Just To Be Clear...

...my new blog is here!

http://searshouseonhill.blogspot.com/

It's where all the cool kids hang out!

Happy Birthday to...

The Gingerbread House Saga!

I've been blogging for 3 years today!

Here's my very first post!

In that time we've:

• Started homeschooling
• Done some laundry
• Had some birthdays
• Had some first crushes
• Ate some chocolate
• Gone to some high school musicals
• Made some gingerbread houses
• Shoveled some snow
• Hosted a Fresh Air Fund kid
• Lost some teeth
• Gone camping
• Changed from an-old-lady-car-driver to a I'm-STILL-too-young and cool to drive a-minivan-driver
• We played some baseball
• We've visited Canada
• We welcomed a new little monkey (Shoey, just to be clear) to the mix
• We've said hello and goodbye to a stray pitbull
• We've visited Virginia
• We've played some soccer
• We've moved to a new town
• We've survived the chaos and have enjoyed every minute of it!

Go here: to see what the next 3 years holds

The Mama Files: "Idle Hands Are..."

So our fall is filling up really fast....like lightening speed. I love and hate it all in one!

I'm pretty excited for the MOPS crafts I'm planning to do this year (obvi.). *Note to self: raid Mom's fabric stash for more material ASAP*

We have soccer for 3 kids (I assist. coach for 1)! Which is crazy, but, like I recently told a friend "the kids play soccer for me and little league for Marc". So it doesn't really feel like THAT much of a chore carting them around.

I just got home from a meeting for the art classes I teach at a local private school. One class is 9 little girls grades 2-3, which is exciting. Another class is 8 little boys (and 2 girls) grades K-1, which is frightening. Hopefully we all make it through alive!

And off course there's the regular life stuff- cleaning, laundry, dishes, etc.

I've recently come to terms with the fact that I'm never going to be the lady that has a perfectly cleaned and organized house. There's just so many other things I'd rather put my time into. I'll just have to settle with a semi-almost-halfway picked up house.

Thank goodness we now have a house that can be that way and I don't feel like I'm drowning in housework/laundry/children! :-)

Happy *almost* fall!

A Fun Fact About Me:

Fall is by far my favorite season and I think it's because at lot of the clothes are orange and brown!

Sweet Progress

I had a VERY productive weekend! YAY!

It started on Friday when I went to Joann's and found absolutely NOTHING that I wanted to create curtains for my living room out of. But, things got better once I played soccer with a lot of the ladies from my high school team (ah, memories!) and had a bonfire at my former coach's house.

Then, we had a fun Saturday morning of Youth soccer (I have 3 players this year) and I came back to do TONS of lawn work while Shoey napped!

Finally today I cleaned boxes out of one spare room and organized the other spare room (We have TWO spare rooms! How cool is that?!) so that one of my brother-in-laws can stay with us while he's home on break from college.

Now to just find some fabric for those curtains...

I hope the rest of the week goes as well!

The Gingerbread House *Saga*, continued.

New Plan:

I haven't gone into this before now because it's such a crazy unbelievable story and I wanted to know the ending before I explained it all. Well it doesn't look like I'm going to know the ending for quite some time, or maybe this is the ending, who knows.

Anywho, 8 years ago our county went to Marc's grandfather and told him that he had rights to his deceased sister-in-law's house. Assuming he really did have rights, he came to us and asked if we wanted to buy it. In August 2003 he signed it over to us and we bought it from the county, for really cheap.

Now when we went to sell it in June we found out that Marc's grandfather didn't have rights to it after all. As it turns out it should have gone to her side of the family not our side. So now we have had to contact all of her heirs (all 18 of them) and try to get them to sign off on it. So far we've gotten 7 to do this and we are still waiting on the other 11.

Since it's taken so long our buyer has withdrawn their offer which is completely understandable.

So now the only option we have left is to rent it out until we get this whole mess sorted out.

I have mixed feelings about this whole situation and have decided that all we can really do is just go with it. It's just another bump in the road.

This built in cabinet opens on the other side too! It's huge and useful and I love it!

How Am I Spending My Day, You Ask?

Oh just pulling out 537 of these little buggers from my bathroom windows.

*okay so that might be a slight exaggeration, but it is taking forever.

I've been trying to figure out the best way to photograph the porch. There's really no way to capture it's amazingness. I've never EVER lived in a house with a porch, it's AWESOME! And one day I hope to be able to have enough time to actually sit on it.

I haven't started on painting yet in fact I haven't even made it to the store to BUY paint yet. I started looking online for color scheme ideas and got distracted. I've decided I'm going to paint the woodwork in my 2 bathrooms...wait for it....WHITE! Boring I know but I want to keep the feel of the upstairs bathroom really clean because it's a small room with a big tub. I'm not entirely sold on what I want to do for the down stairs bathroom yet. It's really odd because it's this big room that has a toilet, sink and now washing machine (and eventually dryer) in it. It also has a big open double doorway (yes my bathroom downstairs doesn't have a door on it yet) and 2 big double windows. The reason this room is up in the air is because we haven't decided on what we are going to do for a shower yet. At the moment I'm thinking about just putting an add on shower on the claw foot tub and then keeping the downstairs bath just a half bath. But then again that's just my idea today who knows what I'll come up with tomorrow.

Are You Ready....

for a week full of blog posts?! I'm down to one child (plus a babysitting kid) for a whole week! Which usually equals boring. Maybe I'll paint something! I doubt jacking up the house would ruin a trim paint job in both bathrooms. Now to decide what color...stay tuned.

2 for 1

1. Look at this sweet little BLUE eyed girl! I can't believe she's going to be 1 in a couple weeks. Her favorite past time at the moment is trying to eat out of the dog's dish (just playing in his water is fun too). She's a bundle of energy and determination, but I love her for it!
2. Isn't this giant heating vent (register?) cool?! I love it.

Check Out Some of the Crafts We're Making in MOPS This Year!

Don't ya wanna come?! :-)

To Do List:

1. Rearrange the girls' room (I have a feeling this is going to be an on going thing).
2. Paint a bench.
3. Start packing my 3 eldest for camp.
4. Buy a new pair of black shoes for my SIL wedding.
5. Order my second batch of curriculum
6. Laundry
7. Dishes
8. Clean the bathrooms
9. Reschedule an appointment for Gaius
10. Unpack my bedroom (yeah, it's still not even close to being done. I also want to rearrange that room too)
11. Finish reading this book : Just Do Something, By: Kevin DeLong
12. Start running again
13. Come up with a couple more ideas for my MOPS group.
14. Install baby gates on our stairs
15. Sleep

*So far I've gotten one thing done so far today, let's hope this afternoon is more productive!*

Date Night

Marc and I went to the Clayton Opera House last night to watch "The Moth". It was really fun, but WAY out of my comfort zone. There was a fancy smancy reception at the beginning that you were supposed to eat crazy food (pataté) and mingle with crazy people (socialites). But the storytelling was phenomenal, and my husband's company is always a plus. So all in all it was a really fun date night! Oh and by the way, the town of Clayton is absolutely beautiful!

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Blog...

....for an excerpt from Marc's facebook.

So my evening?

Return from a great night of VBS.

Leia finds a bat upstairs. I am terrified of bats. After 45 minutes of sniveling and acting very un-manly in front of my wife I charge and dispatch said bat with one blow. Bash my knee to the point I can't bend it now in my again very un-manly retreat because of the aforementioned fear of bats.

30 minutes of convincing my children that is safe to sleep in their own beds.

Now Gaius woke up so worked up over the bat that he just deposited to contents of his spaghetti dinner on the floor.

I love being a dad. What would I do with my evenings other wise?

Holy Hot Weather!

(photo by: Leia)

It.is.hot.

Not that I'm really complaining, it's been sort of fun going swimming at least once a day all week. It's funny how your priorities change when it's 102° out. :-)

Leia turned 7 yesterday. She's pretty excited about it. We gave her a camera for her birthday. Actually we gave her my old camera, I figured it made more sense because we already had the extra battery, sd card, and camera bag. Plus if she drops it down the stairs it won't matter as much. She loves it, she's been taking pictures of everything (174 pictures to be exact)! She's funny too because she wants to know what every little setting is. I also saw her with Shoshannah on her lap showing her what all the buttons mean. It made me smile. I love how kids take pictures of the most random things. Like the TV, or our kitchen food cupboard. :-) Who knows maybe I have a budding photog on my hands.

We have our very first birthday party in our house tomorrow. It's exciting and a little stressful. I'm ready to get this baby (the house) jacked up so I can start on some of my painting projects. Oh yeah, and my bedroom is still mostly in boxes..I should really get to that soon too. I've decided I want to learn how to tile. I want to lay a tile floor in the kitchen and upstairs bathroom. I have a friend who knows how I'll have to ask her for lessons. We'll see.

TTFN!

These two monkeys are down right NUTS today.

It COULD be the donuts and chocolate milk I gave them for breakfast.

But I really can't see that much of a difference.

Ironically this light now has 1 energy efficient bulb in it and it looks completely out of place.

Things I'm still getting used to:

• Tall ceilings. Reaching things without a stool has been a normal part of life for well 10 years, not anymore.
• A zillion stairs. I never understood why people wanted an upstairs and downstairs changing table. However, after hauling my 20# baby Sho up and down the stairs several times a day I now understand. It's a workout!
• Having neighbors. So far I've met the man who lives straight across from us and his landlady who lives next door to him. Both are very nice. But on our first night here a neighbor had a party which ended in a huge fight and the police coming. :-/
• Not being able to hear every little thing that is going on in the house. Which is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because now my night-shift working husband can get some uninterrupted sleep. A curse because now I can't just yell to my kids I actually have to go and get them to talk to them.
• That this big beautiful house is really ours!

Now onto organizing Gaius' room, also known as the "toy room". If I don't post in a few days, send out a search team. :-) Just kidding!

Here's a couple things that happened while I was MIA last week.

• Shoshannah started full out crawling(not just army crawling), which made unpacking rather difficult.
• Paul turned 5, which made him so happy because "now he's older than Gaius." Competitive much? :-)
• Marc and I had our 10 year anniversary. Which we spent unpacking boxes. Our new house was a pretty large and grand Anniversary present, don't you think?!

I have loved old houses for as long as I can remember.

And this house has so much antique charm that I can't even stand it!

I'm so shocked, awed, and thankful that God blessed us with this really big "want" .

I wanted to show you all a couple of my favorite things that came with this house, but I don't want to seem boastful so I think I'm going to space out the pictures.

Keep an eye out for more of my "favorites", coming soon...

**New Blog Coming Soon!**

Bye, bye birdies :-(

The Robin's Nest

It was no small task getting Mama's (or is it Papa's?) photo.

[S]he is very quick and skittish!

Moving pretty much took over my life for day 10 and 11.

"Robin" is venturing out!

FYI

• Posts will probably be non-existent for a bit. No internet for an undetermined amount of time. But I do have a couple ideas in the works.
• I hate moving!!!
• I love my new house!!!!
• At this moment most of our furniture is in our front yard waiting to be loaded.
• I'm exhausted!

See you on the other side! :-)

These babies are growing like weeds!

New House Discoveries:

1.

There was only 3 little eggs when we found this on Thursday! My guess is there will be 3 chicks by tomorrow! If I believed in signs I would say this could be a good one! :-)

The Mama Files

I'm not so sure I'm fond of this whole crawling stuff!

The End.

The First Look:

Box Mountain

Relocating Soon

So remember when I couldn't wait for baseball and school to end so that my life would calm down?

Yeah no such luck.

My schedule is jam packed this week.

There's this little thing called a house closing scheduled for Thursday!!! Along with a t-ball pizza party, flowers to pick up for a wedding, Paulie to watch, and absolutely NO naps in sight.

I'm both very, very excited and completely stressed just thinking about how things need to

fall into place.

When exactly did my schedule turn into my mother's? :-)

Is this not AWESOME?!

I love it!

Check out this Etsy Shop for more awesomeness!

The Gingerbread House *Saga*

I have 4 blog drafts that I've started and just couldn't bring myself to post. The Gingerbread House selling story has really turned into a full fledged SAGA! I'm still waiting to see how it all plays out. The key points are these:

• The Gingerbread House is still sold, it's just going to take a little longer then expected to close on it.
• If buying a house for back taxes seems too easy it probably is.
• The internet has an AMAZING amount of information on it.
• I {heart, heart, heart} my church family
• Everyone needs a Will! Seriously! Go out and get yourself one!

To be Continued...

Wordless Wednesday

Friday Five *Moving Edition*

Our box pile has really grown, hasn't it? BTW don't worry this picture looks much scarier then it really is. All the boxes are completely stable (but I did move her after taking this!).

This is my "garden" this year. There are tomatoes, impatiens, a sunflower, and snap dragons. We'll see if anything actually survives.

These 2 are from Marc's Grandfather's property, which happens to be ALMOST butted up against the backyard of our new house!

"Can I eat daddy's pizza? You know, so he doesn't have to do all the work of chewing!"-Xavier

How considerate of you Xav! :-)

9...Already!

Nine Months

Fun Facts:

LOVES Cheerios

The cutest baseball spectator ever

HAPPY

*I know I say that every month. But she really is the happiest baby I've ever seen*

Ready to take off!

*she's doing the hands and knees rock*

Professional Attention Getter!

Spoiled

Gorgeous

Lovely

Sweet

19 lbs. 8 oz. (62%), 29½ inches (96%), 45 cm head (45%)

The Mama Files: Paint

So I have ideas coming out my ears for the new house.

***Hurry up lawyers!***

I'm a person who can visualize things very very easily (it was passed down to me from my mother). In my head I have my first 2 smallish painting projects all figured out and I am itching to get in there and get to work (instead of this boring job of sorting and packing boxes).

Have I mentioned I'm very goal oriented and not very patient?! :-)

I WAS thinking about painting the dining room beige, don't worry I came to my senses before any paint was purchased! I don't want to ruin all my fun (the big reveal!), but I will tell you this; one room is going to be purple and one orange! :-) Are you scared?! Now don't give me that "you're painting what black?!" look! You'll see, it'll be great! I can't wait to show you...it could be a while though. (Sigh) Hurry up lawyers! I'm ready to move!

Proud? Mothering Moments

1:15 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:16 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:17 pm "Mom, can I go outside?"- Xavier

1:17 pm "Xavier! Stop pestering! You are like a fly! I want to swat you!!!"- Me

The Start of Something New

Our tentative closing date is June 17th, but our Realtor says it could be as early as June 10th. THAT IS 2-3 weeks from last Friday!

Yikes! I have so much to do!

Hush Little Baby- The Leia Version

"When that charming bracelet breaks, mama will buy you a stuffed animal.

When that stuffed animal breaks, mama will buy you a ring.

When that ring's stone pops out, mama will buy you a teddy bear.

When that teddy bear's stuffing comes out, mama will buy you a whole basket of toys.

When that basket and the toys all break.

You're still the sweetest baby in town."

"We so Excited!"

Notice her 2 big teeth?!

*If you follow me on facebook, you may be asking yourself "How many more references can she possibly make about Rebecca Black's song Friday?!".

The answer- at least a couple more! :-)

Whoo-Hoo Wednesday!

Korleen's thoughts on packing

• I'm SOOOO glad I'm not pregnant this May!
• Marc says- Oh, just throw stuff in a box and move it to the other house, no biggie!
• Beth (Marc's sister) says- Label every box as clearly as possible, for example Garage Left Corner and list what's in the box.
• I think I'm going with the woman who has moved at least 7 times (I've lost count) in her 5 years of marriage
• When someone asks you for rights to their well, and you have no use for it anyway, just let them have it! (okay, I know this doesn't really pertain to packing. But it's a good life lesson anyway).
• We have a lot of stuff.
• Marc and I agree- This is the last time we're moving ever! (We'll see if God has the same plans).

P.S.

We only have a tentative closing date so far, so I could be jumping the gun a little. However, it's pretty much a sure thing. Our new well only needs to pass a water test (the old well passed with flying colors, figures!). But the buyer is very cooperative so I think they will work with us even if it doesn't pass the first time.

The blog post I was going to title Manic Monday....until I realized today is Tuesday

OOPS!

So What's New?!

Have I mentioned we play a lot of Baseball this time of year?! :-)

Xavier certainly is the cutest 1st baseman I've ever seen though!

This is just a picture of Chub because he's cute too!

We took a trip to Howe Caverns! So. Much. Fun.

"Praying Hands" stalagmite

We have a new (don't get me started) well THAT IS within our property lines! Yipee!

And with that the week is over.

The great World Wide Web

I thought maybe you would like to see what websites I check everyday

Woot -Also woot kids, there's a link to it on woot.

Babysteals -There's also links to kidsteals and scrapbooksteals on this site.

Facebook -because it's one of my main sources of communication. Sad? I don't know. Seems kind of the norm now days.

Maybe Matilda -This one makes me want to dig out my sewing machine everyday.

Remodelaholic -So many ideas, so little gingerbread house.

Yahoo -Email...and actually their little news reel thingy always gets me so I end up reading random things like star gossip or current events. *how else am I supposed to know "who wore it best"?*

Blogger -Sometimes to write something, sometimes to check comments, always to read various blogs I enjoy.

Youtube -I usually end up watching it for various tutorials that I love watching. Or listening to music.

Pandora -I go on here when I have a sink full of dirty dishes to wash.

The end. :-)

Some people think that you should hide (shield?) kids from death. I'm not one of those people.

Marc's grandfather died yesterday. His 94th birthday would've been this coming Friday. He used to (up until February) drop by our house bearing all forms of gifts, such as donuts and rotisserie chickens. In fact he is the very man that made the purchase of the Gingerbread House even possible. A few years ago Xavier sent Great Grandpa a letter about how to get to heaven, which helped to soften his heart to Jesus. So my family has many ties to this man other than just blood relation.

I've been fielding all forms of heaven related questions. Some I could answer, some I couldn't, and some I sent to Marc.

"Mom, if I pray and ask God to tell Great Grandpa something will he do it?"

"Mom, is Great Grandpa going to see God or only Jesus in heaven?"

"Mom, how old will Great Grandpa be in heaven?"

"Will he wear clothes in heaven?"

"Great Grandpa will be really happy to see his wife again, huh?"

These are all Xavier quotes. Leia's question mostly consisted of what would happen to Great Grandpa's farm, and where all of his animals were (he hasn't had any since before she was born). Gaius just asked me if Great Grandpa died and then went off to play.

All of their responses are a great window into their souls (and age).

• Xavier is my big hearted, caring, first born. Who cares deeply for everyone's soul.
• Leia is my tender hearted, animal lover (she cries when she see the abused animal commercials).
• Gaius is 4.

My strategy for dealing with difficult situations for my kids is to let them take the lead. Whether or not it is effective is TBD. I answer the questions they ask as simply as possible and if more information is needed then the conversation continues. Lots of times the simple answer is enough...at least for now.

Being a mother is definitely an interesting ride, that I wouldn't trade for anything.

8 Months (and 2 days)

Favorite New Feature: Two teeth

Favorite Form of Transportation: Mama's hip

Favorite Foods: Bananas, peas, and chocolate

Least Favorite Activity: Long car rides

Favorite New Trick: Giving big slobbery kisses

Favorite Toy: Any choking hazard

(For Example: paper, rocks, crayons, tiny toys that don't belong to me...)

Friday Four (Because I couldn't come up with a 5th)

• And......it's cold again. *pout*
• We found out yesterday that our well is not on our property. Which in turn creates a complication for selling the Gingerbread House. Hopefully our neighbor will just give us the rights to it without incident.
• It's finally the "Royal Wedding" Day. Thank goodness! If you know me you will know that I LOVE weddings (I've decorated for I think 7, soon to be 8). But all the media frenzy over this is even a little much for me! Some of my first impressions where.

1. Kate's dress was completely boring (but I sort of loved it).
2. Morning coats on guys look totally snappy, in a good way!
3. I LOVED all the hats, even the weird Lady Gaga-esque hat Princess Beatrice wore!
4. I loved Kate's bouquet, it was so small and simple (my all time favorite combo).
5. In all honestly I actually liked Pippa's dress better then Kate's

• Little League opening day is tomorrow. Let's hope this year blankets and coats won't be required for the spectators for too long.

Gaius' Second Favorite Song...I think.

"Do you like that song?"

"Not really....yeah! yeah really"

When Shoshannah wants to go from sitting up to being on her belly she just flops over, it's actually quite comical to watch. However, it's taken quite a bit of coaxing to get Leia to allow Sho to do this.

Leia- "I'll just be Shoey's chair"

Me- "Leia let her go, she has to learn how to do it by herself. If she falls she will learn."

Leia- "Okay I'll just to this:"

*Sorry for the poor picture quality. I forgot my good camera at my mom's yesterday*