An Empty House, Part I

The kids and I mosied on over to the house today with the camera and I got lots of pictures. 

Here, I am standing outside of the front door and you can see through to the back of the house on the left there (it is one of the bedrooms).  Christian is on the landing that meets the steps (you can't see to his left) which go down to the kitchen.  The steps go up to the second floor on his right.

This is the living room, which is left of the entry...

When you go through the living room you find yourself in a den/study which is quite large.  The door right behind Christian goes to the living room; the other door goes to a hallway.

The master bedroom is next...

It has a nice, big closet...

There is another bedroom downstairs with its own bathroom...

An extra bathroom below the stairs, in the hallway...it's cute.

Now, the kitchen is kind of hard to explain, but it's an "L" shaped room.  This is a picture of the small part of the "L".

It is the very back of the kitchen/house.  I am in the corner of the kitchen, where the side of the house and the back of the house meet, taking the picture of the washer/dryer; the pantry is the door on the left.  Below is the kitchen from the back of the room looking toward the front of the house.

There is room on the other side of the fridge for a smallish table, or something.  The door on that far end leads to the dining room.  You can see the pantry shelves on the right side of the photo.

This is the dining room, from the front corner of the house; I am looking into the entry way with the kitchen door on the right.

One bedroom upstairs from inside its closet...

Same room, other side...

Second bedroom upstairs...

and its closet...

This bedroom has its own bathroom...

This is the third bedroom upstairs which has a nice closet and its own bathroom which also connects to the hallway.

That last picture is from the hallway.

This is the stairway, with the platform which I mentioned in a previous post...the one Christian noticed right away.  OFF LIMITS!

Finally this is the entry and the dining room, with me standing in the living room.  It's a big space.  Plenty of room for all of our shoes (which we don't wear in the house)! 

We are so blessed to be able to live here.  I'll share some images of us making this house our home in the next few weeks.

Reminiscent...

When I was small, I went to stay with my grandma in Kentucky.  She took me home with her, from Virginia, and my parents were coming a little later for a convention in town.  I bet they had fun while I was gone!  It was the summer before my second birthday, and I was a clever little thing (so I hear). 

One day Grandma went to work, and my aunt was babysitting me.  Now, this part of the story I don't know anything about, but for some reason there was a moment for me to disappear.   Suddenly, she was there in the house, I was supposed to be there in the house, but I was NOT in the house.  My aunt is about 15 years older than me. 

Well, she looked everywhere.  She was very worried, even went outside to check quickly to see if I had escaped somehow.  She went down to the basement kitchen and happened to see the dog sitting under the table.  Hmmm.  She looked closer and discovered a little girl under there as well, with a bag of mini powdered sugar donuts...and the dog, something of the terrier kind, had a very fluffy face full of powdered sugar.  And he was not giving away my hiding spot.

I think my aunt didn't know whether to spank me or squeeze me.

I think of this story every now and then and giggle.  Today it was brought to my mind because of this scene...

Christian dropped his plate with cake on it, and I went to get something to clean up the sticky icing residue.  When I came back...well, someone had been quicker than me!  She was poking her finger in it, and taking tiny little pinches.  And she was so very grateful for Christian's generosity.  I could see it all over her face.

Like mother, like daughter...we'll take goodies at the table, on the table, heck, even under the table!

We Are Really Moving...

We were able to go see our new house yesterday, walk through, check out closets, start figuring out where to put what furniture as well as people.  It was exciting to take a tour; it's quite large and we should have plenty of space for our "stuff."  Boy, do we have some stuff.  Because of our moves in the last few years, I think there are some things that we haven't even seen since Princeton. 

Speaking of Princeton, I was feeling very nostalgic about our time there today.  I wonder if it's because we are about to pack up and relocate again?  Hmmm.  The years we spent there and the friendships we made are treasured.  I was missing folks today.  Folks, if you're reading this, I was missing you today!

I hope to get some pictures of the inside of the house soon, to share with you guys.  Maybe I can this weekend. 

The kids loved racing through the house as well.  It has a cool double stariway that connects in a small landing and then continues up to the second floor.  They thought that was amazing.  And of course Christian zeroed in on the "platform" at the top of the stairs, but opposite from the top step (that makes no sense, does it?).  It is this little, well, platform (I can't come up with a better word) that you can see from the top step if you turn around and face as if you were going downstairs.  Mike said that was off limits...we could just see the wheels spinning in his head.  Michaela and Christian decided which closet was going to be their fort.  Eliana walked around stomping her foot and squealing; it was her attempt to jump like the other two.  There is a great closet in the master bedroom, a fantastic library/study, a good front closet, and-you are not going to believe this-five bathrooms.  Um, I can't even keep two bathrooms clean.  Five?  But I have a plan.  I will clean one each night, take the weekends off, each gets cleaned once a week (plus whatever accidents/weirdo stuff that needs a midday go), and the weekends I take off.  Sounds great, doesn't it.  Yes!  And I'm gonna do it.  You betcha.  (Please stop laughing, I really need your encouragement here.)

I have also recruited Michaela to help me with cleaning, and Christian is on my list.  He's good with a Swiffer.  Ah, those are great tools, no?

So, that certainly made it seem more real, considering I haven't packed up much, or been motivated to do so.  It's just around the corner, and I don't know if that makes it harder or easier, to tell you the truth.  One thing I do know...it is a blessing beyond my understanding that we are able to be where we are, with Mike doing what he's doing, and get to live in such a wonderful house.  (The house we've been living in is nice too, but this new one is so much bigger.)  I always come back to that verse in Luke 12 about to whom much is given much is expected.  May we be a family that meets those expectations.

More Birthday Festivities

Since school was canceled on Christian's birthday, his class celebrated it today with a one-of-a-kind book and a time for a special treat-cupcakes with chocolate frosting.  We were also able to share a book with his classmates, one of our favorites, which happens to coincide with the country they are studying-how cool is that?

The one-of-a-kind book is made up of letters from his classmates, each wishing him a happy birthday and other cute things ("Do you like blue?" or "You make me laugh" for example).  

What a wonderful memory made, and a gift to cherish.

Christian also got to share some special things that he brought from home in the "Birthday Bag."  Here, he is showing his friends his new robe (?! He wanted to bring it...). 

He also had some Zoobs (a toy), his iPod, a little car, and a Lego Star Wars creation.  And don't you love his crown?

And the moment they were all waiting for...

The room was very quiet for a couple of minutes.  But only a couple.

Mike took this time to read our special story (it might be my very favorite children's story/fable)-The Empty Pot. 

It is a wonderful story about a little boy who is greatly rewarded for his honesty and integrity, for doing his best.  I love it, love it, love it, and am so glad we were able to share it with the class.  I'm also glad Mike read it because I can't read it without crying.  Christian was excited to take this book too, which I thought was neat.  He walked around showing everyone a picture of the little boy and was very into the whole scenario.  Can you imagine?

It was sweet to be part of such a happy time in his classroom, and see the interaction between him and his classmates.  When the teacher read from his little book he tried to guess which person had written the page.  He would scan the kids in the floor and point to whomever he thought had written that particular note.  They would clap if he guessed correctly (which he did most of the time!).  They were very excited and proud. 

Watching your child in an environment in which he thrives is so satisfying, whether it's playing in the backyard or with friends at school.  I'm so glad we were able to participate in this birthday activity with his class.  He is surrounded by children who enjoy his company and teachers who bring out his best-what a blessing!

"Celebrate Good Times, Come On..."

I really wanted to do this post last night, but this is what I was up against...

and I was definitely at a disadvantage-outnumbered, operating on an energy deficit, and running out of time before my midnight appointment with a certain bad sleeper that I know. 

Enough about me and my troubles.  I truly want to highlight some of the sweet moments from yesterday, a.k.a. the day my favorite son was born. 

 The very first thing Christian wanted to do when he woke up was open up "just one present" (out of the two) from Grandma and Mr. Bob that had arrived in the mail a couple of days earlier.  He chose which one to open and was...

stupefied?  Confounded?  Flabbergasted?   (This is what I look like when I realize that I already ate the last piece of chocolate cake...oh, but enough about me and my troubles, right?)

He finished opening the present...

and was thrilled to discover some new K'nex, a very cool construction toy.

Around that time we found out that school was canceled for the day because of bad weather, so we let him open the other gift from Grandma and Mr. Bob.

He was so happy about this present; roller blades, just like Michaela's!  (But not purple...) 

Can you tell he was excited about them?

Since Michaela is now a pro she helped him get them on, so that they could practice in the living room.  It is 8:15 in the morning, people, and my children want to roller blade.  I want to sleep, they want to roller blade.  I'm not sure where they came from.  Maybe Mike has something to do with it...

He tried walking in them a little, just on the runner we have in our living room...

He kind of looked like he was doing "the robot"-tricky boy.

Then there was more practice...

 Eliana was not about to be left out of this action.

At this point, Christian was tiring of his "lessons" and so we set the skates aside and finished up breakfast and other morning activities.  Since there was no school for Christian, we took a break at home too.  The kids played nicely together, and whenever they didn't, well, there was a serious consequence...

I have to let them know that I will be taken seriously, and that they must behave at all times, or else.  Or else what?  Um, or else I'll stick them in a tiny tubular casing-like they're little sausages-and take lots of pictures of them.  That's what.  I'm hard-core, man.

We actually went outside for a little bit after lunch to check out our icy wonderland.

Eliana, and Michaela and Christian, thought the ice that had formed was fascinating.  They were finding it in the cracks of the sidewalk and in the blades of grass.  Eliana just loved to be outside.  She was like,"Bye, and see ya' later."

I didn't stay out very long with her because she needed a nap.

The big kids stayed out for several hours-by this time it wasn't very cold, and the icicles were melting, and the sky was blue, and the back yard was muddy.  Where else would they want to be?  Duh.

I got Eliana to sleep, and I also took some fun pictures.  I am seriously not a photo-whiz.  But I did have a good time trying to look at things in a different way, with the combination of the ice and the sun. 

The kids found some neato things out there too, like this ice-mold of leaves...

They thought it was hilarious that there were icicles hanging on the front of our car and that the water bottle that they had left outside the other day with a little water in it had big chunks of ice in it now.  They were very busy out there discovering what happens when freezing weather comes along.  And if you ask Michaela she will be able to tell you water's freezing point and boiling point, Fahrenheit.  So...we were really doing math, right?  Right. 

Later that afternoon, Christian received a couple more packages in the mail.  These were from Grandpa and Ms. Susie.  They sent Michaela and Eliana gifts as well, so everyone had a blast opening more presents, and then getting into the activities.

Christian's gift was an EzyRoller, a sitting-down, wiggle-it-to-make-it-go kind of thing.  He is going to LOVE this.  We couldn't put it together right away, so they ended up working on the project pack that Michaela opened.  It has little magnet squares that come in many different colors, and sheets of paper with designs that you put the colored squares on, in order to make a picture-sort of like color-by-number, but with magnets.  Pretty cool, and they loved watching the design emerge as they added the colors to the sheet. 

While they were busy with this activity, I tried to get a cake made for Christian's family birthday celebration, as well as dinner itself. 

Can you tell what this is?  This is my first ever attempt to make a "themed" birthday cake.  My normal thing to do is make chocolate cake with chocolate icing.  Period.  I did make an outline of a boot on his cake last year, but that was not a big deal.  This, I wanted to be special, because he specifically asked for it.

A little odd, maybe, but Christian was happy.  His contribution?  Yoda's light saber.  And by the way, faces on cakes (or anywhere for that matter) ARE REALLY HARD.  I have a new respect for cake decorators. 

We sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew out his candles...

One was a little tricky, but he kept at it...

We had a great day, celebrating Christian's birthday, and it's still amazing to me how quickly time passes...