Look who's 5!

So I think I realize what my problem is....I can't blog quickly.  And the main reason is because I can't get my pictures off my phone the right size and that's why the last few posts with pics have small pictures.  And what fun is a post without a picture??  (Esp when you have such cute kids!)  So there ya have it...hopefully I can get my pics working soon....

Here's whats been happening in our world lately.....

I have one more day before the whirlwind weekend starts....Friday= preparation for butchering our chickens on Saturday and I think we are going to start on a few on Friday evening as well.  Then Saturday will be filled with butchering the rest.  Yeah, that will be, uh, fun?...I think.  I've never done it before so we'll see!  I'm pretty sure that my FIL (father-in-law) will be the ones in charge of the actual killing of the chicken bc Nathan and I have gotten a *tad* attached to them and just think they are so beautiful and fun to watch that it would be hard for us to do the actual head chop.  But once it's dead, then I'll be fine :)

Then Sunday we have church and last minute chicken prep.  Monday morning at 8am we pick up our Penske truck and start-a-loadin!  We've gotten the approval to move our stuff in the garage of our new place the day before closing so we don't have to move everything on Tuesday.  Then Tuesday we need to be out of here in the morning as the buyer has their final walk-thru and then they close!  And then we close on our new place!  And Tuesday night we will be sleeping in our new home :)  We are very excited.

We had a playdate last week at a new friend's house that we met from church.  They have 7 children, their oldest just turned 9 but when we were there, she was still 8 so their were 12 children 8 and under.  And guess what?  FIVE of the kids were FIVE years old!!  (Brayan turned 5 last week and Caedmon doesn't turn 6 til next week so I currently have two 5 yr olds, then she has a biological daughter who's 5 and two adopted boys who are 5!)  Aren't they cute though??

It was so nice to hang out with a mom who "gets it".  Not too many people can understand my world of lotsa littles so young and the craziness that goes along with raising them, homeschooling them, and having a husband who travels often with work....but she does!  

Our friends even made Brayan a cake since we were over there on his birthday!  So sweet :)

So these two are brothers....can you tell??  These are the pictures the boys colored in class at church.  Kinda creepy.

I just love this picture of Tiernan. He looks so grown up. This was taken during sports camp at church that he was a part of for 5 weeks (once a week).  He LOVED it!  He played soccer and came home each week with different moves to show us.  He also received a dvd with the songs on it that they sang each week.  WOW, does he love that thing.  Plays it ALL. the. time. 

We celebrated Brayan's birthday last week with donuts :)  No cake this year with the move but I don't think he minded.

I can't help but laugh

Do you think she has some attitude??  :)

pinterest

So I'd have to say that the reason now that I haven't posted for awhile is because all my 'extra' (yeah, right) time, I use to browse pinterest.  I. L.O.V.E. P.I.N.T.E.R.E.S.T.  period.  I actually only really love the DIY and home decor section.  Seriously get SO many awesome ideas and plans from there and things I would have never even thought about but can make my life easier!!  Anything that can make my life easier, I am ALL for!  So, yeah, I blame pinterest.

Well, it was Nathan's first day back at work today after having over 3 weeks off at home with us.  WOW, was that nice!  We love having dad home, dad loves being home, but I am absolutely, seriously, so incredibly     NOT ambitious when he's home.  I have no idea why I'm not motivated to do ANYTHING when he's around, but that's just the way it is.  It's seriously strange.  I'll have all these plans for the day, cooking, cleaning, laundry...and if he comes home...stop...everything just comes to a halt.  I don't even want to make meals.  It's the craziest thing.  What do I do instead?  I just wanna talk to him.  Do what he's doing.  I know, I know....mushy, mushy...but it's true.  I'd rather run around the yard with him chasing grasshoppers for the chickens than make supper for the family.  Which is why there were (several) days where we had oatmeal or toast for supper.  Ah, who needs to eat anyway ;)

So a teeny-weeny-itsy-bitsy part of me is glad he's back to work so I can be back to my normal self :)  We were actually talking last night on how it's going to be nice to have meals again. And I said 'hey now, I've got that garage half full with all our stuff to move and you didn't help at all'...and he goes 'yeah, and if I wasn't here, it'd be full!'  So he knows how it is too :)  But I just love 'em so much that nothing else really seems to matter when he's home.....which I guess can be a bad thing when you've got 5 kids....but whatever :)

Chickens, speaking of chickens, are doing well, growing like they should be.  And in 13 days and counting, we'll be butchering those bad boys!  That will make for an interesting day....well, weekend for that matter.  I'll have to have everything packed on Saturday since Sunday will be butchering day.  How long will it take to butcher 67 chickens?  I have no idea.  So it might take all day.  So then Monday we load the moving truck.  Tuesday we close on this house and then close on our new house.  Then drive to the new place, unload the moving truck and return it on Wednesday!  whew!

We are looking forward to our next chapter in life but a little nervous about having such close neighbors.  My kids might have to learn a whole new tone....quiet.  Although they've mostly known rentals their whole lives so they might surprise me, ya never know.

We went to have lunch at our pastor's house this past Sunday.  That was so much fun!  We met another couple there who are pregnant with their first baby.  After seeing our brood, they might not have any more.  Ha!  Just kidding.  They want lots of littles too so hopefully we don't change their mind. :)  She is actually coming over in the morning to hang out in our crazy house for a couple hours so we can get to know each other more.  How fun!

One thing with this move has been that Nathan has had to sell all his weight equipment and weights :(  There's been a few times along the years where he has said that he'll just sell his weights but I never let him because I know they meant so much to him.  i mean, when I married Nathan, I pretty much married his weight equipment too.  But leaving 'the farm' and moving into a smaller house in a development with a small backyard and only a 2 stall garage leaves no room for a whole weight room of stuff that took up a full third stall.  It's been frustrating though bc weight equipment new is so expensive but used it's worth almost nothing.  Which is weird but most people must just want to buy new?  So anyway, everyone wanted lots for little and since we want to be done with it, those people got a steal of a deal!  But on the bright side, we have so much room in our garage I can hardly believe it! Too bad we won't be around to enjoy all our new-found space.

Well, I'm off to pinterest, I mean, bed.  Nathan's been sleeping for awhile and it's only 9:15.  He has a 2 hr drive to work and he starts at 7 so he's gotta be up bright and early.  The kids finally quite fighting with each other I think so now they are quiet too.  My kids are crazy.  They all have beds (obviously, right) but they ALL want to sleep on the floor!  Still!  I mean, yes, some of them have grown up sleeping on blankets on the floor depending on which rental we were in but seriously kids...get off the floor!...or I'm selling your beds...less stuff in here! :)

Flippy

In order for me to keep up with everything that has been going on with us, I will be bullet pointing items until I can keep up daily...which might be awhile!  :)

Jonathan and Becky have moved out.  They went to live with her parents so we can get things packed up here.  Everything has been going well with the sale of the house so far, and we plan to close on sept 4!

We have also put in an offer, which was accepted, on a new home for us!  We will be moving just a few mins away, across the street from a golf course.  We will be downsizing considerably, the most noticable is the land, or lack thereof.  We will be in a development with neighbors every close on both sides of us.  We have no back yard neighbors, which is a blessing, but it might take some time for us to get used to being so close to others.  We feel that the size of the home and lot is more managable and will allow Nathan to take any job that he can find back home so he can focus on the family instead of the possibility of him being on the road. 

We are excited for our change and are ready to put down some roots.  I have been completely absorbed with getting DIY projects for the new house to make it our own.  That site has everything!!

Nathan is currently laid off from the Chicago job!  Yay!  He came home a couple weeks ago bc he didn't want to go on storm work on the East coast which is where his crew was going so he was just going to come home until they came back from Chicago and then he'd go back but they never ended up going and instead his foreman calls him a few days later and said that they were laying him off.  The Lord totally had that planned bc Nathan was going to fly home but instead it didn't work out so he decided to load up all his stuff in his car "just in case" and it turned out he didn't have to go back!

He had been staying with a couple from church in Des Plaines. They were so kind for letting Nathan stay with them.  I would wonder some nights why in the world nathan wasn't calling yet, only to find out he was up chit-chatting with them or playing games til late!  Glad he enjoyed his time and super nice for me to know he was with a couple from church that treated him kindly.  Thank you so much Paul and Becky!!

So lately we've been trying to pack up one box at a time....although I'm not too good packing with so much time!!  I'm used to moving with a couple days notice, not a month!  There's so much that can't be done til last minute anyway that packing ahead of time is almost more work!

Jaeger's almost 6 months old!  Can ya believe it?!  He'll be my only baby that hasn't been sitting, or even close to, by 6 months.  He just folds right over when we sit him up :)  Still workin' on that. 

Ariella cracks us up everyday.  Her antics and conversations are so hilarious,  Today we had this conversation....

Ariella: "Mom, what's Jaeger's name gunna be when he grows up?"
Me: slightly confused..."Uh, Jaeger."
Ariella: "STILL Jaeger?!?"
Me: "Yes. What do you think your name is going to be when you grow up?"
Ariella: "Flippy."

Hahaha.  This girl is so funny.

Alma (my 17 yr old niece) and Faith (4) came to spend the night tonight.  She was on her way back to her grandparents from another aunt and uncles house and got lost so since she knew the way here, she came over!  So Alma, Nathan and I are watching a documentary on Netflix.

The chickens are growing!!  Which is exaclty what we want them to do since we need to butcher about 2 weeks before we would have liked to.  Now THAT will be an interesting day!  You'll hafta wait for that post. haha.  Sept 1 is butchering day.  I'll try not to make you wait too long after that :)

Well, that's all for now.  I think they are getting sick of the clicking of the keyboard....and I want ice cream with strawberries...

Sorry, Leah :)

So my sister won't be happy with me bc I promised a new post tonight but it's 10:30 and the kids (finally) just got to bed a few mins ago and now I hafta rack my brain about the pros and cons about buying our new house.  The inspection was today and now we have 3 days to decide...so my mind is occupied tonight!  As of right now I have no plans tomorrow so I'll try with all my might to get the post done tomorrow.  Sorry, Leah, you'll have to wait until tomorrow :)

Recap--again!

July 1- Family moves in!  Nathan's youngest brother Jonathan, and his family of 7 moved in with us!  They are moving back to MN after being in Texas for 10 years!  They are in transition and don't have a house yet, so are staying with us until they find a place of their own.  They have 5 children as well....a just-turned 8 yrd old, 6, 4, 2 and their almost-adopted 17 yr old.  So 9 of the children living in our house are 8 and under!  Thank goodness Alma (17) can help out!  They've set up shop in our lower level and everything seems to be going well so far, except the few arguments between kids.

They also brought their 2 dogs, including a great dane!  Yeah, he's huge....pretty much a small horse!

Nathan is back on the road in Chicago, driving home on weekends when he can.  He's trying to find work around home so he can move back asap.  Everyone misses him and he can't stand to be away.

July 13th--Chickens come!!  I went to the post office at 5:45am to pick up our box of chicks!  We wanted 60 chickens, half layers and half broilers.  Jonathan and Becky also wanted some.  I had a couple more friends order and few as well which they came and go so now we have about 120 chickens between the two of us.  They are living in our garage in a box for now but as soon as their chicken tractor is ready, out they will go!  It's been super fun for the kids to watch the chicks but the kittens have even been more fun!  Yes, kittens!!

So I went to my friends house after picking up the chicks at the post office to look at her kittens and maybe bring two home to entertain the kids for awhile.  Well, I came home with SIX!  Yeah...6 kitties on my lap on the way home...yikes!  They have been great for the kids and almost enough for each kid to have one but when Nathan came home this last weekend, he said enough is enough and they need to go back to their original home.  Just too many crazy things around here as it is!

Dipping the chickens beak in water so they drink something right away.

Ariella rocking as she watches her kittens :)

Another exciting thing is that we got an offer on our house!!  Originally they had low-balled us, to which we countered at a price that our realor felt comfortable with, but still lower than what we hoped for.  The buyer denied it and came back with a counter only 5k higher than the first one.  We said no way.  A day later they came back and upped it another 5k, to which we still said no because we still would be losing way too much money to justify moving.  We thought and prayed a lot and just resolved to stay put.  I told our realtor to take it off the market.  We would stay here.  He told the buyer we were no longer interested in selling.  They called back and offered 15k more than their previous offer....now we were getting somewhere!  But we also had to decide if we really wanted to sell.

Of course we don't *really* want to sell, but if Nathan ever wants to come home and get a "normal" job, we wanted to have a financial freedom to do so....so the house hadda go.  We signed the rest of the papers today and closing will be Sept 4th!!  But please don't ask where we are going, as we have NO idea!  The Lord will have to show us that before Sept 4 :)  We could rent, buy, be back on the road??...no clue.  Guess you will just have to wait and see! :)

The dramatic exit

I hardly have enough energy to type this right now, but I am...because I need to....and I want to.  So much has been going on that I know I will forget if I don't get in down in the blog....

So two days before we were going to leave Chicago (tuesday), Brayan gets sick.  We thought it was because he ate a lot of junk over at a picnic earlier in the day and if anyone was to get sick because of eating too much junk, it would be Brayan.  He continued to throw up throughout the evening...which is always fabulous when you live in a hotel with no washer near by.  Thankfully he's old enough to run to the bathroom. 

The next morning, everyone seemed fine and Brayan was doing much better.  Whew!  That was a close one!...or so I thought....

So that next day (wednesday), I was busy, busy packing up all our stuff because the kids and I would be leaving for home in the morning and Nathan would follow after work.  We were also expecting company to come over and bring us dinner.  A sweet lady that we met at the last birthday party we attended (who asked for our phone number at church), called us on tuesday and asked if she could bring us pizza on wed evening and spend some time with the kids.  Sure!  I'm not about to turn down a provided supper, especially when I'm busy packing!

So she came around 5:30 with pizza and drinks.  Not 5 minutes after she got here, Ariella was complaining that her tummy hurt.  Uh oh....  Grab the bucket!  Yep...Ariella's sick.  I apologize to the lady (whom I've only met one other time and who doesn't have children herself) that she had to see that.  As I'm getting Ariella cleaned up....Caedmon whines "Mommy....".  Yep...Caedmon's sick.  I can't believe what's happening...the night before we leave and in front of a sweet lady we've only met once.  uuuuuggggghhhhh.....

I called Nathan and asked if he was almost home.  I needed backup.  He was.  So he finally arrived, we finished eating, and Therese made the kids some more oragami things.  It was time for her to leave and I needed to go with her to pick up Nathan's car from the shop.  Right as I was getting my purse to leave, I looked over at Tiernan and he was standing with his hand over his mouth!  Oh no!!!  Grab the bucket!!  Ugh...3 kids throwing up at the same time...in the hotel.  By the time I got back, no one was better and Nathan was begging for help. 

We still needed to start loading the van to get it ready for the morning.  As we were getting everything loaded, I told Nathan I was starting not to feel well.  He just says "Oh, you're fine.  You've just been around sick kids today."  I figured he was right.  I asked him to load up the things for me but he said he was tired from the day and made me do it anyway...at least I made him help a little.

We finally crawled in bed for the night and for me that lasted about 2 minutes until I was up at 10:30 in the bathroom...yes...throwing up too!!  I continued to be sick for the w.h.o.l.e. night but was SO thankful that Jaeger was a complete saint that slept thru the night, whom I only fed once just a little at about 3:30 so he's sleep longer and he did! 

Nathan got up about 5:45am for work and I told him that I thought we'd have to stay another day because I wasn't sure how I was going to drive 8 hours while sick with sick kids.  He started getting dressed and realized himself that he wasn't feeling well.  Yep, you know what happened.  He's sick too.  He called into work and crawled back into bed.  A couple hours later, I started to feel better and the kids seemed okay enough to travel.  Nathan wasn't doing so hot, but he was ready to get out of the hotel.  We decided to load up the last few things and head out! 

It was so nice to be able to travel together instead of at seperate times....makes for breaks and peace of mind better.  We stopped twice, instead of just once, for this trip...mostly because everyone was drinking their share of fluids, which was encouraged.

Once we got into MN, it took us forever to drive around the cities as the main road was one lane.  It was so hard to be that close to home, yet taking such a long time!  We FINALLY pulled in after about 9 hours and we were SO glad to be home!!

And a lot would be changing again in another couple days with our company arriving....this is when it starts getting crazy.... :)