Sunday

We really have felt so welcome in our new ward!  

It seems like a really relaxed, down to earth kind of ward.  Which of course is the best kind.  

Our house is pretty close to our new church building.  I think it's half a mile.  

Since the weather has been surprisingly dry and still fairly warm, for the last two Sundays the kids and I have walked home after church.

The first week we walked, I made the mistake of agreeing before realizing I had high heels on.  I can't say I loved that walk.   This week I remembered to wear flats.  A total game changer.

My little girls have been into dressing like each other lately.  It's really adorable!  They were all so cute in white this Sunday.

The Day the Carpet Didn't Come

Or technically it did come but it was not the carpet we ordered.

Grrr!

The previous owners had a cat.  And I'm guessing by all the scratched up carpet by the doors their cat had separation anxiety.  

Ha!  

And there were two different carpets upstairs.  Which is cool.  I get it.  You don't want to replace the whole thing if just one room needs it.

But at this point it all needs replacement.  So I ordered some new carpet from our local big box store.  They said it would be a good month out before we got it.

So we've been waiting to really unpack and finish our kids' rooms until the carpet was installed.

Well the install was thankfully scheduled sooner than a month.  The night before we took out what little was in their rooms to prep for it.  The guys showed to install it.  They showed me the plan and I showed them where I wanted the carpet.  

Then they took me out to the truck to show me the carpet.  I was thinking, this isn't necessary.  I'm sure it's fine.  But it wasn't!  

The carpet was not what we ordered or thought we ordered.  It was what we put in as a holding so we could have someone come measure our carpet.  It wasn't our final choice.  Anyways, I had a few moments of sheer stress.

  Ha!

I don't know why.  It's not like the remainder of my unpacking and settling hinged upon the carpet being installed or anything.

Anyways, after a few short phone calls it was all worked out and our real carpet is coming in a couple of weeks.  

I was still super grumpy.  So many things have been like this lately.  Where I think it's all going to work out and last minute it turns into a complete do over.  What am I supposed to be learning here?  I'd like to learn it quick so this doesn't keep happening. It gets old.

Anyways, to work off some frustration I got my pruning sheers out and Wes electric chainsaw.  After a very informational video on youtube about how to tighten the chain, I got to work.

I always wonder what my neighbors are thinking when I bust out the chainsaw.  Haha!

Below is a picture of the bushes in front of the house.  The ones in front of the living room window have been driving me nuts since we moved in.  I don't mind vegetation around the house.  I think it looks nice in fact but these (I'm guessing) Rhododendron bushes were way over grown and not well maintained.

 So I cut them down. 

 I love that I can see the window again.  I will probably plant some boxwoods around there at some point.   Also my little boys are so fun to have outside while I'm working.  They love to count and stack all our pumpkins. 

I don't know how but we have 11 pumpkins and only 8 people.  Well I do know how... it's just hard to resist a cute pumpkin at the store.

I also cut a bush down in the back yard.  

For whatever reason our backyard was divided in half by a line of bushes and trees.  I really want to open it up and believe it or not, divide the yard in halfish again but in a different way.  

Goodbye random bush in the middle of our yard.  

Now Wes just needs to use his wench and pull all the stumps out for me.

Our Perfectly Imperfect House

We officially moved into our new "to us" house on the evening of September 30th.   Before we got the keys I thought once we moved in all we would need to do was paint some walls and put in new flooring and we'd be settled.  

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!  Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahah!

I can keep going but I think I've made my point.  That was not even close to all the work this house needs.  And we have spent almost every spare minute since moving in just trying to repair/improve this place to the point where we can feel like we can even approach settled.  And there is still so So SO much that needs to be done.

Did I mention this house was built in 1949?  

Yeah, it's old.  Almost 70 years old if I did my math right.  And it's got problems.  And weird little things that all the owners along the way tweaked to work for them.  Most of those things make sense.  Some are weird.  So weird.

Anyways, we were a bit surprised the day we got the keys.  After all we only spent like 30 minutes at the house before we decided we loved it and decided we wanted to buy it.  We probably should have spent longer looking closer at everything but this was the first house during the whole house hunt search that actually felt right.  So on a leap of faith we bought it.  And with all the work it needs and all the weird things that I just want to get rid of, I have no regrets yet.  And I still feel strongly we were supposed to be here.  Fingers crossed that feeling lasts.

Just a little information on the process of buying this house so I can remember it:

We had been watching this house for months.  But we weren't sure it was in the right price range for us.  But we kept coming back to it and every time we looked at it online it just fit perfectly with what we wanted/needed.

List of Needs/Wants:

Significantly Closer to Wesley's work to make the move worth it but not too far from Forest Grove

5 bedrooms or 4 bedrooms with an office

Within a doable price range

A little more land

Larger Sq Ft for the house

Wood Burning Fireplace

Okay so that list wasn't so long.  But we felt like we just couldn't find it.  We would either find a house that was either too small or in really bad shape/not a good location that was affordable OR we would find the large enough house with no land that wasn't affordable.

Then bam!  This house!  I don't know how many times in the last months before we offered on it that Wes would talk about how he looked at the pictures of this house again and how he thought it would be perfect for us or I would tell him the same thing.

This house is 4 bedrooms with an office.  Halfway between Forest Grove and Salem almost exactly.  It's on .47 acres which might not seem like much to some but coming from a family of 8 that was on .17 acres before it feels like the right amount of breathing room.  And it's a bit bigger than our old house.

I have a long list of other perks about this house. And a list just as long about things we want/need to fix on this house.  But I'll save those things for another time.

On a slightly related note*

We must have a thing for houses on streets that start with "E."  Our last house was on Emily St and now we live on Elliott Rd.  

Wish us luck on this new adventure that I have a feeling is going to last a long, Long, LONG time.  

Saying Goodbye

On September 30th we locked the doors to our first home and drove away.  We haven't yet been back though I'm sure at some point we will drive by just to see how much it's changed since we were there. 

It was hard leaving for so many reasons.  We really, REALLY loved our first house.  We felt like we won the lottery when we found out they accepted our offer and we got to move into a "move in ready" house.  Our inspector called it a "Cream Puff," which was pretty much the best thing he could have said to us.  I love Cream Puffs.  😉

We really, REALLY loved all our friends there.  Sometimes I start thinking about all of them and that's when I get most homesick.  It makes me sad to think that our lives won't be so closely intertwined as they used to be.  I'm going to miss catching up with them, spending time together and just watching our families grown up together.

And for me at least, it was really hard to leave the house that so many truly wonderful memories were built in.  I know I get to keep the memories with me but it's different not being in the house they were created in.

So much has changed since we got the keys to our old house. 

2012

2018

I'm not big on change.   

But it can be good.

18 Month Old Caleb

My baby turned 18 months old this last Saturday.

I know I should be sad that he is getting bigger and he is my last baby.

But really, I'm not.

There's just too much to worry about when they are babies.  And it's always nice to see that they are becoming more independent.  Plus I'm ready for a bit more freedom.

Snapshot of Caleb at 18 months:

Uses "No" and "Stop" to pretty much get anything he wants

Climbs out of his crib and now sleeps on a big boy bed

Loves to give kisses 

Climbs onto the kitchen counters using chairs

Climbs into bathroom sink and runs water all over himself

Loves being outside and his blankie

Loves you to read him books as long as he gets to hold them

Hates his diaper or his clothes changed

Loves his mom best

Has the best dimples and smile

I'm In Trouble

About a month ago Caleb fell out of his crib and I thought for sure I would be taking down his crib the very next day. 

But luckily he didn't try it again for so long I thought I would get lucky and he would stay in it a little longer even though part of me really REALLY wants to get rid of the crib.

I was also seriously hoping that he would at least not try to get out of it until after Wes' parents came to town in September to make it easier on them. 

However, this morning he walked out of his room like it was just an everyday occurrence to climb out of his crib.  And then again at nap time.  So I told him to show me.  He was rather proud of himself.

Of course it had to happen while Wes is out of town.  

Yay me...

Solar Eclipse

On Monday we watched the solar eclipse from our front yard with above 99% totality.  With Wes hating crowds and me hating traffic there was no chance we were leaving our house.  Luckily Wes didn't have to go into work in the morning so we got to experience it all together.

We sat in our front yard, eating nectarines, shouting "TOTALITY!" every few minutes, laughing and goofing around.  It was the best!

It was amazing to watch the shadow bands and crescent shaped shadows from the leaves when the eclipsed reached near totality.  

Afterwards I saw some pictures taken from some of my friends that were in places that reached 100%.  They were so different from even where we were at that I almost wished we drove to a totality zone, almost.

I read online afterwards that a solar eclipse happens about every 18 months, with the next total eclipse happening July 2nd 2019 in the South Pacific.   😎

Pool Time

We found a free pool sitting on the side of the road a while back.  

I've been wanting one like this all summer!

Wes was skeptical but I made him pull over and let me out. 

I felt pretty lucky to find one for free...I didn't even mind carrying it home all by myself a few blocks...haha!

Our little kids love it!  They love the slide whether or not there is water in the pool. 

These little ones are just the cutest!  

I spent the morning hacking back our blackberry bushes and they spent it playing in the pool.

I love my sweet children!

Meeting George the Elephant

The first weekend of August we drove down to Winston, OR to the Wildlife Safari to do a "pet and meet" with the Elephants.

I. LOVE. ELEPHANTS.

So getting to pet one was kind of a dream.  

All the kids came with us and they were all so SO good for both the drive and while we were there. 

Valerie, one of the elephants there painted a picture for us!  

After the safari we ate at Texas Roadhouse. 

It was sort of the best day!

Caleb's 17 Months

Happy Monthday to this little guy!

He is finally starting to fill out and isn't just a long string bean.  

Right before our eyes he's turned into a little toddler!  I'm excited for him to be big but also sad to think that in just a few short years I'm not going to have anyone to attack with a zillion kisses and there will be no more baby giggles in our house.  

He already has learned how to crawl out of his pack N play and his crib.  He flat out refuses to sit in his high chair so it's currently sitting in the garage.  Just today he showed me that he knows how to walk up and down the stairs, holding onto the wall.  Not only that but he wanted to show me how fast he can do it.  Oh man, talk about fear inducing.

He loves to jump on the trampoline and just yesterday he climbed down from it by himself.  He has a sixth sense about the dishwasher and seems to always know when it's being emptied or loaded.  Even if he's outside playing as soon as the dishwasher door is open little man is coming to climb onto the door and pull things out, so doing the dishes is currently reserved for nap time.

He loves going to the lake and throwing in rocks
and eating all the chips while avoiding getting wet as much as possible.

He still doesn't sleep through the night and the last two days he's woken up before 6am.  Hopefully that last part doesn't become a habit.

Last week Caleb got his two upper canines one day apart from each other.  That makes 14 teeth for him.

He says, "Thank you ,which sounds like "tnk", Mom, Da, Ball, Bye Bye, Baba (Bottle), love u, and yay".  But his favorite word is still "NO."

I love how he uses his eyebrows to express his gibberish.  And just about everyday, several times a day he finds me, pulls on my shirt and starts walking to the kitchen, asking either for candy or graham crackers with his adorable pudgy pointer finger.  I can't really resist that. 

One more month till Nursery!