all about us.

i'm in an unpacking frenzy

but all i can say, is that it is SO GOOD to be HOME!!!!!!!

I can't say it enough.  I feel like i am breathing again.  This place breathes life into me, as cheesy as that sounds.  Fall is still here in Gig Harbor, and it is gorgeous.  foggy mornings, sunny afternoons, and the air smells so fresh and piney.   

i'm unpacking the house, and it is quite the task.  the kitchen took me 7 hours to unpack yesterday.  it was insane.  i'm tackling the bedrooms today.  then on to the downstairs.  the kids both have the flu.  ashlyn threw up on our way out of colorado, and has had the stomach flu since then.  Ben woke up with a fever this morning, so i think he'll be going through the same thing soon here.  They are both sleeping now.  i feel so bad for them :(  anyone have flu tips???

off we go!

tomorrow our internet gets turned off, and we have a busy, busy day doing last minute stuff.  We pack the truck /leave on saturday, and aim to be in WA around noontime on Monday.  I'm driving the family truck, and adam is driving the Uhaul.  I've never done that long of a drive by myself before (yeah, the kids are with me, but... you know...), so i am thinking it will be quite boring! lol.  i even bought a book on CD hoping that will quickly kill 6 of those hours.  we'll see!!

pray for our travels!!

good morning, mama

  the other day, i came downstairs to this....  they had set up everything for breakfast on their TV trays, and promptly asked me if they could pour their own cereal. :)

so lovely.

So, instead of packing today, i cleaned the house.  Our landlord was bringing someone by in the afternoon, so i thought i'd have the place spic n span.  By mid-afternoon, the house was looking pretty, and why is it that after the house is clean, it just makes you feel so good?  I'm one of those people who hate to deep clean, but i ALWAYS straighten and pick up.  i wipe things down quickly, etc, but the down and dirty deep cleaning is only done when necessary.  It's funny, because mess makes me stressed, and when things are clean, i feel as though i can think straight and relax.  So, why don't i clean like this more often???  it's just one of those things, i guess.

anyway, so the house was clean, i got ashlyn from school, we came home and i ate lunch (yeah, at 3:30), and eventually ben asked to take a bath.  I bathed them both, fed them dinner, and by the time adam came home, there was a light snow falling, chili was simmering, the cornbread was baking, and the kids were quietly playing computer games.  i can't explain it, but it was just so cozy and peaceful.  a fulfilling, lovely feeling. 

that white stuff is back.

oh, and it's snowing about 3 minutes up the road.  Ben and i saw that it was snowing in the mountains just a ways up from our house, so we took a nice drive through it.  So pretty! Makes me want to cozy up with some chili or soup or something.  But alas, it's only raining at our house, and i have packing to do :)

i wish my excitiment would overflow into this part.

cuz i HATE packing.  i'm very meticulous about it.... i have to not only pack, but i seperate things into TRASH/THRIFT STORE/BOX UP.  I am always amazed by the amount of junk i have after a year.  Moving is great for that kind of overhaul, since i'm kind of lazy about it otherwise.  i also have to pack in a certain order, and dust and clean things along the way.  Anything to make the unpacking easier (cuz i hate that part too). 

10 days and counting...

him

    nothing special, but special to my mama's heart, nonetheless.  just some pics of ben playing with his cars.  i was down in the basement level on the couch, and my ears suddenly tuned in to ben making car noises upstairs.  i grabbed my camera and watched him play for awhile.  He saw me and insisted i take some portraits of the individual cars...they are his pride and joy, after all :)   Sometimes i realize that these moments will not always be around.  he'll grow up, and start fiddling with real cars, or whatever hobby he chooses.  He won't always be the little boy who lays on his stomach, head to the ground, deciding which way to "drive" his cars, and making the appropriate vehicle noises.  i sure love him.  i love seeing him change and learn,  i love seeing his boyness (oh my...which is getting wilder and louder by the day), and i really love that despite his boyness, he 95% of the time asks for things with a, "may i please...", and the fact that he will out-of-the-blue want to kiss me, and tell me that he loves me.

.....................................................................................................................................................

lol.  i'm laughing.  b/c not 30 minutes after i posted this, i got these following photos, so i had to add them.  i guess maybe there is no age limit to laying on your stomach, driving toys, and making the noises.

here is adam "putting ben to bed"

 

it's about that time again.

our lives are hectic. not normal. we are never settled, never sure of what is up or down, or where our place is in this life.  i like to think that God is testing us.  testing our endurance and our willingness to listen and do what He wants us to do.  we have prospered, learned lessons, or grown in some way or another with each home.  He takes us on highs, and then He takes us in lows... lows that teach us things that we would have never learned in the highs of life. 

this past year in durango has given us a lot of lows.  lows that i sometimes didn't know how i was going to get through.  lows that i haven't gone through before.  but i've learned to put my trust in Him.  i've learned to be patient.  i've learned that stressing doesn't help--He tells us to cast our cares upon Him.  to give Him our worries.  worrying and stressing and being anxious, they can physically wear us down.  99.9% of the time, we are helpless to change a situation anyway. HE is in control.  i've seen Him time and time again rescue us in the 11th hour, and sometimes, 11 hours and 59 minutes.  we have always been taken care of, even when we had no idea HOW we were going to get through.  He has been faithful.  He has let us go through our lows, and in that time, we have grown closer to Him.  He taught us.  there is always something to learn if you are quiet and listen, and there are always things to be thankful for.  right now, i'm thankful for my time here.  i never thought i'd say it, but i really am.

anyway, that said.  we like to move.  we actually don't LIKE moving, we hate it.  but it seems that our family is destined to a life of travel.  i'm kind of hoping this curse ends soon, since my deepest desire is a life of stability for my family/kids, but we'll see.  for now, our life has taken another abrupt turn, and we are moving back to our home--gig harbor--in a couple of weeks.  we still have our house up there, so we'll be moving right back in.  the kids are excited (they've never stopped asking when we can go back ever since we moved away), and so are we. 

 

twins?

  i really didn't dress them like this.  ashlyn was getting dressed for church, and when she was trying to decide her outfit, she looked over at ben to see what he was wearing, and promptly picked something to match him. :)

the tooth fairy came to visit

So, while ashlyn and ben were being watched by auntie anna on friday night, ashlyn lost her tooth.  unfortunately, she was eating dinner at the time, so she swallowed it.  Even though there was no tooth to put out, we hung her tooth pillow on her bedroom door (which i had just made only a couple days before), and the next morning, ashlyn was $1 richer.  the tooth fairy was also sweet enough to go to auntie anna's house and leave yet another $1.