Basement before Day 3
Basement after Day 3
The demands of unpacking the house have been overcome by the demands of everyday life. I'm just getting too tired to keep working so hard on the house right now. It's a shame, 'cause there are still many messes. But I figured I better take some time to address regular house jobs since my energy level seems to be dropping rapidly. Maybe I'll get a second wind if I rest for a while. Who knows. It's hard to tell who's more tired by the end of the day, the kids or me. I haven't fallen asleep at a restaurant yet though, so Anna has me beat. Here are a few pictures of our ordinary adventures over the past week or so.
Matthew's birthday is coming up and I told him he could have a friend party, although now I'm sorry I said that. I'm really dreading the whole party which is going to be in our messy house in two weeks. I haven't officially given the invites yet...maybe I can still get out of it by bribing him with a trip somewhere. Here is Matthew by a leprechaun at Party City while we shop for Army themed party stuff.
I got the kids some hexbugs last week after we saw some at my sister's house. Anna got hers taken away after 30 minutes 'cause she wouldn't stop putting it in her mouth. But Matthew takes care of his bug very well. He likes to pretend to feed him and let him run around so he can get exercise.
Earlier this week it got cold. Very cold. It didn't get above zero for several days. For some reason my kids still ended up wearing hardly any clothes around the house those days. They like to play dress up and somehow end up scantily clad in between dress ups. This day Matthew found my old imac keyboard in the basement while dressing up and that led to getting out my old imac, which amazingly works again after three years in storage. They stared at the music visualizer on itunes for a long time while listening to Beatles music. Not sure that's a good thing.
And we celebrated a few holidays...I use the term "celebrated" loosely. We made groundhog treats and some Chinese New Year food. It was not a productive week for me. I was so tired. So I was happy to get anything done. I'm kind of at a standstill with the basement. Maybe I'll try to go back in there next week, or maybe I'll just close the door and pretend there's nothing in there. Oh, and there's also the garage. :( Unfortunately cleaning that interferes with my plans to lay on the couch for the next two months. So tired!
Today was Matthew's first day in Sunbeams - a primary class for 3 year olds at our church. Before this he was in the church nursery and he didn't like it at all! Now that he's in a class, he seems to love it so much. He had a great time. He was also excited that the primary kids sang him a welcome song, which he kept telling me about. After his class, his teachers told us how well he did! They told us (while he was standing there) that he was the best participant in class! Later I asked Matthew how he liked it. He said he did good in Sunbeams, and sang lots of songs and wanted to go back next week...and that he was the best president in class! I think he meant participant, but it made me laugh. We were very proud of him!
I think we're getting used to winter in Colorado, but it's not as harsh as I expected. The sun comes out nearly every day (sometimes painfully bright!) which really cuts down on that winter depression. And, yes, it snows, but so far, it mostly seems to melt within a day or two. The snow doesn't really stay, at least not down in town. And even though there are very cold days (2 degrees...brrr) there are lots of pretty warm days thrown in there too (why the snow melts, I guess). We've had a lot of relatively warm days mixed in with cold and snowy days. I kind of like having a warmish day here and there. Today it was in the 60s. People were walking around in capri pants/shorts, short sleeves and flip flops. It was great. We went to the park in the afternoon. The park was full of kids enjoying the nice weather. Here's Anna having fun on the slide.
Matthew was super excited to be out there too.
Anna wanted Matthew to go everywhere with her. She wanted to show him the slides that she liked best. It was kinda cute that they would walk around the playground together holding hands. I don't know if we are just having a mild winter, or what, but we had fun being out in the sun. We know we need to enjoy it while it lasts 'cause its supposed to snow again on Monday.
I worked on the basement Wednesday and Thursday this week. It was exhausting and discouraging. Here is one half of the basement after day one.
And here it is after day two. It doesn't look much different. :(
The kids were very excited to see all the fun stuff I unearthed. Anna found these two pacifiers. Neither of my kids ever used a pacifier, but Anna thinks they are fun and novel now.
But here is the other half of the basement before...
...and after day two. I spent a lot of time going through bins and getting things sorted and organized. It looks just as messy...but it's a more orderly mess. I took Friday off from working down there. I needed a break. Maybe the basement fairies will clean it for me over the weekend. I can always hope!
Today I started unpacking the boxes in the basement. It is a huge mess in there as you can see. And this is only half the room. Here's the before picture. Yikes.
The kids ran around while I worked in there. They got out the dress up box and especially loved dressing up as superman and supergirl in these cute capes made by Aunt Angie. Thanks Angie!!
I tried to get pictures of them, but they were running around too fast. It's hard to keep up with superheroes.
And five hours later the guest room looked like this. The other half of the room didn't look that much better. It was pretty discouraging. Is this room ever going to get unpacked? I was exhausted afterward. I think I might have to take a day off from the basement before I try to tackle it again. :( Are you tired of seeing pictures of boxes, 'cause I'm tired of seeing them.
Our new big chair in our formerly formal living room
Our formal dining room
Matthew playing a game on the new ottoman
A view from the big chair. I like that I can see so much from there - both staircases, the dining area and the front door.
Matthew and Anna discovered a hiding place behind the chair. We might have to put an end to hiding back there, but they had fun there for one day.
The chair got delivered while Scott was at work so the kids were excited for him to try it out when he got home. The consensus: we all like the chair!
Matthew has been in a baseball mood for the past couple days - ever since he found his mitt in one of the boxes. Yesterday first thing he asked if he could go out and play baseball. When we finally got back from all our errands, he ran out to play. It almost broke my heart to watch him throw the ball up to himself and then catch it, so I went out to play catch with him for a while. He thought that was pretty great 'cause he's been asking me if we can go play catch again about every five minutes. Yesterday and today we've been out lots playing catch! Today he wanted to try hitting, not just on the T, but with me pitching to him. He actually did pretty good. I didn't play softball as a kid (soccer was my thing, which he, so far, does not like), so I have a limited knowledge of correct baseball technique. Scott might have to come correct some of my coaching. I hope I don't do too much damage to Matthew's budding T-ball career.
Here's Anna while we played. She didn't want to participate. She was too busy getting leaves out of her boots. She picked out her own clothes today (as did Matthew). This is why she is wearing dinosaur boots and a tutu over her clothes. It was nice in the morning but got blustery and snowy later in the day, so it was good we got our catch in early.
Anna supervises some of the unpacking activities
The buttons on our Japanese washer
Our Japanese dishwasher
Our oven in Japan (we bought a small one at the BX since we didn't have one in our house)
Our balcony in Japan - our yard equivalent
We got our third and final shipment of household goods today - a shipment of items that had been in storage for three years while we lived in Japan. We couldn't take everything with us when we moved to Okinawa, so a lot of stuff has been sitting in storage in California for three years. And now we are reunited. Exciting. Here's Anna checking out the moving van as it pulls up.
The kids were super excited and were running everywhere as the movers started to unload things. I used the portable DVD player (yet again) to keep them safely out of the way. A lot of things came off the truck that I forgot we had, some pleasant surprises, other things seemed ridiculous. I used to surf a little when I lived in California after college, but I don't know how much use I am going to get out of my surfboard in Colorado. :) It also might be hard to sell here. Oh well.
And slowly the house was filled up with boxes again. It was a little discouraging 'cause we had spent so much time and energy whittling down the first two rounds of boxes that had been cluttering our house this past week. And just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in. More boxes in my kitchen, the bedroom, a veritable wall in the front room (upper left), and a bunch of new boxes in the living room. I was very happy though 'cause our couch and loveseat came!!! I have had no place to sit on the main level of our house except for on a kitchen chair for the past week. And anyone who has ever been pregnant knows, sometimes you just need to sit down. Especially when there is a lot of working going on. I was so happy to have the couch that I just ignored the box nightmare for a little while and sat down. I'm pretty sure all the boxes will still be there for me tomorrow.
We got some snow yesterday and last night. Scott got to go into work a few hours later to give them a chance to plow the roads. I was nervous 'cause I had to drive across town to a doctor's appointment in the morning on the new snow. I have hardly ever driven in snow so it was a little scary for me. Luckily we all made it where we were going with no trouble...it was just COLD!
Here are the kids making "snow mountains." Matthew wanted me to watch him make the snow mountains. He had a whole process which he explained to me in detail. He's very detail oriented. Anna just sort of followed what he was doing...in between trying to eat the snow.
They came in after playing for a few minutes to tell me their lips (or "yips" as Anna said it) and faces were too cold. I tried to help them by wrapping their little faces up with scarves and neck gaiters, but it only sort of worked.
Anna came in again to complain about her cold "yips"...I tried to get her to come inside to warm up, but she ran out again. A few minutes later I made them both come inside. It was just too cold. We snuggled by the fire for a few minutes to warm up. I wish I had had some hot cocoa or something for them. Must get that for next time!
What some people might see as just an ordinary messy kitchen I call "progress." This was the kitchen on Saturday night...
And here is the kitchen a day earlier.
We also replaced all the knobs in the kitchen, which doesn't take much time, but I liked the change. Here are the before knobs.
And after.
And a big task of Scott's was starting to unpack these boxes in the living room. He also organized the garage and moved big heavy boxes all over for me. We both felt a bit discouraged at the end of the day when we were exhausted from unpacking but still so much was left. I think we're getting there though. Little by little.
Today our shipments from Okinawa both got delivered. Hooray! We still have more stuff coming - all the things we left in storage when we went to Okinawa - but we are definitely happy to have this first shipment come. I think it might be a while til we are unpacked though. The kids were pretty good while the movers came through. Here's Matthew watching a DVD while boxes pile up around him.
We didn't have much to eat in the house - a bag of Sunchips and a BIG box of grapes from Sams Club - so that's what we had for lunch. Here's Anna eating. Our dining table looks so small in our new dining room...which is ok, since we are shopping for a new bigger one. I bought that table/chair set when I was single and newly out of college and I think it's about to graduate to being a craft table or something. It's just not big enough for all of us anymore.
Boxes piled in the kitchen. I'm not putting kitchen things away yet 'cause I'm still cleaning out all the kitchen drawers. They are really kind of gross. Anywhere food has been can just get a little disgusting. So...hopefully I can finish my cleaning soon.
Matthew is so excited to have a yard (he calls it "yard" now) and he wanted to be outside all day. Luckily it wasn't too cold (fifties?) and the sun was shining so it was a good yard day. Here he is driving his newly rediscovered bike into a package of outdoor things. He played in what little snow was left in our yard too (a lot of it melted today, but I hear we are due for more on Monday).
The basement is slowly taking shape. We kind of have things situated where we want. The kids found their toys and that's why they are strewn all over the room. I will get it organized eventually.
The other half of the big room in the basement.
If nothing else got done on our first day in the house, we wanted to make sure Anna and Matthew had a nice place to sleep. For the first time since Anna was born they aren't sharing a room. They each got big kid beds (two halves of a bunk bed) and I think they will like having their own rooms...although I think they will miss each other a little too. Here's Matthew's bed with his new bedding. That's pretty much all that's in his room right now.
And Anna's new bed and new bedding. She was especially excited about her heart pillow. So we made some progress on our first day in the house. Scott and I even got our own bed set up so we can all rest after our busy day. Scott goes back to work tomorrow...so the kids and I will continue the unpacking without him. We have plenty to keep us busy!