A Nice Day

Tonight we took the kids up to church where they played games and got LOTS of candy. We are going to try and make this candy last more than the usual week or two. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully I can stay away from all that chocolate myself. Here are some pictures from earlier this evening.
Little Miss Princess Rachel; she just loves to dress up as a princess. We don't have any girly costumes yet, so we had to borrow one from the Hayes family. With all those girls they have, we firgued they might have something Rachel could wear. I think she felt pretty special.

We like to hand down costumes. Both Josiah and Rachel have been the elephant and now Jesse takes his turn. He did pretty well with it.

Here's Jedaiah as a pumpkin. It is big, but it works. All the kids have worn this costume at some point in their babyhood.

Jonathan is trying to be silly here. He likes to make this face in all his pictures lately. I guess it reminds me of me when I was his age. I remember being in Ireland an posing for all the pictures like a model. I'm glad that phase didn't last long.

Today was a fun day. James and I got to go on a shopping date. We ended up buying dining chairs and living room furniture. It was nice to get out, just the two of us.

It rained a lot this past week and this is the result. The river behind us flooded. The river bottom on the other side of the river looks like a lake. For a couple days this fall we have had lake front property. This picture was taken off our back deck. The road going to the state park has flooded three times since we moved in. We sure have had lots of rain this past month. Our poor yard is quite the mud pit. The kids have not been able to play outside much since we moved. I hope November is a dryer month.

Jesse's Little Messy

A few minutes ago I was working in the basement, trying to get it organized (a huge and long task), when we heard Jesse awake in his room. I sent Rachel up to open the door and let him out. Now earlier after I put Jesse down for his nap, Rachel went in there while he was sleeping. She came down and told me he had pooped. I figured it must of smelled and she noticed it. I wasn't going to go wake him to change his diaper. Well, she did more than smell poop. She must have seen it all over the rug. That's what I saw after looking for his diaper when Jesse came down to greet me in the basement with no diaper on.

Fortunately I had my carpet cleaner back from loaning it out recently. I got to work, cleaning the carpet and it all came out. While I was at it I cleaned the mud tracks from someone's sneakers. (Can you guess who? We have the rule of shoes off at the door, but some choose to sometimes ignore that rule).

While I was cleaning the carpet, I put Jesse in the tub to clean him up. He wasn't too messy, but he did have some poop stuck on his foot and a wet wipe just wasn't cutting it. After a couple minutes, Rachel informed me that there was enough water in the tub for Jesse. I went to shut the water off (it was only about 3 inches) only to discover that Jesse made another poopy mess in the tub! Now, after I finish nursing, I have to go clean the tub. A mother's work is never done.

Jedaiah at 5 Weeks Old

Here's a picture of Jedaiah that I took yesterday. I will also upload a video I took to dropshots. He is doing well, but he has a bit of a cough. Hopefully it won't get worse. Jesse got his first cold at five weeks also and he ended up with RSV a couple weeks later. I haven't found the nebulizer in my unpacking yet and I hope I won't need it. We are trying diligently to keep the germs away from Jedaiah. We are trying to prevent him from getting the flu (H1N1) that is rampant right now. He is too young to get a vaccine for it and too young to take antiviral medicine if he does get it (you have to be a year old).

This is a beautiful tree that is in our backyard. When I wake up in the morning (if it is light out), this is what I see. It is soooo cool!! Yesterday evening there was a deer in our front yard and the week before we watched seven turkeys out our front windows, eating breakfast. I just love living out here. It still doesn't seem real. I feel so blessed that we get to live in the house and in this place.

Things are Still a Mess Around Here

The stuff seems overwhelming. Its everywhere. Fortunately I can keep most of it in the basement and go through it as I get time (which is not often or very much). I just took some video and you can see my new, messy house on dropshots. I wish I could have waited until it was all clean and nice, but that could be quite a while and some of you have been asking to see it. So go and check it out if you'd like.

I Love the Body of Christ

This past week was such a good week of unpacking. Almost everyday I had someone who came to help. Monday a friend came with her children, brought a meal and helped set up Rachel's room. I had wanted to get that room done that day, but downsized my goal to get the laundry room done. When Linda showed up to help unexpectedly, we actually got both rooms in good shape. On Tuesday my friend, Melinda, came with her kids and brought pizza. Then we worked together to get clothes hung up and folded in my closet.
On Wednesday I took care of myself, getting on the treadmill (for the first time in a week or so) and taking a nap. I got just a little unpacking done that day, but that was okay. Thursday would more than make up for it.
Thursday I had arranged for another friend, Sandy, to come and help. Sarah (my homeschool buddy) graciously took all my kids, except for the baby, for the day. Sandy showed up with lunch for me and then we started on the school room. A couple hours later three more ladies from church showed up bringing dinner. They came prepared to do whatever needed to be done. The house was transformed that afternoon. By the time James arrived home it was all neat and clean and dinner was on a decorated, candlelit table. It was so cool. I had so much fun too. What a wonderful blessing! I think those ladies were blessed for serving also. I have made it a point to call on all those who have offered to come and help and I'm so glad I did. As an added blessing that day, another good friend, Jo, showed up and brought lots of goodies (snacks) for our family.
Friday (yesterday) I continued to unpack. I had some other things to do, so I didn't get a whole lot done. Last night James and I were up pretty late, getting our own room in order. It is looking pretty good now.
Today I have to go through all the kids clothes and then I want to go clean the trailer and get it ready to sell. If I get those two things done today I will be thrilled! We'll see. I will try and get some pictures posted soon as I know some of you have be patiently waiting.

We're Home...

We got most everything moved on Saturday. It was such a blessing to have so much help, thanks to family and our Sunday School class. I'm not sure I even moved a box that day. I even had some help unpacking. There is a ton of boxes to go through but most of them are in the basement and I probably won't get to them for a while. I'm at my inlaw's now, doing laundry because we need a different plug for the dryer. Our dryer can't be more than three years old and since we bought it they have changed fire code from a three prong plug to a four. So we hope to change out the plug soon so I can do laundry at home.

The major project I'll be working on this week is clothes. I think it will probably take all week to sort through it all and make sure everyone has enough warm clothes for the winter. I hope to get some maternity clothes put away too.

Update

Last night we spent our first night at the house and boy was it quiet. We didn't even hear the rain (a much different experience than we are used to in the trailer). We slept in sleeping bags. Hopefully this rain will stop soon so that we can get our mattress moved. We've been moving stuff all morning and will be all afternoon, even in the rain. We should have the trailer and house here cleaned up by the end of the day. A friend just took three of the little kids with her for the afternoon. That will be nice to not have to keep them out of trouble. Now for lunch and then more moving!

It's Time to Move!!

I was hoping to post pictures of the house by now, but I haven't found the time lately. It is just about done. It is supposed to be finished by 5:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon. I'm hoping to move some things from the trailer to the garage tomorrow afternoon. The painter will be doing touchups, so we can't really move stuff in until the evening. We are very excited and can't believe we are getting to live in such a beautiful house. It is going to be quite a contrast going from the trailer to this house.

Jedaiah is doing well, sleeping a good six hours at night. I have been sleeping in every morning, since I can't really take naps during the day. That will change when we move. We've been doing school and that has gone okay, but it has kept things very busy.

Joshua turned 9 yesterday. We didn't celebrate much yesterday. We are planning on finishing up his leftover birthday cake tomorrow night at our new house. We celebrated his birthday with family last Saturday at James' sister's house (it was my niece's birthday too). I did manage to get a card filled out for Josh yesterday and he really was thankful for it.

We won't be having phone or internet service until October 24th because they can't get it out there until then. In the interim I will be checking email every couple days at my inlaws and we'll be using our cell phones.

The next time I post to this blog will be after we have moved in, YEAH!!!!