My life has finally settled down where I feel I can get consistent with my blog. My goal is to write weekly or whenever I have a great Mother Moment. So here's an update on us:
We are now living in my parents' basement waiting for our house to close and then we will be able to finish purchasing our new one. It's nice to be here and have my children be my only responsibility. I'm so used to being heavily involved with church callings, home school clubs/classes, piano students and my own education, that this is a big change. A nice, welcome one. And all the more sweet because I know it will be short. And that's good, too, because life is about serving and growing, not living in sweet little caves.
I am so glad we're a TJEd family. It has made the moving transition so much easier. As soon as the holiday break was over, we were able to pick up right where we left off without any worries about teachers, friends or new school routines. My children are doing really well with the move so far. I'm really proud of them.
We did start a chore chart here at Grandma's. Well, I really don't make charts anymore, but everyone picked an area of the house to be in charge of. I was getting a little worried that the perpetual vacation we've been on was going to be hard to come back from. Besides, it's good for them to feel that their contributions help everyone out.
Family update:
Elisabeth has her first loose tooth! She was so excited, she ran up to Dad yelling, "My loose is tooth! My loose is tooth!" She also got a Webkin for Christmas and spends a little time on the computer each day taking care of them.
Darci has been having a blast living so close to her cousin Rachael. They really have a lot of fun with each other. Rachael introduced Darci to her Didge (have no idea how to spell it), an electronic game console, and she really likes it.
Davy has been my snowMAN. It has snowed a ton since we've been here, and he is a trooper to go out and shovel. Sometimes several times a day.
Nicole and Bekah have had several opportunities to babysit their cousins. They do a great job and I think it's a big relief to their Aunts and Uncles to have babysitters that love, love, love their kids.
Dave works and I cook and learn with the kids. We also started a Biggest Loser contest with the family, so I have to stay away from the sweets which is a big challenge for me. A challenge I embrace, so watch out fellow competitors!
My sister started a book club, so this week I'm going to read EMMA by Jane Austen.
When David got a job three hours away two months ago, I knew I would miss him terribly, but I never would have predicted the tail-spin of immaturity I would let myself get sucked into. I thought I was a grown-up now. The ever more noticeable lines on my face tell me I am, but my actions lately are more like a three year old throwing a tantrum. Not a throw myself on the floor, scream and yell till I'm blue in the face kind of tantrum, the eat whatever I want and stay up all hours watching TV kind of tantrum. The kind of tantrum where I know I really ought to be organizing for moving or spending more time with the kids, or at least doing some dishes, but instead find myself zoned out in an endless online house hunting expedition. Have you ever been on one of these downward spirals? The less I do, the less I feel like doing. When the going got tough this time, I checked out. Or am I stating this too strongly? I still taught piano, a scholar class and my own children. Our budget is still on track and the house looked good enough that someone bought it. Christmas preparations are under control and the children don't smell bad. It's just that, personally, any down time I could find, I filled with meaninglessness instead of the important things, even some of the essential ones. I thought I was done with that bad habit. I guess I just wished I was, because when the going got tough, I bailed. But time is consistent and today, this moment, I can start being done with immaturity again.
