paint
...yesterday i touched up the paint inside our house--only about 3 feet off the ground! although, we enjoyed seeing the toy marks, the residue from the sticky frogs that they would leave on the walls and fingerprints of our children around our house--next house, i think we will consider semi-gloss paint throughout!! tomorrow we put the FSBO sign out--i am feeling anxious not knowing what will happen or how fast, but for now i will sleep and tomorrow i will paint doors and plant flowers! i was excited to find out that the YMCA in prescott has kayaking teams, scuba diving lessons and rock climbing clubs (clay wants to do this when he turns 6!).
a house or a home?
...we have been working around the house almost non-stop for the last five days. scrubbing, painting, making repairs, organizing...but it wasn't until i was packing boxes with my friend, stacey, last night that it hit me--we are really moving! we have been talking about the possibility for months and now it is a reality. i've been talking to the boys about moving-only clay is old enough to really understand and ask the tough questions. i've been telling them that we are going to buy a new house but we will take their beds, toys, and we will still have our family. i've been in denial and keeping my self busy, cleaning, packing, planning andy's birthday party, homeschooling--and all this time i've been lying to myself and my boys. over the past four and one half years, this "house" has become our "home"--we have laughed, cried, played many bache ball games, house church, ate many meals together, scratched up ALL of the walls with the light sabers, had many guests, celebrated holidays, poker nights, birthday parties, had two babies, planted a garden and watched it grow! mentally, i am not really allowing myself to face what we are really leaving! lisa said to me the other day that she was talking to stacey and they were sad because they won't get to see our kids grow up. at that moment, i realized that we are leaving behind so many friends we have grown to love and that have loved us like family! we are moving to prescott, az and we have plans to build and sell custom homes to make a living--this will allow more family time, some actual income :) , and a smaller town with a cooler climate in which our kids can be more adventurous outdoors-in the woods! clay is already planning to make more bows & arrows and build a treehouse with his dad! yes, we will make new memories and probably even plant a new garden, but nothing will compare to the memories we have made here in las vegas with our family. we have learned so much about our Father and have a new found love for Him and for this i am forever grateful to each and every one of you!
neverland
...damon is trying so hard (before now this would have been an impossible task) not to tell his dad what he got him for his birthday--so he climbed in our bed this morning and was talking to us and said, "mom, i'm not talking about the light saber!" -- i would cover his mouth every time he got to the "light saber" part and he thought this was funny so he proceeded to say this about ten times! earlier this week i disciplined him by spanking his hand and he went and got the ice pack (the one we use for something that might possibly bruise!) out of the freezer! dramatics run in the family.
...clay taught sean, a new friend at the park, how to get himself up onto the "big kid" swings--step by step instructions! yesterday, he picked out a dvd at the library that was peter pan. he was very excited and turned in on as soon as we arrived home. he quickly came to me and said, "mom, the dvd wasn't working--there was some grandma in it". i asked some more questions, unsure of what the problem was and he said,"peter pan is a girl!". well, he had picked out the musical version, with Cathy Rigby as peter pan! once i reassured him that this was ok and she was just acting out the part, we watched it together and he really enjoyed the movie as a play!
...for the first time today, ella walked around the park by herself. of course mommy was close behind but she knew she was venturing out and proud of being so big! she is so funny with the boundaries we set for her. we have a baby gate up in our house most of the time and when it is down she will, as fast as her tiny feet will allow, run up to the imaginary line in the carpet where the gate usually is and STOP...look back at mom and dad...if we say "no,no" she will burst into very girlish tears, if we say go ahead she will smile and run into the other room!
"you should never put a boy to bed, for he always wakes up a day older"
dust
...yesterday, i dusted off my hiking boots and hiked fletcher trail at Mt Charleston with my friend lisa. i've taken my three young children to the mountain many times but never hiked without them--let's just say there is a substantial difference in the level of stamina needed to hike a mountain rather than run around a creek chasing butterflies or throwing rocks into the creek! i am not the 24 fitness kind of girl, i love being outdoors in nature. we talked, climbed, enjoyed the cold weather and changing leaves for over an hour--this was good for my soul! since the summers are so hot here, i have been riding my bike in the early or late hours of the day and doing pilates (which my boys have become pretty good at!). the moment in which i realized that i have really missed hiking was when a deer glanced our way as she scurried next to the path and back into the woods! today i will dust off the old testament as i begin reading, with my boys, at the beginning-Genesis! speaking of dust, i'm really enjoying feeling the cold crisp air flow through my house all the while knowing that we live in lv next to a dirt lot and tomorrow i will be dusting the furniture again!
trident or bazooka?
...i attended a catholic wedding mass tonight for my neighbor. the priest was asking everyone to turn off any cell phones and pagers before the wedding and then proceeded to say, "also, if you are chewing gum please dispose of it now as it takes away from the traditions and spirituality of the mass." someone please explain this one to me, i don't see how chewing gum hinders my spirituality!
"it is only august!"
...this is what my sweet mother-in-law said to me as we shopped for three new car seats this past weekend. andy was in a minor car accident last friday and we needed to replace the seats for the second time this year, the first time was when they were stolen in our last suburban in january. anyone top this--6 new car seats in 7 months??--no cheating, you can't have septuplets or anything! our beautiful, sweet daughter celebrated her 1 st birthday with a bubble party (her brothers' idea-cause they make her giggle!). she is not a baby anymore--walking, talking, laughing, and even getting annoyed and pushing her daddy away when he kisses her too much--she has officially become a toddler! everyone is asking if clay is starting kindergarten and well since he can cut shapes, tie his shoes and write his name we decided to homeschool! honestly that is not at all the reason we made this decision but that is an entirely separate blog--but clay and i both have been having a lot of fun this past year learning how to read (ok so i know how to read but you get the picture)!
girls night out #2--friday, september 10th @ jillians--see cheryl or myself for details!
