Unpacking

Bohdin grabbed the camera the take pictures a few weeks ago and forgot to turn it off.  When the battery drained it set off a two week quest to find the battery charger and get the house in order.  I was about to give up several times.  Every move we lose random items and I thought this move it was the battery charger among a few other things.  I did eventually find it in the box with the computer.  We hadn't unpacked the desktop computer yet because we didn't have the office desk yet.  Unpacking is like putting a puzzle together and we've been trying hard to put the pieces the way we want them.  This move it's more difficult because I want it to be good.  It feels like we've had years of good enough.  I want to move closer to good this move. Nyla's room is getting a big overhaul.  She has a smaller closet than she's ever had so some of the extra things that were stored in there need to go elsewhere.  I needed to find a new home for the dress up clothes and stuffed animals.  Her nightstand is getting painted two years after I told her I would do it and she is getting a pink desk for art work.  I'll put the third coat of paint on that today. 

Bohdin likes to take random pictures around the house.  

Ballerina Cora

Nyla artwork that she hung on her window.  It's a plane but she forgot the e at the end.

Nyla in her rock star pose.

The bunny mask that Bohidn made for Nyla in art camp last summer.

The weather has been erratic here.  Some days we are victims of the polar vortex and other days it is very nice.  One nice afternoon we went to the playground and stumbled upon the local homeschool group.  They have weekly playgroups at the playground near our house.  The kids haven't made any friends yet but there is potential.  So far we've been to two playgroups and one writer's club.

Cora has been really tired lately and she's been napping a bit.  One day she fell asleep on the kitchen floor. 

 I made lasagna over the weekend and had the kids assemble it using an assembly line method.  Nyla got bored or something and decided to do art instead.  She drew a picture of the layers of  the lasagna while Bohdin and Cora finished up. 

Nyla spends more time outdoors than Bohdin or Cora.  She explores the woods in the back, plays in the driveway, or builds a sand tower with the extra sand in the empty lot next to us.  Yesterday we had beautiful weather and I sent the kids outside to play.  Eventually they had to come in because their bare feet were cold. 

Bohdin is learning variables in math and he needs to write simple equations.  After he had written one I told him that the times symbol isn't necessary between a variable and a number.  He erased the times sign.  He wrote the variable first and I didn't want him to erase everything so I didn't tell him that the number comes first.  He noticed that his equation now read 14 = 4 + h2.  He added a zero after the two and laughed hard as said that it was now 14 = 4 + water. 

Deer

It was a really cold day Monday but we bundled up and went outside anyway because it was the first bit of sun in days.  We walked to the clubhouse which is across the lake from our house.  We were walking across the causeway when I turned back because Nyla had strayed from us and went down the embankment to see the water coming down the spillway.  When I turned around I saw a deer behind us.  The deer kept walking in Nyla's direction.  She turned around to come back up to us and was startled and scared.  The deer followed her as Nyla came toward us and by the time Nyla reached us so did the deer.  Nyla was frightened and even I thought it was quite odd.  I told Nyla that this was probably the only time in her life that this would ever happen since deer are usually skittish.  The deer touched my gloved hand but it was most interested in Nyla.  The deer didn't care about Bohdin or Cora who was on my back.  Once I sold Nyla on the idea that this was a special occurrence she relished it.  We scared the deer a little and it walked off.  Nyla followed and I was wishing I had brought the camera.  I realized I had my phone and took it out.  I was further away from the deer by then.  It allowed Nyla to come up and pet it and feed it some grass she picked. The deer never allowed Bohdin to get close enough to pet it.   Eventually the deer turned around and left.  We didn't see it again when we walked back across although Nyla was hoping to catch sight of her new friend.  Nyla just came over and saw the picture.  She said she would name the deer Peach. 

After our deer adventure Cora must have been really tired.  She laid down on the floor and went to sleep.  It's only the second time she has done this.  I was running around frantically looking for her.  She woke up slightly from my yelling but then went back to sleep. 

Nyla and Cora are enjoying all of the space in the living room that allows them to put on dance shows.  They hide behind the couch prior to the start and then jump out.  Nyla has started saying "Are you ready?"  followed by an "I can't hear you!  Are you ready?".  I don't remember why Nyla was sad in this picture.  

Here is another Bohdin picture.  He also took the picture of Cora in front of the window above.  

I think the kids are settling into this house and enjoying it.  Bohdin is laying on the couch right now reading.  He couldn't read in his room because it was too bright.  He does have the sunniest room.  Nyla and Cora are playing in Cora's room.  Cora plays upstairs a lot also.  Bohdin and Nyla don't use the playroom as much.  They don't like to play Playmobil in dirty spaces and right now it is messy both from their play and moving stuff. 

Christmas

Bohdin likes Christmas Eve and the preparation for Santa's arrival.  He wrote a note apologizing for not making cookies and put out a variety of vegetables for the reindeer and nuts for Santa.  He tried to make a path again as he did last year but our tiny tree was on the mantle above the fireplace so he just made a large circle around the living room.

 Christmas looks a little sparse without furniture or a large tree. 

Nyla felt a little ripped off and rightly so.   I noticed it too late on Christmas Eve to do anything about it.  There were a few tears shed but she got over it.  It's not like she didn't get great presents. I had to store all of the presents in the trunk  and the contents of some of the boxes was discovered by a sibling.  Santa dropped the ball as a result and the $20 from Santa was not much consolation.  I just asked her and she said it was a good Christmas.  The only thing she didn't like was not getting to decorate a big tree.  Perhaps she has forgiven Santa. 

Our stuff arrived the day after Christmas and we are still unpacking almost two weeks later.  The kids have absolutely no patience for unpacking since it was just 11 months ago that we last did this.  I can understand the feeling. 

New House

Here are some pictures of the new house.  The shutters aren't up yet in this picture along with a few other details.  The playground picture is the playground near our house.

Waiting for Home

On the drive down to Georgia I found out our closing would be delayed.  It was unclear how long it would be until we could close.  The appraiser didn't complete the job and wasn't answering the phone.  We couldn't move forward until the report was made and there was no way to know when that would be.  Buddy joined us on Saturday and we played the waiting game which isn't fun especially since we had done it last year.  Every day we waited for news to tell us when we might close so we could make plans but days passed without finding out.  Friday afternoon we found out we would close on Monday the 23rd.  It was a long wait in hotel rooms.

The only memorable thing we did was go to Callaway Gardens for one night.  We saw the lights which are not at all as spectacular as advertised.  It didn't help that the temperatures dipped down for those few days.  Bohdin grabbed the camera and took a bunch of pictures.  These are some of my favorites.  They are all unedited.  The only one he didn't take is the one with him and Nyla.

Getting here

It was a crazy few months but in mid December we finally left Kansas for Georgia.  I took three trips to Georgia in the fall and one of those included Buddy.  It was the first time we were without the kids.  Unfortunately it was a tough trip and we couldn't enjoy ourselves.

In December I left with the kids to Georgia while Buddy finished up at our old house.  Our goal was to stop at science museums along the way and find the best ice cream.  It ended up being only two science museums and two ice cream trips but it was still fun.

The St. Louis science museum was a bit of a letdown.  We paid extra to go into the special bug exhibit because Nyla likes bugs so much.  It wasn't worth the extra money in my opinion.  Nyla disagreed.  

We stayed in Illinois for the night and in the morning when we loaded up the car the kids complained of the cold.  I told them it would be the last time they would in such cold weather for who knows how long.  I don't remember the temperature anymore but it was in the low single digits.  Ironically a record cold snap came through two days ago that may have that beat.

We stopped in Paducah briefly so the kids could see snow for the last time.  They climbed a pile of snow in the parking lot and slid around on the icy sidewalks.  In the afternoon we stopped at the Nashville science museum.  We had been there once before but the kids didn't really remember it.  There was a tiny bit of snow in Nashville so that ended up being the last of the snow.

Nyla was confused at the Tennessee borders because there was no river.  She is so used to rivers being state boundaries that she thought they were all like that.  

Home Search

I meant to do a better job of updating the blog but it's not happening. 

Grandpa and John came for a short visit at the end of August.  Nyla was sick with a fever the day before and she is high maintenance when she's sick.  I couldn't leave her side for more than a couple of minutes.  The next week I became sick and was hoarse for many days.  In the meantime we were looking at houses and I went to Georgia for the weekend.  It was a very short notice trip.  The tickets were bought less than 24 hours before leaving.  I spent dawn to dusk looking at the area.  We thought we had it figured it but now we're waiting again. 


Bohdin was moved up into a higher group at horse riding lessons so now we hang out at the arena for even longer.  Cora comes home covered in dust each time.  Bohdin didn't really want to move up to the other group because he doesn't like bouncing around on a trotting horse.  Bodhin has a weak core which will hopefully improve with the horseback riding.  I also like him taking these lessons because he needs to be clearly in charge of the horse.  It's another area that could use improvement. 

All of the additional lessons started last week and the kids are enrolled in a lot of things, especially Nyla.  She does voice, swimming, two days of dance, and horseback riding.  Bohdin does swimming, crossfit, and horseback riding.  Nyla wouldn't be able to do all of those activities if she was still in public school.  There wouldn't be enough time.  For now she's still enjoying homeschooling although she wants to go back to public school when we move.