live from tennessee

Well, we made it. We are here. We are mostly unpacked. We are alive...and not all well. We ended up taking the big kids to the med clinic in Memphis last Monday and they were told they had an upper respiratory infection and eye infection...enter amoxicillin (which they like) and eye drops (which they loathe). Greg and I started getting the cough then too...and it's still hanging on. We figured Hannah would eventually get sick we just didn't know when. She got pretty bad by Friday and I took her to the pediatrician on Saturday. He told me that she has a mild case of RSV and that sometimes it goes away without too much impact and other times it can escalate. So far, she seems to be over the worst of it. We went back to the pediatrician on Monday and he found that she has an ear infection too, so she was given some antibiotics for that.

The coughing continues in our house...and we're hoping that we don't get my sister sick! She came in on Tuesday and will be with us till next Monday. She's great at coloring and playing cars and "Dancing Star" (as a judge) with the kids. She's already been a huge help to us in our time of transition...and I really hope to get all my unpacking done while she's here! maybe wishful thinking...

So besides being sick and not having everything unpacked we're doing pretty good. We miss our friends...but are starting to make new friends. I've already found the pediatricians office and can get there without the garmin!! It's different living in a smaller town, it used to take Greg about 20 minutes to get to work now it takes 5-7 depending on the stop lights. The drs office used to be about 20 minutes away from us now it's about 10 and that's the other side of town. It's not a really small town but when you go from the 7th largest city in the US to a town/city of 80,000 it makes a difference. Well, I better go get some more unpacking done.

I've got lots of photos to share but will have to pace myself to get them all on here...
but I'll leave you with this one...

quick update

Well, we've made it to Tennessee. We are not in Jackson yet but are staying with my aunt and uncle in the Memphis area. We decided to drive on Sunday instead of Monday so that we were able to take our time and make sure to make it in time. We were driving two cars with three kids so we had no idea what the travels would be like. All three kids did GREAT in the cars!

We left San Antonio Saturday morning after saying goodbye to our neighbors and our (painted, empty) house. We made it to Plano by 3:15pm. We had a great time hanging out with Scott, Kimi and their three boys and PB and Linda also came over for a DELICIOUS dinner!! Thanks Scott and Kimi we're gonna miss being only 5 hours from y'all. Since we decided to leave on Sunday that means we missed getting to see Eric and Heather and their girls...we also didn't get to see Adam and Chelsea. They will have to come to TN to visit us :).

We got up early Sunday morning and started the drive. It only took us about 8.5 hours to make the drive. We stopped in Arkansas for lunch and ended up going to a softball diamond and ate in the dugout. The kids enjoyed the freedom of running around. We stopped two other times as well. We made it to Memphis by 5pm and got to help my aunt celebrate her birthday.

Naomi and Micah have been battling some sickness for a while. It seemed to just get worse and worse as time went on. Friday night, Micah had a 102.9 temp and it was that way till last night. They are both coughing a lot and had green gunk coming out of their eyes. So, our nights have not been filled with sleep, needless to say. But we're surviving and making it just fine. We are enjoying a day today at my aunt and uncle's house (and another one of my uncles is here too) without having to go anywhere. Which is SO NICE.

Tomorrow Greg, Hannah and I will drive to Jackson and meet the moving truck at the church to unload his boxes and boxes of books, then we will go to our rental home and unload there. Still lots to do...the unpacking and finding places for things, begins tomorrow. I know the kids will love the HUGE backyard that our home has and they will spend many hours out there I'm sure. I have LOTS of photos to share but it'll be a little while because I need to get my computer off the truck and connected before I can do that.

Thank you SOOOOO much to all our friends for your help. Thanks for the help with watching the kids. Thanks for putting a roof over our heads. Thanks for the meals, the hanging out, the laundry facilities. Thanks for loving us as Christ loves us and helping us out. We're very sad to leave ya'll and can't wait till we can hang out again!!! I hear fall in Tennessee is beautiful, you should come check it out! We pray that God would bless you in new and exciting ways!

kindle carrying case

Before my parents left for their overseas teaching adventure they came back to our house for a couple of weeks. It was SOOOOO great to spend some more time with them and to have them help us out by watching the kids when we needed to go to Tennessee. They had bought a kindle before they even left Wisconsin because they knew they wouldn't be able to take a lot of books with them. When they stayed with us in January I told them I wanted to make them a case for their kindle so it wouldn't get scratched. That never happened. So, I'm glad they were able to come back and I had a little time to make them a case for their kindle.

I found this great travel fabric at Hancock Fabrics on sale and bought a bunch. I made a camera case for myself and then this for my parents and still have a bunch leftover. I plan on making some more cases for electronics and selling them in my etsy store once I get my sewing machine unpacked and my life a little settled. Here are some photos of the case I made for my parents.

five months old

Our sweet little lady is five months old already! We sure are blessed to have her in our lives. She is such a laid back happy little lady. She loves to watch what's going on and wants to be part of the action. When we lay her down she almost immediately rolls over. She pushes up with her arms and almost pushes herself backwards. She tries to get her knees under herself too, but not at the same time as pushing up. She LOVES to talk and sometimes at 4am. But I make her go back to sleep because that's just too early. She's been sleeping pretty regularly from 8pm till 5 or 6am. Then she'll eat and sleep again till like 8 or 9am. Sometimes she wakes in the middle of the night but will just talk for a while and then goes back to sleep. Sometimes though she gets her arms out of her swaddle, or rolls over and gets stuck and upset. I'm in the bad habit of wrapping her up again and rocking her a bit when I should probably just let her fuss a bit. Oh well.

So these were taking on the day she turned 5 months old and I had a hard time getting her to stretch out. She just loves her feet so much...and recently discovered the joy of having something else to suck on! silly girl.

She's 26 inches and 16 pounds!

See, rolls right over.

This is as stretched out as I could get.

Man, she's so stinkin cute!

This little lady LOVES her feet!

Have a great day!!!

a day at the park with 500 babies

On Tuesday last week I knew I needed to get the kids out of the house...and I needed to get out of the house as well. So we headed over to the 500 babies house and asked them to join us at the park. The kids had a blast running around, playing ball, being with their friends and they all enjoyed the picnic lunch as well. I wish we would've done this more often since we were all home most of the time. You live and learn.

People, seriously, if you have a friend whom you always talk about getting together with but never seem to take the time to make it happen, I have some words for you.... MAKE IT HAPPEN. You never know when someone may be moving, when something serious could happen to your friends, etc. Take the time to live life with your friends...and make new friends. I met a sweet lady at the park in February and I'm really bummed that we won't have time to get to know each other better or to let our kids hang out...(HI JILL!!!).

But seriously, don't just talk about spending time with people, DO IT! You won't regret it. The tv show can wait, dinner can be made for multiple people, and kids can run around like crazy anywhere...don't stay holed up in your home when you can spend time with people and cultivate those relationships. People, I'm saying this as much for you as I am for myself...I'm SUCH a homebody and would much rather stay in my jammies and just chill with my kids...but people are so important, make them count, let them know they matter, that they are important in your life, that you are blessed to have them as friends. Okay, I'm off the soapbox now, sorry. I'll get back to our day at the park.

Climbing the slide...a no, ,but I guess I was too busy taking a photo to notice.

"Mikea, can you hold my bakesball while I climb?"

This is what happens when you let 500 babies and their friends (my kids) run free on a "baseball field" (Micah's words)

Sweet Mikea...gonna miss that girls real life smile!!

"Yo Adrian" -sorry Anna, couldn't resist.

"Hey friend, let's go down the slide together"

Awww....we're really gonna miss hanging out with these guys. Micah is not going to know what to do without "my Daniel"

Time for lunch!

And this little lady wanted in on the action too, wouldn't let me keep her in the carseat the whole time but did a good job and was the good baby she always is!

more stuff

This is what the hallway, living and dining room area look like. A mess. The kids rooms are the only "calm" places in the house...because they are empty.

I'm having flash backs to when I was 10 years old. We were moving from Milwaukee to Menomonee Falls and my sister and I shared a bedroom upstairs. She would have been 16 at the time...I remember that I was supposed to clean up and pack what was in my closet. Not my clothes just the junk items on the floor of the closet. I must have been given a deadline, because what I really remember is sitting on the floor of my closet crying...and crying, late at night because I hadn't packed my stuff. I don't know if my parents told me that whatever wasn't packed they would get rid of, or if I was just so upset at letting my parents down. But I clearly remember the panicked feeling of having to pack. Pack quickly. And packing late at night. Not sure why that all happened, but I seriously remember it like it was yesterday and ask anyone...my memory is not a great trait of mine. The anxiety of that 10 year old is coming back to haunt me.

I feel like I pack things and then turn around to see everything out of the boxes I just packed. While I know that is not true and is not happening it's just how I feel. I know we have too much stuff and I know I keep talking about it...but it's what's on my heart and in front of my eyes right now. I'm glad we're getting a smaller house and will have to downsize and not get everything out. I'm really hoping and praying that this is the step we need to live more simply. But part of my problem is...I am a consumer. I like my stuff. Some of it holds a high sentimental value for me. So, again, I'm trying to get over it and get rid of it but it's not as easy as it sounds. We've talked about buying a bigger house once we decide when and where to buy, but hopefully by that time we'll have learned to live simply and decide we don't need a bigger house...we'll see.

God is working on me. I can feel it. I need to put my trust in Him. Rely on Him for the strength to get through these next few weeks. I need to realize that this stuff is just stuff and that the MOST important thing in my life is my FAITH in Christ Jesus as my Savior and my family...I don't NEED anything else. Well, okay, I do need daily bread (shelter, clothes, food) but really the extra stuff is just that, extra stuff. So, here I go again...trying to get rid of stuff and then when Greg throws something away I get upset...but the kids loved playing with that...etc. Sorry honey. I realize some of the stuff is necessary but I'm excited to get to the new place we're going to be calling home for a year or so and only unpacking what is necessary...then maybe I can have a big garage sale and sell my stuff to someone else!

Here's another picture of the boxes in the kitchen...the pile keeps growing!

I think I'll go live in the kids room for a while...there's no stuff in there!

sad and happy

This makes me sad...

This makes me sad...

This makes me sad...

This makes me sad...

This makes me happy...

This makes me happy...

birthday present

Naomi's sweet friend Sophia had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. When we got the invitation I immediately started thinking about what I could make for Sophia. See, I'm all about great gifts, but I really like personal gifts that I can make...and hope they're great. Sophia's mom Amy is a master sewer so I knew I didn't need to make Sophia a birthday shirt and skirt set, I mean look at what the girl is wearing...A-Maze-Ing! Amy made all the little girls that came to the party chef hats...so cute since it was a cupcake themed party! (Amy, I'm totally stealing your idea someday).

Giant cupcake cake...

and then the girls got to decorate their own as well...what a fun idea!

So, back to the gift part. I thought about what types of things Naomi likes to do. She loves to play with her barbies, babies and other dolls. I love to make things out of cardboard...so, I put the two together and made Sophia a set of wooden dolls with one for each member of her family.

I also gave her a cardboard box and instructions from Dolls and Daydreams Etsy shop to make this cardboard house for her dolls. I figured she could have hours of fun making the house and then playing with the dolls in the house.

Now of course I need to make a set for Naomi...but she keeps asking to paint them herself. Do I let her? Or just paint them for her so they look good? hmmm....

I used some fabric for Sophia and Amy's dresses, in theory it works but it doesn't look great. Oh well, I think Sophia liked them.

And I sorta messed up Sophia's eyes, but I didn't have time to go back and paint over the whole head and do it again. I hope she enjoys playing with these little dolls. And I can't wait to make some for Naomi once we get settled.

Naomi already has BIG plans for all the cardboard boxes that we'll have once we move and unpack. I'll make sure to set one aside for this little doll house...and maybe a few other fun things!