Check

There is new sod in the front and back yards.

The flower bed is fixed.

We removed the pond, but kept the rosebush.

The tree and bushes in front have been trimmed.

Steve successfully put up the roller shades in the kids' room.

We ordered bunk beds. There is no way to fit two twins in the kids' room right now, but Stephen really wants a big boy bed. Someone please ease my worries of putting a four-year-old on the top bunk.

Steve fixed the kids' bathroom toilet.

We finally put up a shower curtain in the guest bathroom.

Oh, but there is so much more to do. Progress is slow. I am tired. Not everything will get done before the baby is born. I guess that's okay.

Our week

Friday 5/28

It was Steve's first full day back. We had many goals for the day, but not everything went as planned. At least we were together.

We missed gymnastics class. The traffic was pretty bad and we just weren't going to make it. Mei Li was unbelievably sad. We felt horrible and we knew it was all our fault.

We picked up some yard tools from Lowe's. We ate lunch with Christine and retrieved our other car. Steve picked his bags up from the airport. This took the entire day.

Saturday 5/29

We spent the morning in the backyard together pulling out weeds. I stayed with the kids inside while Steve finished up the weeds in the back and the front, trimmed the bushes, and raked the leaves from last fall.

We did unpack a little.

Sunday 5/30

It was our first full Sunday in our new ward. Everyone is so kind. Mei went to primary and Stephen went to nursery without any issues. Steve and I get to sit together in Sunday School for the first time in months.

Monday 5/31

Memorial day began with a trip to the spa for Mei Li and me. I had a spafinder gift certificate since Christmas 2008 and hadn't used it yet, so I took Mei Li with me to get our nails done.

I got a pedicure and Mei Li got a manicure AND pedicure. I chose dark red for my toes and Mei Li chose blue for her toes and purple for her fingers.

She was tickled to be there sipping apple juice from a stemmed glass while Miss Gale worked on her feet. She asked Gale a ton of questions.


The next activity was our ward's Memorial day picnic. It was so hot! We had fun meeting new people and watching our kids run around. Stephen's cheeks were bright red.

It was too late to put Stephen down for a nap after the picnic so he was a disaster for the rest of the day.

Tuesday 6/01

I took Mei to joy school and then Stephen to wiggles and giggles. We were late to both.

I went to a Relief Society activity that night. I had fun. It's hard to remember everyone's name.

Wednesday 6/02

See previous post.

Thursday 6/03

It was Mei Li's joy school graduation. Mei Li was sad that day and didn't want to sing the song with the other kids.


It is sad to see things end. Thanks to the other joy school moms for a fun year. Mei Li learned so much from all of you.

Next, Janine cut Mei Li and Stephen's hair. I love Janine. Mei Li now has bangs and she looks adorable. I was so pleased with her hair, but I was also strangely sad. Another change took place. Change is hard. Or, I'm just really hormonal.

Then it was off to Ali, Chloe, and Teo's house for some water fun, popsicles, and s'mores.

It was so nice to be with familiar friends.


Friday 6/04

I took the kids to the nearby fountains in the morning. We met friends from our new ward there. It was hot, but the kids had a great time.

We made it to gymnastics! Mei Li has so much fun in that class. She's getting much more coordinated.

Afterwards, we went to Chick-fil-A and then to Mackie's for some swimming with Lilly and Emerson. Mackie stayed in the house with napping Stephen and Carter while I watched the kids at the pool. We switched places for the last hour. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon.


Steve beat me home that night. That was also the night we fired the guy working on our front and back yards.

Saturday 6/05

Steve was up early in the morning and worked until late at night buying supplies, preparing soil and laying down sod in our front yard. He is a tireless worker.

We did manage some together time in the middle of the day to eat at Foster's and pick up the sod.

Stephen wanted to help dig. Steve indulged him for a little bit, but otherwise, I tried to keep the kids out of the way.

Steve's clothes met the trash at the end of the day.

Sunday 6/06

We went to church in the morning. Mei Li had a hard time going to primary. I don't blame her at all. I wonder how long it will take before this new ward doesn't feel new anymore. I'm guessing a year.

In the evening, we went on a walk together. We live about a quarter of a mile from the W&OD trail. I love that. It was a warm evening, but there was a strong breeze and it felt wonderful.

We passed an inline hockey rink, which Steve was impressed with. Steve was happy to see that the sign said girls and boys could start at age 4. He would really like Mei Li to do something sporty next time I sign her up for classes. I'm not opposed at all, but maybe we should start with soccer or basketball and wait until she's little older for inline hockey?

I think this is what normal life feels like. I love it.

Today's flowers

We are the proud owners of an overgrown rosebush and a pond. The rosebush has exploded in the short time we have lived here. This is what it looked like before:

I'm not sure where to start with our backyard. I guess the pond must go first. It really grosses me out.

I'm not sure we're keeping the rosebush as I worry about the thorns and my kids. For now though, we have blooming roses and today I cut some to put in a vase.


I really love that deep pink color. New dining chairs are on my list of furniture items to buy. These ones are breaking, but we still sit on them. Should I buy red chairs? White? Black? Aluminum? Light blue?

I was hanging around our old neighborhood today because Mei Li had joy school and Stephen had Wiggles and Giggles. While I was driving around, I saw a sign that said, "Geraniums: Buy 1, Get 1 Free!" So I purchased three geranium hanging flower pots and one geranium flower pot for somewhere else. Geraniums were Rachel's suggestion and I think they look lovely.


These are the kind of home improvements I can handle. I should not attempt to put up blackout roller shades in the kids' room like I did yesterday. I'm not very handy.

Steve is home in two more days and then we have a four-day weekend together. It will be filled with lots of unpacking and weeding. It will be fun doing it together.

Tough

Steve will be in New York for four weeks for training. We will join him for two weeks starting next week, and then we'll spend the last week apart. After training, he comes back here to do a rotation through a different group in his office. It's something that he really wanted to do.

When we found out that we were moving, he thought he wouldn't be able to do the rotation anymore because of the bad timing. It is horrible timing, but I wanted him to take this opportunity. And I thought it would give me an opportunity to prove my toughness and adaptability.

I'm not very tough at all, but I want to be. I rely on Steve for so many things and I know I need to be more independent.

So here I am, the mother of two, in a new place full of boxes to be unpacked, seven months pregnant, with my husband in New York. I'm kind of hating it.

BUT, so far, I've unpacked most of the kitchen, master bedroom, and kids' room. I've also set up the computer, printer, phone, and internet.

I'm grateful the kids enjoy watching movies. I'm not usually grateful for this, but their to-die-for cuteness is no help at all when it comes to unpacking.


Monday was hard, but Monday night was better. I read to the kids The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. It's my favorite children's book. Mei Li told me that she wanted to live in the country. Although we do not live in the country, we do live very close to what I would consider the country. It makes me happy. It's much more open out here.

Tuesday was great, but Tuesday night was hard.

Today was bad, but tonight was nice. I sensed that the kids understood my stress tonight and they cooperated very well for bed time. I'm so grateful for that.

Steve comes home late Friday night and then we leave on Sunday for New York. We will put our adaptability to the test while we all live in one hotel room for two weeks.

Here's what's going on

Friday 4/30

Jeremy and Maika came to town.

Spring fun run


We moved boxes into our new place.

We slept in our old townhouse.

Saturday 5/1:

Steve and friends (thank you, friends!) came all the way out to the new place to unload furniture.

We slept in our new place for the first time. Jeremy and Maika were our first guests here. We're happy we had a place for them to sleep besides our living room.

Sunday 5/2

We attended the sacrament meeting of our new ward. We know we will love it.

We attended the last two hours of our old ward as we still had some responsibilities there.

We packed up the remaining stuff from the old place. We thought we would be able to fit it all into three boxes. We were so wrong. We filled our entire van.

Steve unloaded the van, showered, packed for his training in New York, and set up the TV in under two hours.

He left for the airport at 8:15 PM.

Boy, do I miss him.

Before and after

The new paint and carpet are in. I saw it all today, and I love it. I actually didn't take before and after pictures of everything. I'll share with you the most dramatic transformation.

Kitchen before:


Kitchen after:


I know. I was kind of weird-ed out by the fireplace in the kitchen too, but then I thought about how nice and cozy it would be for winter mornings.

I'm really happy with the gray unless you tell me it looks purple-ish.

I didn't take a picture of my cabinets, but if you're curious, they match the fireplace before it was painted. Believe me, they're ugly. I would love white cabinets someday.

I don't like the quarter round on the baseboards, but we'll do something about that when we figure out what kind of flooring we are going to have. It will most likely be black and white tile of some sort. We'll decide that when we have the cash to do something about it.

Anyway, the kitchen is my favorite part of the house. It's big and sunny and I've imagined many fun times in there. I do hope that we live in the kitchen more than any other part of the house.

There are many things that we'd love to change about the place eventually, but for now, we're just so grateful that it's ours.