It's Wild Here

misc updates

There is a new local hs group starting in this town and the next one over - much saner driving than the last group we joined. So far, we've been to a board game day.  The kids were younger than Jeremiah, although I know of at least one family that didn't make it that day with a girl his age who I think he could enjoy.

Dentist - Jeremiah and Ryan and I needing work done, wah. Not a lot but still anxiety-producing for me.

Did I post about bowling? I've got some bowling pictures and a video coming up but the camera is nowhere to be found again. We bowled with WILC. Ryan and Jeremiah had a good time.

Soccer all the time. Jeremiah is on two teams, and has soccer every day this week. He's pretty overwhelmed but is improving and seems to want to continue, even though he can be unhappy about it in the moment.  His team (and he) played very well in the soccer tournament this weekend. We thought they had made the finals but then one team had a big upset and it ended up coming down to goal differentials, and they missed out by one goal. Bummer, but it did result in only a 75% loss of our weekend rather than a complete weekend slurp, since they didn't have to go back for the 4th match.

Jamie is very unhappy with his OWL class. He had to wear a pregnancy suit and care for a fake baby during the time of the class.  It seems the camraderie and mutual respect is breaking down in that group, at least for Jamie.

Today, our kitchen is being painted. We're going to try to stay out of the house a lot and will probably go for a field trip to the newish mall that opened last year.  I think it has some outdoor water play place and Jeremiah is hoping for an arcade.  I'd like to get back to listening to books on tape in the car, to give our fluffy not-so-academic outing a bit of redeeming value.

Right now, Jeremiah and I are working our way through the City of Ember series - I just finished The People of Sparks and JJ is midway through Ember.  I've been basically meeting my reading goals this year, but not posting much since starting to use GoodReads - I'd like to link to my book list but I think you might need to log in for that. It's a very helpful site for keeping track of to-read books, sharing your reading with others and getting suggestions.v

last week

My computer needed a lot of repair through the week, so I'm just getting around to some of these updates.  Last weekend was productive.

What you see here is empty space in a garage -- enough empty space to park a car! Of course, the bikes are still sitting out on the sidewalk and we need to build a shed for them, so until that happens they take the place of  the car in the garage. Bikes have a much greater tendency to get stolen in this town than white minivans.  Anyone care to chime in on the best way to store multiple bikes and riding toys without taking up garage space?

There has also been quite a lot of mud, good for throwing.

and new outdoor toys to assemble and dismantle

new house

On the one nice day we had, the boys discovered the overly-masoned back porch. Everyone who sees is has a very wow reaction to this porch. It is very large, and well, it's an enclosed porch which is a wow to begin with, but man... all that brick and limestone is just so permanent. So, we'll probably try to reuse the limestone benches for some other purpose and have them removed so we can use regular porch furniture back there.  The wood stove/grill is apparently quite a hazard.  I do hope we can find some way to use it as a wood stove so that we can extend the three seasons this room is useful.

This was the first little corner of the house to feel settled and tidy. It was a small oasis in a sea of chaos and boxes. 

Unfortunately, it remains one of the few picked-up areas. As soon as the moving-in status arrived at UnpackedEnoughToFunction, I started getting back into the routine I largely abandoned when this whole selling/moving ordeal began: bread-baking, knitting, cooking meals, playing with the children. And that has been wonderful, except that this moving-in status is quite unfinished and really must end soon. We are not the types who can keep unpacking  boxes for months.  So, this weekend...  focused box-emptying. But for now, it means more nice pictures.

Knit with knitpicks wool, using the Cisco pattern from Berroco. The little ears turned out more like tiny horns than perky ears, but I like it anyway.

First bread of the new house (made with a new stand mixer, woot! I love this thing)

The Buddha's (probably temporary) home in the front  bay window. The kids enjoy sitting up there with him (and they never, ever, leap from the window onto the couch, of course).  I happened to get this picture as the cross-country kids ran by; we have a steady stream of pedestrians on this road as we did on our old street. A decidedly different generation of pedestrians, however. We lived previously on the favorite walking street for seniors; now we're near the school.

moved in!

We are here! The kitchen is 95% unpacked, bathrooms 50%, upstairs bedrooms 50%, play room done but not well-sorted, and the living room and garage are disasters! We need for March 12 to come quickly! There is drilling and hammering going on in the basement, so that the big boys will have bedrooms. Pics to come, also an actual knitting FO! Must wait for it to dry (blocking) so I can put it on the recipient for the photo.

a few new house pictures

Kelly at the front door (can't seem to lose this underlining) - I'll have to get another shot of the actual door - it is, em, distinctive.

nice big kitchen - soon to be not-yellow

Please notice the lovely fireplace (that we can't use) in the kitchen - one day we will get it going. Also, please please notice that terrible panel of stove buttons at Kelly's reach, which he loves to use as soon as we get there for any kind of visit. Someone. Please tell me how to toddler-proof that thing.

SALE PENDING

so reads the sign outside our current house, as well as the one we plan to move into within the month. yay!

As hard as packing and moving is, I don't think it can possibly top the work of getting this house sold. I am just so glad that's over.

remember the broken window post?

fresh OJ and broken windows

While the window people are replacing our dining room window, we are confined to other rooms. Apparently, it's in there tight and they are definitely breaking glass in order to get it out.  I literally just overheard one of these window experts say "You're not the only one. That scared me good."

Ahem. So, Ryan is to stay out of the dining room, so we got out our little juicer and squeezed some juice.  It's a perfect activity for him, involving somewhat destructive hard work, a new gadget, and something yummy. He gave me a sip to taste but declined to offer any to his brothers. Three oranges filled his purple sippy cup perfectly. It was gone in a moment.

Now, he's quietly studying the Playmobil advent calendar we started last weekend. There are many, but this is the one we have. Last year, we had this one.

houses

We have a contract on a new house and a good chance at an offer on this house. We'll see today. Stress. is. killing. me.

Yes, it's time for another installment of...

My kids don't know the Rules of Child-proofing!

Now that both of my small children can get water out of our child-proofed water cooler spouts, Ryan can open any baby gate, and has been known to literally tear the doorknob covers off the doorknobs, I bring you - the Snack Cup Edition.

Have you seen these cute things ?  The lids are have slits for grabbing snacks out and are flexible to reach in but not flexible enough for the snacks to fall out. The entire lids, however, do come off. This, of course, is the job for the adult, right?