Christmas Tree Shopping

For the first time ever we went and cut down our own Christmas tree.  We have always wanted to do this but have never been able to find a place that would allow us to do so.  After asking around we have been victorious!  Yippee!  The trip began with a hayride--Jacob's favorite part!

Then began the hunt . . . 

With everyone in agreement we found the perfect tree. . . 

Next came the fun part--cutting it down and dragging it off.

Michael was the super helper in cutting down the tree and even tying on top of the car. 

Once home we got it set up--the perfect height.  Then onto decorating . . . Jacob had the honors of placing the star on the tree . . . 

while the rest of of helped add the ornaments.  I believe we only broke 4 bulbs in the process--not bad I suppose.  In the end it was lovely!  A successful day!  I love Christmas!

In Love

I got a Dyson!

Not only did I get a Dyson, but I got a pretty pink Dyson!  And I love it!  I can leave the vacuum at the bottom of the stairs and the hose stretches all the way to the top my stairs--It rocks!   No more teetering vacuum on the stairs and I know it will last forever!

But while I love my Dyson I love the man who stood in the crazy long Target line at 6 AM to get me that pretty pink Dyson.  Oh yea, that crazy line was outside in the freezing cold.  He is amazing!  And it was on sale!  Love the day after Thanksgiving sales!   But not as much as I love my man!  :)

The storm before the calm?

I know my title is backwards but that was how I felt today.   Yesterday was definitely the storm with poo on the floor, throw-up all over, fevers on the rise and a less than reverent sacrament meeting.   I was apprehensive about today but instead of craziness we had only a minor fever, a perfect potty day for Jacob and relative calmness.  It was a great day, so I thought I would share!  I hope you all had a great day as well!

Fall

I just love the fall when the weather is beautiful and the trees and colorful.  But then comes the real fun . . . raking up big piles of leaves and jumping in them!  Isn't this what life is all about!  The boys did a great job helping me and enjoyed the fruits of their labors.  It was great fun!  We'll get to do it again as the trees still have plenty of leaves to share with us.  :)

Halloween and my own personal craziness

For the first time ever we let our boys go trick or treating.  They learned to only go to homes with the lights on and not to walk on people's lawns.  Yea, I'm a real fun mom!

Then, after they went to bed the real fun began!  I got to organize their candy which we plan to save for Christmas, New Years and any visitors because there was SO MUCH CANDY!  Yes, I am a little crazy but we all knew that going in, so James wanted me to show you my craziness as I organized the candy and then bagged it by type, so when you come to visit you can ask me for any kind you would like and I'll be prepared!

Birthday Party

I know I'm a bit late, but the party was a success.  The theme was animalish in nature, so we played Duck Duck Goose, drew pictures of mixed animals and came up with fun names, did animal relay races and decimated a pinata!  Here are some fun pics!

Birthday Party Prep

So, after almost seven years of parenthood, we decided it was finally time to allow a little Birthday Party fun into our children's lives.  With the best intentions and the highest hopes, we decided to let Joshua choose his own party theme which we would then guide carefully through to its realization.  He chose wild animals, and Liz has a host of party games planned around the animals, and after she made the fantastic shell for the piñata, I went to work transforming it into the King of Beasts.  It took the better bart of two hours, but I'm proud of my first foray into piñata making; I just hope Liz didn't make it too strong for five year-olds to break!

You might think the photo is yellowed, but it's not.  It's just a lot of yellow stuff in one picture.  After the piñata, I set to work on what was originally supposed to be a rhinoceros cake.  Yeah, rhino.  There were a few elemental problems:

1. How does one fashion a rhinoceros out of funfetti-filled cake?  I love my son, but I was not up to figuring that one out.
2. Grey icing.  I can't even imagine how would one make grey icing.  (There's a little tribute to Steel Magnolias and the bleedin-armadilla-groom'scake.)

So, after combing the cake molds and discarding cartoon characters, vehicles, and every princess known to man, Joshua came to an agreement on this teddy bear.  Not so ferocious as the rhino, but definitely effective in his own little way.  Besides that, I'm rather proud of my decorating job, also a first for me.

I got my parental reward tonight when Joshua came down and exclaimed, "Dad, that is so coo00oool!"  He immediately called his brothers around to show off my handiwork.  They agreed, definitely cool.  It's nice to be cool every now and again.

Now we brace for the onslaught of sugar-charged friends, acquaintances, and church buddies.  This should be a riot; 

likely similar to the LA riots of 1992 . . .

Poo Poo Everywhere!

So, what is the dumbest thing you can do while toilet training?  A good question and here is the answer. . . you can strap your 2 year old into a car seat for a 14 hour drive.  Then, you talk on your cell phone with everyone you know, so you don't get bored out of your mind and ignore your children who are having a blast playing with your IPOD.  So, there we are driving along and Joshua tells me that Jacob went poopy in his panties, so I get off the phone and pull over to take care of it.  Then, we drive on and I get back on the phone and continue to ignore my children some more.  We end up in a great construction mess--one lane freeways should be banned and the same message makes its way to me again.  In the end even had I been paying attention there was NO place to stop, so we just kept going until we came across a town where we pulled over and took care of it.  On the plus side he didn't ever wet himself!  There is always something to be grateful for!  :)

Now here we are at the end of our road trip (which we took on Sunday) and I have to get him used to another house.  He only had one little accident yesterday and one today.  I think he is afraid to go, so I'm going to congratulate him with yummy things when he goes potty and is dry just to get him back on his feet.  Honestly one accident a day in a new place is doing pretty darn good, but I am a perfectionist, so we will go for a perfect day tomorrow!  All in all if he can handle this craziness he can handle anything!

Potty Training Day 5

Wow!  I cannot believe it has been five days already.  Jacob didn't wake up wet in the night until after 4 AM.  I will appreciate all forms of improvement.  I did learn that I need to stay with him until he falls back to sleep.  Those 5 - 10 minutes are much easier to give when the option of no more sleep the rest of the night is the other option!  As for the day I worked hard not to make him go potty only ask if he needs to go and ask if he is still dry.  He did a good job saying when he needed to go and even said when he needed to go poopy vs just needing to go potty.  I usually just had him go on his own which I think he likes better then a caravan of followers.  In the end he stayed dry and no poo in the pants!  He had two BMs and both made it to the toilet without my forcing--which is good because I cannot predict those!  He still needs encouragement to stay until he is done, but as long as he gets himself there without a mess who am I to complain!  I think we've been pretty successful!  Yippee!  I figure we'll be done when he is dry at night, so hopefully that will happen soon, so we can put a check mark in the toilet trained box!

Just Walk Away

I've been reading a book about being a Christlike parent and it talked about not reviling.  So, when your child hits, bites, kicks, screams, etc like they all do we should not reciprocate but just walk away.  So, last night when Joshua refused to get in bed and started throwing a fit I walked away.  I think that was the fastest I've ever seen him get in bed.  The last thing he wanted was to lose attention and he saw very quickly that it was the effect he was getting, so he changed course quickly.  I tried the same thing on Jacob this morning when he jumped in bed with me and started hitting and kicking . . . I just left.  He quickly came and said sorry and was much softer.  I think I'm going to like this new approach.  I also like it because I don't get upset, I get to go cool off and they learn they aren't getting what they want with that kind of behavior.  Win! Win! for everyone!

Potty Training Day 4

Wow!  Has it been four days already?  Well, last night was a nightmare!  Jacob woke up wet and told me how yucky it was, so we changed him and put down a towel in his bed.  I laid him down and went back to bed.  Moments later he was down in my bed with me.  It was 1 AM, so I wasn't going to fight him and just let him lay down with me.  An hour later I decided I couldn't sleep with him there anymore and took him back to bed.  Unfortunately, he still wasn't asleep and didn't even sound like he wanted to.  So, I left him in bed and, of course, moments later he was back.  Grrrr. . .  We ended up making a little bed on our floor for him and James laid by him until he fell asleep.  Needless to say we woke up very tired!  

But even though the night was not the best he was dry all day!  Yippee!  He even went to a friends house while we went to the gym and worked out and was dry there also.  I only asked him to go to the bathroom right before getting in the car, but the rest of the time he chose to go!  Today we're not going anywhere, so I don't plan on making him go at all but just asking if he is still dry and congratulating him on his success!  We'll see how it goes!

Potty Training Day 3

I'm not exactly sure if today was successful or not?!?  He woke up once wet in the night but then awoke dray in the morning.  I thought that was successful, but then I was coming home from the gym and didn't know that and had assumed he had gone to the bathroom, so didn't ask him about it until it was too late.  But then just an hour later we had our first BM in the toilet.  Now there is something to cheer about!  Then, we went on a field trip and for the most part he did great, but did have a little present for me in his panties which happened when he disappeared with some friends, but then he left many more presents in the toilet than were in his panties.  I think he really learned during that time how to go poo in the toilet.  He really knew what he was doing and was learning what it felt like.  Progress!  He did have one more accident later but he always comes to me to tell me, so he knows what he did was wrong.  I think today we learned a lot. . . I learned that leaving the house and having a crazy schedule doesn't help the process and he learned what things feel like and what he should not be doing.  I think in the end it was a good day.  

I have to admit even though he didn't master using the toilet in 48 hours I have really been calm, patient and determined to teach him how to do it.  A small victory for me!  I've really been working on being a Christlike parent and one of the things I'm working on is my reactions.  I'm proud to say I've seen progress in the way I've interacted with Jacob during this progress.  I've really been calm, patient and loving just as I think I should be.  And well, if I can do that while toilet training I think I can do it anytime!  :)

Potty Training Day 2

I decided that keeping a log will help me see the big picture through this process.  Last night he finally had a BM but not on my watch, so daddy got to take care of it--score for me!  The night was pretty wet, but I'm hoping that gets better as his days improve.  Today started off rough.  He decided that the toilet wasn't as neat as he thought it was yesterday, but with a few fruit snacks as motivation we were back on track.  He stayed dry until 4:30 PM today, so it was an awesome day!  I blame myself for the accident as we went outside to talk with a visitor, so he played and I talked meaning we were both distracted and alas we all know the result.  Otherwise it was a successful day where he would jump up and say he needed to go potty and off he went!  I love those moments.  No BM today, so we'll need to be ready for him first thing in the morning.  

Tomorrow we're going on a field trip to a farm, so I'm hoping there is a toilet close by . . . I guess we'll have to wait and see how that goes, so stay tuned!

Potty Training Day 1

So, here we go!  I have been putting this off for some time and just decided to dive in head first this morning.  Jacob has already gone in the toilet, so that helped.  Step 1 what do I do in the toilet--success.  We're still waiting for that first bowel movement, but he has been telling me when he is poopy for awhile, so I'm hoping that will help.  He has enjoyed going and getting a fruit snack when he is done.  He still struggles putting his underwear back on when he is done, but there are worse things.  Step 2  First accident.  I decided that this is actually a very important step.  He will never know what he is supposed to do unless he knows what not to do.  I'm actually surprised he had an accident since he was going every 10 - 15 minutes but I am glad he did.  He thought it was yucky and I hope he didn't like it.  Step 3 Identify when he needs to go potty.  I don't think we are there yet but we still have time, so that is where we are.  He is drinking water all the time, so at least he gets to practice a lot.  

I must admit it has been awhile since I have had to do this as Joshua is now almost 5 and feel out of practice but we're just taking it in stride.  He has been good about it and willing to do what I ask which is nice!  If anyone has great advise let me know.  The best advise I've been given is just to not give up, so we are in this until it is done.  I'm hoping it is as simple as it was for Joshua; just two days of torture and then it clicked and we were done.  So, pray that he gets it soon and that I survive!  :)

Farm Day!

Today we went to the MU South Farms Showcase and enjoyed a plethora of activities including wagon rides, animal petting, fish feeding, corn mazes, cockroach races, Border Collie training (for sheep herding) and wool spinning.  It was wonderful beautiful, and free.  This photo is from our edible insects stop on the tour.  One of the big time entomologists from MU (and a member of our Stake) had a great booth on edible bugs and Jacob, Joshua and I all had one.  They were meal worms, purchased from our local pet store.  They are nutritious, high in iron, and pack a healthier calorie punch than wheat or corn.  Mine were also coated in cinnamon and sugar.  The queasier members of our group abstained.  Michael likes to be with animals, not eat bugs.  Here's a couple of bug eating shots for you.

Date Night

Liz and I have recently realized that we are blessed.  I know, it seems a rather simplistic and absolute idea, but it's true, and we feeling it again and again.  This time around we're coming to understand our financial blessings.  The Lord has carried us through many strange things, and while we haven't done it without some big mistakes and some angst-filled nights, we are nonetheless blessed for reasons we cannot understand.  We have made several plans to pay off our debt, and it seems that each time we get close, other things steal our money away, and our greatest plans fall through.

We were tired of this cycle, so we decided to crack down and do whatever is necessary to make some headway in this process.  We slimmed down our monthly budget (again!) by carefully planning our grocery shopping, bulking up our savings, and slimming down wherever possible.  One of those slimming spots was our date nights.  Now, we are the only people we know who have a mandatory, consistent Friday night date, and we were not about to give that up.  Unfortunately, we also removed our babysitter and date money from the budget so that we could follow another, more debt-related commandment.  So then we went to work.  Liz traded babysitting with her visiting teaching companion, and after we shipped the kids off for the evening, we settled in for a nice meal at home together.  That's what I did while she was dropping off the kids (and for an hour beforehand.)  I had the option of boiling or steaming the artichokes, and I chose steam.  Good choice, although I let the water all boil out and my garlic and bay leaf burned to the bottom of the pan.  It happens.

It wasn't too shabby, methinks: roasted pork and potatoes, a white pear-infused balsamic apple slaw on top, and steamed artichokes.  Yummy.

Neither of us have ever had plain old steamed artichokes, but we were both pleasantly surprised.  It involves a lot of tooth scraping, and then a bunch of fluff that you're not expecting at all, but they're great, and the hearts are, of course, worth the wait.  If you're interested, I can let you in on how to prepare them.  They're amazingly simple, and surprisingly pleasant.  After dinner we left the dishes on the table for our server to clean up, and changed to go play tennis.  Because the boys weren't with us we could go to our favorite courts and we had a wonderful couple of games (6-3, 6-2 for James!) and sweat enough to burn off the butter into which we dipped our artichokes.  I decided a pre-game photo was best, since we were all wet and slimy and sticky after the game!

We returned home, found that the server had not cleared away our dishes, took back the tip we had left (what lame service,) showered up, and prepared for our real treat: frozen custard.  We had some debate about where to do our dessert, and had I been more prepared, we would have enjoyed it at home.  Alas, I wasn't, so we jostled about a few ideas, and I finally conned Liz into making a decision that landed us at Culver's.  We haven't been to Culver's in a while, and I was ready for it.  Liz enjoyed the chocolate custard with peanut butter and cookie dough, and I went all out for the pumpkin pecan Concrete.  It was easily 20 points, but it was worth every bite.  I almost tossed it out about half way through, but it wasn't worth it.  I wanted it.  Next time I'll just make a pumpkin shake at home for 4 points, but this one time it was awesome.  We chatted, enjoyed a little political conversation, looked around and expressed gratitude for our current health (Look at the people at Culver's—wow!)  It was then, unfortunately, time to go pick up the boys.  They were not happy at our arrival, but they managed, and went straight to bed when we got home around 9.

Then came the best part of the date.  We sat down on the couch, cuddled up, and promptly fell asleep with the TV on.  I woke up, turned off the TV, and went back to sleep.  Just before 11 we mustered enough strength to pull ourselves off the couch and head to bed.  Free date.  Awesome time.  So now the new question: Who's going to watch the kids next week?

After the camp out

Well, the "camp out" was a smashing success, but left us all a little fatigued for the remainder of the weekend.  Jacob is currently in that "can't nap, but is unbearable without one" stage, and Joshua's fever peaked just over 102º sometime during the mid-afternoon.  We did our grocery shopping this morning and scored another amazing cereal deal, and I think we're now fully stocked for breakfast for at least 8 months.  Cereal is good.

As the rainy afternoon wore on (thank you, IKE!) I almost locked myself in my room for good measure.  Finally Michael asked to play outside, and I figured warm day, no rain at the moment, and I need a break.  He rode up and down the street, enjoying the wind in his hair, and finally being outside with at least a moment of reprieve from the inside of our abode.  So, out he went.

Within three minutes the heavens opened and I ran outside to call Michael in, because those open heavens know that Michael does not come in just because there's a flash flood warning.  He came happily pedaling back through storm, raced into the garage, dismounted in a flourish, and asked if he could stay outside and play.  I figured warm day, warm rain, and I've got towels—go play!

Jacob joined him, reveling in the wetness and the newness, and Joshua even ventured out for a minute to taste the rain before joining me again in the garage where he quietly informed me that "It's too wet."  At least he tried.  Here's a little taste of the wet fun.

Camping indoors

I had the best of intentions.  I fully intended to camp out on the back lawn with the boys this evening.  I had the sleeping bags, tarps, and s'mores ready, but Hurricane Ike is sending the foul weather our way and thunderstorms throughout the evening rained on the best of our plans.  In truth, it has yet to start raining, but the radar says it could happen any minute, so indoor camping it was.  We grilled hot dogs on the grill, spent an hour or so at Going Bonkers to wear them down and have tons of fun, then came home, removed the grills from the grill for easier access to the flame, and roasted marshmallows than we promptly sandwiched with dark chocolate between surprisingly soft graham crackers.  Weird, but still gooey and delicious.

After treats we rolled out the sleeping bags in the office and watched All Dogs Go to Heaven as night fell on us.  They're now rolled up in their sleeping bags sleeping soundly while I catch up on every single thing I didn't do because we were having so much fun.  Fun is so good.  Here are some shots of camp all set set and ready for bed!  Too bad they're a little camera shy.

Cave Art

I was very sad when we did a unit on the ice age, prehistoric animals and anything else related to learn that the boys already knew everything I could think of to teach them.  So, we got several books at the library and they had fun looking over them--we have upgraded to the J section in the library since they've read all of the Easy NonFiction books.  Then, just because I was out of ideas I asked them to draw pictures of the animals etc on a large sheet of paper.  James came home and was so impressed because it was like Cave Art.  Yea, I wish I had thought of that myself but in the end the result was the same and we have some great cave art!  It makes me wonder who really created cave art--the adults or the children?

Now we're going to learn about Ancient Egypt and I just pray they can learn something new!  :)

Television

As most of you know we don't have any form of cable or satellite television.  We have worked very hard to make sure that watching TV is not apart of our lives or our children's live, so I had to share that tonight after dinner we decided to pop popcorn and watch TV.  Shocking!  Well, really we wanted to watch the olympics together, so the boys could see them and get a little exposure to some of the things that go on in the world.  They loved them, of course!  It was really fun to enjoy some time together watching divers do amazing things and have the boys ask if we could do that too.  Maybe in my dreams but it is nice to think my boys think I can do anything!  That won't last, so I'd better enjoy it now!

Mowing

When we first explored the possibility of renting this house, they told us lawn care was included.  We were grateful, but not not wowed; I mean, mowing the lawn every 2 weeks just isn't a big deal for us.  When we signed the contract they indicated that the conditions had changed: no lawn care, but they left a mower and gas can.

So, after we got our initial unpacking done, I set to mow the lawn.  Unfortunately, the didn't leave us just any mower, they left us a mulcher, and to add to the mounting lawn issues, the lawn hadn't been mown in over a fortnight.  Judging from the dried shards of grass laying among the green, it had been several weeks before that one as well.  I compared the two mowers, and the landlord's had twice the horsepower of my WalMart special, so I opted for that one.  A complete waste.  Not only did I have to deal with grass way too long for normal cutting, but I also had to deal with the very long grass left from the previous mow.

I proceeded to pull out old trusty and went to work slowly but surely.  It only took an hour and my my entire lawn was finally a blanket of freshly mowed grass.  I don't mean a carpet, but a blanket that sits on top of the carpet.  Because it was 9 pm and dark, I called it quits for the night, and after tennis this morning I took another swipe at it.  Again I tried the mulcher hoping it would help chop up the wreckage, but again to no avail, so out came the old mower.  I completely re-mowed the lawn, and I think I'm still going to have to rake it all up to keep from killing it.

Words just don't adequately express my frustration with the situation.  Oh, and the gas can leaks BIG TIME.

Oh well, at least I had a good helper today!

Homeless

I've always wondered how people can end up homeless, but now having been homeless for a week I guess it is easy to happen.  With a week between the end of our last lease and the start of our new one we wondered what to do.  A family in our ward was going to be out of town, so we asked to store our things in their garage which they gladly agreed to let us do.  Then, I started calling friends to stay with.  It is amazing how blessed we have been with such amazing friends who would gladly welcome our zoo into their homes.  Fortunately we did not have to impose as the family out of town offered to let us stay in their basement (finished basement).  It is basically a little one bedroom apartment down there with plenty of space and privacy.  The boys sleep in the family room and we sleep in the one bedroom.  It is by no means extravagant but has definitely met our needs.  They have been home off and on . .  . the joys of being grandparents. . . and have been very hospitable.  They make us feel welcome and treat our children just like their own grandchildren.  They are wonderful people.

I am still, however, looking forward to Monday when we get to move into our own new home.  Ok, I'm actually very excited!  Once we're in we'll take some pictures for you, but it is a 4 bedroom 2 1/2 bath home with a family room.  Yea!  It is a real house in a real neighborhood.  I'm starting to feel like a grown up!  I guess it had to happen sometime.  :0

I just wanted to thank all of our family and friends for their support and prayers during this very crazy time.  The Lord knew what he wanted to happen and though we couldn't always see it I am glad we followed His promptings.  We have been truly blessed.

PACKING!

So, our wonderful lives are moving on again, and this one's a little tricky.  We were supposed to start our lease on our new place next Monday, exactly the day our old lease ended.  Clean.  Simple.  Easy.

Unfortunately, before we signed our contract yesterday, it was pushed back a week, so we were left homeless for a week between houses.  Getting a place for us isn't a big deal, but a week of storage for all our stuff?  Yuck.

Luckily, some wonderful friends in our ward are out of town and we are going to use their garage and basement until we can get into our new place.  It's wonderful to be a part of a church family where you can both give and receive when needed.  I've always found it much harder to receive, but I'm working on it.  Thanks for letting me inherit that, Dad.  So, we're using Thursday and Friday to pack up and get ourselves ready for move out on Saturday.  It's annoying, but it's how things are, and we're glad to finally have definite plans.  We've switched over all our utilities except water because our new water district requires that we go in to start new service (how archaic!  They also don't have online bill pay . . .) and we managed to forward all our mail from here to there and have the post office hold it a week before we move in.  We'll see how that works, or rather if that works.  

We're trying to move as much as possible to the garage so that moving is simple on Saturday.  We couldn't get a truck until late afternoon, so we're hoping to keep everything under an hour or so.  I think we'll be able to do it.  And then we'll do it again next week!  If/when we move out of this ward, the faithful saints will have moved our stuff in or out EIGHT times.  Best that we volunteer ourselves when opportunities arise, no?  Here are some photos of the emerging emptiness of our lovely duplex.  NO MORE DUPLEX!  Have I already mentioned that?

Summertime

And the livin' is easy . . .

I must, of course, thank George Gershwin for that simplistic, unrealistic, yet terribly desired phrase.  No job offers yet.  Likely if it doesn't come today, then there's a tiny hope for tomorrow, but then hope is mostly gone after that.  They said it would be this week.  Still, we did what was right, and we felt good about it, so we have faith.  That said, I think most of our boring time is over for this summer as things are revving back up for our move.  We are 12 days from our contract ending, and though we have no job, no house, and no clue, we're pushing forward with faith and hope.  Bonus, we're trying to show charity to one another during a rather stressful time; trifecta!  Our current thought is to stay here in Columbia, even in our same ward if we can.  Unfortunately, we really need a rather large home and there aren't any to be found with our possibly unrealistic expectations.  We don't ask for much, really, just 4 bedrooms (or 3 with a den or SUPER large family room), living room, dining room, family room, Kitchen, yard, and a bathroom.  The things we'd like?  A finished basement, which can double as a family room, fencing around our yard, a place for a little storage (those little boy clothes have to go somewhere!) and, if at all possible, more than one bathroom.  Square footage required?  2100-2500.  We've tried to whittle down the list the best we can, but this is already rather bare bones.  Here are the considerations:

• We home school.  That requires space not only for the schooling, but also room for children to be there most of every day.  This space must be both inside and out.  Large family room, large fenced yard.
• Liz works from home.  Not like doing PTA work, but real, intense, 30 hours every week work.  She needs an office space where she can have peace away from television and bedroom.
• James also requires home office space, but this can be shared with Liz.  In fact, we're willing to make an all out Liz/James/Boys office where all the work gets done.
• We want to have people over for fun.  I wouldn't call us entertainers, but we've made so many friends here, and rarely do we get together at our house because it's just too small for more than one family at a time.  Living Room necessary.  Yard helps too.

See?  We don't ask for much, but these are hard to come by.  There are some really nice new construction homes available, but they're only 1300-1500 sq. ft. on a slab.  That's smaller than our house now, and without the extra basement storage!  We have a couple leads, one split-level quite near the church with which Liz is in love, and another in Ashland, a small town about 15 minutes south.  That one's on 3 acres, but it might be 900 sq. ft.   Who knows?  We'll have to call and see, I suppose.  So, that is our task for this week—get closer to having a house in two weeks.  Keep us in your prayers and we'll keep you posted.

Interview Day shots

Perfectionist part 2

So, how did Joshua learn to be a perfectionist?  You guessed it . . . his mother!  I have been working on packing and well, if I am going to do it, I'm going to do it right.  I have a nice stack of boxes in my living room (not perfect, but better than all over my house), but I have to have a clean house.  Fortunately I have boys who love me enough to help me keep everything clean as I go.  We dust and vacuum, keep toys put away (the few that are left), sweep and mop,  and most importantly never play on the boxes.   It is a good thing I still have a month to finish my perfect packing job because it takes time!  But when it is done it will be perfect!  

Perfectionist part 1

Joshua, age 4, has always had "Monkish" qualities about him.  These qualities have been frustrations as well as blessings in his life.  For example:  Frustrating when he will not learn to read until he knows he can do it perfectly.  Blessing when he toilet trains in 2 - 3 days because he hates being wet.  Well, the other day he found that he could ride a bike without training wheels, so we took them off and he tried, BUT he couldn't do it perfectl

y so now refuses to ride his bike at all.  I think we will put the training wheels back on and wait until perfection can exist.    (Michael was so cute helping him--what a great big brother!)

Arkansas Day 3—Monday

We did it.  We found a place to live, in the Branch we feel we should be in, and we're headed to sign the contract tonight.  It looks like the Lord really does want us here.  Of course, he's charging us an arm and a leg for it, but hey, you do what you've got to do.  Maybe we'll sell the fruit of our three pecan trees to help pay the rent.

4 Bedrooms, 3 1/2 baths (that's a weird fluke, by the way), large Living room, kitchen, sun room (which we're using as a dining room!) with a back porch/deck, covered parking, air and heat, and this amazing room upstairs that will be our school room.  It looks to be converted attic, but is about 2/3 of the main part of the upstairs you see in the photo (left side.)  One of the best parts is that we'll now have a guest room.  Hmm?  What?  Speak again?  Oh yes, we'll have a guest room, and we're even hoping to have a guest bed to put in it, and it has its own bathroom.  Of course it will also be the treadmill/TV/James office, but if, on he chance someone does find their way down here, I'm sure we can work something out.  The down side?  Knotty pine.  The kitchen is über dark from it, and one of the bedrooms is paneled in it.  Other than that, though, all is well.  Thank you for your prayers as we've mounted this impossible search.  Sometimes it seems that life is all or nothing, and our nothing finally gave way to all.  We're heading home tomorrow.

Arkansas Day 2—Sunday

We got up bright and not so early for another hot, southern day, the second in our quest to secure the best place possible for our little family.  Today was a day of rest and prayer before the real work starts tomorrow.  We attended church at the local branch here, and enjoyed a nice two hour service with seven other people.  That made nine total.

Nine.

Nine.

With our children it would be twelve.  an even dozen.

So, as it was the first Sunday of the month, we took it in turn to share our testimonies of principles of the gospel, one person following another until it was our turn.  First me, then Liz.  I get the strange feeling that this is pretty standard, and we will have plenty of opportunities in the future to do the same thing again and again and again and again.  Wow.  The photo here is of the church building, which consists of a chapel, kitchen, library, restrooms, and a large room that can be divided in three for differentiated instruction.  We didn't do any of that today—just two hours sitting in the chapel all together.  It's a beautiful little little building, and I'm grateful it's there, otherwise I think they'd disband the branch.  We sang hymns to the accompaniment of CD (including the recorded voices on the CD) and had a grand time feeling that feeling that we could belong in a unit like this.

Now you now what we're looking at.  Tomorrow the house hunting begins, and we actually have a great lead in Marianna that came late tonight from some Teach for America people leaving this year.  We're hoping things will come together quickly so that we can get home to our boys, one of whom was bitten in the face today.  Apparently it wasn't that bad, but an adventure nonetheless.  Keep us in your prayers, and we'll keep the updates and photos coming!  

Arkansas Day 1—Saturday

So, we made it.  We drove through the area, checked into our sad hotel with really crappy wireless internet, and set to looking.  Let me tell you all—there's not much to look for, and I think we're going to have to get creative.  There are actually a good many homes in Helena/West Helena area, but Marianna is about 20 minutes north of there, and we'd like to live closer to school and community and everything.  If it doesn't work, then we'll look down here, but we're holding out.  Marianna is a multiple personality kind of town, with some really run down areas, and some beautiful mid-century and older homes that are well maintained and quite amazing.  There is a single fast food place: Sonic, and a grocery store that seems to be not too shabby.  We will, of course, check it out in more detail in the coming days.  I called the Branch President, chatted a bit—what a friendly man—and we went and found the church.  I'll save that description for Sunday, but suffice it to say, you want to tune in tomorrow for the Sunday blog.

Beautiful things

Michael told me this morning that he wants to be a construction worker.  Then he gave me proof.  Apparently he's even mastered decorative embellishments with Lincoln Logs.  Who knew that was possible?

Sorry for the blurry shots—everyone wanted to be a helper today.