Boys

Boys with hammers.


Cheering up the littlest brother.


Watching bacon bubble in the oven.


Brothers.


Boy with a toad.

School Again

Three students, ready to tackle second, sixth and ninth (gasp!) grades.
Until our classroom is built, our work will take place at the kitchen table.

We're still missing a few books, but we started the school-year anyway. I actually ordered a new Latin book even though I know for certain that we have one somewhere among the remaining boxes.

Sean is eagerly anticipating the arrival of his new science book. The books recommended for his grade in the syllabus I'm using would bore him to death, I think. So we'll try this one and see how it goes.

We had Wendy's for lunch, to celebrate. Or maybe it was to reward the MomTeacher. Whatever works.

First Night

Here they are, watching the moving truck (a racecar trailer borrowed by their uncle) pulling out of the driveway after the third and final load. "Pulling out" may not be the most accurate term. "Cautiously scraping down the concrete hill" gives a more clear idea of what it was like.


Here they are just before our first night in the new house. It is late. We were all exhausted. We slept on mattresses on the floor.

Craziness

So, we moved. It's been a flurry of activity starting the week of Declan's baptism. The flurry continues with to-do lists that are pages and pages long. Here's a recap of what's been going on while my blog remained idle.

The three big kids had their dance recital on the few days leading up to the Sunday of Declan's baptism. The baptism was immediately followed by brunch at our home. This means that lots of cleaning and cooking took place, as well as the hair-and-makeup duty that always accompanies a dance recital. Four weeks post-partum. eeps.

On Sunday lots of local friends came to Mass, and stopped by the house afterward for brunch of scrambled eggs, muffins galore (thanks Nancy!) and fruit and coffee.

The very next day we went house-shopping again, baby in tow. We had four places to visit. One house on a hill seemed very appealing. A group of three women were leaving the place after having just walked through. The house had been on the market all of four days and we were told that it had at least one offer on it already. We decided to also put in an offer. What could it hurt? This was our third time at putting in an offer and I was not invested in whether or not it panned out. It was just an offer. ...on a house we walked through exactly one time.

But pan out it did. Our offer was accepted! Things got even busier, really fast. We had to put our house on the market as soon as possible. That meant lots more cleaning. It also meant "staging".

Helpful advice from our realtor: "Nothing on top of or stuck to the refrigerator" What?! The fridge is home to our calendar, to our kid-art, to our photos, notes, reminders and way-cool magnets. Our cereal boxes live on top of the fridge, along with the industrial-sized box of plastic wrap. Where would put all of that stuff? "Beds made every.day." Hmmm...a challenge for the little boys' beds, but otherwise do-able. "Nothing on the floors. Vacuum or sweep before every showing." Now we're speaking crazy-talk... can this be done!?!"Clear off counter tops, and reduce the number of items in closets. Store excess furniture." Ugh. "Empty all trash cans before every showing." Ugh. "Open all blinds and turn on all lights." Easy enough. "Mow the lawn and edge the driveway." Ha! Not my realm. This is Patrick's responsibility.

Did I mention I just had a baby? For the previous several months only the bare minimum was getting done around the house. Gigantic and pregnant, I hadn't been Suzie Homemaker. I was lucky to get dinner on the table and clean clothes into the dressers.

We did laundry every other day and never left any to-do piles of laundry around. Holly, Laurel and I took turns vacuuming. We all dusted. No dish was left unwashed. No book or toy left untended. It was exhausting! Fortunately, this madness didn't last long.

Two offers came in at about the same time. Thank you, St. Joseph!

Paperwork, appointments with bankers, assessors, lawyers and realtors, oh my! We closed on the new house on August 6, moved all of our possessions on August 7, cleaned the old house from top to bottom on August 9, and handed over the keys to our new tenants on August 10.

Moving is no fun!

I believe that I will be unpacking boxes for the next seven years. Or maybe after 6-1/2 years I will just burn whatever is left.

Last night we cleared enough boxes from the garage to park one car in it, so there is hope.

The girls and I unpacked thirty-eleven boxes of school books today. They are on the shelves in the library in no particular order. I am certain that putting them in some kind of order is necessary, and that it will take many hours of concentrated effort. I am happy that there are still some empty spaces on the bookshelves! I'll have to take a picture. Sometime. When the baby isn't crying...like he is now.

More later!

Laundry Fun

Rawrrrr!


"Mom--where me?" (Where am I?)


"I hidin"


All done.

A Wonder

We ran out of bread, and planned to buy some while we were out running errands. Unfortunately, we spent so long doing non-grocery shopping that by the time we got to the grocery store it was closed.

We stopped at a tiny convenience store near home instead.

To my horror, Patrick came out of the store carrying this:

Me: What could ever have possessed you to purchase that? (insert gagging noise)
Him: It was either that or the Wonder Classic White.
Me: But...this is Wonder Classic White.
Him: My point exactly.

Funny Guy.

Chocolate Sauce FAIL!

Isn't this a sad sight? Positively depressing.

This was an attempt to surprise and reward my children for being such good helpers during a very hectic week. I had five million things to do, and they had all pitched in and did the things I asked, without complaining.

I didn't tell them they'd be rewarded. My original plan was to drive through Wendy's and buy a round of Frosties. But then I thought about how long it takes to get everyone in the car. I contemplated the possibility that the teeny baby might not cooperate in the car (he's very unpredictable!), and decided homemade is the way to go. I was cooking for a party anyway--what was another dirty pan?

Why I reached for, and more importantly used, the saucier instead of the double-boiler, I do not know. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the string of mostly non-sleeping nights that preceded this day--and all the way back to the day before Declan was born. But no matter. The fact is, I was using the wrong pan. The chocolate burned and there was no saving it.

It pains me to remember.

After doing away with the contents of that pan, I tried again. This time I used the double-boiler and got better results. Nothing spectacular, but it was edible. Clearly, I need more practice. Sorry I didn't take any photos. New baby in the house = Mom's not herself. I'm happy to report that the sundaes were devoured with great zeal. No pictures of that either. I'll get better. I'm sure I will. Pretty sure, anyway.