empty (last trip to our old house)

We decided to make one last trip to our old house, a little goodbye visit.

 It felt empty.  And small. 

And a little lonely.  

I took pictures of each kiddo standing in the spot their bed used to occupy (above is Julianna in the living room). 

Not photography to brag about, but a good documentation....

God grew us from a family of 5 to a family of 7 in this little apartment.  Both John Paul and Luke came "home" to this sweet place.  

Neither of them were interested in standing, more interested in running - all that open space was calling their feet to run. 

Big sister Julianna was teary (definitely our most sentimental and not a fan of change)... but not this big boy.  Isaac is such a goofball.  Loves to make people laugh :) 

And what did they look like when we moved in?

Some sweet memories in that house, but also some very hard years.  Treasure.  I will treasure that place in my heart always.  The years weren't always pretty, but they were good.  In the real sense of what is GOOD. 

you can't make this up....

Sometimes kids say the most precious things.

The night before our move Lydia told me that she was excited to sleep in her new bed because Daddy made it.  And since he made it with his hands then sleeping in her new bed was a little bit like him holding her all night long.

Precious.

Even more precious if you know our Lydia - she is the cuddliest little girl.  In her dream world she is forever snuggled up to one of us.  I like to joke that if we hadn't induced labor she'd be the world's happiest almost-6 year old, still hanging out in the comfort of her mama's womb.

She'll run over to me on the playground, sweat dripping from both of us, and snuggle right into my arm like it's a cold day in December and we need to huddle together for warmth.  So it's quite a compliment from Lydia - to say that sleeping in a bed her Daddy made is like being held by him all night long!

I was not eager to transition to bunks.  I like having the girls on my level, I like sitting on their beds with them, cuddling them at night, flopping on their beds and pretending to snore while they giggle and giggle. 

But they needed new beds (their old beds are not full-length and their toes were hanging off the ends and the boys needed bed upgrades so it just made sense to get new beds for the girls and then the boys also got 'new' beds and everyone is set....)

And our new house is larger so there is actually space for everyone to move to larger beds.... so, time for new beds + can't resist the floor space saving bunks and it was time to take the plunge.

Matt and I started dreaming and thought about lofts for both of them and finally landed on a bunk bed design that gave each of them the space we wanted.  Then he got ambitious and decided to add shelves at the end of the bed for each girl to store her treasures.

Matt drew up the designs, listed out all the wood cuts he needed, followed several different leads on where to buy good quality wood (not a common building material here so it was a little difficult to find a place to buy) and then got to work sawing and sanding and drilling and bolting.  

He loved working on the beds and it was totally worth the weekend days and late nights!  Matt built them at our new house (before the move).  He would come home smelling of sweat and saw dust with adrenaline seeping out of his pores.  So fun for him to work on a project that he says is "way easier than any of my other jobs".  And with such great results!  

We have a lot of common space and stuff - not much around here that is considered "belonging" to just one person.  In order to give each kiddo some space to call their own we honor two standards.

First, someone's bed is THEIR bed, THEIR space.... no getting on someone's bed without asking first!  And second, never ever ever touch anything on someone's treasure shelf.  The girls and Isaac each had treasure shelves (a simple floating shelf) hanging over their bed at our old house.  The shelving on the girls new beds is a serious upgrade and they are loving more space for their growing treasure collections!

Hanging shelves isn't on the top of the to do list yet, but when we get there Isaac and John Paul will both have shelves at our new house.  [In the meantime they are storing their treasures on the window sill above their beds!]

And one day Matt will tackle a triple bunk project for the boys' room.  In the meantime we're just enjoying the fruits of his first big building project, bunks for the girls. 

when tired meets tired

Luke buddy, I know exactly how you feel. 

Day 8 post-move and we are still running in high gear.  We hosted our first house guests!  so so fun!  Our friends Graham and Ashlei (and their three boys) are moving in to our complex - Ashlei and her boys lived here a few days waiting for their apartment to get ready while Graham was back in their old province supervising the move.  It was a bit like one giant sleepover - and there were tears tonight from Isaac when his buddy Grady left to spend the night in his own house two buildings away from ours.

Next week Matt plans to take a little time off to help finish getting the house settled.  Our boxes are (mostly) unpacked but there is nothing hanging on the walls and the to-do list is still lengthy.  We'll have plenty of projects to work on this Saturday too.

Tonight it's an early bedtime for me.  I can barely keep my eyes open.

the bathtub

I almost titled this post "why you should never move with your bathtub" but decided that might be a little strong.

But then again, maybe it's not.

Here's our story.  Three years ago we installed a bathtub in our apartment.  We have little kids, we wanted a tub.  So we bought one and the landlord had her work crew could install it for us. 

Then we were fixing up our new apartment and (woohoo!) we have two bathrooms and we wanted one to have a tub.  So we thought, "well this is simple, we have a bathtub already, we'll just move it to the new apartment."

We were wrong.  Oh, we do have a bathtub, and we did move it to the new apartment.  But it was not simple.

Our contractor told us we should bring the tub on Monday morning (before Thursday move-in day) so he could get the workers to install it.  Matt planned to drive to work that day - slide the tub in the back of the van and drop it off on his way in.

On Sunday night we decided that we'd simplify the morning by going ahead and removing the tub from the bathroom and sitting it on the porch overnight.  In the morning it'd be as simple as popping that tub in the van and Matt heading off to work.

People, it took us TWO HOURS! to get that tub out of our bathroom.  We ripped it off the wall (easy and satisfying - a few quick cuts with a knife and the caulk split right in two).  Then we worked on disconnecting the hoses.  Unfortunately, they had rusted onto the wall piping and every turn of the wrench twisted both the tub hose and the wall pipe and we were making zero progress.

As Matt battled the rusted hose problem with his head buried under the tub (victory came through a hack saw and needle nose pliers - I hope at this point it's clear that several of the tub hoses needed replacing....) well, while Matt worked I started taking stock of the sink/tub/doorway/toilet placement in our teensy bathroom and saying helpful things like "I'm just not sure this tub is going to fit through the doorway" and "do you think the workers installed the tub before they installed the doors?" and "maybe they put in the tub and then the toilet... yep, that must have been how they did it."

I even ventured the "maybe we should have just bought a new tub and left this one here" comment.

After all, it was almost 11pm on Sunday evening, the tub was still very attached to and very inside our bathroom, and we'd had sketchy water supply all week and just removed our only chance for a shower until moving day on Thursday. 

Well we did get it successfully detached and with Matt back on his feet we started squishing and squeezing and working that tub.  We flipped it (y'all, we held the tub above toilet-seat level and flipped it head-over-heels inside our bathroom.  Be impressed.)  We flopped it.  We removed the feet.  We removed the grab bar.  If we'd had a sledge hammer I might have bashed in the faucets.

We considered removing the bathroom door but it would have only bought us a few more centimeters (not enough) and the nails were looking a smidge rusted.  Too much risk for not enough gain.  The door stayed. 

We realized we needed one more tool to remove one more piece so that it would FOR SURE fit out the bathroom door but .... by this time on a Sunday night no hardware store was open.  We scooted the tub against the wall (still upright, with all the nasty gunky rusted piping underside exposed) and headed for bed.

The next morning Julianna woke us up and in a very calm voice told us "there might be a ghost in the bathroom".  It was the bathtub.

[Note our circumstances here: unfortunate door angle, toilet right in the tub exit path, oh, and the green water bucket = our bathing options.]

Monday morning Matt headed out to find/buy/borrow the right tool and we finally got that blasted tub onto the porch. 

This is the kind of event that is always helped by a fleet of children.

I was mad at that stupid tub.  They were thrilled!  Mommy and Daddy carrying the bathtub through the living room!  A bathtub in the courtyard!  This is new! Different! Exciting! Fun!  What a great start to the week!  Daddy hasn't even left for work and we have a bathtub in our courtyard! 

Matt suggested wiping it down before putting it in the van and pretty soon we had us a little bathtub washing party.  The neighbors even stopped by to watch (of course) and help us load it in the van.

Turned my attitude around too, those little bathtub washers.  There is much to rejoice in, sometimes it just takes a little looking for it.  

Matt did leave for work, the tub is installed in our new (much much much larger) bathroom and we lived to tell about it.

But it was a tough way to start moving week.  That night I thought, "If everything else goes this smoothly, we're sunk."  Thank goodness it didn't!



[Next up in the moving week series: Matt and the girls' beds.]

moved.

We did it.  And we might never move again ;)  It is a lot of work!!! 

Our new place is so great.  I can hardly believe it's ours :)  Such a tremendous blessing, such lavish gift to our family. 

Honestly, for the evening of day three, we are in great shape.  One end of the porch is stacked with boxes of books (which we might not unpack for a few weeks ...) but other than that the house is unpacked.  Matt and I have worked so hard this past week, so very hard.  But it feels good to be feeling settled.

On the other hand, the to-do list is still long.  There is a lot of infrastructure work to be done in a move like this - hooking up the washer and getting the gas line turned on and installing air conditioning units and .... Curtains need hemming and lamps need light bulbs and the food stash is getting a bit low and shelves need hanging and ....   

In chronological order and from my phone, here are some pictures of the move - 

Pre-chaos Thursday morning .... I left early, dropped the kids off with friends (praises) and drove to the new apartment.  My helper met me there and we went to work unpacking the kitchen boxes (they arrived Wednesday via a friend's van).  By the time the first truck showed up we were in great shape. 

The girls new beds already in place in their new bedroom - Matt MADE these beds... not from a kit folks, he designed it, ordered his wood, bought his bolts, and built these beds.  Two different friends shared their camaraderie and expertise and, well, the beds are so amazing.  Deserve a blog post of their own, and I'll write it too. 

While ayi and I unpacked the kitchen and admired the beds (still smelling of fresh lumber and only 48 hours old!) Matt and some friends and five workers loaded and unloaded trucks in the rain.  Blah. 

While the skies drizzled the house started to fill.

 

With friends at both ends (old house and new) work went quickly.  By late afternoon we were focusing on 

1) getting the kids rooms as close to ready as possible and 

2) Luke and John Paul - proofing the premises.  

[In the short time at our old house on moving day morning Luke shook pepper onto Isaac's bed and pulled a bedside table onto himself (both toddler and furniture were fine).  John Paul is curious and fast and smart.  A tricky combination with power tools and exacto knives and all the other stray dangers that crop up when moving.] 

Matt left to pick up the kids post-dinner and I worked like crazy prepping for their arrival. 

Totally worth it!  They were running through the house shouting and yelling and singing and jumping and "look at this...." and "what is that......" and "here's my .....".  I especially wanted John Paul to understand as much as possible and we'd talked about the move for weeks.  Such a delight to work so hard to make it look like HOME for him and watch him glow with excitement.  He's taken the move in stride. 

[just like their old room, only three times larger]

A treat to watch them enjoy this kitchen counter - originally a wall which we knocked out and turned into a long peninsula style counter top with bar stools. 

It's looking so much more put together even just a few days later.  The whole place feels so huge after living so long in such tight quarters.  Boy are we glad for a little more floor space and breathing room. 

We have so very much, oh Jesus, make us good stewards. 

They're in! (Peace!)

Yesterday Matt dropped by Peace Elementary to check news of new student listings.  And they were posted! 

This is the school gate, and that big board is full of names.... names of students who are on the transfer list.  Even though our new apartment is two blocks from Peace Elementary, Julianna and Lydia are considered transfer students since we are foreign passport holders - technically we have no "home district school". 

As Matt walked towards the postings he thought, "it'll take forever to scan that list of names". 

But it didn't.

See them? 

Isn't that so fun?

We have to go by Friday or Saturday to finish registration.  Convenient since we'll have just moved.  Also, arguably inconvenient, since we will have just moved.

The move is officially in progress.  We took out our bathtub and moved it to the new place Monday morning (yes, it's kind of like the proverbial kitchen sink - we are taking our tub with us.  I took pics and will try to post them soon - getting that tub out of our miniscule bathroom was a challenge and a half.  More on that later.)  

mess: big and deep and tall

The morning after I wrote the previous post I took three pictures. 

Before 9am.  9am y'all.  We're not lazy about our messes.  Best to get started early. 

Luke is not allowed in the kitchen, but he is allowed to get into these drawers, reaching from his perch right on the edge of our kitchen floor tiles.  Empty is better, that's his motto. 

I pick up that silverware several times a day, toss it right back in the drawer and get ready to do it again.  I find plastic bowls and plates and cups strewn through the house.  But this task makes him so happy and keeps him so busy ..... it's worth it. 

What better way to start the morning than a little couch creativity.  The long sofa is Isaac's truck, the smaller chairs became "houses" for the girls.  John Paul was originally a passenger in the back of the truck but later moved in with Lydia. 

All of my children have the same basic strategy when it comes to finding what they need.  Dump it all on the floor and root through the goods.  They'll dump an entire bin of plastic kitchen toys on the carpet and dig through the pile looking for one purple plate.  Effective.  But not efficient.

At various points in the day we all have to pitch in and clean. it. up.  The good news is my hard working play-ers are (usually) hard working clean-ers.  Usually. 

It's Sunday night and we're still limping along with hit-or-miss water supply (day 4).  Sometimes the faucet trickles, sometimes it's dry, sometimes I can run a load of laundry.  I'm grateful we're on the first floor, in our building units on the upper levels have not had a trickle of water for FOUR DAYS!!! They are hauling water from downstairs.  Whew. 

With moving day set for Thursday, we might be out of here before the water is back - consistently and flowing at full strength.  ugh. 

it is fun to have fun but you have to know how

[one of my favorite Dr. Seuss quotes]

We started the week with days of torrential rain.  The river by our house is usually 8 to 10 ft below the banks.  Monday night it was only 18 inches from overflowing.  It was huge and wide and powerful and rushing crazy scary fast.

The rain finally slacked off and the past two days have been mostly cloudy, sometimes misty.  Still a long ways from dry and sunny, but much better than early in the week. 

Unfortunately all the rain caused flooding.  The flooding caused a mud slide.  The mud slide damaged part of the water plant.

So, here we are... ironically without water.  Ha!  The water outage hasn't been too painful as they have been turning it back on sporadically throughout the day.  I realized the water was running early this morning and managed to wash one load of clothes.  It ran again briefly at lunch.  After dinner we bathed all the kids - the bath water was brown and yucky looking, but at least it was wet.  After three bath-less days, Matt and I agreed that brown water bathing would be an improvement over their current condition and all five had a brisk cold cleaning.

After two straight days stuck inside while torrential rains flooded the grounds I was praising the Lord our new apartment is significantly larger than our current place!  Ohmy there is no better way to feel the space crunch that sticking indoors all day every day!

But these sweet kiddos are so resilient, though we sorely missed the outdoor play, they had so much fun! 

So here's our photo spread of "it is fun to have fun but you have to know how".  Most of the pics are from today but maybe two are from earlier in the week.

Lydia couldn't "find her water bottle" so she got creative.  Filled a bowl with water, scooped it into a medicine cup and took small sips.  She did this for a few minutes, then scrambled back to find the others, thirst abated. 
p.s. She reached past perfectly usable water cups to grab this bowl.  Used a stool to get the medicine cup.
p.p.s.  Her water bottle was in plain sight on the bedroom floor. 

It's all about knowing how to have fun.

Luke laughing at his reflection in the oven door.
 

While taking the pic of Luke laughing I received an invite to a "show".  The girls did several dances (basically flitting and arm waving and humming some self-composed little tunes).  They even had lyrics to some of their hummed music.  And I quote, "I am a butterfly, flying now; I am her friend and she is my pal." 

Isaac loves a good fort/hut/castle  - this was his backdrop to the girls' show - Isaac on guard duty, you know: protecting the dancers, keeping out the riffraff (ahem, that would be Luke)

He keeps a bit of weaponry stored under that big blanket, so you best watch out, and stay on his good side. 

Later Lydia changed into her ballerina clothes and opened a fruit stand.  This required a lot of prep work (mostly making money for the cash register and creating her signage).

["FRUIT" spelled with an 'o' which she later tried to erase-edit into a 'u i'.] 

Isaac (always right in the thick of all the play-creating) was in charge of the fruit supply chain.  This involved an incredible amount of paper cutting, most of which ended up on the kitchen floor.

And there's nothing like some crafting at the kitchen table to pique Luke's interest.  He won't be floor level for long :)

John Paul is never far from the center of activity.  He's learning to make his own crayon creations and loves stickers. 

And he's solidly left-handed.  Just like his Grandmama!

Yes, it is definitely fun to have fun, but you have to know how. 

{stay tuned for a sequel post, title quoted from the same Seuss book: "And this mess is so big and so deep and so tall.  We cannot pick it up.  There is no way at all."  Having fun, creating fun..... it gets messy.  Messy.  Messy.  Big and Deep and Tall messy.} 

to pack or not to pack

that is the question.

We've got a tentative move date set for next Thursday.  When do I start packing?  Right now my plan is to not pack until about 48 hours before the moving trucks pull up and work like crazy. 

Here's my thinking:

1, I'm very efficient, high capacity, and like a challenge. 
2, I'm a fierce clutter reducer... packing is not going to involve much sorting into to piles of "go" or "not go" - for the most part, it's all going. 
3, Though our people may be many (7), our stuff is not.  Living in limited square footage means we don't have nearly as much stuff as you might think (see pt #2).
4, If I did pack up a box, I wouldn't have anywhere to put it.  Floor space is not plentiful around here, and a packed up box would end up as a coffee table.
5, We USE our stuff!  While I'm no stranger to paper plates, it seems a bit early to pack up our kitchen.
6, My helper!  Speaking of the kitchen, on "Packing Day" I'm going to let her work her magic and pack up the kitchen, she'll be back again on "Moving Day" to unpack.  ThankYouJesus!
7, We have help.  I can get someone(s) lined up to watch kiddos on the crazy packing day and we already have help for moving day.  I think this seems much better than me using 25% of my energy to try packing while also mothering the 5 and trying to keep them from packing!  
8, I'm fairly certain I've identified which two spots (apart from the kitchen) will need the most time to pack up - our biggest bookshelf and Matt's desk.  Matt's desk is .... well, it'll take a while.  The bookshelf will too, and I might work on that one night after the kids are snoozing.
9, Matt plans to take a load (or three) of fragile stuff in our van - I plan to send wall frames, a lot of the kitchen boxes and other breakables with him.  So, while it'll need to be packed well, I don't have to worry about entrusting breakables to day-laborers who have no vested interest in whether or not glass shatters (moving companies here are not known for their "stress free moves" or "satisfaction guarantees"). 

So that's why I'm not packing.  Still, most days I have this nagging suspicion that I need to be doing something to get ready for the move.  But instead I'm sitting on the carpet playing Rummy with the big kids while the little two nap (I won - again! - he he, but it won't be long til they beat me solid). 

But our packing supplies are already in house (friends who just moved unloaded their boxes on us and we've got them stacked behind our living room sofa - very classy, I know).  Guess who COULD NOT WAIT to get started on the packing?!?  The kiddos.  So I pulled out the packing tape and re-assembled one box for them to load.  They have packed and unpacked and re-packed and nearly wore the cardboard flaps right off that box with all their packing activity. 

They even decided to decorate their box.  (Yes, we keep it in the living room.  And the thing that sticks out to me most in this pic is the carpet - why is nothing strewn about on the carpet in this picture?  Perhaps they packed up all the stuff that they normally leave littered all over the carpet?!?)

[The dark-haired little girl is the daughter of one of Matt's co-teachers at the university.  She played at our house one morning during exam week - and helped with box decor, of course! ]

So early next week if the blog goes silent,  you'll know it's because I'm busy speed-packing our belongings :) 

I'm still not sure this is a very good idea, but it's what I'm rolling with for now, and the afternoons playing Rummy might just make it worth it, even if I do pull my hair out on Packing Day. 

smooth as silk?

A week or so ago Matt went to the phone/internet provider office to clarify that we were moving and settle our bill.  Matt and the office worker came up with a plan that ensured our internet and phone service would not end before our move date.

And then Friday morning we woke up to no phone or internet. 

48 hours and THREE DOLLARS later we're back in business. 

Seriously.

And speaking of moving, our new place is looking so great.  The kitchen is in and it is wonderful!  The walls are painted, the tiling is done, all the electrical and water lines are in the right spots.  We are still waiting on interior doors, installation of the light fixtures, toilets, bathroom sinks, a tub.  But at this rate we plan to move in about ten days!  woohoo!

Little sneak preview of the kitchen :)  I still can't believe it's mine.

We spent the day at a water park with some friends.  Well, with our friends plus a zillion other people.  It was reasonably not-very-crowded in the morning, but by about 3pm the crowds were "rush hour subway style hoards of people" and we decided to high tail it for the parking lot.  Tis the way things go in a mega-city on a hot weekend day.  Still super super fun.  Next time we'll try to go on a weekday. 

in the rain

We're having a rainy start to the week. 

Something about spending all day indoors drives everybody crazy.  Please tell me it's not just us. 

This guy has his own wear-able rain hat - the trash guy for our apartment complex.  He is such a sweet man, always greets us with a big grin.  Unfortunately, we can't communicate.  He is partially deaf (wears hearing aids, but maybe they don't help much?) so he can't hear me.  And his speech is deaf-affected local dialect, which means I can't understand 96% of what he says.

I grin and wave when I see him, and it seems that's all the communicating we really need to do to develop a friendship.  Yes, that's our big diapers box he's hauling away - although with my youngest approaching the 16 month mark I'm already counting down the months til we are done with diapers!  With a household of seven I'm sure we generate more than our "fair share" of trash, so I'm especially grateful for this man's smiles!

 

The huge grin strikes again for John Paul .....

but I did manage on picture with a more serious face.  Yes, I agree.  He could be a magazine model. 

Also, can you just see him walking down Franklin Street on his way to a football game in about 15 years?!?! 

And last, we all know what a bit of rain and 90% humidity will do to curly locks, don't we?!?!?

I often get asked if this is what Lydia's hair looked like when she was little.  And the answer is No.  Lydia's hair was curlier.  Believe it.

A hair cut is on the horizon for this curly topped little boy.  [Sniff, sniff.  At least I have my curly girl, and my own always-pony-tailed head too.  I do love the curls.  Funny to me that I hated my hair for almost two decades.  And now I love to have my little ones turn out curly headed!]