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!