handsful

Don’t normally go together, huh? But, last night they did.

Alan, Randy’s college roommate and the kids honorary uncle, sent us Carolina Hurricane hockey tickets for Christmas and the game was last night. Given it was going to be a long time sitting in seats watching a game they probably wouldn’t follow well, we decided to find alternate plans for the littles.

I called my friend Sandi, who now lives only 7 minutes away. Her daughter Hollyn is one of Lainey and Dylan’s bestest friends, and Dylan and Hollyn have a special connection with their (opposite leg!) prosthesis’. Sandi was thrilled to have them over for their first-ever sleepover!

I dropped them off at 3:30, and Sandi kept them busy! First stop, the park.

In the meantime, we were settled into our seats at the game. Awesome seats, by the way, lower level and end zone! Since we had 2 extra tickets, the kids asked their friends Kayla and Ethan P to come. I promise EP was there, he was just camera shy.

Sandi scored major kid points when she opted to grab Tac*o Bell for dinner. Lainey is being a stinker, peeking while Hollyn prays. Dylan keeps his eyes CLOSED!

Abbey and Stormy…she’s had him since her first hockey game years and years ago. The game was going great, Canes ahead. We were digging our $1 hotdog dinner…we thought about bringing home a box for later. Hey, that’s cheap eats for this family!

Just the girls…we sent the boys out for snacks :)

After dinner, the littles watched a movie and crashed in bed. Late, from what I’m told. Hoping them have a little rest time later on.

Unfortunately, the game ended abruptly about 30 seconds into overtime. Oh well, we had a wonderful time and hope to go back again one of these days. Thanks a bunch, Alan!!

And, the kids are already planning their next sleepover…this time, with Hollyn coming to our house :)

A month ago, we had three houses. One we rented, one we owned down in Florida, and another we were buying. Here’s a quick timeline on what’s happened since.

3/9: We bought and closed on the house we currently live in.

3/10: We thought we had our home in FL rented. Randy called our realtor to take it off the market, and she informed us a family had already scheduled a showing – we honored that and ended up accepting their offer soon after (the renter called just prior to this to back out).

3/17: We moved into our new home.

3/29: We closed on the FL house, and did the final clean-up of our rental home. Here are the kids on the porch, tired from all that finishing up…

Re-cap: Within 20 days, we were able to buy a house, move out of a house, and sell another house. Our FL house was on the market for almost 2 years. Only God could orchestrate all of this! And, even though we didn’t exactly come out ahead on the sale of the house, we’re trusting God and believing that we followed His lead on all of this.

So, now I’m gonna revel in that fact that we have one residence, one home to call our own. All of our belongings under one roof – first time in a long time. To God be the glory!

Everyday, I squeeze in time for either unpacking and/or organizing. I’ve been crazy busy lately, and not home much, but the next few days are fairly open so I plan on getting a LOT done. I’ve focused mainly on the kitchen and family room, followed by our bedroom. The big kids are working on their rooms, and the little kids are waiting patiently (ahem) for me to spend a good chunk of time in there.

Family room, looking into the kitchen. The red chair won’t stay forever, it’s on it’s last leg. The couch we purchased from the owners for a crazy good price, and the recliner is new. I want to incorporate some COLOR in here, still trying to decide on color schemes, window treatments (just want panels), etc.

Kitchen. This is one room we painted…it’s a warmer tone than it looks in the picture. I’m loving this kitchen, there’s so much space. Ahhh…

Ahhh!! This greeted Randy the other morning. You never know what you’re gonna find around here…or where.

View from the front door. I just missed the sunset, it’s gorgeous. Love the red barn across the street. Oh, and ignore the horrible yard…weeds that need cutting. We’ll work on the yard at some point.

View from the back deck. The dirt road winds down to our “shop”, as we’re calling it. It’s a large building that the previous owners used for a workshop. We’re considering making it into a hang-out for our kids and their friends. Not sure yet. To the left of the fir trees, you see what looks like stubby sticks? It’s an overgrown garden, that I hope to get our hands into soon!

Payton is always ready with a pose…

First plants, that I actually potted today. The tomato is meant to be a small, container type. Not sure how we’ll do with the strawberries, never tried them before. I’m hopeful, though :)

Next up, bedrooms…but, I’ve gotta have some time to make them blog-ready!

Taken in “their tree” when we drove down to FL a couple weeks ago.

Sorry for the blog drought, we’ve been a little busy around here.

Tomorrow will be 1 week since moving into our new house…in some ways it’s flown by, and in others it seems like we’ve been unpacking for weeks already. Sometimes I feel like we’re making huge progress in settling in, and then I look around and see boxes and things out of place. And, I inhale…exhale…and realize it’s going to take some time. Clutter has a tendency to “wig me out”, so it’s a challenge!

Re-cap of last weekend, without pictures (taking pics was the last thing on my mind, but I wish I had!). We were up early, with Randy picking up the 26ft truck and me going for doughnuts (hey, we had to eat breakfast, right?). Friends started showing up to help, some we weren’t even expecting. Some of those brought friends. We were silly with helpers and it was such a blessing! We also hired a group of guys with a Christian moving company, and they were work horses and did a great job. Truck loaded, Randy drove it over to the new house, and the unload began. Repeat the whole process over again, and the day was done. Well, not done exactly. We’re renting another smaller truck tomorrow to unload the rest of the garage.

Re-cap of this past week…took Payton to the doctor on Monday, he now has Mono AND Strep. Funny thing is his throat doesn’t hurt very much, but he’s been very tired and napping a lot. We did let him go to the midnight premiere of The Hunger Games (tickets ordered weeks ago), and he did fine. (a few pics to come…) Most of the other big kids are knee-deep in allergy issues, with red eyes, lots of sneezing, and tissues ankle deep. (Abbey is currently beside me on the couch, feeling rather miserable)

We’ve done a lot of unpacking, sprinkled in a little school here and there, and I’ve even cooked a few meals. Not bad for a first week. Again, though, no pictures to speak of. I just can’t document clutter, it’s against everything I believe in!

I did pull the camera out last night for a few minutes. Like I mentioned, the big kids ordered their movie premiere tickets weeks ago, and were EXTREMELY excited about going to the theater at midnight. We had 6 extra teens here, hanging out until Randy piled them into the van to drop them off. Abbey and her friends Jaiden and Kayla dressed up as some of the characters. Yes, they are HG fanatics.

Taken from the family room…kids everywhere.

Abbey as Katniss

Abbey and Jaiden (dressed as Peeta) laugh ALL the time. Seriously, they do.

The trio, Katniss, Kayla as Effie, and Peeta…they worked on these costumes forever.

All the kids, ready to head out. Randy handled the late shift, dropping them off and then staying up till 2am to pick them up. I love that about him. They all crashed at our house for the night.

This morning, Marley, Payton, and Ethan had an EARLY orthodontist appt, which means they had about 3-4 hours of sleep. But, they all agreed the movie was worth it.

Tonight, we sat down for our first “all of us at the table” dinner. We’re beginning to feel at home here, and how thankful we are.

it’s easy to tell that something’s up around here…

Names on cups are a must

empty turns into…

full (no, this isn’t all…they’re spread out all over the house)

Aren’t you jealous of my pricey “silverware”?

Walk-thru today
Closing on Friday (same day we leave for Florida to pick up our storage room contents!)
Big move happens in 10 days :)