Ahem....

Well, I certainly did not intend for that to be a 2 1/2 month blogging hiatus. Life has just happened a lot in the last couple of months. Like, a lot a lot.

I have lost track of how many friends and family have come to stay with us or that have visited with us during their Colorado vacations this summer. We've hiked, we have camped, Joe has climbed a couple of 14ers, we have sat on the deck and read books in the sun, taken care of flowers, done a little bit of learning, played with play dough and clay, I worked on my course work for my childbirth educator training.

So yeah. I am not ignoring you, Internet friends, life just got real crazy. And I am not one of those people that handles busy very well.  My computer also had some weirdness, so there wasn't one place for me to download pictures. And I am afraid my rambling only takes this blog so far- we need pictures!

I am making a pie crust promise to blog more now. Okay?

Sprrrring

We inherited a ton of planters and pots and such from the former owners of the house. There were actually built in planter boxes on the upper deck. So even though I'm not what you would call a green thumb, I've been itching to plant some flowers. At least to fill the planter boxes with something other than last years dead flowers.

 But Spring is pretty hard fought here in the mountains. There is a lot of back. And forth. And back and forth. And just when you think it's gonna happen, it goes back again. 

I am terrible at waiting though. I kept looking at flowers all through May, tempted by their bright springiness. I restrained myself. Which was a good call because it looked like this on Mother's Day: 

April Showers bring May... Snow?

But finally, finally! There is a weekly forecast where no temps below 40 are predicted. And it is supposed to be pretty nice and sunny. It was crazy gorgeous earlier today. I had asked Joe if he would get me some flowers for our anniversary next week, and boy, did he deliver. So I spent this afternoon making the outside of our house nice and Springish. 

Joe had gone on a hike with the three biggers so I got these cuties to help me. And actually, they were relatively helpful! Now I just need to keep the plants alive :)

I don't even....

Well, my last post was about a month ago, so it's kind of hard to know where to start. Should I journal? Just ramble? Oh, the indecisiveness.

So, it's gorgeous here right this current moment. I think it might actually stay Spring pretty much now? Oh, mountain living. I don't know why I bother to even look at the forecast cause it isn't right more than half the time. And the changes! Wake up to snow, have it melt, comfortable sunshine for a couple of hours, clouds then rain, sometimes small hail-like pellets. I had kind of forgotten. And it's been exceptionally unpredictable this month. Life lesson: seize the moment. Truly. I was vacuuming one morning, intending to sit in the sunshine when I got done. I have three floors of carpets, so it took 45 minutes. And as I was putting the vacuum away, this huge, sun-blocking cloud came over the house. I shall sit in the sun when I can. Vacuuming can wait. The sun won't always be out.

Bathroom reno is done. Okay, 99% done. We need to put in a threshold between the bathroom and the hallway. But there are no ants, you can use the bathroom and wash your hands in there, and it doesn't smell like cat pee. Win!

The kids are kids. We are doing some math lessons. And probably writing lessons, this summer between visitors. This is rather anti-climactic for my kids, since there is no official "end" to school. Oh well. I also need to decide what I am doing with each of them next year. I hate deciding. Seriously, if I could have someone meet the kids, talk to them, and then pick out what to teach them and just tell me (and buy the curriculum and books, too, please?) that'd be awesome. Curriculum choices are not for the indecisive.

George is beautiful and exhausting. Sweet with the best smile sometimes, screaming like a banshee sometimes. Playing with Adelle and going along with her games sometimes, kicking his siblings at random at times. Charming sometimes. Kind of beasty. He is my 5th child and usually at least one time each day I think, "I have no idea how to deal with this child." Only there are more expletives in my thoughts.

I've felt for some time that something is "off" with him. Like I said, he's my 5th, this isn't my first rodeo. So I've talked with some early childhood people at the school district about him, we did a screening which they looked and he's going to have an evaluation in August.  It's kind of humbling to tell people, "I am just not sure how to handle this kid".  I am praying that between the evaluation and/ or preschool, he will figure out ways to deal with some of his things and I can figure out how to respond in the most effective way to some of his behaviors. Whew, parenting. Not for the faint-hearted.

Lifewise, moving has taken some adjustment, but comparatively, it has been such a smooth transition. People at Church have so welcoming, inviting our family to Easter, to birthdays, to random get togethers. It's been pretty amazing.  And the family time! Hikes and picnics and more hikes. There is so much to do here, even if it is just finding an amazing trail and walking for hours.  Joe and I have started taking a walk around the "block" at lunchtime, about 1.5 miles and it is wonderful. Good for the body, good for the soul. When we were walking today, I kept taking in deep breaths of fragrant, pine and aspen-scented mountain air. So fantastic.

Not perfect, but perfect for us :)

Out my window: It has actually been dreary and rainy this morning, but the sun just popped up over the mountain and from behind a cloud. I don't know how long that'll last but it is beautiful :)

Clothing myself in: Black yoga pants, blue striped long sleeved T, grey fleece and purple cabled hat.

Around the house: Well, we are undertaking a basement bathroom renovation, a bit earlier than we had anticipated :P The basement bathroom (half bath, actually, no shower or tub) was carpeted. And the carpet had been used by a cat as a litter pan at some point before we lived here. I noticed it was stinky when we saw the house last summer.  But it actually didn't smell too bad when we moved in, so we left the carpet and figured we could deal with it later.

A couple weeks ago, Joe steamcleaned the basement carpet including the bathroom.  A couple days later, I noticed that there was a bunch of sand around the base of the toilet. It looked odd, not like sand that would come off someone's shoes. The next day at bedtime, Isabelle came out and let us know that there were ants in the sand. Hmmmm. So we pulled up the carpet around the toilet and yes, that was not sand but ant hills. We vacuumed what we could and Joe decided to take up the remaining carpet and take the toilet off the next morning.

He set to it the next morning and oh. my.  He called me down and said, "Are you ready for this?" Uhhhhh? No?  Underneath the toilet (under the bowl part) was the biggest ant colony you could imagine living under a toilet, complete with larvae. *shudder*  The best we can figure is that the wax ring deteriorated,  rotted the wood around the pipe, allowing the ants to push through and set up house. Ahhhh, home ownership is neat sometimes.

Hence our bump on the reflooring project. We actually decided to switch the sink/ cabinet and mirrors in the basement bath with the one in our hall bath, which I think looks nice :)  Now we are painting the basement bath, Joe is putting down flooring and making sure the ants are done with. Then we will put the toilet and sink back in. Fun times.

Life with Kids: Liam received his First Communion on April 19th. It was a great day. He was so happy and excited.

Journal: Fun school things

Out my window: The sun is rising over the mountain. It was sunny and in the 60s yesterday, supposed to be cold today and then snow tomorrow and Friday. Ah, mountains.

Clothing myself in: Brown yoga pants, grey Jackson Hole long sleeve T, grey fleece.

Around the house: I have two baskets of clean laundry that have been sitting in my living room for 4? 5? days. And actually, by the time I put it away, it's going to be time to do laundry again, darn it! Mom and Dad Marney are coming to visit this weekend and to help us celebrate Liam's First Communion, so I am going to spiff up the house a bit. Maybe put away things that I've been meaning to actually put away for the last month? Joe hung up some art and photos on the walls this weekend, which is exciting.

Life with Kids: Our local school district has something they call "Homeschool Enrichment Academy".  They have had the program at the other elementary school in the district and now they are going to have it in the elementary school near our house, as well.  They have a separate building on the school campus where the homeschoolers will  gather to do, well, enriching, things- art, music, PE, Science projects, public speaking in the form of sharing what they are working on at home, Lego robotics. It looks fun and fantastic. A way for them to meet friends, get in all those "extras".  They are also able to be a part of all the extra-curriculars available to all the other kids in the district. It is pretty exciting.

We are also going to enroll George in preschool there as well. It'll be Monday- Thursday, half day. I am interested to see how that will go. We have never had a child go to preschool before.  But we are still taking our school or homeschooling choices "year by year and child by child". I am hoping that it will be a helpful experience for him. We talked with the preschool teachers yesterday and I think it will be a good fit. It is play-based, with a touch of "academics" but very at their level and low pressure.

Liam received his First Reconciliation on March 28th and will be receiving his First Communion this Sunday the 19th.  He is so excited. He has waited years for this!

Bringing me joy: Girl's night with some new friends, Triduum services with my big kids, exciting homeschool opportunities, how amazingly welcoming people in our Church and school communities have been, reading in the sunshine on the deck, the smell of sun-warmed pine trees, cute little squirrels, weekend adventures, new nail polish in the loveliest shade of pink, beer at local pub with my hubby.

House Tour Part II- The Main Floor

Okay so Joe actually did Part I- The Basement on his blog about a month ago.  So you can mosey on over there for the pictures of the basement/ ground floor.

 This is the view from the side door.  To my right are the stairs to go to the loft/ master bedroom. You will have to wait for that until next post because I can only clean one floor of my house at a time. That doorway across the room and to the right is the entrance to the dining room.

 Dining room when you are standing in the kitchen.

 Kitchen when you are standing in the dining room. Also, the doorway across the room and to the right goes to the hallway and also loops back around to the living room.

 Hallway. From the left- Bathroom, Big Boy's Room, Adelle and George's Room, gate leads to the Basement.

 Bathroom. I love shower doors! I can shut the water and splashing in with the little kids while they bathe.

 Adelle and George's Room. 

 View 2 of their room.

 Big Boy's room. I am actually standing next to where the Lego table is, which still needs legs so I am not going to take a picture of it. 

So there you go! 

Around the house here

I have taken a few pictures around the house the last few weeks. I finally got around to dumping them on the computer, so here we are.  Welcome to our home!

 Isaac helping make some granola bars. He really likes helping in the kitchen.

 My boys doing something? involving ants?  I don't know, but this was a unified project that kept them busy for at least an hour one day. Which is kind of miraculous.

 The girls and I watched from the deck.

 We have been in desperate need of a fresh stash of play dough, so we made some this morning.  The entertainment lasted hours. I had to give the carpet a good vacuum afterwards, but it was totally worth it.

 A heart for me.

 Volcano

 Even my big girl had fun!

Uh, this little project (we dyed the playdough with frosting dye) left my hands quite discolored, even after washing. Oh well, I suppose it has to come off eventually?

 Issy staged this and took the picture when she was playing with the littles one morning. 

She also set up this tea party for them.

Visit to the Great Sand Dunes

I visited the Great Sand Dunes National Park about 15? years ago, and I was just so taken with it. It is just an amazing slice of this wonderful Earth. A huge (seriously, huge!) pile of sand nestled up against gorgeous mountains. I have wanted to go back for many years and when I knew we were moving to Colorado that it was something I wanted to share with my family. So even though it is a three hour drive, we packed some food, threw the kids and dog in the car and made a day of it. I am really glad we did. We even got to see some amazing clouds in our drive home.

Journal: Settling in

Outside my window: Dark but the snow is almost melted. It has been beautiful here, for the most part. Sunny, warmish. Lots of time spent on the deck in the sunshine.

Clothing myself in: Tan pants, Jackson Hole long sleeved T. Grey fleece.

Around the house: I have a box of vases I still need to find a place for and two boxes of stuffed animals I still need to figure out what to do with. And yes, that is after giving away a lot of stuffed animals.  Other than that, we are all unpacked. I am sure there will be some tweaking as the flow of the spaces becomes more apparent, but it's good for now :)

The kiddos:We are settling into a nice school routine. It is a mishmash of things I am putting together. Khan Academy for Math, Science and Computer Programming (how cool is that?), Reading the Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings series for Literature. Tall Tales for the little ones. The only one I am stuck on is History. It is so hard to get age appropriate, interesting, history with as little bias as possible.

Adelle has started in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and it's going smoothly so far.  It has been much more relaxed than it was with the virtual school but they are still learning a ton and loving it, for the most part. I got hooked up with the Woodland Park homeschooling group, so that is exciting to see where that leads. From what I have gathered, there is a lot of opportunities for homeschoolers in this area. Exciting.

George is now completely potty trained, even at night. Going to work on weaning next :)  I told him we would be done when Spring came. I am ready. He is ready, even if he doesn't know it.

In the kitchen: White Chicken Chili and that's about all I currently have planned. I am working on compiling some high altitude baking recipes to replace some of our favorites.

Crafting: I did actually pull out some dishcloth yarn and start knitting a fun dishcloth last night. It was just so cozy in front of the fire, it seemed appropriate :)

Journal: We are home

Out my window: Dark and cold. Snow is falling on the gigantic pine trees in my yard.

Clothing myself in: Jeans, The Hawk In Paris t-shirt, pink hoodie.

Around the house: Kitchen cleaned, mostly organized, main floor bathroom scrupulously cleaned, master bathroom cleaned and organized, seasonal decorations and keepsake tubs put in storage. Clothes put away in dressers and closets.  A fair amount of boxes still left in the basement.  I am a fairly efficient unpacker, but trying to decide where to put things is tricky. What works in one house doesn't necessarily work in another and there isn't necessarily an equivalent space for things in each home. It is fine though- I have time to figure it all out.

The kiddos: Adjusting. They have played with toys that have been packed away with enthusiasm, explored our property a bit, read books.  It certainly isn't easy, but they are very good kids, and they have taken it all in stride. Adelle and George sharing a room has been going well so far- bedtime was my main worry, but he goes to sleep while she reads with Issy and then she goes in. Painless, so far. We are unpacking this week and then back to school next week.

In the kitchen: Easy meals planned this week while the unpacking is in full force- chili, biscuits and gravy, roast. Isabelle and I made peanut butter granola today. Made the house smell heavenly!

Crafting: Not yet. I can at least see the large wicker basket that holds all my yarn though, so that is a start!

Bringing me joy: I had the opportunity to see a lot of friends and family when we were in Wichita, which is always so lovely.  Stories, laughing, baby snuggling, long talks. Pulling up to the new house, Joe on the porch to greet us, fire in the wood stove will be a memory I forever cherish. Sunshine through big windows. Cleaning and putting our things away and making this house our home.

Thinking about: It is hard to believe that we are here. It is this beautiful blend of free will and our choosing to set this in motion and God's guidance. At the end of this post in June of 2013, I mentioned us talking at dinner that night about homeschooling and moving back to the mountains.  And last April, things started happening in our lives that allowed that to happen. The last 10 months- from our decision to try to move back to the mountains, to being here, have at times felt like an eternity, but in hindsight seem so short.

But truly, things have happened in God's good timing. From this house not being available when we were under the first contract in Wisconsin, to eventually settling on the house in Idaho and then losing the contract in Wisconsin and eventually losing the contract on the house in Idaho and having nothing at all. But, because things all work when they need to, we got an offer on the Wisconsin house and this house was available and with a motivated seller. It truly was an answer to our prayers. After we went house- hunting in August and had three very different choices, our prayer was for roadblocks if we were not pursuing the right thing. I had no idea at the time that the first no on this home wasn't so much a no, as a "not yet".

So here we are, ready to begin this chapter in our adventure.  I am so grateful for the previous chapters- we couldn't be who we are as individuals and as a family without them.  I know that there will be hard days ahead, missing our friends and community and things yet unknown.  But I know that we are where we need to be right now. What more can you ask for?

A few more Disney pictures

 We were taking a train ride to another part of the park in Animal Kingdom.  I like it when everyone is sitting and all lined up neat and tidy. Adelle didn't know I was taking a picture.

 Space Tiger and Snow Queen. Face painting was very popular

 Liam wanted one too. 

 Waiting for the parade. Joe has some pictures of the parade on his blog.

 Swimming was very popular. Adelle even told me it was her dream come true!

She slept about half of the plane ride home on my lap.  

Journal: Disney edition

Out my window: Dark. 14 degrees and snowy

Clothing myself in: Jeans and my new Mickey Mouse hoodie.  It's pink and retro and fun :)

Life with kids: Sooooo, starting in August? i think, Dad Marney hatched a plan bring all the kids, their spouses, and the grandkids to Disney World to surprise Mama Marney.  So we met up with them the first night and  it worked! I think she really couldn't believe all the grandkids were running up to hug her :)

We got to take the kids to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  I would like to say that George turned some sort of personality corner on this trip and behaved really excellently. But not really. He was very much himself- boisterous, exuberant, mischievous, opinionated, and intense.  He really loved the roller coasters.   From what I could tell, I think his favorite was Splash Mountain. He was very brave about trying new things and seemed enjoy most of it. He got to meet Lightening McQueen and Mater. I liked to look over at him when we were riding the big ones to see the glee on his face.

Adelle got to meet Elsa and Anna, do a Frozen sing along with them, and see them in the parade. She even had "Frozen" themed face paint during the parade and Elsa caught her eye, indicated to her face paint and gave her a thumbs up.  She was over the moon.  She was not without her meltdowns (getting a single stroller instead of a double was a grievous offense) but she bounced back just fine.

Liam got picked to be part the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor show.  He was hilarious! They couldn't have picked a better kid.  He loved Everest Expedition at Animal Kingdom and actually, he was really just quite taken with the Animal Kingdom as we suspected he would be.  He was very excited that he earned 15 of 31 badges for the Wilderness Explorers.

My Isabelle and Isaac didn't meet a roller coaster they didn't love. They take after their Grandma Sullivan that way.  I also got to take them to the pool at the resort a couple times which was a big hit.

Thinking about: After that very magical week, we resume life- packing! Finishing up the last few lessons.  We are almost there!

Pictures to share: They are just camera pics, but at least they are something.

 My girls on the Merry- Go- Round at the Magic Kingdom

 Issy, Isaac and Liam at the Swiss Family Robinson replica set.

 Adelle admiring her Elsa doll.

 Marneys and Littons at Epcot

 Epcot was a late night after a pretty tiring day. For the first time in memory, George gave up and went to sleep. It's one for the record books, folks.

 The Little Mermaid show we saw at Hollywood Studios. It was one of my favorites.

 Face paint!

 Very intent drawing while waiting for lunch.

 This was a highlight. But then he wanted to climb into Mater and I had to explain it didn't work like that.

 Adelle at the Frozen sing-along. Euphoria would be accurate.

 Matching shirts!

 We got to go on a Safari in Animal Kingdom. This guy started running in circles, it was pretty impressive. And it made me hope I am never chased by a rhino.

 Alligator. Or crocodile? Why can I never remember the difference? Crocodile, I think.

 Just a little fella.

He was big and handsome.

There are more, but I'll never finish this post if I don't just do it, so hopefully I'll upload more later.