It's been a minute. At the same time, we've been busy and lazy. Plus I've had some computer issues. It's been a relatively ok summer thus far.
We're settled into the house. We were 95% unpacked after two weeks, which is amazing. There are areas that I'm just now getting around to finishing up, but it's nearly all cosmetic and functional at this point. Now that we've lived here for two months, we have a better idea of what will work for us in different areas of the house. There's still lots of blank walls in the kids' rooms but I've decided to let that be for the most part so that as they grow up and figure out what they like, we can decorate to their tastes. The way Elijah is going, he'll be Mario for life, so that may not change much. The girls are still deciding who they are so not having much decor in their rooms is ok for now.
I think I've finally figured out a lay out for the sitting room that works for me. I've moved shelves and changed out curtains and rearranged things a few times and now I feel like I've got it. I've taken things out of cardboard boxes and invested in clear plastic tubs to store my craft stuff in and I'm loving that. I want to eventually get a second armchair in there so that if I have company and we want to retreat from the rest of the family to watch a movie or chat, we can both sit comfortably. The library works for that function currently, but the sitting room is much more private.
We got our first electric bill and whoa. We knew coming in we needed to invest about $1000 in some insulation to help the units Mom installed in December function better, but we didn't prioritize it. We may need to. On the upside, our winter heating bills should be much better since it's a gas heater. The gas bill is next to nothing currently.
The Mulberry house is being rented out for the next year, which is a huge relief for us. We're excited to have these renters in place and look forward to the next year with them. I've seen a couple of the things they're doing and it looks great.
Elijah is ready for kindergarten, though he will tell you he's not that excited about it. I suspect he'll get more excited the closer we get and when he really truly realizes his best friend from MDO is there. He and this boy yell across the parking lot "I love you! Bye!" about 57 times every pick up. Hopefully they still feel that way after spending all day every day together next school year.
Asher has spent the summer doing semi-educational stuff. He went to AISD's technology camp that was some kind of Lego animation thing and enjoyed that and then spent two weeks at Threshold where he learned about Ancient Egypt. This camp is so cool, I wish I'd gone when I was a kid. The first week they wrote a presentation about something to do with Ancient Egypt (Asher chose the Sphinx) and the second week they had to create their own ancient civilization. Asher's was vegetarian thespian traders. He doesn't like to admit it, but I think he really enjoys it.
He's been arguing hard to go back to the charter school instead of Moore House, but I can't get a straight answer why out of him. I think he feels like TLCA would be up to the challenge of him since Moore House was. I've tried explaining to him the reasons why we chose Moore House for 2nd grade and I don't think it's computing. For such a smart kid, sometimes he does things that remind us that yes, he definitely IS a child.
Eden is doing really well with her eye patch and her newest venture, potty training. Well, at least with her eye patch. Potty training has its ups and downs. I'm glad we have about 2 dozen pairs of panties because I wash them frequently. Every trip to the bathroom warrants a new pair, even if the old pair is still clean.
We have an appointment with the surgeon in Dallas on September 24, a Monday, in the morning, so she and I will get to take a girls' trip to Dallas on that Sunday. I'm hoping she'll enjoy the hotel and room service. I'll have to double check on their pool situation, but she would probably be super excited to go swimming with just me. Hopefully on that trip, the doctor will be able to give us a time frame for surgery. In the meantime, we continue to patch 14 hours a week, though some weeks we're more on it than others. She'll wear it for 10 hours in a day some days and others she won't wear it for more than 5 minutes. It just depends on her mood.
Rebekah is finally walking! She took her first few steps in late June at MDO and refused to walk for or to me for the next week and a half. Then one day she just stood up and started stomping around and hasn't looked back. She's so proud of herself, too. She can get farther faster and take things with her much more easily. Her siblings aren't as thrilled with that last bit. Neither am I, to be honest. I have to turn my nightstand towards the bed or she'll raid it and carry things around the upstairs.
She still avoids the stairs, but will stand at the top or bottom and yell at whoever is on the other side until they come get her. She doesn't like to be alone (fourth child problem) but tolerates it much better if she's alone upstairs where all the toys are.
We can't really afford a vacation away this year, so we're doing a "staycation" which I've managed to get everyone excited about. We're going to see Abilene and do things around here we haven't in a while or ever. Splash pads and movies and video games are the highlights of the week for just about everyone. I had the boys describe their perfect days and when we relayed them to Austin, he said those were his perfect days, too. They were mostly eating and playing video games, which surprises no one. I've yet to sit down and actually give it a little more detail, but I intend to do that this weekend.
Church has been an interesting change for us. The weekend we moved, the church went to two services instead of one, and it seems to be working fairly well for the church as a whole. For us, it just....wasn't. Before, Austin would be able to help me get the kids dressed and to the church, where he would then go to practice and I would take them to eat at the coffee shop ministry we have called Holy Grounds. I'd have time to feed them, then deliver them to the Children's Building before Sunday school. Now, Austin has to be at the church about 30-45 minutes before we do, so I'm on my own to get them up and dressed and for whatever reason, we just. can't. do it. We tried for a month and I was almost always 15-20 or even 30 minutes late to the service, which is about a 45 minute service. At that point, what the point of trying for service? Then we had the discussion of whether or not it was worth getting everyone up and out for just Sunday school. The kids weren't enjoying Sunday school for whatever reason (I could never get a straight answer out of them) so we just decided not to try for the rest of the summer. Maybe in the fall, once we're back into a routine, we'll try again. It may go better then. Summer heat and laziness have just taken their toll on me for sure. I've missed Sunday school and seeing people for sure, but I've also really enjoyed getting to sleep in on Sundays. Not that I can't other days of the week when the kids let me, but there's something about a Sunday that just makes me want to sleep all day.
There are lots of things ahead of us: Eden's eye surgery, Elijah starting kindergarten, helping out a friend, parties, trips, school shopping, and more. We're keeping cool in the heat by staying in and counting down until school starts. 26 days, y'all.
