Updates

I know I haven't posted in forever, but I really feel like there hasn't been anything that thrilling going on around here. So I'll just give the update as I see it. We are almost out of boxes. I know I said that last time, but golly- this is taking forever! I really feel like we're making good progress. We've put together a Goodwill pile and a garage sale pile (for the post-wide sale this fall) in our garage. Steve has done a great job getting our audio/video set up as well as hanging lots and lots of pictures and shelves for me. What a great husband he is. So patient.

A couple funny things the girls have said/done lately...

Ellie after church told me she pulled out an eyeball. I was very curious, so I looked and she had an eyelash on her finger. Then again today she told me she pulled out an eyeball and I taught her to make a wish on it. She thought that was pretty fun. I keep trying to tell her the real name, but she does what she wants :) She sounds more and more like me every day. Kind of scary. I have to remind her that she's "not the mom" several times a day. But she also plays extremely well with her sisters and is very creative and smart.

After picking up pizza the other day, Katie told us in the car that she wanted a butt kick. I am totally serious! Okay, the interpretation was she wanted a breadstick, but I promise that's what we heard. So, so funny. Katie has some serious wreckless abandone. She has no true concept of where she is in relation to... anything. She's constantly bumping heads with us (ouch!) or running into things or falling. She has also discovered quite the temper. When things are not going her way- watch out. Ellie or Sarah typically get a pinch, hair pull or a punch as Katie vents that frustration. And since she has a very proficient vocabulary, we hear about it with the screams as well. I'm still trying to figure out how to nip that one in the bud. But at the same time, she is the snuggliest little girl there ever was.

Sarah has learned to spit. The girls all brush their teeth together, so when Steve tells Ellie or Katie to spit, Sarah spits right along with them. About a week ago we were sitting at dinner and Sarah out of the blue yelled, "Dadda, pbpbpb (spit)." She was so proud of herself. She loves her daddy. Out of all the girls she has formed the greatest attachment to Steve and he is loving it. She's still a Momma's girl, of course. But she adores Steve and is always super excited when he comes home from work. She's becoming more and more one of the "girls" and tries to play and run right alongside her sisters. She and Katie have scuffed up knees to prove it. Sarah's hair has been growing great guns, too. It's as long, or longer than Katie's now. I know we have pictures somewhere... I'll try to get some uploaded soon. She is such a sweet little girl.

I have finally been burning our old video tapes onto the computer the last couple days so I can send the camera off to Geoff. Golly, we have a lot of tapes to do! But anyway, it has been fun to relive some of the moments we have captured over the years. I haven't sat and watched all of them, but here and there I've caught a few things. I reminisced visiting Logan with Steve right before Ellie was born. I watched Ellie as a baby and toddler and find it hard to believe I've already forgotten how she was when she was little. It was fun seeing her and Emma Tolman together over the years as well. And then Katie. I cringed at the screaming (yep- it was just as bad as I remember) but also got to enjoy watching her smile and laugh and learn to crawl. I guess her first year wasn't all that bad... ;-) Ellie was sure cute with Katie, too. I think a lot of times I get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget about the little things that we are blessed with. I need to do that more often. When the girls are fighting and screaming would probably be a good time.

What else have we been doing lately? Well, we got a pool pass to the pools on Post and have gone a few times now. We go over Steve's lunch break and that hour is just right for all of us. We get our fill of swimming, and the girls are exhausted for naps by the time we get home. (Sometimes I am, too!) Steve has loaded up on wood again and is going to build a bookshelf for our room upstairs, a little shelf for my piano music down here in the family room, and eventually a bunk bed for the girls. They are great undertakings, but he is very excited about them.

Steve and I are really enjoying our callings. I haven't ever been in Primary since I graduated at age 12, so it's neat to be back in. And playing piano is really nice. It's low- stress, but very enjoyable. Plus I'm learning the songs so I can help Ellie learn them. I also just received a call to be the Young Women Personal Progress Leader as well. I'm still not quite sure what that means, but as soon as I do I'll be sure to pass it along. Steve teaches the 14-18 Sunday School and really enjoys it. He just really likes to teach in general.

Apparently I had more to post than I thought. Again, I'll look to get pics up soon. We look forward to Mom and Dad and DickSybil visiting next week! Hooray!

Adults say the darndest things

A friend, Jaymie put a post on her blog about all the crazy things her kids "make" her say and it just cracked me up. So I've decided to try and write down some of the things that come out of my mouth that are really quite silly. I'll just add them to the list on the right. I think someday I'll get a kick out of it. The first one is from the other day.

We're just about out of boxes here. There are a bunch in our room and a bunch in the garage, but pretty much everywhere else is all unpacked. Hooray!!!

Family Reunion Photo

Here's the family picture we took at the reunion for those of you that don't know my family that well. This is everyone from my side! :-)

Happy 4th of July!

You won't be seeing many candid shots now that Steve is home, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun now and again. Happy 4th of July!

Boxes, boxes and more boxes

It is amazing and extremely frustrating how slow the unpacking is going. Mom reminded me that I have 2 more kids this go-round, but seriously... over a week in this house and we're still trying to dig our way out. The kitchen was first priority, so that's pretty much done. Everything else is still halfway there. Since I'm on a roll, I'll explain all the other annoyances going on here.

The mold... it won't go away. I'm convinced the garage will never be without the mold smell again. I can feel my lungs filling up with mold spores every time I go out there. Okay, not really- but the smell is awful. Mom's suggestion of Lysol is probably going to be my next route. We keep the door open all day to air it out, but it's not cutting it. Yesterday was trash day, so we threw out a bunch of our yucky stuff. It ended up being two bookcases, an entertainment stand and two trunks that were Steve's from West Point. I put notes on the really gross ones to warn people away, but the two moldiest items were still taken off the curb. It amazes me what people are willing to try and salvage. The worst part about this all, though was our dealings with insurance. I mentioned before that the storage unit refused any responsibility for ruining our things. So we figured our renter's insurance would take care of it. We were wrong! Since mold happens over time, the insurance won't cover it. Had it been an act of God, like tornado ripping the roof off, they might have considered covering us. That news did not make me happy. So we're just out the money for the items we tossed. At least they're finally out of our garage and the smell can start to dissipate. We cleaned up our kitchen table and the cedar chest, which were the two things we really wanted to keep.

A few other things: there's something terribly wrong with our water, the plumbing isn't working right, Steve is still sick (could be the water?), and I'm still living with boxes.

On a positive note: we are living in our own space. I love carpet. My birthday present TV is really, really nice. Like Dad mentioned, one way or another we will be getting that fourth side of our fence (a Better Business complaint has been submitted, but if that falls through- a guy in the ward has offered us his fence for free as he's moving in a few weeks). As far as we know, most of the mold has been eradicated. Steve is still home from Iraq. Yeah... can't really think of a lot right now. Pretty sad.

The girls are changing quite a bit. They love having all their new toys to play with. Ellie and Katie both enjoy their "big kid beds". Sarah is much more interactive with the girls, which is sometimes hilarious to watch. She's trying to talk more, but it just ends up being really loud screams just like her sisters. She's very good at getting up and down stairs, which is comforting. Katie is getting rooked into playing with Ellie and is usually in the middle of the trouble as well. Katie ends up being the daddy or the baby most times because Ellie is always the mommy. Ellie is back into the mode of changing clothes many times a day, which I actually enjoy watching.

Something funny- Ellie asked me the other day if being the mom was annoying? I had to laugh at that one.

Hopefully the next time I post I will have better news to report. This has been a horrible week for us and we are anxious to be done with it! :-D