On Christmas Eve, I was wrapping gifts all day. Isaac wanted to wrap some "gifts" to put under the tree as well. I gave him some paper, scissors and tape and he and Katie sat cutting, wrapping and taping the same item for over an hour. I thought they were so darling working on their project together. The next day, I looked at Katie and immediately noticed that she had bangs. And, I think you know what kind of bangs I'm talking about. The uneven kind, cropped up close to the hairline. I gasped in surprise and blurted out, "Who cut your hair?" Without even blinking she replied, "Isaac did it."
Further questioning revealed that wrapping paper wasn't the only thing Isaac was cutting on Christmas Eve.
It could have been much worse. I guess since Katie never wants me fixing her hair (and, she always rips out any barrettes I manage to sneak in), the bangs will suit her once they grow out a little. What can I say? She is still so stinking cute and I just smile a little at those bangs every time I see them.
We had a very fun Christmas that included a Kindle and four way radios for Sophie, the long anticipated "Skopio" -- a super bionicle -- and a remote control airplane for Ian, walkie talkies, a hot wheels track and lego set for Isaac and a "Melissa and Doug" ice cream set, tiny tea dishes and a baby doll in a cradle for Katie.
We also got a wii for the family and our kids said they now "know for sure that Santa is real" because he left a full size air hockey table in our family room (or, as we like to call it - the party room). Sophie and Ian said they are positive that Brian and I would never have allowed such a thing as that.
Brian had Monday off from work. We wanted to look for organizational nick knacks for our home at IKEA but we didn't know who to leave the kids with all day the day after Christmas. Then, I remembered hearing once upon a time that there is a free supervised play area at IKEA. A little on-line investigation confirmed this thought. So, we hauled all four kids along for the ride.
Upon arrival, we discovered that the only one of our kids who could go in the play area was Isaac. Sophie and Ian were a few inches too tall and Katie was just barely too short. Also, Isaac could only play for one hour, which is like five minutes in IKEA shopping time.
The good news was that Sophie and Ian could check out game boys to play and Katie could sit outside of the play area and watch a movie on a big screen T.V. from a kid size chair. The other good news was that kids twelve and under could eat at the cafeteria for free all day! Apparently, they can always eat for free on Tuesdays, but we happened to come during a week long special.
Brian did some work on his laptop while three of our kids hung out playing games and watching movies and Isaac had his hour in the play area. I speed shopped through the showroom. Then, we all ate lunch in the cafeteria and all six of us raced through the showroom area together. It wouldn't have been so bad except that Katie was way beyond nap time by the time we got downstairs for the actual shopping. And, I would like to forget about how much Sophie and Ian acted like they were being tortured absolutely to death from the moment we checked the game boys back in until the moment we arrived at the check out stand.
In the end, Brian and I got some ideas and we are hoping to return soon (without the kids).
This morning, I got a great surprise which was that Brian got to have another day off from work! He started his day by fixing the hot water faucet in the main bathroom and hanging pictures on the walls (yay!). His family started arriving by 2 p.m. (for his side of the family's Christmas party) and then Brian led several aunts, uncles and nearly all of the cousins on a long hike toward Malan's Peak. I love that they could walk right from our front door to the trail head.
After that, there was all sorts of revelry -- food, crafts, cookies, a fire in the fireplace, games, white elephant exchanges for the kids and lots of visiting and good times.
Next up -- hosting a 15-kid New Year's Eve party (I'm letting my kids invite their friends over this year).
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 5, 2011
We Are In!
On October 25th we signed closing papers on our new home. The evening of the 28th, we received the keys. That meant we had just over 24-hours to move our entire collection, twelve years in the making, of stuff from one house to the next. We were so grateful when friends and family members showed up one after another to help us get it done.
Since Brian's first order of business was to overhaul the entire plumbing system, we packed a few suitcases and moved into my parents' guest room. The morning after we moved (Sunday), I was carrying Isaac down my parents' driveway when I rolled my ankle and sprained it. I felt like I was too busy to take care of it, but now that it's still swollen and bothering me more than a month later, I'm thinking that the next time I sprain my ankle I will put my feet up and get some crutches so it can heal properly.
Probably that will only happen if I'm retired and living on my own private island by then, right?. But, from a sensible standpoint, that is what I would do.
Brian took the week of Halloween off from work to focus only on the plumbing. And, then, the magic began. Our quiet, old house that has sat vacant for so many years was suddenly all abuzz with action. A friend brought over a big digger and made a 4-foot deep trench from the road to the house so Brian could replace the main water line. Brian wasted no time ripping out all of the downstairs ceilings so he could promptly rid the house of all its old galvanized pipes. Next came a series of holes in the walls upstairs (those freshly painted walls - ouch).
Brian is amazing. I can't believe he replaced all of our plumbing! He has been a powerhouse of energy since he began. For the first week, he worked 14-hours straight through every day including Saturday. The next week, he had to go back to work, but he has stayed busy every moment of his free time working on projects.
It took 2-weeks to get the water turned back on and flowing through the new pipes. During that time we were given the royal treatment at my parents' house. One night, they even treated us to a feast of fresh crab that my dad caught in Oregon on a crabbing trip the month before.
We were having such a nice time staying with my parents that we might have stayed indefinitely, except that we realized (with surprise) that it was already almost Thanksgiving. Since, my parents would be having a new slew of house guests for the holiday, we decided we'd better move along to give them a little reprieve in between. On November 12, we spent our first night in the new house. We didn't go to our new church until the following week, since our kids performed in their primary program on November 13. The next day, Ian turned 9 and we surprised the kids by taking them all out to breakfast at Karen's Cafe early in the morning before school.
I met with my girl scouts right after school and then I left the other three kids with a sitter so that Brian and I could take Ian out to dinner. When I asked him what he wanted, he said "Steak and shrimp" (I should also note here that when I asked him what snacks he wanted for his friend party, I expected him to say something like "Doritos" but he surprised me with "Crab and lobster" -- he got Doritos and muddy buddies). So, we took him to Sizzler. I was thinking it would be a cheap option for steak and shrimp, plus I could get the salad bar. And, he loves Sizzler after we took him there when he got a free meal gift certificate from school. I was amazed at how hopping busy that place was! And, on a weeknight. Wow. Sizzler? I had no idea.
He ordered his steak medium rare and ate it in bite size pieces by stabbing it with the plastic pointy thing that tells how the steak is cooked. I remember doing that when I was a kid. I sure love that boy.
He and Sophie are having a terrible time transitioning to the new house and going to a new church. You would think they would love having a bigger place and a bigger yard. But, they are so sentimental about our last home. You would think they would be elated at not having to change schools, but instead they are broken-hearted (and, I do mean that lots of tears have been and continue to be shed) to go to a different church (even though they know almost all of the kids already from school and Ian is now in a scout troop with his best friend). I suppose they will adjust eventually. It's hard to see them so sad. Isaac and Katie on the other hand are as happy as can be about the move and I suppose in a few years they will have forgotten all about our old house for good.
I loved our old house too and shed a few tears at our parting. But, I love our new house so much that I just can't bring myself to feel anything other than uncontrolled excitement and gratitude for our good fortune. I do miss going to our old church where we had many good friends. But, I believe we will stay in touch (we only moved a few blocks after all), and our new church seems wonderful too. Our neighbors have been so welcoming and kind to us. For the first few weeks, there was a non-stop parade of visitors dropping off goodies and welcoming us to the neighborhood. It seems this is a great place for us to live.
The thing we love most about our new home is the breathtaking views. We have huge windows that face west and we can see all the way out to the Great Salt Lake. The sunsets are stunning. The other thing we love is actually having space!
It's so nice to not be living right on top of each other. We are still close. The boys still share a room and the girls share a room too. Our bedrooms are close, but not within inches of each other. We are cozy, but at least we can fit two beds and two dressers in each of the kids' rooms. And, the closet in the master bedroom is lovely (his and hers). I honestly don't know how we ever fit everything in our old closet that was 1/4 the size. It's not so huge that we never see each other, but the space is just right so that the kids can have friends over and not annoy each other the entire time.
We are so very, very happy here. Even if the yard is dead, and the ceilings are ripped out, and it needs a new roof and the radiant heat sprung another leak just last night necessitating even more holes in the walls to get to the source. It's nice to be able to dream again. We had maxed out at our old house and it had been apparent for a few years that there was just no place left for us to go. It's going to take a lot of time to get this one fixed up, but, I know we will get it there.
When I turned in my November invoice to the newspaper, I realized I had written 11 stories (requiring 29 interviews). I also started a new job working as a grant writer on November 1. Sheesh! No wonder I haven't had a moment to unpack. Halloween, Thanksgiving, out of town friends, birthday, work, work, work . . . It's a pretty big mess over here. We finally unpacked half of the kitchen on Saturday (attempting to feed my family was interesting up until then). We haven't hung any pictures, curtains (still need to buy some of those) or even the hooks to hang up our towels in the bathroom. Everything is on the list of things to be done. But, the problem is that the list has about 30 things that need to be done NOW. So, we are being very patient and knowing that eventually it will all be done.
A gal from my new church has been asking to come and see our work in progress. Last night, I told her to come and see it and I wanted to see her house too. She bought an amazing house down the street from me 5-years-ago. I remember when that house was for sale. Brian and I were driving through the neighborhood and suddenly we came upon a huge (6000 square foot) home which was so very, very fancy and pink every inch from top to bottom (and the fancy fence was pink too). I had seen the amazing transformation that had taken place on the outside. It is just a gorgeous taupe and white home now with a black roof and shutters and amazing landscaping (nearly an acre plus a pool).
Last night, it was my treat to get to see the house on the inside. They have put about 200K into renovations and her decorating style was so beautiful. The house was such a unique piece of work to begin with. The entire thing is laced with the most unique fancy moldings. It feels like the inside of a palace! Even the bathrooms have elegant chandeliers and stained glass partitions. After going through that home, my own home felt absolutely plain. And, so it goes. There is always something better! Haha. Not really though. I'm quite happy with the deal we got on this home and not at all envious of the work they've had to put into theirs.
Now we have the rest of our lives to make ours unique and beautiful too.
Though probably never quite that fancy. It was really fun to see it though! She was such a good friend and kept it real by telling me that their heating bill is $400/month -- on level pay!!! We have yet to see the price tag of our single pane windows that frame the sunsets so beautifully for us (no reliable billing history since it was vacant for so long).
In other news, the windstorm on December 1st was one our family will never forget. We didn't sustain any damage, but dozens of our neighbors (and Brian's parents in Bountiful) lost enormous pine trees. All through the neighborhood, we saw tree after beautiful tree blown right over by the roots. The pine tree a few doors down from our old house went over too (this was a huge landmark for my kids all these years as in -- "I'm going to ride my scooter to the pine tree and back mom!"). The roots alone were taller than me when standing on end like that for most of the trees! I have never in my life seen anything like this. Our power was out for 24-hours. That is the longest I have ever been without power and it has made me ponder seriously the virtues of owning a generator. I'm just grateful it was only 24-hours since our neighbor directly across the street did not have power restored until yesterday (more than 72-hours). I think this area was especially hit hard because there are so many huge trees. It's one of the best features in the neighborhood (at least most of the time).
If you are reading this and you haven't been to the new house -- come on by! Most of our stuff is still in boxes, but it's going to be that way for awhile. So, I'm pretty relaxed about people coming over even though I would usually be mortified. Come on by, we'll have some pie ;-)
Since Brian's first order of business was to overhaul the entire plumbing system, we packed a few suitcases and moved into my parents' guest room. The morning after we moved (Sunday), I was carrying Isaac down my parents' driveway when I rolled my ankle and sprained it. I felt like I was too busy to take care of it, but now that it's still swollen and bothering me more than a month later, I'm thinking that the next time I sprain my ankle I will put my feet up and get some crutches so it can heal properly.
Probably that will only happen if I'm retired and living on my own private island by then, right?. But, from a sensible standpoint, that is what I would do.
Brian took the week of Halloween off from work to focus only on the plumbing. And, then, the magic began. Our quiet, old house that has sat vacant for so many years was suddenly all abuzz with action. A friend brought over a big digger and made a 4-foot deep trench from the road to the house so Brian could replace the main water line. Brian wasted no time ripping out all of the downstairs ceilings so he could promptly rid the house of all its old galvanized pipes. Next came a series of holes in the walls upstairs (those freshly painted walls - ouch).
Brian is amazing. I can't believe he replaced all of our plumbing! He has been a powerhouse of energy since he began. For the first week, he worked 14-hours straight through every day including Saturday. The next week, he had to go back to work, but he has stayed busy every moment of his free time working on projects.
It took 2-weeks to get the water turned back on and flowing through the new pipes. During that time we were given the royal treatment at my parents' house. One night, they even treated us to a feast of fresh crab that my dad caught in Oregon on a crabbing trip the month before.
We were having such a nice time staying with my parents that we might have stayed indefinitely, except that we realized (with surprise) that it was already almost Thanksgiving. Since, my parents would be having a new slew of house guests for the holiday, we decided we'd better move along to give them a little reprieve in between. On November 12, we spent our first night in the new house. We didn't go to our new church until the following week, since our kids performed in their primary program on November 13. The next day, Ian turned 9 and we surprised the kids by taking them all out to breakfast at Karen's Cafe early in the morning before school.
I met with my girl scouts right after school and then I left the other three kids with a sitter so that Brian and I could take Ian out to dinner. When I asked him what he wanted, he said "Steak and shrimp" (I should also note here that when I asked him what snacks he wanted for his friend party, I expected him to say something like "Doritos" but he surprised me with "Crab and lobster" -- he got Doritos and muddy buddies). So, we took him to Sizzler. I was thinking it would be a cheap option for steak and shrimp, plus I could get the salad bar. And, he loves Sizzler after we took him there when he got a free meal gift certificate from school. I was amazed at how hopping busy that place was! And, on a weeknight. Wow. Sizzler? I had no idea.
He ordered his steak medium rare and ate it in bite size pieces by stabbing it with the plastic pointy thing that tells how the steak is cooked. I remember doing that when I was a kid. I sure love that boy.
He and Sophie are having a terrible time transitioning to the new house and going to a new church. You would think they would love having a bigger place and a bigger yard. But, they are so sentimental about our last home. You would think they would be elated at not having to change schools, but instead they are broken-hearted (and, I do mean that lots of tears have been and continue to be shed) to go to a different church (even though they know almost all of the kids already from school and Ian is now in a scout troop with his best friend). I suppose they will adjust eventually. It's hard to see them so sad. Isaac and Katie on the other hand are as happy as can be about the move and I suppose in a few years they will have forgotten all about our old house for good.
I loved our old house too and shed a few tears at our parting. But, I love our new house so much that I just can't bring myself to feel anything other than uncontrolled excitement and gratitude for our good fortune. I do miss going to our old church where we had many good friends. But, I believe we will stay in touch (we only moved a few blocks after all), and our new church seems wonderful too. Our neighbors have been so welcoming and kind to us. For the first few weeks, there was a non-stop parade of visitors dropping off goodies and welcoming us to the neighborhood. It seems this is a great place for us to live.
The thing we love most about our new home is the breathtaking views. We have huge windows that face west and we can see all the way out to the Great Salt Lake. The sunsets are stunning. The other thing we love is actually having space!
It's so nice to not be living right on top of each other. We are still close. The boys still share a room and the girls share a room too. Our bedrooms are close, but not within inches of each other. We are cozy, but at least we can fit two beds and two dressers in each of the kids' rooms. And, the closet in the master bedroom is lovely (his and hers). I honestly don't know how we ever fit everything in our old closet that was 1/4 the size. It's not so huge that we never see each other, but the space is just right so that the kids can have friends over and not annoy each other the entire time.
We are so very, very happy here. Even if the yard is dead, and the ceilings are ripped out, and it needs a new roof and the radiant heat sprung another leak just last night necessitating even more holes in the walls to get to the source. It's nice to be able to dream again. We had maxed out at our old house and it had been apparent for a few years that there was just no place left for us to go. It's going to take a lot of time to get this one fixed up, but, I know we will get it there.
When I turned in my November invoice to the newspaper, I realized I had written 11 stories (requiring 29 interviews). I also started a new job working as a grant writer on November 1. Sheesh! No wonder I haven't had a moment to unpack. Halloween, Thanksgiving, out of town friends, birthday, work, work, work . . . It's a pretty big mess over here. We finally unpacked half of the kitchen on Saturday (attempting to feed my family was interesting up until then). We haven't hung any pictures, curtains (still need to buy some of those) or even the hooks to hang up our towels in the bathroom. Everything is on the list of things to be done. But, the problem is that the list has about 30 things that need to be done NOW. So, we are being very patient and knowing that eventually it will all be done.
A gal from my new church has been asking to come and see our work in progress. Last night, I told her to come and see it and I wanted to see her house too. She bought an amazing house down the street from me 5-years-ago. I remember when that house was for sale. Brian and I were driving through the neighborhood and suddenly we came upon a huge (6000 square foot) home which was so very, very fancy and pink every inch from top to bottom (and the fancy fence was pink too). I had seen the amazing transformation that had taken place on the outside. It is just a gorgeous taupe and white home now with a black roof and shutters and amazing landscaping (nearly an acre plus a pool).
Last night, it was my treat to get to see the house on the inside. They have put about 200K into renovations and her decorating style was so beautiful. The house was such a unique piece of work to begin with. The entire thing is laced with the most unique fancy moldings. It feels like the inside of a palace! Even the bathrooms have elegant chandeliers and stained glass partitions. After going through that home, my own home felt absolutely plain. And, so it goes. There is always something better! Haha. Not really though. I'm quite happy with the deal we got on this home and not at all envious of the work they've had to put into theirs.
Now we have the rest of our lives to make ours unique and beautiful too.
Though probably never quite that fancy. It was really fun to see it though! She was such a good friend and kept it real by telling me that their heating bill is $400/month -- on level pay!!! We have yet to see the price tag of our single pane windows that frame the sunsets so beautifully for us (no reliable billing history since it was vacant for so long).
In other news, the windstorm on December 1st was one our family will never forget. We didn't sustain any damage, but dozens of our neighbors (and Brian's parents in Bountiful) lost enormous pine trees. All through the neighborhood, we saw tree after beautiful tree blown right over by the roots. The pine tree a few doors down from our old house went over too (this was a huge landmark for my kids all these years as in -- "I'm going to ride my scooter to the pine tree and back mom!"). The roots alone were taller than me when standing on end like that for most of the trees! I have never in my life seen anything like this. Our power was out for 24-hours. That is the longest I have ever been without power and it has made me ponder seriously the virtues of owning a generator. I'm just grateful it was only 24-hours since our neighbor directly across the street did not have power restored until yesterday (more than 72-hours). I think this area was especially hit hard because there are so many huge trees. It's one of the best features in the neighborhood (at least most of the time).
If you are reading this and you haven't been to the new house -- come on by! Most of our stuff is still in boxes, but it's going to be that way for awhile. So, I'm pretty relaxed about people coming over even though I would usually be mortified. Come on by, we'll have some pie ;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
