Loving It

The moving truck came and we are 98% moved in to our new, Eichler house.  I have never loved a home as much as I love this one.  We lost some square footage, but gained things I had been longing for.  The kids have transitioned well for the most part, but every now and then show signs of distress.  Here are photos of the out-of-control kitchen, the kids watching the gardeners (whom I am so thankful for), and my indoor laundry.  I have done more laundry loads in the past few days than I ever did in my old garage.

Boys

Spaceships zoom all around these days:

Conceptual

I asked Andrew if we should back out of the lease so we can live out of one of these:



His answer: No!

Plumber

I will start off this post with some funny toilet paper rolls:



I will now set the scene...
It was a Tuesday morning and we were all upstairs, Andrew was at work. I was packing a large box of duvets, covers, and sheets. I thought all was well.

How the scene played out...
I walked by the upstairs bathroom and saw my oldest child being a "Super Duper Pooper" and beside him was my smallest child. I stopped, gasped, and ran to assess the damages. Blake was silently giggling while Reade took bits of toilet paper and shoved it into the toilet behind him. Half of the roll was in that toilet. I finally figured out the perfect gift to give to new moms of boys. A gift certificate to a local plumbing company. Why is it that children can get so silent when they are being so naughty?

This might happen to every mom, but this happened only days after Blake dropped a full roll of toilet paper into the toilet by accident. I am sick of fishing things out of the toilet.

Within

We are still having fun in life even though all of our belongings are packed away in a sea of brown boxes. I wish I could throw out all the boxes and survive with the necessities. I would miss my sewing machine and huge box of yarn though.

Our great friends had us over for a BBQ. The dessert was chocolate zucchini bread with homemade coconut ice cream. I give them 5 stars!:


Another friend took me on a wonderful trail ride. I had forgotten just how hard western saddles are. I haven't ridden western for a long time now and looked like a fool trying to manage my reins. If you find yourself in Portola Valley then head on over to Webb Ranch for some berry picking or horsing around:


The kids are still doing kid things even though 90% of their toys are packed away. Here is Blake learning to ride his bike without his training wheels:

Funny

I love these moments. I love these moments even more when they aren't happening to me:

En Route

There will be stress associated with this move, but we are in a fortunate spot so I am trying to keep my wits about me. Life must go on.

Swim lessons started. They will take up all of our afternoons for two weeks. Blake enjoys the pool and is happy his friend Emily is by his side. This picture was taken by Emily's mom seconds before being scolded. We forgot that cameras are not allowed past the locker rooms. I am sad to say there will be no video footage of Blake swimming this year. No big deal!:



From the mother's list this morning:

What time do you wake up and sleep?
7/19/2011 12:27 pm

So, I'm struggling to figure out what time to wake up and sleep so I don't feel so rushed in the mornings. I love it when I do wake up early to get things done and hoping I can start so I can workout in the mornings. So, far I havne't been so successfuly! I'm curious how you early you guys get up and how early you sleep :)

The Palo Alto/Menlo Park demographic statistics highlight that this woman probably has a higher education than myself. That being said, maybe it was my two years at Junior College that taught me life skills like when to sleep and when to eat. Is this woman's dilemma a result of not sleeping or eating during med school? I guess one can get used to that?

Sometimes I do make bad decisions like packing up the kitchen instead of sleeping:


Blake took this picture of Reade today with the Xoom tablet. I wanted to log it because it cracks me up how quickly Blake can master a piece of technology: