New & Wonderful

We had the most wonderful crew of moving helpers over the weekend.  My cousin, Jeff, came up with this big muscles.  Two guys from our MCG helped.  My cousin, Holly, and her mom, Glenda.  Along with my parents.  And Mike.  Mike has worked his hind parts off.  It really was the perfect crew.  I feel so overwhelmingly thankful for all that everyone did to help us.  There was a big storm on Friday eve so we cancelled our Friday crew but Mike and my dad still brought lots of our outdoor things over.  My mom and I loaded up the kitchen boxes.  Holly and Glenda made it through the storm for a Fri eve arrival and nights rest on the air mattress.  And we got an early start on Sat.  My mom had generously bought us a ton of food for everyone to have Sat am and for lunch.  It was so sweet to have such a community of helpers.  I showered and walked out of our old house to supervise the arrival of things at our new house.  And I didn't go back til Mon am.  I thought I may be sad but it's really just so wonderful and spacious here that I can't be sad!!  Yesterday I just felt completely overwhelmed by the gift of everyone's help and this house.  It's been more wonderful than I imagined.

We have 3!!!- yes 3!- living areas.  Oh my word!  A whole big room to dump the kids' toys in, I mean, for the kids to play in!!  And the kids have been thrilled to have all (not all, a lot went to goodwill... shhh) of their toys back.  Lily has sat at the little black table doing art, feeding her "kid doll", they have jumped on the trampoline, Peter has spun in circles flying his airplanes.  We have a utility room, a kitchen that is normal sized, a washer that has several- 4(!)- water levels, and several water temp choices!! Wow.  

The baby's room is barely set up.  But it has a crib and a changing table with some clothes, blankets, and diapers.  For some reason, I can't get overly motivated.  Maybe it's 39 weeks pregnant and a lot that's gone on (no complaints!!) in the last months.  I sorta just want to sit here.  It feels completely surreal that we'll really have a baby but I think Its becoming more and more like reality.  

Our Last Week in our "Old House"

Its finally time!!  I've almost written here earlier this week but was afraid it would reflect too much anxiety.  :)  This week has been FULL.  And I know the weeks to come will be FULL!
Its the end of our last week at the house we've lived in for 7 1/2 years!!
I don't think I've fully processed that and am sure I will feel a little disoriented over the coming weeks.  Its felt like a lot of waiting.  But now its finally time!!  

Here's what our last week has been like:

Lily didn't have preschool the first half of the week so we had a low key, lazy start to the week, I laid around a lot, and enjoyed the slow mornings with her.

She had a candy shop in one part of her room and a beauty shop in another area one morning that I got to buy and be a client at.  :)
I didn't get a pic of her candy shop but so that the cuteness is burned in my head: picture the green tub of newborn clothes as her counter, the black booster seat as her chair, with a glass jar full of plastic easter egg halves, the top with coins in it that she'd taken from her piggy bank, and another container with candy from the weekend- jelly beans, egg M&Ms, candy bracelets, etc.  The egg halves were juice containers.  She is just so precious and sweet and creative.

 She did some gymnastics in Peter's closet.

 We played war.  Thought this could be a good game for her and P to play after the baby comes... 

 those sweet hands and pigs... 

 She took some pics while I layed on the couch. 

 And entertained me.  It doesn't get much better.

She's filled my love tank.

We've had a busy second half of the week with lots of crazy happenings:

Kindergarten assessment 
Kindergarten orientation

An Eligibility Meeting for Peter to continue with speech & OT at school

Packing, packing, more packing.
Closing on our new house
Field Trip for Peter

The last days of pregnancy and preparing to meet a new baby.

Woo Woo- its the end of a busy week and lots more to come...

Kain Family Egg Hunt

Mike's Mom's family has an egg hunt tradition going strong for over 60 years. These are obviously now all of the great grand kids.  I think only Mike's grandma can keep count of how many there are now.  I think there are only 20 pictured here and this is only the ones who are in town.  Its hard to pass up being a part of it each year.  What a blessing to be a part of such a big, sweet family!

 An uncle brings his dogs and this is a BIG highlight for Peter.  :)

The starting line....

(Our baby will be the 4th of the spring Kain babies... and the only one still "inside".)

 exploring their loot... 

Lily made friends with Mike's cousin's daughter.  Her dad and Mike were close friends growing up.  :)

 And a picture with Mike's granddad, Peter.  Our Peter's namesake.  :)

Our only family pic-

Such a fun day.  

Mike's mom and many others cooked lots of delicious food for us to enjoy while we were there.  

I love still having a grandma and granddad!  :)

The Apostle's Creed

Lily's preschool class lead the congregation in saying The Apostle's Creed at church this morning.

We are so blessed to have a lady in our church who uses modified sign language to teach the children "worship chants".  My kids LOVE it!

This is totally Lily's thing to have motions to a song.

And Peter's thing because it allows him to be active as he learns Truth!

Look at her sweet face.  I could just about die.

It was just so sweet and I was so proud of her.

Childress Egg Hunt 2014

Another year of tradition at the Childress Egg Hunt!  It was at least year 5 for us.

I had to make some collages to show the thrill of bunny ring pops

(Mrs Susan knows how to throw a good party!),

 and take pics of the July triplets.

Spring Break Week

Maybe blogging is a form of nesting?
Or its that we are mostly packed and I've told Mike I'm ready to move.  I'd take stuff tonight if I could.  I know there will be PLENTY to do/pack at the last minute.  And still plenty I could do now.

Here is what our week has looked like:

We've done some "school"- or the homework suggestions- in the mornings.  Here is what Peter wrote on Monday morning.  I wish I'd just let him spell science "S - long i - short i - S" b/c that is totally how it sounds phonetically.  :)  And I love their sense of time.  

This was a note to Daddy.  It says "You are osum."  

Can you tell they were wiped out from their weekend away.  

They took nice long naps- so did I.

And then we went to cousin Halie's soccer game.  It was the perfect day for a soccer game and we loved seeing her!  We drove Daddy to and from work that day b/c his car was in the shop.  Which was just sorta a fun luxury (driving Daddy, not paying for car repairs).

On Tuesday, we wrote more about what we wanted to do that day.

 And we had the Andrews meet us at the Science Museum.  The only pic I got.

I've slept in til 8:30- just one morning!  Lily's slept in til 10. 

Two fun nights lately- an sweet eve with girlfriends to celebrate the baby and another eve with the girls from our MCG.  We got take out, they helped me pack up the kitchen, and then we talked and talked like only girls can.  :)

The kids have played lots of legos, played outside, pretended, had nice long daytime baths, gotten hair cuts. They spent some time with Goo and Pop yesterday.  

And I did some baby errands to buy some of the items we'll need after the baby is here.

Yay! for a slower paced spring break week!!

Reading

He's been reading us progressively longer and longer books this week.

I love this!!  All of it.

 Go Pete!!!  SO proud of you, man!

Somebody Pinch Me!

We've had such a good spring break (apart from one minor detail that I'm trying to not let ruin it for me).  It has been soooo good to have a slower pace.  My parents took our kids for the weekend to Audrey's birthday.  I was sad to miss but also couldn't pack my nearly 37 week pregnant body into a car for 4 hours.  And it gave Mike and I the perfect chance to pack up & me to rest up.  It worked out so nicely.  So that little break helped to start us out on the right foot.

I have been able to feel my tension with Peter lately so have been praying for God to help me love him better.  It can be a tricky prayer b/c who knows what that is going to look like.  But the slower pace this week has helped me to be more intentional to connect with him and slow down and engage with him, not rush him.  

On Monday, I was resting/napping on the couch and Peter wanted a sandwich, so I thought he was going to make himself a PB sandwich- cool.  I woke up to find that he'd made a chocolate syrup sandwich.  (!!! & part laughter)  But the frustrating part was that he'd gotten chocolate syrup everywhere- table, clothes, floor, and his bed, and shower curtain!!  I just didn't know what to do, how to adequately punish this, get my point across.  So I called Mike.  He told me to figure it out.  ;)  So quick moment of 'God, help me' and He totally did.  I decided to have him clean it all up.  Normally, I just feel like there isn't time for that.  But its spring break.  So we got the dishcloth and he wiped and scrubbed, wiped and scrubbed.  I told him that he'd have to do the laundry.  Each machine was full.  So he'd have to empty and switch each one.  I walked him through it but he did it.  Then we started each one on the next load.  To my shock, he sorta liked it.  What on earth?!

We went upstairs and then wiped and scrubbed, took off pillow cases with chocolate syrup and added those to the wash.  Later I found some on the shower curtain.  So I told him that the next morning, he'd have to take down the curtain, switch all the laundry again, and wash that.  

He is our early bird.  The next morning, Mike and I are still in bed, and he comes in our room with an arm full of the dry laundry so he can get started.  WHAT ON EARTH?!  WHO IS THIS KID?

He does the process all again and does a good job.  This is so crazy.  He is focused.  He doesn't normally focus on things besides Legos and books. 

Today, I needed him to help me again.  So I shout down from upstairs to ask him to switch all the laundry for me.  And he totally does it.  What?!  We are still working on the process and order of what goes where when....  i.e., The dirty laundry in the basket doesn't go in the dryer. And talking about washing darks and lights separately.  But he really likes the process I think and focuses.  And what good OT!  He has to climb up and down on the chair, using his core to reach in and get the clothes, his shoulders and arms to move the clothes, hands to turn the knobs.  Who knows where this will go.  But I've enjoyed the encouragement of him engaging in something that is helpful.  

King of the Laundry!

Kindergarten Registration

We registered Lily for K this week!!!

I wasn't going to do it on the scheduled day because of our move but Mike thought we should go ahead and use the contract on our new house.  So we did and I'm so glad to have it under our belt.

It turned out to be a really sweet day.  Mike worked from home so Lily and I enjoyed having him with us.  And of course, I'm sure that 'Daddy coming along' upped the appeal of registering.

 I really love them.  I love how they love each other.

 It was the prettiest day.  Temperature was nice and warm, but not hot.  We'd already done homework.  So we spent the afternoon in the yard.

 Our front yard has the best afternoon sunlight.

 Lily has loved watering the inside of the daffodils that Paw planted a few years ago.

She puts water in the "pollen".

 Getting more water... such pretty light.  Soaking it in.

 Sweet Clovey loves sunbathing!

 Peter's turn to water.

I counted this our last non-crazy weekday afternoon and I just sat there and took it all in.

We had house inspection today and will start packing up this weekend. 

I went in for my 36 week visit and all looks good.  The little boy's HR had been low at my last visit so I was anxious to go in today and see my dr.  Today it was 135 and all seemed good.  So thankful for these last weeks of pregnancy.  Altho, after cleaning up for house inspection last night, I am beat today.  My parents have the kids for Aundrey's birthday weekend and I'm looking forward to a productive weekend with my man.