No, not the baby. But you know how babies love playing in boxes. We're in the middle of packing and various other neverending tasks while trying to enjoy the season. We haven't even moved yet and already I don't know where anything is!
Thanks for hanging in there with me through all this transition. And speaking of boxing things up, I'm so proud of my big (newly 6 year old) girl. She donated 10 inches of blond waves to Locks of Love. Go, Phi!
It is happening.
Some of us are running around like chickens with our heads cut off.
Some of us would just rather crawl under a blanket.
Nonetheless, we are moving. We closed on our new house and are massively renovating it before we move in. Meanwhile we are finishing the renovation at the old house to sell it. Happy Holidays, y'all.
So ready for some quiet and creativity. Miss you all so much! Can't wait for aught ten!! That's right, I'm putting an O in there. I need a spacer :)
As we say goodbye to summer, we are also most likely saying goodbye to the swimming pool as well. The likelihood of our next house having one is pretty nil. This summer has brought many changes, most of them good, but some time consuming and stressful. The boys are living with us full time now, so that means that we have limited time to move into their school district which is 20 minutes away. While we do this happily for them and also for the girls as it is considered to be a bit better than our current school district, this summer has not been the greatest. Getting all the issues and logistics worked out for the move has been much more difficult and fraught than we had anticipated. I'll be the first to admit that I have not dealt well with the stress. I tend to fret about things when it comes to my kids and not being able to get Phi into the new school district before kindergarten started has been a source of extreme stress for me. I know kids are resilient, but I really wanted to make that happen for her and things have just been beyond my control.
So she started kindergarten in the old school district and we've yet to move. In fact if we're not eating or sleeping, were pretty much working on house renovations in order to move. I've been worried about her making friends in kindergarten, and then also worried about leaving those friends and having to start over when we move. The latest drama this week is that her closest friend from preschool has made a new friend and doesn't want to play with her right now. He's the cutest little boy and I can't picture him being mean to her, but her feelings are hurt just the same. I don't like to discuss "issues" on this blog typically, as it is my happy place, but I'm just wondering... isn't it human nature for us to want to be around those we identify with? He's african american and she told me that his new friend has "hair like him," so I can only assume that he is also not white. I've never made any mention of race to Phi and never indicated that any one of us is different than the other. Is this wrong? I never wanted her to have any preconceived notions about anyone and have even gone to the trouble to spell out the word FAT in front of her so that she doesn't call anyone fat at school and make them feel badly.
Sometimes I feel like I'm just flying blind with this parenting thing. I try my best to do the right thing, but now I'm wondering if she's too innocent because I haven't covered difficult topics with her. She really seems hurt that her friend doesn't want to play with her and even wrote him a letter tonight telling him that she misses him. We keep encouraging her to ask a new friend to play, but I think she might be a bit scared to branch out just yet. This is so hard. I just want things to be smooth sailing and happy for all our kids. This is just part of growing up, right? And seriously, who wouldn't want to hang with my little mermaid?
And for a kitchen update, all the granite is in and the dishwasher is currently running. Yay! Tomorrow... wall cabinets. I really hope the next people enjoy all our hard work!
Renovate a kitchen right before moving, that is. We lied. Argh, the agony of living with yellow formica for seven years and installing granite for the next people. Surely we'll learn our lesson after this, right? Nah, probably not.
Here's how the kitchen looked a couple of days ago. Since then, the base cabinets have all been replaced and wood flooring installed in the kitchen which continues from the dining area. I didn't help this time, but did help install the rest of the flooring on this level. That is hard work. I'm not sure I've physically worked that hard since I detasseled corn circa 1985. You non-midwesterners probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but let's just say I may have faked an asthma attack because they wouldn't give me any water. There may have been winos waiting to get on the detasseling bus when my mom dropped me off at Job Service. I may have decided right then and there that not going to college was not an option.
Tomorrow we go pick up the granite and start staining the wall cabinets. We're so ready for a home cooked meal! I'll update with more photos as we make progress over the weekend.
Well, it's happening… my baby is growing up. Today is her first day of Kindergarten. Coincidence that I now have a moment to blog? I think not. I only teared up a little bit when I dropped her off. She was so excited to be there and make new friends. I have to say that is one of the things I love most about her – she's always so game for whatever and positive about new experiences. I hope she loves it. Keeping my fingers crossed. One of the little girls was a screamer. It was a bit heartwrenching for me to watch, but Phi just looked perplexed, as if to say, "Why WOULDN'T she be excited to be here?"
She was required to bring an art smock with her so I sewed one for her last night. I used the instructions I found here, but didn't get a chance to email the author requesting the pattern pieces, so I just used the pattern for the Prairie Blouse from Anna's book and then followed the instructions in the tutorial. Not a good picture, but I was pleased with how it turned out.
I'm pretty excited to have some structure in our lives and time to get some things done around here. I'm also looking forward to some one on one time with Baby Frankie.
Hope your school years are starting out great!
What kind of mother lets her child sleep in a toddler bed until the age of 5 1/2? Umm... this kind of mother. I finally felt guilty enough about the big girl sleeping on a crib sized mattress that I did something about it. The bed we want is actually a loft bed and too high for our current ceilings. So in the meantime, I rehabbed a headboard that I got free on a yard sale. I must have looked VERY undecided because the proprietress said, "just take it, I want it out of here." I complied and threw it into the back of the van.
While the Hub insisted it was a "ShiteBird," which in the family lexicon means "not good," he was nice enough to put in a new piece of trim for me. I then sanded and painted and voila, new headboard.
I think it turned out fairly well. The comforter is Dwell Studio for Target and is called "Birds in Trees." The pillow is from Ikea. I have the Dwell sheets to match, but they haven't been laundered yet so I have some clearance Target sheets on there. She seems really happy to have a big girl bed. I shouldn't have waited so long. For me, inertia + too many options = total lack of decision making. Lesson learned. Just do something!
Isn't this a lovely little nest we found? It was in the boston ferns I was getting ready to re-pot. Of course we had to wait for an empty nest before repotting.
So I've been struggling. We are in the midst of a major transition over here and I just am trying to take it one day at a time. It's not the fuller nest that's the problem. Not in the least. The girls are loving having more time to spend with their brothers. I just do not do well with limbo type situations and not knowing when we are moving or where we will end up is about to make me crazy. I need my details ironed out and it's just going to take a while. And trying to get our current house more attractive in a bad market is the main thrust of our energy right now. As in we are about to lay hundreds of square feet of hardwood flooring. After we rip out all the current flooring. Oh and then we're going to gut the kitchen. And we are already in the middle of gutting the laundry/downstairs bath. And Ted is building a dresser for our bedroom. And I'm redoing a headboard for Phi I got on a yard sale. No big whoop.
And there is family drama that I won't go into. Ugh! We haven't even opened the pool yet because it's been so weird/cool/rainy. As if we had time to lounge poolside anyway. So creative and sewing projects sound like a frivolous luxury right now and yet it's all I would like to be doing. I really need to just schedule an hour into my day for creativity despite the chaos that is ensuing over here. That's it, I'm doing it. It is in writing now so it has to happen, right?
Here's to yet another fresh start!!
Oy! This phrase could be applied to nearly every aspect of my life right now. So much for posting more regularly. Let's give it another go, shall we?
Well, the most exciting thing I've done lately is to go and see Tim Gunn speak at a local college. Wow! I am not a fan of reality television for the most part and have only seen Project Runway a couple of times, but I really enjoyed hearing his presentation. And I felt so fortunate to have been there. Apparently he only accepts one to two speaking engagements at universities per year. I half expected to see Patty there as she is such a fashionista and lives nearby.
He just seemed like the most sincere, genuine, NICE and intelligent person. Someone I'd love to know in real life. He spoke personally about difficulties growing up and the circuitous career path he's had. Did you know he was a sculptor?
There was also a fashion show put on by the design students at ISU and it was super fun to watch. Of course Tim only had great things to say about it but it was really interesting to see the wide range of abiilities and design sense among the students. If you click on the first link I included there's a newspaper article that tells all about it and here's a link to the video of the fashion show. All in all it was a great night out with some girlfriends.
And oh, how I needed to get out. Things have been poppin' around here in addition to the illnesses that seem to keep spreading amongst us. The biggest news is that my stepsons are going to live with us full time which is awesome. And the girls are going to flip over being able to spend so much time with them. However, this means we will be moving to a neighboring town to keep them in their school district.
Let's just say I don't do well with moving. On the second walkthrough of our current house I broke down into tears just from the overwhelming stress of it.
The first house I purchased on my own was even stressful and I wasn't selling one at the same time as it was my first. So while things are going to get even more crazy around here, I am determiined to visit this, my happy place, more frequently and touch base with you friends. Wish me luck!
