Every Six Months

General Conference is this weekend! I've been looking forward to this for the last six months. I love hearing from the Prophet and other leaders for our church. It fills my soul.

Curious about what eight hours of spiritual nourishment looks like? Everyone can watch Conference from their own computer. You can go to this website for all the dates and times. We'll be watching from our Roku (if we can find it) or connecting a laptop to our TV.

I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from last April's General Conference.

Source

Hey Kids, Does Anybody Know Where Sophie Is?

You Oughta Be In Pictures

Tomorrow is picture day. Picture day for the boys goes something like this:

Me: Here, please wear this collared shirt, it'll look nice in the pictures.

Male Child: No.

Me: I bought it just for today, please wear it.

Male Child: No, I hate wearing collars.

Me: I know, but it's only for today. Wear the shirt.

Male Child: No! I don't have to! You're not in charge of me!

Me: Actually, I am totally in charge of you. Now put on the shirt!

Then they begrudgingly wear the inexpensive polo shirt I picked up at Walmart, or Target, when I'm feeling fancy. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, they will allow a comb to be used on their hair in an attempt to tame the cowlicks. But only maybe.

This year, Miss Phoebe is joining the Picture Day Ranks. She has been stressing over it for days. "Oh Mom, I just don't know what I should wear!" Add in that they can't wear green (because the backgrounds will be digitally added later), and she's in even more of a tizzy, despite the fact that she doesn't own anything green. We've finally settled on the fancy dress my parents sent for her birthday (oh yeah, Phoebe had a birthday, I wonder if I'll ever get to writing about it...), a glittery pink cardigan, and a black headband with a jeweled heart. It's laid out, waiting for her.

Let's hope it still passes her approval tomorrow morning when we're running out the door.

Support Your Local Library

Our home library is 90% done, but we've all been enjoying it despite its incomplete status. Bryan and Sophie had a nice snuggle while reading in that special room yesterday.

The Great Debate

Because we have kids at two different schools, which have two different but still similar start times, we've resorted to taking the bus. This means that we need to be out the door, heading to the bus stop, by 7:15 in the morning.

7:15. In the morning.

My night-owlism is well documented on this blog. I kind of drag through the day, then, when the sun goes down, my energy turns on.  Except that right now, with this new schedule, I'm ALWAYS TIRED. Even at night. The kids are exhausted too. The following conversation happened at bedtime.

Phoebe: I've decided I want to get up and shower before school.

Me: Really? That means you'll need to learn how to shower really fast.

Phoebe: I can shower fast!

Me: And you'll need to get up even earlier than you have been.

Phoebe: Hmmm. Actually, no.

In the great debate of which is more important, a full night of rest or feeling fresh, we prefer sleep to sanitation at our house.

Three Rooms Done

I finally finished the girls' room today. I'm not sure why it took so long, and I technically still need to put a dowel in the costume closet to really be done, but I'm calling it good.

 We decided to make the girls' room the playroom, which, now that I think about it, is probably why this project was so drawn out. We've had an official playroom since Washington, and I was sad to see it go. But the choice came down to a playroom or a home library.

And there's simply no competing with a library.

Phoebe liked the idea of sleeping in Toyland, until she envisioned the mess that would be generated on a daily basis. At one point she officially uninvited Cooper and Peter from ever playing in there. They were annoyed, but the LEGOs are in their room, so they didn't care that much. I quickly struck down the brother ban, much to her chagrin.

For those of you doing the math at home, we've had the keys to the house for three weeks, our belongings for two, and only have three rooms completed. This is our slowest move-in ever. We were waiting on some key elements, and most of those are now in our house and waiting to be built and/or mounted. My new goal is to be totally unpacked by General Conference, which is a week from tomorrow.

I don't know that it's a realistic goal, but it sure sounds like a nice one.

This Is What a Grumpy Sophie Looks Like

She was not pleased that I woke her up to go to the bus stop.

If You Can't Sleep, Simply Snuggle Your Sister

Pinterest Win

I've been wanting to finish the girls' room for days, but a giant mountain of homeless costumes kept me from declaring it done. I'd pondered and prayed and experimented with a few different storage options, but nothing was quite right. This morning, after the big kids were at school, Sophie and I spent some time searching for ideas on Pinterest. I scrolled through several that explained how to turn an old chest of drawers into a darling, child-sized wardrobe. Ah, if only we had such an item, I wistfully thought. Then I found one that called for an IKEA bookcase.

Would you believe that we had two IKEA bookcases in our basement, languishing from lack of use? We've had them for many years and didn't think they had any life left in them. Bryan had even reinforced them a few years back, but they simply didn't work for our book needs anymore.

But they might work for costumes!

I started out with this (but sans the back panel):

Next I removed the shelves and the reinforcements and scrubbed the frame a bit:

Then I lined the inside walls with fancy paper and put up a tension rod for the costumes:

And then lined the outside walls with chalkboard paper:

Finally I called Phoebe in to see her new treasure, which of course required a photo shoot:

Phoebe was thrilled when she saw her new costume closet. Of course, shortly after the last picture was taken, we discovered the tension rod was kind of busted and the costumes were once again littering the floor, but I'm sure we can fix that.

Sometimes Princess Anna Helps Me Unpack

And sometimes she finds her sister's sticker earrings and wears them like makeup.

I Might Have a Problem

I got a second wind tonight, so I decided to finally take a crack at our room. The Master bedroom is usually a low priority, so other than making the bed and folding the clean clothes we already had access to, I hadn't done much. After the kids were asleep, I broke into the big boxes stacked along our wall.

I found blankets that had been packed with shoes (those blankets now smell like feet), towels packed with cleaning supplies (my laundry pile is growing fast), and important family pictures packed with bathroom items like soap and toothpaste.

And I found all of these shirts and my jacket. I think I may need a plaid intervention...

Connected

Even though we still have lots of stuff in boxes, something happened today that makes us feel more moved in. We got internet! That means I can use my computer to blog instead of my phone, which is how I've been posting for a long time. Of course, I'm so tired that all I want to do is sleep, so I'm still just using my phone instead of finding my computer and turning it on.

But it's nice to know I have the option.

Two Rooms Done

The boys' room has joined the kitchen on my list of Rooms That are Complete. Well, I haven't put any pictures on the walls, but otherwise it's done. I don't like to hang any decorations until the whole house is unpacked; it's part of my process.

One Room Done

I sat in the kitchen last night after the kids went to sleep, basking in its finished beauty. I should have been working on other rooms, but I only had energy to meditate about putting them together, not enough for the actual process. Bryan taught a great Family Home Evening lesson last night about what it means to have a house of order. Slowly, slowly, we're working our way there.

Tinkersophie

Documentation

Everyone was so happy to have their beds back, no one wanted to leave them this morning. Despite this, when I came in to wake them up, Peter was the first one to get out of bed. He didn't complain at all and got right in the shower.

I had to document it, just case it never happens again.

We Have Stuff Again

"I so happy to have my toys! You so excited?"

Sophie was over the moon that her long lost toys were finally delivered today. As each stack of boxes was wheeled out of the truck and into our house she asked, "Those my toys?" It wasn't until the early afternoon that I was able to open one of those sought after boxes. She spent the remainder of the day happily engaged in rediscovering the toys.

The rest of us are pretty happy to have our belongings back as well. We all have real beds to sleep in tonight!

We've also begun the process of finding what didn't survive the move. So far the casualties include our fancy motion-activated kitchen trash can, a sturdy rolltop desk that we obtained the day before we moved, and a box full of King-size bedding that must have gotten wet some point. Our rocking chair is also a little worse for wear.

Despite those material losses, I am so happy to have our things back.

Coming soon: a post where I bemoan the oppressive excess of our earthly possessions. Several days of unpacking will be my muse...

Trade Offs

Peter, Cooper, and Phoebe all had a wonderful first day of school. Pictures of this important day exist, just not on any of my devices, and the owner of the other device has already gone to sleep for the night.

Sophie and I had a delightfully peaceful day at home and the store. I had a memory float through my brain today of what life was like when I only had one child. I was a much calmer human being.

That's okay, I'd rather be a little crazy than not have all four of my little (and not-so-little) people.

Homework

We toured the kids' schools today. They are now more excited than anxious. At the conclusion of each visit I was handed a bundle of papers to compete and return tomorrow when the children go for their first day of school.

I guess I'm the first one to get homework this year.

Mesmerized

Who would have guessed that a dryer would be so entertaining?

The New Digs

The kids are registered for school and have a start date.

We have the keys to the new house and did our walk-through last night.

Everything is official!

Now we just need to wait for our stuff to be delivered next Thursday.

Want to see some pictures of our new space?

Part of the kitchen, look at all that cabinet space! And there's even more that isn't in the picture. That's a corner of the family room on the far right edge of the picture.

You're looking at the entryway, half bath, laundry/mud room, closet, door to the unfinished basement, and then a little bit more of the family room.

This is the den (I think it should be the library, Phoebe thinks it should be the party room) looking into the dining room. The kitchen is on the other side of that far wall, and that's still more of the family room in the distance.

The master bedroom.

The other side of the master bedroom.

This will probably be the girls' room, looking into the kids' bathroom.

Bryan and I spent many hours last night brainstorming about what will go where in the house. The kitchen is much bigger than our last one, though not big enough for our table, but has hard floors that are easy to clean. The actual dining room has carpet, which is not compatible with our children, so we're figuring that out.

I will take those first-world problems over being homeless any day of the week.

Freckles

Sophie walked up to me yesterday, furrowed her brow, pointed to her forehead and said, "I want those."

It took me a moment to process. You want worry lines? Then I understood. "You want freckles? These dots on my face and arms?"

"Yes, I want you freckles." She studied the hundreds of spots that cover my arms. "Can I have them?"

I scooped her up and nuzzled her head, "You'll probably have your own someday."

She grinned.