Still moving!

Things are still in boxes or waiting to be assigned a new place to live- yep, we're still working on it. But no one can say we haven't enjoyed the ride! We had both my parents and Quijote's visit soon after move in day, and we shamelessly exploited them. Haha! My parents helped us unpack, did a trip to the old house, changed fixtures, did repairs, and set up the kids' closet, which needed some carpenter work done. My mom even did some painting and helped me with the shower curtain. My inlaws helped clean the house in Canyon and did several trips to transport things from one house to the other. It was awesome getting to share this time with my parents as well as my inlaws, and we got a lot done but also had a lot of fun showing off the house and the area around us. There was a half day of overlap in their visits, so we got to take them all out to one of my favorite restaurants in town <3

My parents were initially not going to come but were thankfully able to come at the last minute. We are blessed that they went a little crazy and decided to come join us. I was very excited not just to see them but also because I had purchased a fixture that I don't know how to install --- so it was the first thing I asked my dad to do (since he knows his way around the structure of a building) and the moment they were out of the car he insisted on getting that done.

 Isn't it pretty? I bought it especially for the round table that my father in law made for Quijote. I even put together a little design board. (Because I can't help myself)

We ended up making it higher than it looks in that picture, partly because of standard wiring practices and partly because the pendants might be a bit too attractive to the kiddoes if left to hang lower than this. The breakfast nook is looking like this these days:

I also put the blackboard up and am thinking of what all I can add to the walls .... down the road. So exciting!

My mom and I did some painting, she set up the bathroom curtain (she had helpers as you can see), and we chose a fixture for the outside porch; and dad taught Quijote how to install it.

Oh yea, I bet he can install a fixture now :P

I don't actually have a picture of the installed fixture! I'll have to owe you that.

Of course, we also took advantage of the visit to have some belated birthday fun!

Before my parents left, dad led us in a dedication of the house. I didn't take pictures because I was either translating or praying, but I took a picture before the devotional started :)

My inlaws we here for a few days after my parents left and did most of the work at the Canyon house. They loaded their car with stuff several times and even took Miss E with them one day so I could stay back and paint. They mostly worked/shopped on their own or with Quijote, so I am now realizing I don't have pics of them working. I do have this pic of when Quijote and L tried out the new lawn mower -and a video! Why did I not take video when my parents were around?! (If you watch it, though, do it on mute. It's loud.) I suspect they had a lot of fun picking a mower together. I thought it was cute- such a boy thing to do. Boys will be boys.

There was of course some serious book reading time as well. The kids loooooove reading books these days and Nana and Grandpa brought a special book or two or more and spent a lot of time reading to them <3

And they also have some fun books on the ipad, apparently!

And the day before they left we also checked out the local Palace Coffee House. It's super close to us and apparently is the newest addition to the local chain. The original coffee shop is also here in town and there was another one that we went to all the time in Canyon, which I will surely miss. I heart this place. And I also loved being able to take our family there with us on a first -somewhat historical- visit. I suspect we will be there a lot in the future.

We've at this point tried to be better about eating healthy meals at home (a little bit better at least) and are trying to get back to "normal" ---whatever that may be! But well, isn't the well-known pan Asian restaurant kind of a tradition? hopefully not horribly unhealthy? heheh! Well, we're still moving :P

The "week" before moving.

We've set everything up and we're moving on Friday!! I'm so excited <3!

We didn't finish half the stuff I had set out to do before move-in day. But I am so happy anyway! The newness of the house made for all kinds of entertainment, and the kids allowed us to work quite well (for the most part) and we all had a very good time working/playing (and complaining about the work, in my case. More on that later ;) ).


The kids really really wanted to paint their room. We visited the Bd family in Lubbock a little bit ago (thanks for the boxes!!!) and Miss E was so enamored with their (not so) little girl and her room. J was telling us -Miss E included- all about their new house, which was all kinds of fun for me, and there were obvious signs of a house-wide painting project. K (J's girl) had painted a hot pink accent wall in her room, which of course is very cool, and it really stuck in Miss E's mind. So--- when she saw that Mommy had her own painting project, she decided she would have her own as well.

I scoured Pinterest for ways to allow them their wish without sacrificing style. My solution: clouds. I have this weird mix of The Little Prince in the works (clouds, a theme of adventure, with airplanes, trucks, elephants, and even a castle) and am hoping it will come together without looking too busy. I pined lots of inspiration pictures here, including these:

And here are my beautiful children painting:

I'll incorporate their doodles into a mural of sorts on either side of their room (one for him, one for her) and ta-da! That's what I said about my project.

My project was the kitchen cabinets. I'm leaving the rest of the house as it is because we want to be mindful of our budget and there is so much more that really does need to be done. But the house had pink cabinetry, y'all! PINK! So I really wanted to do something about it.

At least I didn't get this!

This is what we inherited (the previous owners thankfully did some very serious work on the house):

This is my "mood board"

And this is what it looks like right now:

After THREE DAYS of ALL-DAY painting, we did *not* finish the job. Tomorrow we have no choice but stop to pack up the rest of our belongings. But the kitchen still needs a coat on the exterior and wax. I am using Annie Sloan paint and very much wish I had listened to my husband and used regular paint from the beginning. I did eventually give in and we used some super paint from SW for the grey (yes, I know, I did it all backwards! I should have started with the chalk paint for the interior. I'll have to do what I swore up and down I wouldn't do and eventually take everything out to do a VOC sealer because I doubt this paint is low VOC or green like Annie Sloan paint.) Oh, and I need to paint the hardware :P

So there it is... the unfinished story of our kitchen cabinets. I love them again now, since they are starting to look like they will one day be done. But in the middle of things when I was sick (literally and figuratively) and tired, I complained that I had started out praying over the cabinetry and our people/family/friends who would use the things in the cupboards but ended up imagining a bonfire of kitchen cupboards in the backyard! Oh goodness...

Wish us luck tomorrow/Friday!! This is happening, you guys!

One Last Line

Before we move, one last growth chart post for posterity. 

Mr E still loves cars/trucks and all things dinosaur. He knows a few letters from watching his sister do school work. I've been working on his scissor grasp, and he's surprisingly good at it! He has good fine motor skills- I should try to work more with him on that. He is super friendly and is finally starting to show interest in the large indoor playgrounds (he usually loves the company of "new friends" but stays on the ground while Miss E plays. He does much better on the regular playgrounds at parks though!). He gets super excited about things and is super vocal. He loves painting with thick paint so he can play with the messy textures. He loves Stella and Sam (on Netflix) and the Land Before Time (which Quijote is confused about- it's kind of a sad story, you know?). I tried to explain to him that we are moving but I don't know if I got the idea across (no response to that I'm afraid, other than some acknowledgement. hehe! perhaps he does not care :P )

Miss E LOOOOOVES church, playground time, and visiting friends. I think someone would have been happy to start school this year, but she was a latter month baby so she will have to wait till next school year. In the meanwhile we might do a gymnastics or ballet class (or something like that) and lots of playtime for her. She loves crafting, painting, and coloring. She knows most of her letters and all of her numbers! And she can officially write her name all on her own (maybe she already did by the time we did the last growth chart. I should check). She is looking forward to the new house with the "soft grass that's not pockey." She is also looking forward to her birthday (already...) and (yes, already) knows that she wants a Sophia the First themed party, which I guess means that my idea of a glitter party will have to wait. I bet Quijote is pretty happy about *that* LoL! (Sidenote for Abuelos, Grandparents and other Miss E fans: she already has like 3 Sofia the First dolls, a board game, and I'll be getting her a a play dress and castle for her birthday).

Click on the label "Growth Chart" (on the column to the side) to see other posts like this.

Another One Of Those Posts...

Well, it's happened! I've done this a lot to him on Facebook, and now I've done it on Blogger too. I just wrote my entire post on his blog. (It's his fault for leaving stuff open all the time! :P )

Check it out here: http://quijotefan83.blogspot.com/2016/08/another-one-of-those-posts.html

Sorry about that, honey! Tee-hee!