Reveal

We all gathered together after dinner, anxious kids and more anxious Grand ones. The vote was unanimous - we want a girl. As Asher put it, "I need another sister! I have plenty of brothers!"

Then we cut into the cake.

Inside was PINK!

Its a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boys

Boys. Boys. Boys. Will we break the streak? We find out on Friday.  We'll reveal the gender to the kids and Grandones after dinner that night by cutting into a cake that either has a pink or blue center. 
What do you think?

Transition In

The 2 day drive to Texas was, thankfully, rather uneventful.  We left Virginia in a small flurry of snow flakes and thought it a fitting goodbye, but then the weather was fine on the entire trip.  There was basically just two days of this:

We arrived in Texas in time for a great Christmas Eve and Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ruth, but we'll post more about that later.  

On  move in day (the day after Christmas), we didn't expect it to look like this:

(And, yes, that is several boxes dumped out onto the street. The movers had a little trouble opening the back and it eventually kind of exploded outwards. But nothing was damaged.)

The initial unpacking of boxes was actually a little fun because there was so much space to move into! I unloaded all my kitchen cabinet boxes - and there was still empty cupboards and drawers!

We had a few weeks to settle in before school started on January 7.  By then the kids were pretty anxious to get out of the house and meet some people!

And I was equally anxious to have them doing something not under foot!  I started in on hanging pictures and unpacking more with just Sammy for company.

We love the new big playroom upstairs! It's so nice to have few toys in the family room and to be able to say to the kids, "If you're gonna be that crazy, go to the playroom!" and then they all disappear!

Some things we're particularly enjoying here:

The sporadic weather! We've had the windows open several times to the 74 degree weather.  And once we've closed the windows because it was getting too hot! In JANUARY!

In fact, one 75 degree day, Richard led the kids in a quick, cold dip in the unheated pool.  They just couldn't resist! (I think it cured them of that desire until true warmer weather arrives.)

We love, love, love our Sundays (And Tuesdays and Fridays and whatever else) with Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Ruth.  It's so nice to have them close enough to just drop by or pick up one kid or another for this or that.  I'm afraid moving away might be very, VERY difficult - because we are already use to this!

Did I mention the kids are excited about the pool?  It's not big, but it's cool and close!

And the weather. Did I mention that?  We love it.

One last thing - the closets.  Here's a closet in Sammy's room that is entirely devoted to currently-out-of-use baby things.  And that's all!  It makes me happy every time I open this door to put one more thing in there.  There's just so much room!

A quick note: I don't think I've even mentioned on here that we're expecting. Baby #5 is due August 2. This is a stressful thing for me emotionally, but also physically I was very restricted.  I've packed our entire house, and then unpacked it, without lifting a single box (under doctor's orders).  And last week I had a little surgery (cerclage) to help prevent last times insanity from repeating itself.  I am almost allowing myself to be hopeful that this time will bring no bed rest.  So far the little peanut is looking good!  We'll find out Friday if it's a boy or a girl.

In summary, we're starting to feel pretty settled here. We're very happy with our move.  We're thrilled with the house.  We've unpacked bazillions of boxed, but still have dozens more to go.  We've hung hundreds of things on the walls, but there are still plenty laying around on the floor waiting their turns.  Everyone is happy and healthy (a bit of a miracle itself this time of year - move notwithstanding *knock on wood*).  Write us a letter or give us a call! We miss our friends even as we make new ones!

Transition Out

We love our house.  I kinda feel like I'm betraying it by abandoning it willy nilly like this.  I promise it's nothing personal, House. We just need more space!  Isaiah and Sammy came home from the hospital to this house.  We rode bikes in the cul de sac, ran to neighbors houses, swung in the backyard, climbed trees, played in leaf piles, planted Lilacs and Roses.  

What started as a whim two days after Thanksgiving in Texas, quickly became one packed box:

 Then it became empty walls.  (So sorry, House! We really do love you and have so many fond memories!)

 Then there were piles of boxes.  Everywhere.

 And more empty spots.  On walls, bookshelves, and a little in our hearts.

 And before we knew it, here we were eating breakfast on the floor because everything has been packed into trucks on their way to Texas.

 We will follow soon.  Because for now, this is the best (and only!) seat in the house:

 Walls have fresh coats of paint.   Soon cleaners will come for the bathrooms and carpets.

And before we can blink, we'll be driving to Texas.  And our new home.   New adventures.  New friends.

Quick Change Artist

We spent Thanksgiving in Texas at Grandma and Grandpa A's house. We ate great food, saw dinosaurs at an awesome park, played at a playground until we were too sweaty in the 76 degree sunshine, and hung out with some our favorite people.  Saturday night we were sitting around chatting and my Mom asked, "Have you guys ever thought about renting out your house in VA and moving into a rental somewhere else?  Say...like...here?"  And the answer is, yes. We have thought about that.  We love our house in VA, but it is too small for us. We are bursting at the seams.  We need more bedrooms and we wish Richard had a better office at home.

So we thought we'd just check out the market so that we could continue to consider this later.   And we became drunk on the thought of square footage.    Nearly triple the square footage as we have in VA could be ours for almost an equal price! And a pool! And the schools are amazing! And close to Grandma and Grandpa A! And Aunt Ruth!

By Tuesday afternoon we had signed a lease for a 5 bedroom, 4 bath, pool, 4,000+ square foot rental house.  By now, Wednesday night, we have a moving company booked, a property management company chosen, and boxes ordered.  I've (happily) resigned from the PTA, asked to be released from my calling at church, and declined to help at several other things.  Hopefully by Friday our home will be listed on websites as "for rent".  By December 18 our stuff will be driving to Texas.  We'll follow in a few days when school is out.  We'll spend Christmas with Grandma and pa.  Then we'll move in just after Christmas.  The kids will start their new school January 7.

This started Saturday night and today is Wednesday.  This whirlwind is totally blowing my mind.  But it's so right. Every thing that could have been a block to this grand scheme, has easily breezed past us. It's all just falling into place.  We can only thank our Heavenly Father for guiding us through this.

Seven Favors From Seven Friends

Naomi went to E's house, Asher went to W's house, Isaiah went to Kevin and Kelly's house, Sammy went to H's house (then switched to M's house before heading to Kevin and Kelly's).  Plus Naomi and Asher came home from school to a neighbors house and were picked up from there.  So, all told, it took seven favors from seven friends for Richard and I to leave home for 36 hours.  So, I thought, we'd better make every moment count!  We'd better love our 11th Anniversary celebration!

Our plans were to head toward Baltimore, take a sunset hot air balloon ride, then head to our Baltimore hotel.  But the weather had another plan. Our hot air balloon ride was cancelled for wind.  So we bought tickets to a comedy club. But then we went to dinner at this incredibly fancy and seriously delicious restaurant in Baltimore and spent so long there that we missed our comedy act.  (If you're even in Baltimore and have plenty of spare change, go to Charleston Restaurant.  Yum!)  At this point in our day, it sounded like we were having a bad day.  But in reality we were just happy to be together. We enjoyed our dinner and each other so much that we didn't feel bad about missing the comedy club.

When we checked into our hotel room, I was blown away by the view. Right outside our window was Baltimore's Inner Harbor.  Gorgeous.

 We walked around the pier, took a water taxi to another place just for the sake of the boat ride, did some window shopping, peeked in a few art galleries, ate way too much and way too often, saw a movie, and reminisced about our wedding day, engagement day, anniversaries past, etc.

It was all just lovely.  Worth every one of those seven favors from seven friends!

Fall Family Photo Shoot

My friend Carrie (of Carrie Hanna Photography) did such a fabulous job on these photos.  It was a pretty chilly day so she did a lot of photoshopping-out snot and red noses.  I love the colors and the reminder of beautiful Fall Virginia days.

Isaiah Update

Isaiah is still a squishy little pudgy baby in my mind.  And in his mind, too.  Even though he has lost so much of his squish. And he's 5 whopping years old.  He still loves to be hugged and loved on and cuddled like a baby.  But he wants to be treated like the big kids, too.  

He's in Kindergarten this year and doing great.  He wasn't exactly ahead of the game when he started, but the learning environment seems to be just right for him and he's really flourishing.  He enjoys school, so he's willing to do the work. 

He and I both enjoy the time that we have together each day. He gets home from Kindergarten around 11am so we have a couple of hours where the focus can really be on him.

Isaiah is terrified of water bigger than a bath tub.  He barely got in the Ocean at the beach. He dances around the edge of pools.

So I put him in private swim lessons at a friends house.  And this is how he spends his lessons:

I'm seriously considering throwing him in at our next lesson.

Isaiah is a great kid. He's a great addition to our family dynamics.  He does need to work on "using his words" instead of just breaking into tears when he's frustrated. But, like I said, he thinks he's the baby.