365Project.2015 | Week 5

It's been a busy, but good week! We've settled into a good rhythm for the second half of our school year, friends came over and helped with packing, and Chris knocked multiple items off his "final projects" list. I'm so thankful and glad for a camera and our blog ... it helps me capture the little things that would definitely be getting lost in the shuffle of these days!

Day 25. Long story short. I have a 10x14 frame in our bedroom that I need to fill. I'd like to put a B&W picture of a tree in it. I'm definitely open to purchasing one, but these are four pictures I took in our yard earlier this week ... any opinions as to whether one of these would be suitable, and if so, which would you use? (#1-4, left to right) If you're aware of another good (reasonably priced) source for such pictures, please feel free to let me know. :) 

Day 26. A dear friend recently blessed us with a most special gift ... The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. I loved looking at these pictures as a child, and it's truly a delight to be able to share it with my munchkins. ♥

These two make me smile. :) Abby's learning math facts and Hannah's learning multitasking. A win-win in my book. ;)

Day 27. Abby's pretty impressed with her new view ...

Day 28. And Daddy blessed Mommy with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, just because. ♥

New teeth have made for some rather shortish nights and longish days with this little one, so flowers were a special encouragement.

Phase 1 packing left my students deskless, so we're back to the kitchen table. It works just fine. :)

The floor works pretty well, too. ;) And I love to see how this young man's thoughts come out in his drawing ... he spent multiple hours of multiple days working on his picture of the gates of Heaven. It's beautiful. ♥

Matthew's a little more down to earth at the moment. Quite literally. :) Although, he's still booking rides to outer space. ;)

Day 29. And this little lady is six months old!! It hardly seems possible! She has two teeth, weighs 15.8 lbs, is rolling around (not over so much--around), loves to stand and bounce, is a wobbly unsupported sitter, still does "leg raisers," and is eating about every 3 hours ... day and night. (You win some, you lose some!) :)

Taking pictures this month was a tweak more difficult than previous months. ;)

But I'm so glad we've made the effort to do it every month! She's our sweetie! ♥

Day 30. Most days generally find somebody doing art of some kind, but we officially have "art class" on (most) Fridays. We learned how to use chalk pastels today ... and were blessed to use chalk pastels that Great Grandma used many years ago!

And this is why we don't have art class every day. ;)

Day 31. We're most definitely making progress on our Phase 1 packing. Friends came over earlier in the week to help me pack bookshelves and our game closet, and with their help we accomplished in less than two hours what would have taken me close to six on my own!! So thankful!!

And because of their help, we were able to help another friend on Saturday afternoon. I must admit that the help we offered was much more relaxing than packing boxes. :)

And that's been our week. So thankful for the opportunities the Lord has given us to bless and be blessed. Grandpa is coming down this week to make all of those boxes go away (yay!!!), and then we're going to be moving into the laundry/storage room to spruce things up with some paint. Thanks so much your prayers. :)

P.S. - If you click on the collages, you can see them a bit bigger. :)

365Project.2015 | Week 4

It's a bit hard for me to believe it's still January. In fact, we still have another week left in January! I successfully got more pictures of the older kids this week, but I'm way over the 7-10 pictures I usually go for. Ah well. There is a lot of life being lived here these days. 

Day 18. Our sweetie ♥

Day 19. It was "Crazy Hat" day at Bible club this week. When Mommy made the final decision that we were not going to go the store to get supplies, the kids got resourceful and came up with some creative head gear. :)

 Day 20. Most mornings start about like this ...

Then she gets a little more focused ...

Then she melts ...

Then she sleeps ...

And on this beautiful day, while Abby slept, the rest of us enjoyed a picnic lunch. :)

Day 21. Beautiful weather continued, and the boys enjoyed riding their bikes while Hannah was at piano lessons ...

Matthew's determined to ride just as well as his older brother!

 Awww, we love you, Toby!

The older kids have been such a help with various aspects of preparing for our move ... this afternoon Peter helped putty the myriad of nail holes in the trim that Daddy recently installed.

Day 22. Cozy way to start the day ...

Matthew thoroughly enjoyed Caps for Sale, the theme book for this week of K4. And as typical for our chatter box, he's talking while coloring. :) He has recently discovered the joy of gracious adults at church who will carry on a conversation with him. :) For those who have patiently listened and conversed with him, thank you. He counts you as dear friends and prays for you.

Mommy's late night endeavors included multi-tasking with freezer meal prep and an encouraging online homeschool seminar.

Day 23. It's been amazing to watch Peter develop his engineering abilities with Legos. With the help of two additional "linear actuators" purchased with Christmas money from Great Grandma and Grandpa, he's converted his claw crane kit into a motorized digger with technical features comparable to those on a much larger kit. Without instructions.

Miss Abby's bottom two teeth poked through!

And the awesome Miss Beth watched the older kids at her place so that Mommy and Daddy could get a jump-start on Phase 1 packing. SO. HELPFUL. (!!!)

Day 24. Packing continues. Grandpa is coming down with a trailer next weekend so that we can get extra "stuff" out of the way for staging purposes. Our goal is to fill 'er up!

A friend from church blessed us with an entire van full of boxes. The large one at the left on the back of the van was completely stuffed with paper and other packing materials. What a wonderful gift!!

My kitchen feels so amazing!!! :) I love organizing and purging. :) I do. This is the easy part of moving, relatively speaking ...

And three cheers for Hannah-bug!!! This young lady packed up all of the extra stuff in her room all by herself--and she did a great job of purging along the way as well! So proud of her!

Our days are very full right now. Homeschool and "normal" life (laundry!!!!) continue in the midst of packing and painting and and assessors and trim work and other preparations for sale. Thanks for your prayers. Grandpa comes with a trailer next weekend, and we're working towards a mid-February date for house photos. 

365Project.2015 | Week 3

Please excuse a rather Abby-centric post, but we were all delighted with our little girl who discovered the joys of her exersaucer this week. She also began averaging three hours rather than two between feedings, and that was simply ... amazing. :) We love you, Abby-girl, but Mommy most definitely does not mind an extended feeding schedule. :)

Day 12. Let the exersaucer be explored! 

Oh. Yes. Teeth. She's also cutting teeth. Not overly bothersome during the day. Rather disruptive at night. ;)

Big brother is a pretty cool guy!

Day 13. So. Many. Things. To. Explore!!!!

And look at me sit up!

Or topple ... :) She's oh so close, but is still only stable for about 15-30 seconds. :)

Day 14. Still exploring ... 

"Mommy, do we really need to take pictures? I have things to learn!"

 All tuckered out. ♥

And while our little lady explored, this young man designed a whole crew of "jumpers" similar to those on Planes Fire & Rescue. :) Love to see his imagination at work! (For what it's worth, he also has plans to build a spaceship and is already booking passengers ...)

Day 15. "You are My Sunshine" is one of my favorite sleepy songs to sing for Abby, so I was delighted to unpack her nine-month clothes and find this cute outfit with one of the lines from that song printed on the front: "You Make Me Happy." ♥ We had fun investigating Great Grandma's scarf this morning ...

Day 16. I love to see these two together! Their mutual delight in one another thrills this Mommy's heart. ♥

Day 17. The Lord blessed with beautiful!!! weather this weekend! So warm and sunny, in fact, that we were able to get the last four interior doors spray painted! (Not that I took a picture of the process or anything ... not even when I was outside taking pictures of items to post on Craig's List. Ah well.) However, my hubby took this picture of bonfire beginnings ... we figured it would be better to simply make the jumble of logs from an old tree go away rather than leaving them for potential buyers to wonder about. :) Matthew watched it for a bit ... Peter spent most of the afternoon splitting logs to keep the fire fed. :)

And so continues life. Moving or not, little ones are still growing and playing and squabbling and learning and loving and ... living. ♥ For this we are thankful. 

For those who have asked, we have chosen a Realtor and are working with him towards a March 1 listing date. Paperwork has commenced, and an assessor and a stager are coming out this week. We're expecting a move date of early May.