Messy Morning

Ever since we started getting our old house ready to put on the market this past June I've felt like I've slacked off in the arts/crafts/learning activities with the kids. But now I'm trying to get back into a regular schedule of activities (based somewhat on the curriculum at Hubbard's Cupboard), so those unpacked boxes in the garage are just going to have to wait a while longer.

We can normally get at least one activity completed while Baby A. takes a morning nap. But today he kept sleeping and sleeping so I kept on going with activity after activity.

We started with a couple of painting projects. In the first one, you paint over dried glue, place a piece of white paper on top, and then make a rubbing. I thought we were supposed to wait for the paint to dry first, but apparently not because when we did the rubbings this afternoon, nothing showed up on the white paper. Oops.

As usual, Mikea chose to interpret the activity in her own way, this time by painting her tongue. I just cannot keep this child from putting everything that she touches into her mouth. (And please forgive the condition of hair. I really should have brushed it before taking pictures, but in a morning routine that includes changing 3 diapers, giving 2 nebulizer treatments, feeding 3 toddlers, feeding 1 infant, drinking 2 lukewarm cups of coffee and feeding 2 dogs, hair brushing just doesn't always fit in.)
Next we painted some fall scenes, and then got dressed and made "Clean Mud" out of toilet paper, Ivory soap, and water. If you look towards the left in the picture, you can see that true to form, Daniel had no interest in getting messy. He preferred to stand on his head while Joe and Mikea played in the mush.
Here's a close-up of the mush. The activity was somewhat disappointing because Joe and Mikea only played with it for about 5 minutes before they lost interest. We probably won't be repeating this one.

Next we went outside to play and I took the kids into the garden to pick carrots. I'd been putting this off because the garden's been muddy, but I knew it would be such a great experience for them that I didn't want to wait any longer. We needed to wash the carrots, and I knew I could either be a micromanager of that task, or just stand back and let the kids figure it out themselves.

I decided that the entertainment value of watching 3 toddlers in charge of a water spigot was too good to not pass up. Plus, it was loads of fun for them!

All 3 kids were soaked by the time they finished. I had them strip down and dry off before going inside. All in all it was an exciting morning, and the best part was that they took the longest naps they've had in weeks. Amen to that!

Nebulizers Anyone?

The two-year-olds went to the doctor today because they've had coughs, congestion, and a bit of fever for the past few days. Turns out they have breathing issues so the doctor prescribed nebulizer treatments for both of them:

The doctor said Daniel especially had really bad lungs, and that it wasn't because he was sick. He wondered if we had mold in our house but clearly that's not the problem because this house is only 2 years old and it was just inspected. Apparently it could be the dogs, it could be the change in weather, we don't really know. Both kids are going back in a few days for check-ups so maybe we can get some more answers.

Right now I just need to figure out how I'm going to give these guys their treatments in the midst of the chaos that is our daily lives. Daniel's are supposed to be every 4-6 hours and Mikea's every 6-8 hours. The treatments take about 10 minutes each, but I NEVER have 10 uninterrupted minutes to focus on doing one thing. (For example, today I reheated the same cup of coffee at least 4 times because I could never finish it in one sitting.) Maybe I can train them to hold the mask on by themselves. Poor little guys. They're troopers, though, and did really great for their first treatments tonight.

Devine Acres

Saturday morning we packed up the 500 Babies and took a drive south of town to visit Devine Acres, a Christmas Tree farm that has a Pumpkin Extravaganza in October. (Thanks, Aunt Deb, for the tickets!) Uncle A.C., Aunt Beck, and Cousins Lydia and Ruth joined us for the fun.

There were cute goats:

A couple of mazes:

A hayride: (Had I known the expression on my face, I would have demanded a retake.)

Bouncy thing-a-ma-roos: (You didn't know that's what they're called?)

More cute goats (and a cute kid):

A playground with a sand area:

And a fishing pond:

We didn't have time to get to the sack races, pumpkin painting, dress-a-farmer, or marshmallow roasting. We'll definitely be back next year!

Trick or Treat!

This was the first year we took the kids out trick-or-treating. It was a good chance to walk around our neighborhood for the first time and get to know some of our neighbors. We had to distract Joe a few times when we had to walk past houses that had too-scary sound effects and decorations. That's going to be harder to do as they get older, so we'll probably have to figure out a new plan. I think the kids had fun, especially when we got home and allowed them to eat 4 pieces of candy each. Fortunately the sugar highs didn't last too long and we were still able to get them to bed at a decent time.

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Kiki Turns Two

Last Friday we didn't know for sure that we were closing on our house until about three hours until the appointment. This meant we didn't know where we would be on Saturday for Mikea's birthday. So we decided to celebrate a day early.

For weeks and weeks Mikea has talked about her "doggie cake". She was so excited when we placed it in front of her and began to sing that she tumbled out of her chair and landed directly on top of her head. Poor baby! It was so sad. She's holding a bag of ice on her head in this picture:

She forgot all about her mishap once she tasted her cake and began opening her presents, once of which was a fairy princess outfit that will double as her Halloween costume. Once she put it on she couldn't stop hopping and twirling around and looking at herself in the mirror. It was precious.

We also got her a toy ironing board and vacuum cleaner set, which are now the most sought-after toys by all of the children in our house.

Happy birthday, little sweetheart! We are so thankful to God that He placed you in our lives!

The 500 Babies on the Move

One of the biggest challenges in moving was keeping the 500 Babies entertained and happy during the final weekend of packing and moving. We had to put everything in storage because there was a five-day difference between closing on the old house and closing on the new one. We also had to try to maintain as much of their routine as possible, despite the fact that they were without beds for several days.

They slept on the floor:

They played with cardboard boxes: (Which we all know kids prefer to real toys anyway.)
At Grandpa and Grandma's house they jumped in Baby A's bed:

And watched deer across the backyard fence:

After a week of transition and excitement, the kids were definitely out of sorts. Mikea began having several crying fits a day, Joe cried at church last Sunday (both at Sunday School and during the Children's Message - something he's never done before), and Daniel? Well, Daniel probably handled the changes the best. He didn't seem to show any adverse affects. (Baby A. did great as well.) Things are slowly getting back to normal, but we are also having to find new systems and routines here in the new house. (More on that later!)

Finally!

Well, with an abundance of help from family and friends we are finally moved into our new house. It's been quite an adventurous couple of weeks, and we still have to unpack and finish settling in, but all of the hard parts are over and we are enjoying life in our new home.

I plan on doing a few posts to catch up on what's been going on, but in the meantime why not go over to Jamie's blog and scroll down to see what the 500 Babies did last Tuesday when we closed on our old house? The kids had a blast and when you look at the pictures you'll see why. Thanks, Jamie!

What's Going On

1. Our offer on the new house was accepted! Another buyer made a similar offer on the same day we did, but the sellers decided to go with us. We move in about 10 days.

2. Everyone in our household has been sick over the course of the last two weeks. Nothing too serious, but we're all weary of feeling yucky and are ready to feel better.

3. The kids are having a blast with their Grandpa and Mim who are visiting for the first time from Michigan! I think Grandpa and Mim were having fun, too, until they got sick. (Wonder how that happened?)

4. We are still waiting and praying about the situation with Baby A. So far his CPS case worker has not heard from the baby's mother, so it is looking more and more doubtful she will not get him back. His grandmother has stated that she wants custody of the baby, but there are issues with her situation as well which would make it unlikely for her to be a placement. We are very optimistic about our chances of adopting him.

House Hunting

We finally went house-hunting last Saturday. We left the three older kids (including a feverish and vomiting Joe) at home with Grandma and took the baby with us. The search began with a rocky start when we arrived at the first house and our agent realized he left his master key at home. The last thing I wanted was an hour round-trip to retrieve the key, but thanks to my quick-thinking husband, who asked our agent to drop us off at IHOP, we enjoyed an unexpected leisurely breakfast together.

After a year of looking at houses online, to be able to actually go inside them was pretty exciting. We felt like we were on one of those house hunters shows, "Oh, this is nice. A walk-in closet." "Oh look, a double vanity. That's nice." "Hmmm, this house needs some work." "Oh, look a dead roach."

We fell in love with the perfect home that amazingly was the lowest-priced house on our list. But the next day when we were all set to make an offer we found out it was a short sale, which meant we might have to wait months before the bank lets us know if our offer was accepted. We didn't have months. We had 28 days.

So Wednesday evening we headed back out to look at several more houses. (Despite the fact that the clock was ticking and it's incredibly stressful to have no place to live, these house-hunting trips have been fun because they've been the closest thing to a date Billy and I have had in a long time. Of course it's a date with a real estate agent and two-month-old baby tagging along, but I'll take what I can get.) This time around we found a house we loved even more than the first. The house was incredibly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that I didn't want to keep looking at it because it seemed too good to be true. It was only two years old, the exact size we wanted (4 bedrooms + game room/loft), less than 5 minutes from Billy's school, and it even had a fenced-off vegetable garden in the back! I knew the price had just been reduced on the house and I knew it couldn't last long. We decided to make an offer, and while waiting to hear back from our agent yesterday, I kept searching for the house online but I couldn't find it. I was convinced it had already been sold. But around noon we heard back from our agent that the house was indeed available and the owners were ready to make something happen. There have been two previous buyers for the house but both deals fell through.

We're making an offer on the house tonight, and obviously a lot has to happen before it's ours (including finalizing the sale on our current house.) But we're excited at the possibility that after months and months of work on our house and getting it ready for showings and all of the headaches involved (and lots and lots of prayer), the end may be in sight and within a few weeks we will be moved into our new home!

Fun Facts About the Fair

Nothing says "September" more than a county fair. Friday night was the perfect evening to hit the road and drive up to the Comal County Fair. While we were there, I learned a few things. At first I was going to call them facts, but they were more like revelations.

Revelation #1: Alpacas are even cuter in real life than the ones on TV. They're even almost as cute as the 500 Babies. But not quite.

Revelation #2: Pushing a side-by-side double stroller through crowds is extremely tricky. The handles are at just the wrong height. What I'm saying is that whilst navigating the crowded fairgrounds I inadvertently touched two strangers' behinds. Not fun. Highly embarrassing.

Revelation #3: I don't care how many blue-ribbons it won, but there is nothing appetizing about a meringue pie that has been sitting in a hot exhibit hall for three days. Pretty much all of the food was gross-looking. And I realize the judges had to taste the entries, but do the half-eaten brownies still need to be on display?

Revelation #4: Roosters can be beautiful. I had no idea there were so many fancy varieties. I thought a rooster was a rooster was a rooster. I was amazed at the diversity of sizes and colors.

Revelation #5: Getting a funnel cake for the road seems like a good idea, but it's not. Funnel cakes should not be consumed in a vehicle, especially a vehicle in motion. They have a tendency to slide right off of those flimsy paper plates. The interior of our van is now covered in powdered sugar.

The kids were tired and crabby by the time we left, but it was worth it. One of these years I want to trek up to the State Fair, but that involves a five-hour drive. I can only imagine the revelations that trip would bring!

Fun with Scorpions

As if I needed any more excitement in my life, the other day I discovered a scorpion in my washing machine. At first I thought it was dead because it went through an entire wash cycle and looked like this when I found it:

I almost picked it up with a paper towel to get rid of it, but decided to leave it to show Billy. I checked on it a couple of hours later and it looked like this:

Yikes! It was resurrected. I racked my brain (or is it wracked?) trying to figure out a weapon long enough and sharp enough to kill it. At first I tried a pick-axe, but it got stuck in the washing machine and I couldn't really wield it with enough dexterity to deliver a death blow. I ended up using a marshmallow toasting stick-wand-thingie to stab it repeatedly. The scorpion was only a couple of inches long, but I think it was the largest creature I have ever killed. Many years ago I once thought I had run over a baby bird with a lawn mower, but what I thought was gore was really just poop. (I had only scared it. A lot.) What a relief!

House Update

I'm happy to report that we are inching closer towards selling our house. We received an offer about two weeks ago and have been dealing with negotiations, inspections and a few more repairs ever since. The timing was less than ideal because the offer came the day our agent left for vacation. We've been working with another agent in his office, but although she's been helpful with the sale, it was obvious that finding a home for us to move in to was not a priority for her. So we did what we could on our own, visiting a couple of new home builders and researching apartment complexes that offer short-term leases. The good news is that our agent is back in town and this Saturday we're going to finally get to look at some houses. He seems to think we may be able to do a lease-back agreement to get into a home and out of this one by closing on October 20. Let's hope! Otherwise some of you may find 500 homeless babies (and two dogs) on your doorstep!