We're finally moved in!

And I'm exhausted. Thank goodness my Mom flew in on Monday to help out with things. The packing is long from being undone, but at least it's all together & I can see some progress being made. I still have to go back to the old house to clean up a bit & grab a few more things (our poor fish! If it wasn't for the daily feedings, I bet they think we abandoned them...if they do think! LOL), but the vast majority of it is done.

I have several things I need to sell because there just isn't a place for them or we don't need them any more. We also still have to find someone who can help with our swing set. The guy we had lined up cancelled at the last minute & now we aren't sure how we're going to get it over here.

I didn't realize how much STUFF we have! I've been able to get rid of so much in the past few weeks & yet I'm still finding myself pulling out more things & putting them in the donation bags each day. It's a good thing, though. Less really is more. :)

The painting still isn't done. I barely finished Ty & Hayleah's rooms & half of Logan & Jordan's room before the move. I love painting but I hate to paint, if that makes sense. LOL

The joys of painting

I decided we would paint the kids' rooms at the new house. Right now it's all white, flat paint, which doesn't mesh well with little kids. There's just no way to clean all the little finger prints with flat paint, so they each got to pick out a color for their rooms.

I've been painting since Friday & just today, after about 3.5 hours of painting, I was able to finish the first room we started. I'm so not loving this! I can't believe how much time this is taking!! It's hard on my sensitive back, which makes it even more of a challenge than I'd like to admit.

Since this is my first real painting experience since I was 16, I'm hoping, now that I've learned a few things about what not to do, I can whip through the other two bedrooms in much less time.

Pictures to come. :)

Our new house

We got the keys to our new house yesterday! I took tons of pictures, so please bear with me. The only things I didn't take pictures of were places like the kids rooms (white for now, 4 walls, nothing spectacular so why bother) & the laundry room & garages.

These first two pictures are of the entryway into the little sub-division.

The next two pics are of the front of the house.

This is the little pathway just past the front gate, leading to the front door. It's a cute little space...I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet. A bench, maybe??

The front door....I LOVE stained glass. I learned how to do it many years ago & have since had a great love for it. I love the small amount of red glass they added to the detail!
This is just as you walk in the front door. I'm a sucker for tile designs like this!

From the front door looking towards the back door.
From the front door, looking towards the living room area & master bedroom entry.
The kitchen.

The family room/tv area.

The dining room, next to the front door. To the left is the hallway leading to the little kids' rooms. To the right is a hallway leading to Ty's room & the 2 car garage.

The master bedroom. This room is HUGE! I was super impressed with the size of this room. :)

The master bathroom. Their are 2 mirrored, walk-in closets on either side of the hallway leading in to the bathroom.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture or not, but the tub is really deep. Niiiice. :)

This shower is HUGE! It's like the size of 3 of the showers we currently have. I like the little bench in there, too.

The back patio.

The back yard. It's not huge but there's room enough for the kids' playground, which is all we need.

The casita.

Little kitchenette.

Full bathroom.

Looking towards the front door from the kitchen. The bedroom area is off to the left.

The living room, looking from the kitchen.

I'll be painting in the next week so I'm sure there will be more pics to come. I'll be pretty busy for a while, so I may not post anything until we get settled. The movers are coming on the 18th to get the big stuff out of here & over to the new house.

I'm off to pack, now....

:)

What a day! (& a funny)

Since church changed from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. start time, the kids have been torturously awful on Monday's. Their late napping on Sunday spills over in to Monday & YIKES!! Even I want to run & hide somewhere when they get this whiney & crabby!

Today I had a doctors appointment. Usually this isn't a problem but, since Dave's days off changed, I had to take all three of the youngest kiddos with me. Between the temper tantrums, the whining, & the ear piercing screaming that echoed through the waiting room, I felt so sorry for everyone who was within a block radius of my set of twin tornadoes. Jordan did fine...it was really just Logan & Hayleah that needed to let me know (rather loudly) I couldn't do anything right today.

I'm spent. So, to cheer myself up I will watch this funny video until I get my mood in check. I hope anyone reading (hi Mom! :) ) gets as much of a tickle from it as I do when I watch it. :)

Last Week

I got a chance to do something I've been wanting to do, yet never seem to make it to....Book Club! This month the book was The Book of Mormon, which worked out nicely since I was already reading Alma. We got a chance to sit & chat & then share some insights we got about the particular book we chose to read within the BOM. The Spirit could be felt so strongly & I love hearing what other people are doing. It inspires me to ask more questions & seek more answers, which is always a good thing!

I've also been more focused on the kids this week. I've been trying to restore some peace & love & respect in our home. The kids were getting out of hand again & I realized I'd slacked off using the parenting skills I paid to learn last year. It's been a bumpy road this past week, but overall I do see a difference in the way they talk to one another & the way they treat Dave & I. It's not perfect, by far, but for just getting back into the swing of it, it's going better than I had hoped.

Jordan's been my biggest pill lately. He's bored, being on track break, & he kept acting out to get my attention. While meeting with the Bishop of our ward (LOVE that man!!) he suggested some one-on-one time each day between Jo & I. It not only made sense at the time, but since implementing it, Jo has been treating me with so much more respect. He's become very helpful without me even needing to ask for help!

We also implemented a kind of reward system for behavior I want to reinforce. Whenever I catch any of the kids being kind to one another, helping each other out, saying nice things, etc., I tell them to go get a "caughtcha" & put it in our Caughtcha Box.

The kids decorated it themselves, with very little help from me. They get very excited when they get "caught"!

Each week during Family Home Evening, one child will get to pick out a "caughtcha" & whoever's name is on it will get a special reward. I debated over what the rewards would be because I don't want it to be a food reward for obvious reasons, nor do I want it to be some kind of toy because I don't want them to be under the impression that's what happens in the real world. So, ultimately I decided the reward would depend on the child & what they want. Some would love a trip to the park with just Daddy & the dog. I wanted it to be something that included one-on-one quality time with them, to help strengthen relationships.

As a side note, though no small news by any means, Tyler got to pass the Sacrament today for the first time in a very long time. I was so proud. He looked so mature & I just know how hard it's been for him to get to this point. Dave had to work today but wound up taking the day off because he really wanted to witness Ty passing the Sacrament. :*) He's very excited to get this privilege back. I can't even tell you how happy I am for him. :*D