Gee, It's Hard to be a Grown-Up

Last weekend we enjoyed a visit from Laurie, Bob, and John (my Madison siblings). They helped us move a bunch of stuff from the old house over to our new one. The top two floors of the house are now virtually empty. "All" we have left is to clean and paint the old house.

I'm guessing that we will be hiring help for that part. Some of the walls need significant work before they're ready for paint, and the carpets need cleaning BAD. I thought for sure we'd have to replace them, but brother John (who has carpet-cleaning experience) thinks they will come clean with some work.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos from Laurie, John, and Bob's visit, but Laurie took pictures so hopefully we will see some on her blog soon. Jon did take a picture of Emma ice fishing with him last Sunday. Emma, Jon, and friend Dave Dejongh ice fished together (Dave and his girlfriend are expecting a baby of their own in April or May).

Michael spent Friday and Saturday night of last weekend at Winter Camp with his Cub Scout group. He had a good time-- a big part of the weekend, in his opinion, is all the board games they play. He relishes any opportunity he has for board games, especially if he has a chance of winning (as he usually does, with his peers). He doesn't get much opportunity of winning when he plays his mother (I'll sheepishly admit), because there is still a childish, stubborn part of me that hates to lose board games. I blame that on Bob and Don, my younger siblings who insisted on beating me at board games a bit too often (sniff).

To my credit, though, I no longer tip over the game board when things go awry. How's that for maturity??

Jon should be home soon from his work week in Connover. This was a tough week for him, though; he ended up with a nasty flu bug that plagued him for most of the week (working his way through it, with frequent visits to their port-a-potty). He's stopping at Rhinelander tonight to pick up Coco from Mom and Dad's. They have been graciously housed Coco for us several weeks now, so we could get things settled in to the new house without her energetic presence. It has made things a lot easier for us (me). Thank you VERY, VERY much, Mom and Dad.

I admit I'm not the animal-lover that my sister is, but whenever I get annoyed with Coco I try to remind myself how much Emma loves her. Emma brought her journal home from school last night, and it surprised me how many of the entries had to do with playing with Coco-- there were drawings, descriptions of games they played together, and loving tributes to her. After I read it I promised myself I will try to look at Coco more through Emma's eyes (if I can...).

Gee, it's hard to be a grown-up, sometimes.

Making Ourselves "At Home"

We have internet again (I missed it)!

We've been living in our new house for a couple of weeks now. Most things are moved and unpacked, so it feels homey here.

The kids are still attending school in Eau Claire, but tomorrow we're going to go to Colfax Elementary to meet their teachers and have a look around the school. They'll start riding the school bus (something they've never done before) as Colfax students on March 1st. Both are excited, though I'm sure it will be an adjustment.

Michael participated in his second Pinewood Derby-- his car is the lime green one with a stripe down the middle. He didn't do as well this year, mostly because Jon and I were pretty hasty in the production of his car and forgot to the sand the axles. But he received an award for "Most Aerodynamic" and had the fun of competing with his friends. We still have two more scouting events that Michael will participate in with his "old" scouting group. He's going to Winter Camp next weekend, and in April will attend the Blue and Gold Banquet and receive his Bear badge.

Emma composed a little scene for your amusement (see left). It involves her Barbie dolls and some jokes she wrote, which may or may not be visible in this photo. Please note that the dolls are seated on a couch, and that the boy doll in purple lounging attire is named "Junior".

Since moving here I've enjoyed seeing how much time Emma spends outside. There are enough little hills around our house for her to sled on or just climb in the snow. Jon spends a lot of time outside when he's here, too; he likes walking through the woods, cutting firewood, and riding around on his Bobcat. Both kids have been helping us with outdoor tasks like shoveling snow and stacking wood. When we're inside at the table we enjoy looking out the window at our backyard. There's a little windmill out there, several bird feeders and suet, and even things for squirrels to get into. So far we've seen grey and fox squirrels, chickadees, and woodpeckers. Jon hopes the woodpeckers don't become too interested in the siding of our house!

Mikey's tried climbing a couple of trees but hasn't been outside as much. He (and I) have had colds and are just not feeling the best. He has a mild fever, sore throat, droopy eyes, and sleeps more than usual. My worst symptoms are a persistent cough and congestion that impairs my breathing (especially at night). I am snoring really bad, Jon tells me. I definitely don't feel rested and wake up in discomfort at least four times each night. But part of that is pregnancy, too!

The countdown to our baby's impending birth is coming up fast. I'm glad we finally have a start on preparing the baby room. I'm re-using the curtains Mom made for Michael and Emma and bought new baby bedding, but the crib and other things I have so far were given to me by family members (lots of nice infant clothes from neice Jessica). And thank you, Hope, for returning so many of Emma's sweet little baby clothes to me.

Some of the other little personal touches we have in the baby room are Jon's rocking chair from when he was a little boy (Michael is sitting on it in the picture at right), Great Aunt Ruth's lovely pink rose oil painting, and hand-knit sweaters from Grandma Jane (below). The pink sweater was one that Emma used to wear, and the green and lilac sweater is part of a new sweater set Grandma Jane gave the baby for Christmas.

And now, a few more pictures from around the house...

As you can see, the kitchen has been Lisa-ized with blue and white plates and copperware. This kitchen is actually a lot nicer than I realized when we first looked at it. There's plenty of cupboard and pantry space for all of our stuff, and the extra wide counter around the bar area is convenient for baking and big projects. It's also easy to serve the kids snacks from the kitchen to their seats at the bar.

The dining room is on the other side of the bar. We love having the big picture window to look out during the day... that's the one facing our backyard feeders.

Our office area and my art studio are in the 4-season porch. The picture at right just shows "my side" (Jon has his own area on the other side of the room). We love this room and spend a lot of time here. It has outdoor access and a little deck of its own, so in the summer the space can just continue on outdoors.

We bought some new furniture for our living room, and are using the old recliners and couch downstairs in the family room. We don't have a TV in the living room anymore, and I hope it stays that way. It helps keep the noise and mess downstairs!

Here's another corner of the living room. Notice Emma's wearing Jon's reading glasses for this picture... she's probably holding that book upside down, as well.

We still don't have all the kids' stuff moved over yet, which is scary because their rooms downstairs are already pretty full. This past weekend we brought over their desks, and of course have beds set up for them.

Here's Mikey in his room, showcasing his Humpty Dumpty and paper clip collections.

Emma made this "hide out" in her room, out of a little table and chairs.

Here's a picture of our room. Our furniture fits nicely, and I love being able to lie on the bed and see trees and sky when I look out the windows. It's got a fresh, airy feeling during the day (unfortunately, I took all of these photos at night).

So that gives you an idea of what we've been up to lately! Jon's been a pretty good sport about helping me hang pictures and move things around, and I've tried to restrain myself and not over-clutter things too quickly. I'm glad we got rid of lots of the exess.

We look forward to a visit from Laurie, John and Bob later this week. They plan on coming Thursday, and we can't wait to see them! Hope they can find the place!

Our new contact info

Just a quick note to pass along our new address and phone number:

E9727 780th Ave.
Colfax, WI 54730

(715) 962-2178

Pictures and commentary coming soon!

Update on the Big Move

Sorry I don't have any new pictures to post-- things have been chaotic lately. But I want everyone to know that we have moved into our new house-- hurray! We still have lots of stuff left in the Eau Claire house, but plan to bring the miscellaneous over gradually during the next few weeks. Most of our furniture, clothes (and us!) are already in Colfax.

I will post my new address and phone number soon. It's kind of hard to get a hold of us right now because only our cell phones are operational, at this point, and we don't have internet service yet (I'm updating this blog at work). If someone needs to reach me, call my cell (I'm leary of giving that number out over the internet, but Mom knows it-- ask her if you're not sure). Just be aware that I can't hear messages you leave on my cell (but I can see if you called or will answer directly if I hear the ring).

So, like I said: chaos! But good chaos, if that's possible. We had helpers this weekend and managed to get quite a bit done. Jon's brother Phil and nephew Jacob helped move furniture Saturday, and Phil's wife brought over wonderful food for us: crockpots full of barbeque and cheesy potatoes, dessert bars, veggies and dip, chips... we ate well. Mom and Dad came by and picked up a display cabinet I "gave" to Mom ("gave" is in quotes because they actually had to spend over $80 in gas to come get it and haul it in the old blue van). But they got to see the house. I think Dad's first impression was how confusing it was to get there (lots of turns and back roads)-- and honestly, I got lost a few times in the beginning. But the house and the wonderful wooded setting make it well worth it.

On Sunday Jon's Mom and two sisters came over and helped me pack up kitchen stuff. Sally's husband helped Jon load up my china cabinet, and then we all hauled things over to the house in our vehicles. More good food was brought for us, including two kinds of cookies, pumpkin bars, and more.

Which left us with lots of boxes and mayhem! But over the past few days I've gotten our beds made up and clothes put away. Also most of the kitchen and bathroom items are in place. Tonight I'll try to get things cleaned out of the dining room area (since we're not letting the kids eat in the living room... yet). Then I'll try to address the office area. Right now our bills and personal papers are boxed up somewhere... guess I better find those soon.

I had a doctor's checkup yesterday, and all is well with the baby. I even asked that they check me to make sure I wasn't "progressing" too fast, since the moving process requires me to be more active than usual. But everything was normal and it sounds like I can keep pacing myself as I've been. Which is a very good thing, because right now it would be torture if I had to lay still on bed rest or something-- I LOVE the unpacking and decorating part. Plus, with Jon gone during the week, it's up to me to drive the kids to school, shovel the driveway as needed, etc. Plus I'd like to keep working as long as possible; the extra income is small but helpful.

Well, hopefully the next time I update this blog it will be from our home office, with our new internet provider. Hope all of you are well; take care!