Hey friends!
Well, I think I expected the crazy to slow down somewhat after we moved, but it really hasn't. These past three weeks have been a steady stream of chaos-- finishing homeschool, lesson teaching, student recital video editing, and at least one visit each day from some kind of person pertaining to setting up and/or maintaining the new house. A guy came to clean the boiler and furnace, a guy came to give us an estimate on new gutters, a guy came to give us an estimate on having a propane tank installed, we had a new propane stove and washer/dryer delivered and installed, they came to actually install the propane tank and test the new stove, they came to deliver a new T.V. we ordered, we've had some landscaping guys come to give us quotes... and the list goes on! Tomorrow we are having an over-range microwave installed, Friday a new gas stove comes since the first one they delivered was damaged (long story), then Friday afternoon the propane company comes again to test the new stove... whew!!! No rest for the weary.
And because SO much has been happening during the weekdays, I have had absolutely zero time for unpacking, which means that we have had to devote weekends to that. Our first weekend in the new house was devoted to just getting all of our kitchen items unpacked and organized in a practical way. That took a whole day, with kids underfoot. Then on Sunday of that weekend I had to plan out the rest of our homeschool year plus make a meal plan and grocery shop, so M just took the kids to the playground while I did all of that (that took all of Sunday!). We also had to take care of a huge laundry backup after having been almost two weeks without a washer/dryer.
(my wonderful, lovely new washer and dryer that I loooove so much!!!)
The following weekend we spent both Saturday and Sunday getting the girls totally situated in the rooms they will stay in for a while. There had been some unanswered questions when we first moved in about whether they would each take their own rooms or if some would share. So we kind of just threw everyone any which where when we first moved in. By two weeks into living here, we had a better sense of what the best arrangement would be-- N and C each wanted separate rooms and J and L wanted to share. This arrangement meant taking some beds apart and moving them. So we did that on Saturday. Some people switched dressers as well (the girls had had to share dressers in our old house because there simply wasn't room for two dressers in the tiny rooms they were sharing... so all this space brought new questions of which dresser fit which individual's amount of clothes the best). After moving clothes and furniture we unpacked every single box that had "(Insert Girl's Name)'s Stuff" on it, and got that all organized. By that time it was late Saturday afternoon, it was getting really hot in the house, and everyone just hit a wall. I literally felt like my body would no longer move (we had done a lot of lifting and moving of heavy beds, dressers, and boxes that day!) and I think most other members of the family were feeling the same. I was trying to stand up and do more things but I would just start feeling dizzy and lightheaded-- so that was my signal to stop. We ordered pizza, put the girls in front of High School Musical in the living room (these movies are their latest obsession) and M and I parked ourselves in our bedroom upstairs, and just binge-watched about three episodes in a row of Long Way Down.
vegging out, surrounded by mess
I kept raving to M, during these few hours of relaxing, about how good it felt to just sit "for hours" and do nothing. This was after we had been sitting for maybe 30 minutes. It felt like an eternity. He was remarking on how we have both been "on our feet for weeks", and we couldn't remember the last time we had just sat for more than a few minutes at a time. It was absolute bliss.
And so, despite the fact that half of our stuff is still in boxes and I have a to-do list a mile long for work, I have been trying to take more relaxing moments like this during this week. It has been hard... yesterday in particular was another non-stop day without any real rest in it. But here and there I am snatching moments of peace. It is absolutely necessary-- my body and mind simply aren't capable of keeping up the breakneck pace anymore.
Luckily, we are in our last week of homeschool (next week will just be some final assessments and wrap-up) and my teaching schedule will slow down considerably after the second week of June. So more calm days are ahead. I intend to soak them up fully.
A few pictures of the memorable moments from our first few weeks in our new home...
Teaching from various places... a couple of days in our empty old house (pictured above) before we had reliable wifi set up in the new house. This was on a crazy day when I was simultaneously trying to clean the whole house in a couple of hours so we could give the landlord our keys, sandwiched in between also driving the girls to and from dance class. Phew!!
Setup in the new house, post-wifi! You really appreciate these little things after being without them for several days.
First loaf of freshly baked bread in the new house, after unpacking the breadmaker!! YUM
M and I have been running together in the mornings (I would not run by myself in these parts-- people regularly spot black bears, coyotes, and bobcats in our neighborhood) and this has been a real bright spot for me, feeling those exercise endorphins and chatting with my love. We saw this amazingly cool barred owl on one of our jaunts together (pictured above)!!!
Taking a quick break to watch
The Bad Batch while we ate dinner one night. The girls and M are really enjoying that show!
Pictured above is the girls' game of Oregon Trail Legos. Have you played the new version of Oregon Trail on your iPhone or iPad yet? It's really cool! The girls have been loving it, and after they reached their screen time limit playing it the other morning, they continued the storytelling by setting up their Lego Friends to be on the Trail, using their horse trailer and boats as covered wagons (pulled by horses... and polar bears... as opposed to oxen :)
Since we are on our third week now without a stove, I have had to get creative in the cooking department. Waffles for dinner has happened twice, and I have cooked some things on a camp stove that I never imagined I would (clam chowder?!? used up half a cannister of propane on that one!).
The girls have been finishing up their final nature classes in the last week. They all got t-shirts, and J's little class made animal masks. She was sporting both mask and t-shirt for several days afterwards and it was pretty cute.
N got vaccinated!!!!!! The next town over from us is running a clinic and had tons of appointments... so she is now one shot in to the Pfizer! She'll get her second one in two weeks. What a relief!!!
We have a family tradition of going to Dunkin Donuts after anyone gets a shot. N got coffee instead of a donut this time (grown up lady!).
Miss J, who had accompanied us and waited patiently and quietly while N got her shot, was rewarded with a strawberry coolata. She delightedly took this picture of it on my phone.
High School Musical. In our messy disheveled living room.
I managed to plant some lemongrass and one tomato plant, in a pot on our deck. That will probably be the extent of my gardening this year!
Singing on Pentecost... isn't all the red lovely?
P.S. I'm now only 25 minutes from my regular singing gig! Hooray!!!
Pool time on the hot days. I think they have maybe outgrown this kiddie pool?? 😏
We found all of our popsicle molds when unpacking the kitchen, and we have been experimenting with lots of different homemade popsicle flavors to beat the heat. We have tried pina colada pops, raspberry yogurt pops, and cashew butter banana honey pops, all of which have met with hearty approval! Those girls do love them some pops.
A tired-eyed Mama who decided it was a whipped-cream-on-my-afternoon-coffee kind of day, and a happy little 5 year old who decided to photo bomb.
So... many happy times, as you can see, in the midst of chaos. We are blessed.
See you next week!
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