7 Quick Takes

--- 1 ---

We are really moving.  This is our rental home!  I'm very excited and tiring of this single-parenting thing.  The house is very similar to our current layout and I hope it will be an easy transition.  The thing I like most is the big sunroom behind the living room.  It will be a wonderful place for toys and other fun kid stuff!  The living and sunroom are both tiled, which should be a big help in keeping the floors clean in a rental!

--- 2 ---

My father-in-law ordered me to post some photos of our clean house last weekend!  After the garage sale on Saturday (which was a bust, by the way, hardly any traffic), the guys were outside cleaning up, fixing some siding, and our sweet neighbor was also helping with the kids.  I had about an hour and a half to clean the house for a showing.  I was AMAZED at how much I got done with NO KIDS inside!  It felt so good to be able to clean the whole house all by myself.

--- 3 ---

 We got Netflix.  Yo Gabba Gabba has been one of Steven Joseph's favorite shows to watch.  This might be the most ridiculous show I've ever seen.  Am I missing something?  What was so wrong with Mr. Rogers?   The kids shows these days are really, really strange and kinda creepy.

 

--- 4 ---

Our big boy had his one month post-surgery check-up on Monday.  Thankfully, Daddy had some meetings in Houston and was able to come.  He got the all-clear to go back to normal activities, everything except contact sports.  We're so happy he's doing so well!

Notice how Daddy was enjoying the Toy Story movie and SJ was up to no good, probably about to leap off the exam table onto the rolling doctor chair.  Then as soon as Daddy left and it was time for an x-ray, he threw a big tantrum.  I was just thinking we were over the doctor/nurse fears after being traumatized by what he went through those 4 days in the hospital.  But I guess he had to finish it off with a bang!  Thomas had a screaming fit there for awhile too, since I had to leave him with a nurse to deal with his tantruming brother in the x-ray room.

--- 5 ---

Thomas and Thomas.  Little guy warmed up to big grandpa last week.  Mama appreciated having another adult around the house.  I know the kids will have special memories of BopBop reading and writing about the Divine Mercy and St. Faustina, and teaching them good lessons.

--- 6 ---

 Thomas is really keeping me on my toes!  He can now climb chairs and likes to sit and color.  He's trying to talk and tell us all kinds of things, like in this first photo where he's starting to make the 'th' sound.  He likes to eat pencils and crayons.  But his FAVORITE thing to eat is cardboard.  Most of the moving boxes around the house have the corners eaten off, same with the board books.  He also likes regular paper and toilet paper, but I think cardboard is his favorite treat!

--- 7 ---

 SJ painted this yesterday for Daddy.  He's even learning to write his name, so cute!

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Our Lady of the Toothbrushes

This is the week of the year where we talk a lot about the saints of the Church.  The kids are trying to choose a saint to dress up as for All Saints' Day and this weekend's big celebration at the farm.  We're doing a lot of preparation these days, and not just for the holidays.  We have a house to prepare for new renters, our belongings to prepare for a new home, children to prepare for a move.  There are big decisions going on each day, and it's easy to lose focus and get caught up in the excitement.

At some point I inherited this sweet statue of Our Lady.  It has a container in the back, likely for a small bouquet or flower arrangement.  I'm not sure how it ended up in our master bathroom, but somehow it did.  And at some point, someone started putting toothbrushes in it!  I've hesitated about this; it seems somewhat sacrilegious to put toothbrushes, toothpaste, and even a razor in a Mary statue!  And I have to wonder what people think when they're touring our home and see this interesting juxtaposition.

But is it really a juxtaposition?  Don't we always remind ourselves that God is with us in the little things?  Like we are reminded by St. Therese (Mary Clare's saint of choice this year), we should be doing all the little things for God.  Even brushing our teeth!  And Mary, maybe more than any other saint, was someone who had a true juxtaposition in her life.  Being Mother to Our Lord, to God himself.  How she must have known that each little detail of her life was devoted to raising her Son in a Holy Family.  How they must have loved each other in the little things.  How prayer would have been central to every action she did as a mother.  I love this image of Mary hanging laundry with the baby Jesus at her feet.  A beautiful thing to ponder...

Whenever I'm tempted to move the toothbrushes to a more appropriate container, I end up convincing myself that they are just fine right there.  That having a reminder of Mary's example of quiet prayer and unity with God in her family life is something I can strive for as a mother.  I believe she was the perfect Mother, which is why God chose her for His Divine Son.  And though I am very, very far from perfect, I can emulate her actions and ask her to pray for me to be a good mother.  Even when I'm brushing my teeth.

Down by the Bay

We went "down by the bay" last week to house hunt and be with Steven during some of his workweek.  We had a nice time, although we didn't find a house until we got home!  

On Monday we got a membership to the Aquarium!  Here are the kids before the dolphin show.  This is going to be a great afternoon outing once we move.  We went at about 2pm and the crowds were very light.  The kids will get to talk to trainers and get in lots of "real" science lessons here!

Love this spot for photos!  So beautiful!

I was so proud of myself for petting a sting ray.  I tend to associate them with the death of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, and I had no interest in petting them.  But I realized that the kids wouldn't try if I didn't do it, and sure enough both the girls tried right after I did.  A happy mom moment :-)

Isn't this bald eagle beautiful?

I was very proud of Ellie for answering the speaker's question about what the largest mammal is!  She knew it was a Blue Whale, and couldn't believe that someone might not know that when I praised her later that day.  Kudos to their Animal Scientist Daddy!

This was neat because there was a diver in the aquarium during the talk!

This sting ray was really big!!!

 

We look forward to many more days at the Aquarium!  They have a large splash pad and sandbox too, so the kids can't wait to try those out!

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 NeNe and PaPa came down to the bay for a night and helped with the kids while I ran around looking at houses and dance studios!

Our last outing before leaving town was the Schoenstatt shrine, right down the road from the bay house where we stayed!  Here are the kids and NeNe and PaPa with the founder (I think).

This is my life!  CRAZY!

heading into the little chapel...

As we were leaving we ran into a sweet nun who said she would pray for our intention to find a house for our family.  Sure enough, the next day I found one!  And it looks like we might have found renters for our home too.  Thanks be to God!

Time for a moving sale!

Coming up for air

What a week! We spent 3 nights "down by the bay" to look at houses (and went to the aquarium pictured below) and then came home to a busy 2 days of co-op, ballet, and garage sale prep! Tomorrow is our big sale and hopefully we'll get rid of a lot of stuff!

After checking out a bunch of homes and a couple ballet schools, we've possibly found a rental home, which of course happened the day after the kids and I left town! So things could maybe happen pretty soon and we could find ourselves living in a new house in just a couple weeks!

We have Steven's dad here helping, and we'll have SJ's one month post surgery check up on Monday. Thomas has a runny nose and isn't sleeping well. I definitely could use some time to catch my breath!

No rest for the weary, though! Gotta get a few more things out for the sale! Happy weekend, everyone!

House Hunters

Spending my nights watching House Hunters and my days AS a house hunter. Today, I'm loving this tree.

Sometimes it is fun to give in!

I rarely let the kids play at the "germy" mall playland, especially at 8pm! But on this evening I gave in and they were thrilled! I don't think the boys have played in one of these before.

Every now and then it's fun to give in! Last weekend I drove MC to get The Game of Life from the store late one evening. She had enough money and was really wanting it. She was SO happy I gave in :-) Here they are playing it one morning before school.

Have you given in recently, on something you usually wouldn't do?

For some laughs

I'm spending hours a day looking for rental homes online. Tonight I found some interesting photos from the MLS website I thought I'd share. Now these are actually homes for sale, and old homes at that.  But there were so many crazy pictures, I needed to put them on the blog since I have no one here awake to laugh with!

 First we have the sideways photos.  I think that maybe I should look into being a real estate photographer.  There are dozens of photos like this that are cocked to the side.  But the best part here is the giant TV on the dining table!  For all those TV dinners!

Speaking of TV dinners, here we have the TV tray with a meal out and ready for eating!  (Seriously, the first thing I did before taking pictures of rooms in our house was to move all the JUNK to the other side of the room so it wouldn't be in the photo!  I don't want to see your dinner or dirty dishes!)

 There are a lot of things that strike me about this room, one being the chair placement.  But I also like the scarf thing as the window treatment!

And since everyone looking at the MLS listings wants to see all of the clothes and shoes in the closet, plus the portrait of grandma and grandpa, must include that!

I can't see the print above the bed very well, I hope it's not inappropriate for this g-rated blog!  But the mismatched pillows and stacked linens are an interesting touch for this bedroom.

Another frequent issue with realtor photos...the dark rooms where you can't see anything!  It's hard to get a sense of the house when the photos are taken at night with no flash.  This one is interesting because it shows a little indoor jet spa over there.  On the listing they also included a close-up shot so you could see the water jets going!

 Okay, okay.  I'll add the spa photo since I know you were dying to see it!  Don't you just want to jump right in?

 

 Wow,  THIS is a bathroom!  I need a close-up of THAT tub!  I think the wallpaper is even metallic.  So cool.

 

Now this house was so cute because all the rooms look perfectly decorated from the 1970s or so.  I love this one because she even has covers for all the appliances with the matching graphic on each one!  I'd love to see if those small appliances are all originals!

And see here from the same house, the bedding and velvet chair and giant lamp.  It looks like they haven't been touched in ages!

Now this is what you call a RED room!

And finally, from a home that's actually also listed as a rental I'd like to see...the poor, lonely chair.  A bedroom all to himself with only the fake flowers to keep him company.  Poor guy.

 

Well, I think that's enough laughs for tonight.  I've eaten too much Halloween candy, and must get some rest before another big day tomorrow!  So far we've had museum classes, a friend's visit today with her 4 boys (and 1 GIRL in-utero!), then tomorrow is co-op and dance class, and Friday is the homemaking club.  I'm thrilled that we've decided to postpone our garage sale until next weekend.  I've spent way too much time looking at houses instead of cleaning out my own!  Hopefully I can make it there to check some of these beauties out in person very soon!  For now, Steven gets to be the house-hunter!  I'll keep my eyes peeled for some more funny real estate photos soon!  (No one be tempted to start a blog for funny real estate photos, okay?  I'll have to look into this!  Yes, just Googled and it's been done already...too bad!)