End of the week

Today was a halfzies kind of day. I folded one of the two piles of laundry. I planted one of the two flower beds on the front porch. I organized one of the two bedrooms on my list. I stripped, washed and re-made two of the four beds in the house. And now I'm going to eat one of the two chocolate candy bars that Jason brought home for me. It just seems like the right thing to do.

Elaina turns 8!

Once again, computer crashed therefore small amount of photos therefore short video of basically the same photos. But regardless of all that, Elaina turned eight today! I took cupcakes to her class this afternoon and watched her blush as they all sang happy birthday. It seems like she had a great day.

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

9-23

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. It was really, really good.  Jason had lined up babysitting for the WHOLE day. We took the girls to school, came back and got ourselves and the house cleaned up, dropped Nora off at the babysitter's house, and took off. We ran a few errands in Fort Smith and then headed for Fayetteville. We stopped for lunch at Taziki's where Jason had stuffed grape leaves, salad, and soup and I had a basil pesto gyro. Then we went to a nearby town where we looked at some land we are considering buying. Below are two pictures of the plot.

 

 

We stayed there a while and visited with some friends that live a couple of houses over from the land and then we went into town and got pedicures. I have been trying for years to get Jason to get a pedicure with me. He liked the massage part but that's about all.

Then we went to Bravo's Italian Restaurant for supper and Lowe's for flowers. It was a nice, relaxing day. Apparently, it was just what I wanted. :)

 

Claire turns seven

In one hour and fourteen minutes, Claire will turn seven. Claire's birthdays always hit me the hardest. I think it's because when Elaina turns a new age, it's hard to believe but at the same time, she's supposed to be older; she's the firstborn. But when Claire turns these grown up ages, it's hard to comprehend that my second child is that old.

My computer crashed this summer and I lost all my photos. There were a few uploads on the Mac that I was able to pull pictures from but they are all from a three month time span. Oh well. What can you do?That's why the song is so short, though. I had a few more photos that I could have used, but the end of the song gets more and more tribal and honestly, it felt weird to have drums thumping and natives hollering in the background as a smiling picture of Claire goes sliding by. So I nixed a few of the ones that were a bit redundant and cut the song a little short. Next year I'll be more on top of things. 

Happy 7th Birthday, Clark Bar. We love you!

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

Tuesday

We moved in yesterday evening. It was basically a smooth night. I accidentally left the shower things in Mom's car so that wasn't convenient, but this morning I went and picked them up and everyone is now nice and fresh. This evening, after supper, we all went out in the yard and threw a football and a little rubber ball, picked up some trash, rode bikes and just enjoyed each other's company. It felt wonderful to be able to play outside and not have little neighbors running up and trying to join in on the bonding. It felt wonderful to have plenty of yard in which to play. It felt wonderful to put all four girls to sleep in the same room, sweetly lined up in their beds. It felt wonderful to have everyone go to sleep with out any fuss. It feels wonderful to sit here beside Jason and enjoy our new home. Yes-in-deedy, I'm going to like living here. 

Saturday

We are still plugging away at the rent house. The kitchen is totally put together which feels like a giant hurdle has been crossed. I think I may go tomorrow afternoon and get the computer and wi-fi up and running. Then on Monday, we should be able to move our clothing and dressers over from my parents' house. 

This past week, the construction workers finally started on mom's new kitchen. Nora has enjoyed chatting with the four men as they work and sharing their peanut butter crackers during break time. Yesterday, we left as they were leveling with string. When we got home, we found this by the front door. 

Love my babies. 

Making progress

Slowly but surely we are making progress. Tomorrow should be the most dramatic day as far as "moving in" goes. We've almost emptied one of our two storage buildings and if I get those boxes sorted and put away, we should be able to sleep there tomorrow night. Woo Hoo for new adventures!

More...

Bradley "Jack" Irby

After two hours of playing peek-a-boo, Captain Jack finally decided to make an appearance. He's cute, tiny, soft, and has the largest eyes and longest eyelashes I've ever seen on a newborn.
Mmmmm. Love him.

Last picture as a family of two.

Sweet, sweet baby.

It was hard to give him back.

Nephew on the way!

Baby Jack is coming some time today. Stay tuned for baby pictures. I'm guessing he has red hair. :)

Rent House- Before

Welp. I have some before shots of the rental house. It's ok if you shudder because you can take comfort in the fact that the house does not look anything like these pictures now. It's all pretty and shiny and very soon will be clean.

We had to replace some of the ceiling tiles in what will be the schoolroom. I was going to paint this room but my stamina has run out and really, the walls will be mostly covered by bookshelves and maps.

This picture is from the back of the hallway looking in towards the kitchen and dining room.

This is the living room. We painted it a nice non-color called Night Mist. It's purdy.

This is the bathroom. Ha! Just seeing if you were paying attention. This is the kitchen and those green cabinets will be a fresh white eventually. The paneling in this area will be painted white, also. The lower cabinets will stay unpainted. And the attic stairs won't stay down. :)

This is the fun screen door that leads from the dining room to the laundry room. Jason and Lyndol put new walls in here and Alisa painted the floor.

AAAHHHHHHHH!!!! That's all I have to say about this color.

This is the back bathroom and I won't do much in here besides give the walls a coat of white paint.

AAAAAHHHHHH!!!! Sorry. I can't help it. This is the girls' bedroom. It is a beautiful, crisp, lovely, white color now.

There was some old paisley wallpaper on this wall. Right now, it's just white but I have some wallpaper picked out to purchase at a much later date.

Welcome to the front bathroom. I'm going to take the door off the cabinet so it's just shelves and paint it white. The paneling will also be painted white.

This is an inside shot of the laundry room, halfway through construction.

Lyndol and Alisa had the wood floors refinished and they are BEAUTIFUL. They look brand new.

We've made a lot of progress since these photos were taken and I'm getting really excited to be able to show you after pictures! The plan is for some of the moving in to take place next week. Hooray!