madeleine's room and say, "Mimi, I don't mean to be rude, but our house hasn't smelled at all like our house until today. I walked in the door and it smelled like our home!" Isn't that sweet?

Also, today, Sophia, my 5 year old, came upstairs and saw me putting clothes away. She dropped what she was doing and said, "You do not need to do this alone!" then proceeded to take 9 trips up and down the stairs, bringing me clothes from a box. This from my "uncoordinated" child who dislikes running or sweating! She then dressed up in my old prom dresses, at one point wearing a velvet short jacket, no shirt, a black cape, a Batman chest thing, and put a rose in her mouth and struck a pose. We saw her change almost into a different kid from her last day as a 4 year old to her 5th bd! Its' been so cute and fun!

I'll try to update on Teddy's mom more later, and also fill in the details on Disneyland later.