Drumroll, please...

After 5 months living with mom and dad,

after looking at over 100 homes in the Denver area, here it is...

 This house came into our price range 4 months into our search.  Thank you to everyone who was praying for us!  I know this is the fruit of months of prayer and with this in mind, we have been putting lots of love and work into this house, trying to make it the warm, hospitable home we know God wants it to be.  1980s wallpaper borders came down, worn carpet came out and new paint colors applied.  

I took a few shots hoping to show some of our favorite spots in the new home to our dear family and friends who can't get here to see us just yet.  We do have a spot for guests to sleep...and an unfinished basement where we can throw our stuff so you'll have more room in the guestroom!

One of my favorite little spots - Matt put up this set of hooks for our little girls' adorable aprons from Aunt Bridget (don't you think she should sell them on etsy?)

One of my favorite features of this home was the split staircase with a landing - and the stairs empty right near the kitchen, not at the front door as in many homes.  It's much easier to know where everyone is when I am working in the kitchen.  I do spend a lot of time there!

Our favorite room - we just wish it were a little bigger.  It's funny what things become non-negotiable when you are looking for houses.  For Matt, a real fireplace was one of those.  I have no problem with that.
He's my hero and he loves to build fires!  

I just love how the blue of this wall turned out.

While this home did have a space for a living room in the front, we had no other room for school, so the first part of the great room when you come in is school, and behind it is the dining room.  School often happens in the kitchen, too - or wherever we can keep out of Bridget's reach.  She can climb onto tables now, so pretty much everything is fair game for her, and I am often hoisting her out of the way while I help Cate and Jane.

We are so thankful!  For a garage and an unfinished basement, for a kitchen and my own kitchen things - it's amazing how you appreciate your stuff when it has been in PODS for 5 months.  We are grateful for my parents' generosity in opening their home to us for so long.  It's not like we are a young couple with one baby - we are a crowd now, and we had to have school at their house, too!  And it worked out just fine, though my mom and dad were grateful we were in our own house this past weekend when our whole family came down with a nasty stomach bug.

We live on a cul-de-sac with neighbors who have the most sweet 7-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy you've ever seen.  The boy thinks Cate and Jane are secretly twins.  Thank you, God, for answered prayers!  Thank you, friends, for praying for us.  God provided a way for us to come back to family and friends in Colorado, and He provided the home and neighborhood for us to live in.  I fretted and lost sleep and agonized often over the 5 months during our search.  My trust levels went up and down, my frustration grew - I was not the picture of patient waiting our Lady shows us during Advent.  But it was a good trial for Matt and I to endure together - and my parents along with us.

Peace this Advent!

First Day of School

Many of you know I have a really hard time reading homeschooling blogs, because the kids, crafts, lessons, etc, seem so much more perfect and peaceful than my own home.  I know that those moms put the best of the best on their blogs.  And it's only natural to do so.  But here is a glimpse into our first day of school: Handwriting without Tears resulted in tears, Ann got stung by a bee, Bridget grabbed markers and caused general mayhem and messes, and most of my alphabet cards fell down from the wall by the afternoon.  I ended up letting the kids watch TV, which I had vowed not to do on school days, and I think sometimes they learn more from Sid and Elmo than from me, as evidenced by Jane walking into the kitchen while I was doing dishes and mentioning, "Mom, I know what transportation is."  She learned it from Elmo this morning.

In case my mom is reading, Cate did her reading and grammar lessons nicely, and both girls did their math very well.  We read from our history book, and in general I feel more confident and excited about my curriculum choices than in previous years.  Of course, I always get a little melancholic on the first day of homeschool.  The first day of school in a regular school is SUCH an exciting day, and I have so many memories of looking forward to it so much.  We can't re-create that excitement, and I should not expect to be replicating everything they would get in school, at home.  I hope the trade-off is that my girls enjoy learning around the clock, through books as well as through lots of time outside, and unique experiences with friends and family.  

Our school wall, in the sunroom at Nona's house.   For those who homeschool, I found the calendar numbers and the days of the week in the Target dollar bins, just a few weeks ago.  Posterboard was purchased there, too!

First day woes aside, it's going to be another great year.

What I did on my summer vacation

I packed five suitcases: green for mommy, blue for Cate, pink for Jane, purple for Ann, light blue for Bridget.  Plus about 8 little random bags of shoes, rain gear, beach gear, first aid products, diapers, coffee maker and car games.
We loaded up the kids for a week-long road trip that included stops in Colby, KS to visit the Horineks and their 4 kids and their farm, Atchison, KS, to visit the Wurtzes and their 4 kids, Peoria, IL to visit the Bromms and their 4 kids and Chicago, where we stayed in the Embassy Suites.  Then, on to White Birch Lodge...where we did not get in the car again for 7 days.  Ahh.
Tennis, a clear lake, meals prepared 3 times a day and served when the bell rings, aunts and grandparents and cousins to help with the kids, waterskiing, a soft sandy beach.  A mother's paradise.

More to come...we still have the week-long road trip back.  

Half Done, with love

So many things in my life are half-done.  I'm not normally half-assed about anything, but the demands of a 9-month-old and almost-3-year-old, coupled with the requests of my 5 and 7-year olds, who still need a lot of help in the kitchen and bathroom, result in me being halfway through all kinds of things.  There is the half-folded laundry, for instance.  If I ever am able to make it through the whole basket, something doesn't quite feel right.  The laundry is always half-folded and sometimes I leave a half-ironed shirt on the ironing board for a few days because I was interrupted.  The kitchen is constantly half-way full of dishes from one meal and the next meal is halfway prepared.

Several times in the last few weeks I have done half of a 30-day shred workout...and felt good about getting that much in!  It's only 20 minutes to begin with...sheesh.  Today, I did half, then Bridget lost it, hanging on my leg, which did not work well for jumping jacks, so I paused it, nursed her to sleep, made lunch for the other girls and then finished it - yes, I really came back to it!  Usually I would pat myself on the back for doing 10 minutes, but today I finished it all the way to the cool down.  I'm well on my way to being shredded.

Then there are books.  I am halfway through about 8 different books right now.  So are lots of people, probably, but to me it illustrates yet again the "putting on hold" we do for our kids.  My wedding album is half-done.  And it probably will not get done for years yet.  I stopped putting it on my monthly TO DO list about a year ago.  It was giving me too much guilt.  I will get a thank you note written, but it remains half-done for a week because I don't get to the "find the address and stamp" steps.

On the positive side of halves...I am thrilled when half of the kids are napping, and when I get half an hour's nap myself.   Each day I give Bridget half a graham cracker while I have my half hour prayer time in bed, and then I vacuum all the crumbs from the carpet and it gives me the satisfaction that I have cleaned our room.  If I remember half the things I need when I am at the grocery store, we're doing pretty well...then I make up the difference by grabbing twice as many "impulse buys."

I'm thrilled we have all the girls we have, and not half of them.  Just when I think Bridget can't get any cuter, she grins at me with those two little teeth showing and those enormous cheeks and bright blue eyes.  Half done is OK, little one.  Your mother needs to have her perfectionism perfected out of her.

What I'll miss about Kentucky

Kentucky Easter Sunday

DOGWOOD FLOWERS!  Oh, I love them!

I'll miss our proximity to my amazing in-laws!

I'll miss hanging out on our back porch.

I'll miss the horse culture!  Here we are at the Kentucky Horse Park on Easter Tuesday.  What a treat!  Even in the rain, we  learned a lot and we saw horses up close!

Can't get over Jane's expression in the background!

Last month in the Bluegrass

We plan to move in a month, and we don't have an address in the Denver area.  Pray for us!  The Lord comes through just in time for us, and I am sure he will again.  I never am completely "ready" for anything He sends my way, and it's OK!

I have managed to pack three boxes.  Ahem...three down, and about 289 to go, I'm sure!  But life does not stop because we are moving!  On campus, we need to finish strong with our students.  Matt was on a cabin trip this weekend with 14 of them.  I spoke Thursday night at a ladies' night hosted by one of the awesome UK students.  At home, we are keeping up with our reading, writing and math, and our hours of make believe play.  The babies need to nurse, dinner still needs to be made, and someone has a 34th birthday to celebrate.  Those who hear me complain about my back and neck (especially Matt) will be happy to hear I have a massage scheduled for 11am tomorrow!

Yes, it's been four months...

FOCUS conference in Nashville in January, Uncle Jimmy's passing and funeral in February, Uncle Tony (Brother Anthony) came to visit in February, Spring Break in Toledo, OH...and here we are in late March!  We are eagerly planning Cate's 7th birthday party in just twelve days! It's countdown time around here, folks!  It's a countdown of another sort, too - last week Matt accepted a new position in FOCUS which will send us back West and will necessitate changing the name of my blog, I just noticed.  (Add that to the checklist.  "Change Blog name." Also add, "Don't forget I have a blog."  People actually read it.  I found this out from Aunt Pattie McCartney and Brother Anthony in Rome.)  Eight weeks until the end of school at UK and ten weeks until Matt starts his new position.  Eight weeks to find a new place to live and pack and move - pray for me!  St. Joseph, find us the perfect place to homeschool and live!