The move and the new house

Here's the understatement of the year: "I've been busy!" I'm so far behind in blogging and have so many things to share, so I'm just going to do my best to fill you all in as soon as I can. For those who hadn't heard (since my last blog entry), we were not able to get possession of the house until last Tuesday, so we didn't actually move until this past Saturday. The move went as smoothly as it could have, and there were minimal "tragedies/casualties." =)

I'm very pleased at how quickly our house is getting into a functioning order. Last night Jason helped me put my desk area together and set up my computer and printer. I'm very excited, because the bonus room that is upstairs is going to house my desk, Jason's desk, the school stuff, and the kids toys and books. =) We have an awesome view of the natural lake behind our house from this room, too. Check it out...

This one was actually taken through the window.

Yes, that's an island in the middle of the water.

These were taken at sunset last night.

As always, God's timing was PERFECT! We were not as ready as we thought we were two Saturdays ago, so we are very thankful that it didn't work out until this past weekend. We were initially concerned that with it being the Saturday after Thanksgiving we wouldn't have anyone to help us, but we ended up having more guys help us than we would have had the previous Saturday. There were right around 15 adults and 5 children (yes, the kids carried stuff, too.) helping us with the move. We are so blessed to have such an awesome group of friends in our church. I hope we can still call them friends after this move. (We have some monster furniture.) =} Seriously, though, we really appreciate all of you who came out to help us and those of you who were unable to help but prayed for us and the move. We couldn't have done it without you...You're the best! =)

Here are some shots of the house in case you're curious. You'll have to overlook the mess of boxes everywhere, but a least it will give you an idea of what it looks like.

This is the entryway with a living room/dining room on the right.

The dining room

This is the view into the family room from the entryway.

The family room with sliding glass doors to the back porch, door to the master bedroom, and stairs to the bonus room.

The view of the kitchen from the breakfast room. The living/dining room is through the arched entry on the left. The family room is on the right. The arch on the right leads to 2 bedrooms and a bathroom.

The breakfast room. Laundry room is on the right.

The laundry room.

You know me...I have to take pictures of flowers and plants, so here are a couple of pictures of what is already existing in my yard. If you can identify the little cluster of pink flowers in the first picture, I'd love to know what they are.



After the move on Saturday, my friend, Peggy, and her boys kept me company while I waited for the cable guy. The kids had a blast out back. There was a nice breeze, so they were able to fly the kites. Here are some pictures...

Let's go fly a kite...

Spring is here! In honor, I've decided to show a few of my favorite flower photographs that I've taken over the years.

Even though I enjoy the cold weather, I find Spring to be so rejuvenating. Our backyard is especially delightful with the cool breeze coming in off of the water. Last night when Jason got home, I asked him to grill some fish for dinner. While he was grilling, the girls decided that they wanted to fly their kites. We got these kites last year and didn't have much success with them. I think it's because we got them later in the Summer, and there wasn't as much wind. The kids spent most of their time running with the kites "flying" about 2-4 feet off the ground.

Needless to say, my hopes were not high that they would have any greater success this time around, so I left them with Jason to help them while I worked on things inside. I could hear them laughing and playing, and I figured they were having a good time. All of a sudden, Jason knocked on the back door to get my attention.

This scared me and made me think that something was wrong, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach as I remembered what happened last year. Because they couldn't get their kites too far off the ground last year, the strings were obviously down closer to their bodies. One of the older girls was running around with her kite, and the string caught around Sydney's neck. She had a cut around the front of her neck from one ear to the other. She was very fortunate that the cut was only surface. I don't even think it bled much if at all, but it still leaves you with the thought of what could have happened.

Anyway, when Jason knocked on the door, I ran to see what was wrong. With a big smile on his face, he pointed to the backyard. I looked out the window, and to my surprise, there were the girls FLYING their kites! As you can see from the video clips below, they were extremely thrilled and proud of themselves! Alyx could not control herself. Because she was so excited, she kept yelling everything she said. We kept having to tell her to quiet down a little bit, so she wouldn't disturb the neighbors. =) We're nice that way, I guess.

Alyx did not heed Jason's advice of not letting the kite go too high, and she ended up having her kite yanked out of her hands by the wind. Let me tell you...the way she cried and carried on, you would have thought someone just cut off her arm. Oh, to be that young again and to feel that your biggest crisis is losing a kite. =) "Daddy" came to the rescue and chased her kite down to where it was caught in a tree in front of our neighbor's house.

Oh, in case any one was wondering or even cared, the grilled fish was FANTASTIC!! Thanks, honey!