Life is moving right along...

I'm really bad at posting here lately.  I know that so many of us don't really blog much these days, but I do like to update from time to time as it's been a decent little family journal over the years.

Life here in Texas has been really good so far.  The winter weather is a lot warmer than the winters in Nebraska (though I am finding myself missing snow...weird but true). I miss our neighbors.  I'm sure that our neighbors here are awesome and wonderful but we have really only waved and said brief hellos so far.  I need to change that.  One of our neighbors did stop by on New Years Eve and gave us a bag of goodies and introduced herself.  I loved that she did that and now when I see her I can holler, "Hi Irene!" instead of just "Hi!"

The kids love school.  This school is really wonderful and their teachers are amazing.  Cadence actually has homework now which, while annoying, has been very good for her.  She has a much better appreciation of her own time as well as other peoples time.  Rory is reading.  It's choppy and she gets impatient when she does read, but it's coming along.  She adores her teacher.  I do too.  She has been teaching Kinder for 25 years I think she said.  Yep the same grade for all those years.  She loves her job and it totally shows.  The school has also been taking Rory's dietary needs seriously.  I had one meeting with the woman in charge of food preparation, went through the school lunches with her and what Rory could or could not have and by the next day every single person working the lunch line not only recognized her, but gently reminded her when something had soy in it so she wouldn't chose it for lunch.  Rory has started to grow out of the milk intolerance and can have cheese and yogurt now with out trouble, but soy still causes issues. I was truly impressed with how quickly the school did it's best to meet her needs even though they aren't life threatening.

Church has been wonderful.  It's probably the first time we have been in a ward where we didn't get callings within two weeks of moving in, which has been nice.  I still don't know very many people, but it has been awesome to attend the adult classes the last couple of months.

I miss Nebraska.  I miss all the people we left behind (thank you internet for keeping us connected).  I miss the small town feel that we had there.  I hate starting over.  We were so blessed in Bellevue.  We had ready friends; next door and at church and even school.  We found wonderful people to teach our children in their extracurricular activities and they became our friends too.  I miss that living here, in this huge city with all it's huge city drawbacks, but I can't over look all the good things about living a big city either.  We do have friends here (thank heavens for them or things would be pretty lonely), but I'm sure even they agree starting over stinks.

I'm glad that 2014 is over.  Odd to say, but true.  It was a really exhausting year.  I'm thankful for all the new opportunity that is open to us now, but getting here was long and not something I'm keen on doing again. Brady was gone for so much of the year and that was harder on me than I thought it would be.  I am forever amazed by my kids and their ready adaptability to every situation our life seems to throw at us.  They are truly awesome kids and I'm so thankful that the Lord sent them to us.  I am thankful that all the training is over though so we can all be together again.

I'm looking forward to 2015.  It's going to be a good year I think.

Daily Family Scripture Study

Okay so I said I would blog about this once I got a good plan.  I'm not sure it's a good plan, but it's working so here I am to tell you all about it.

To start, daily family scripture study has not been a strong point for us.  Sad but true.  I have made several attempts over the last couple of years to change that, but because our kids are so young it's stupid hard to keep everyone on track.  We got to the point where it was somewhat like General Conference: get the kids all in one room, keep them somewhat occupied with church based/family based activity and hope that some of the information was sinking in to their little heads.  Unlike Conference it had to happen daily and it was stressful and exhausting and ended up with bad feelings all around.

I have been praying for a way to do this with the kids that will at least keep their interest for more than 10 minutes.  I had a half formed idea that instead of just reading straight from the scriptures and trying to explain after reading that I would pick individuals or stories from the scriptures to talk about and then just read the key scriptures involved.  That seemed crazy daunting to me to organize and do every single day and I did reach out for story ideas on Facebook (which so many of you supplied and I'm so glad you did, thank you!).

Then I remembered something very important.  This work had already been done for me and was available on LDS.org. I know some of you remember the Book of Mormon Stories book from childhood.  Had all the pictures with explanations and then several scriptures to read about the stories.  I got online and sure enough, there was the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants all simplified into stories with recommended scriptures for me. You can click each of the book links above to view the manuals online. 

I pulled a generic 2015 calendar from the internet and gave each day a lesson from the manuals starting with the Old Testament. I left Monday's out because we do Family Home Evening that night and I know that for us doubling up would be impossible (especially while Brady is currently working evenings so I am on my own for quite a bit of this). Once I used up all the lessons from all four books I was near mid-October.  I'm thinking I'll have to come up with something else a that point, or start over from the beginning with the lessons and maybe have Cadence and Rory do some of the scripture finding work. I had the thought that you don't have to go through each book in order like we are doing either.  You could mix it up a bit and jump around. 

To plan the actual lessons/reading I usually pull up the lesson on my computer and go through it all and decide which scriptures to use.  Sometimes the scriptures chosen are repeated more than once in the lesson and I know that would bug my kids to be reading the same scripture over and over.  So I pick and choose so we aren't being repetitive and sometimes add some other ones that I liked better.  I usually put everything in order in a document on my computer and print it out, including the scriptures in larger print so I can have Rory try and read some of the shorter ones.

I use my print out to keep us on track, and the last couple of nights I used my iPad while we did the reading so that my two little ones could see the pictures involved from the lesson.  Cadence and Rory are always completely engrossed in our reading.  Owen and Beckah seem to zone in and out, but they are 2 and 3 and they are doing so much better then they every have before.  It's also going pretty fast (20 minutes max) so no one is getting bored or frustrated.

All in all I'm happy with what I've come up with and super thankful that most of the work has been done for me!

We made it to Texas...

To tell this story properly I have to go back to before we moved.  

 As many of you know we lived in military housing just outside of base.  It was fine for our needs at the time and honestly moving is such a pain in the butt that it would have taken a really awesome dream house to get me out of there.  

Base housing had all kinds of issues though.  We couldn't paint.  The house was brand new when we moved in to it back in 2010.  So we had primed walls, but not painted walls.  White primer walls.  With two, then three, then four little children.  Add in the cheapest carpet possible in that pale tan.  You can't keep that carpet clean and looking new.  It's not meant to last more than a year at most.  Housing wants us to keep it looking new for at least seven years.  No.  I'm not joking. Not joking at all.  There was no way to keep the walls clean.  It was drywall with texture and primer.  

Nightmare.  

But it was our home.  I did my best.  We had four and a half really good years in that house.  It's the longest we have lived in one home in our entire marriage.  

Then the military decided we would move to Texas.  We put in our notice and got our list of what had to be done to move out.  They wanted the place to look like new.  No really.  Like new.  

They did a pre-inspection and told us that the carpet downstairs was some of the worst they have seen.  Excessive wear and tear.   The walls were filthy (not really, but well you could tell we had been living there and that there wasn't real paint on the walls).  There were some holes in a few doors (they said they would just replace the doors at $90 a door, at our expense naturally).  They wanted the yard spotless.  The garage floor spotless.  The appliances spotless.  You get the picture.  

So.  I do what us women do.  After the movers packed all our stuff I cleaned.  I had friends come help me clean (and let me tell you I have some of the most wonderful friends in the world).  And then my mom arrived and the cleaning kicked into high gear, because my mom is seriously Queen Amazing of Totally Awesome Amazing-ville. No seriously.  I don't kid about her amazing-ness.  Anyone who knows her will back me up.  

Once the house was empty my friends Beth and Nicole came over and helped my mom and me wrap things up.  I have to say that by midnight we had that house looking amazing and as close to new as it was every going to be without being, well, new.  

I need to add that my amazing husband took care of the carpets.  We were told they would have to replace them unless their carpet specialist said he could save what we had.  Brady busted out our carpet cleaner and got busy.  Their carpet specialist told us they looked really good.  Minor fixes needed.  Go Brady.  I figure he saved us easily $300. 

At final inspection we got double lucky.  They inspector was late because he had just come from a really, really bad final inspection.  He said if it was up to him he would just burn it down and start over.  Eeek!  By comparison our house looked awesome.  Even better my mom patched the doors and our inspector ended up having to ask if his notes were wrong and didn't we have holes in the doors?  He couldn't find the patches so he told us that was good enough for him.  

In the end we owed a measly $170ish (which is really really good considering a cleaning crew would have charged us close to $400 to guarantee passing).  I was so very happy.  We handed over our keys and closed the door on the Nebraska phase of our military adventure.  

Two long days of driving later we arrived in Texas.  Let me just say that drivers in Texas are some of the most insane drivers I have ever encountered.  Off the road they are friendly and generous.  Once they get behind the wheel they are like the nasty, snarling love child of California drivers and New York Cabbies.  After living in laid back and easy going Nebraska for so long, it was a shock and quite terrifying driving the roads of Texas.  Thankfully I grew up driving the roads of Las Vegas.  I have rebounded quickly.   

Previous to moving down south-er, we had put in an application and lots of monies on a home rental in the hopes that we would be able to move in ASAP.  We had been here two days without hearing a peep from either our Realtor or the management company handling the rental. We were told it would take, maximum, two days to process our application and either approve us or not.  By our second day here they had been "processing" us for almost a week. Considering Brady has one of the highest security clearances you can get with the government we were pretty sure we weren't the problem.  After finally getting an email back from our Realtor (who didn't know what was up) we called the management company and talked with them.  Apparently we were approved but for some reason the home owner had some legal issues to clear up before we could move in to the house.  

Why was the house listed for rent if we couldn't actually rent it yet?  Good question.  We still don't know what was going on, but our Realtor convinced us to give them another day.  So we did. We prayed a lot.  The next day we heard nothing from either our Realtor or the management company.  By that evening we were more than a little annoyed.  The next morning I started looking up more rentals on my phone.  It sucks looking up stuff like that on your phone even with good Wifi. By late morning, after attempting to talk with our Realtor with no luck, we contacted the management company and told them we were withdrawing our application and wanted our money back.  We couldn't wait for them to get their crap together.  We needed to get the kids back in school and be out of limbo.  Temporary housing at Lackland had given us a room with a pull out bed, kitchen, bathroom and one queen bed that was supposed to house all six of us.  Thank the heavens my mom was traveling with us and she got a really good room at a hotel and the girls all stayed with her.  Not ideal.  We had been living that way for a week.  

Part of being an adult is figuring out how to do really annoying things.  Things like turn your money orders written out to someone else back into your money.  It can be done.  It's annoying and thank heavens we were in San Antonio where there is an actual physical branch of our bank or we would have had a much more difficult time of things. 

After figuring that part out Brady and I found a McDonalds (free wifi and a play place for Owen) and started making calls.  One of the houses on our list was still available.  In fact we could drive to their offices and apply right there, pay the application fee with our debit card and go see the house if we wanted.  After double checking that the schools were good (better than good actually, the elementary is one of the best rated in the city) we drove out to their office.  They were friendly and very helpful.  Let us use a computer to fill out applications, paid the fee and we followed one of their Reps out to the house.  

We drove up to see this...

It's an older home.  As old as I am actually. It was remodeled in the 1990s.  It's not terribly big.  Only about 2100 sf but the space is well used.  The back yard is huge with mature trees.  

As we walked through the house the Rep told us that we had already been approved (we filled out an application and were approved within 30 minutes of filling it out) and that if we liked the house we could sign a lease the next day (Friday) and move in on Monday.  

It was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  At that point we had been homeless for almost two weeks, the kids had been out of school for a week, and we had been getting no help from our Realtor at all. After spending almost three weeks on trying to get that first house, playing phone tag with our Realtor and all but worrying myself into an early grave, Brady and I had accomplished in one day what our Realtor said would take at least a week more.  I know that the Lord was helping us.  I know there was no way that we could have found this house, perfect for our needs, with an amazing school for the kids, in what is turning out to be an awesome ward at church without his help. 

So we moved in on Monday the 10th of November.  Our shipment of household goods arrived on the 13th and as of the 21st we are unpacked and put away.  Somethings are still a little chaotic as we don't have the same space we had before, but I think we are coping nicely.  Thanks to my super amazing mom we built some desks to suit our computer needs and got some beds for everyone.  

As a quick detour, I need to say a very public thank you to my mom.  While we probably could have done a lot of this on our own, she made everything easier.  My parents generosity really knows no bounds and I am so thankful that I am their daughter.  I am thankful for the monetary help they give (they spoil us honestly) but even more than that I am so thankful for the time and physical help they give us.  My mom can do anything and has taught me that I can really do anything I put my mind to, and my dad is always will to help or just hold down the fort while my mom spends sometimes weeks helping us get from point A to point B.  

And a big thank you to my sister Cecily and her son Tyson.  I know life was really not cool without Grandma in the house, but thank you for letting us have her as long as we needed her.  :) 

Now some pictures of our house.  Please ignore any messes as things are still a bit up in the air in some rooms!  

This first one is the view from the front door. There is a  coat closet to the immediate right (not in the picture) and stairs to the left.  We have a fire place and that is where we decided to mount the TV.  Brady's desk (that he built big enough to house the kids computer as well) is also to the right.  

Then there is most of the living room and the back door. 

It's all one big great room technically.  

Those empty shelves above the piano will actually stay empty.  We put them up for the cats (as they prefer heights) and they use them daily and sleep up in that corner above the book shelf often. 

The view into my kitchen.  Not very big, but I actually have better counter space here than I did back in our last house.  

Then we have the powder room and the door to the pantry and garage. 

Good sized pantry with deep shelves that the cats are always dying to get into.

The only real negative about the house (and it's not much of one) is that the laundry is in the garage.  It's got it's own little nook though and it's not that big of a deal in the long run.  

And here is a picture of the tree swing my mom picked up for the kids.  She also bought us a pick nick table.  

A view down the stairs...

Owen and Cadence's room with the new bunk bed. 

Rory and Beckah's room with their new bunk bed. 

The kids bathroom upstairs. 

The new toy room with our new futon/couch (saves us so much room and turns into a bed!  So much win!). 

A view from the futon in the toy room.  The kids WiiU and DVD player are in the closet (we took off all the doors to the closets as they were super old.  Gave us lots of space. 

And the master bedroom where my computer, sewing stuff, and all the random crap that doesn't have homes yet live.  

And the master bathroom is through that door with the walk in closet to the left.  

And that's the tour!  Nothing special, but I'm really happy with it.  Having a house and the kids in school again has been a big part in making Texas feel like home.  

The kids are loving their school.  I'm always so impressed by how well they accept new things.  Especially big things like moving in the middle of the school year to a new state.  They have looked at it as an adventure.  They were excited about a new school.  No fear at all from them.  They just jumped right in and their teachers are loving them.  Cadence took a very hard, major test for the district her second day of school and still managed to score in the top 10% of her class.  Rory is reading and now that she has figured it out she is way ahead of her classmates and so proud of herself.  

I'm happy to say that so far Texas is suiting us.  Now if I could just get my sense of direction working again, life will be just about perfect.  

The first day is always the worst...

For me anyway.

Brady left for training several states away this morning.  I didn't sleep well last night, dreading actually having to get up and say good bye.

Yesterday was hard.  It went by much to fast.  I made sure that all of Brady's clothes were clean and helped him pack.  I made one of his favorite meals for dinner.  He gave us all blessings.  Then we got kids ready for bed and Brady and I spent a quiet night together before going to bed early.  Brady fell asleep quickly, just like he always does. I stared at the ceiling for a while, then Owen woke up and I went and stared at Owen's ceiling for a while.  Eventually I fell asleep.  Then all too soon my alarm went off and I had to get up.  I had to get up so we could say good bye.  

I got all the kids up, even Owen.  We got to say a prayer together.  I made them sit long enough to get a picture.  

And then he was on his way. 

I did good for a few hours.  I do better when I can stay busy.  When I drove Rory to school I felt that tight, smothering feeling in my chest and the sore in my throat that comes when you are trying not to cry.  To much time to just think when I drive.  

The hardest part about the day is the weird emptiness of the house.  It's a Monday, so things are just as busy as any other week day.  In fact there really isn't anything different except that we actually saw Brady before he left.  On the normal days we don't see him in the morning because he leaves before we get up.  Today, though, he won't be coming back like normal.  We won't hear the garage and the kids won't rush to the door yelling "Daddy! Daddy!"  And the house already knows it because despite there being five people still here, it feels empty. Hollow. Like our heart is missing.

It's amazing the difference one person can make.  

Dinner will be hard.  The littles will ask over and over where Daddy is and I will remind them again that he went to school.  It will be painful every time they ask but after a while they will stop asking and that will be just as painful.

Skype will be our highlight.  Seeing dad is always the highlight of any day.   

Nighttime is by far the hardest.  Once the kids are in bed and it's just me.  I may have full control of the TV, but it just isn't the same without Brady.  We could go a whole evening peacefully without saying a word to each other, but we were together. At least this time I can text whenever I feel like it and we are even in the same timezone.  

I probably won't make his side of the bed for a few days.  Because then I can pretend he just got up and went to work like normal.  Don't worry, I will get over it.  My natural "keep it tidy" instincts won't tolerate it for very long.  

I'll miss tripping over his boots in the bathroom, and finding his socks all over the house.  

But after today it won't seem so bad. After this week things will feel as normal as they can be without our favorite person in the house. 

In all honesty, Brady has it the hardest.  He has to go stay in a strange room for 6 months, eat cafeteria food, and deal with long quiet nights.  Quiet is only nice for a little while. Especially when you are used to the noise of four kids surrounding you every night.  After a while the quiet just reminds you of what you are missing. At least I have the noise, the mess, and the crazy.  I couldn't be Brady.  He is braver than I am and I am thankful for this sacrifice he is making so that we can have a better future. 

Only 6ish months to go!  

New year new blog!

Our old blog has exceeded it's max picture limit so I decided to start an new one this year!  You can still see our old at the link on the side bar.  :o)  

We hope that the new year is finding you all healthy and happy!  We had a pretty good year last year and are looking forward to 2014!  

The kids are doing so well!  We have had our fair share of illness the last month or so, but despite all that everyone is thriving.  

Cadence is exceeding all expectations in school.  She she is several grades ahead in all subjects but especially in reading and math.  Not only that but she is only growing more responsible, compassionate and kind as she grows.  She has had some trouble adjusting to the demands of her friends this year.  Everyone wants to claim her as their BEST friend and there have been fights about it.  Cadence doesn't understand why they can't all be best friends and her sweet teacher is trying to help all the kids find a balance.  I have finally convinced Cadence that she isn't responsible for making all her friends happy and that if someone is being mean she can choose not play with them for a while.  That has made things better on the play ground.  She is also doing very well in her piano lessons and likes her new teacher.  

Rory is loving preschool!  She is a little social butterfly and makes friends easily.  She is learning new things very quickly as well.  She was having trouble with numbers and letters before she started, but now has no trouble at all.  She loves her teachers and the school has been so wonderful for her.  She is growing up too fast and I'm having a hard time with the realization that she isn't a little girl anymore.  She is doing very well in Gymnastics this year.  Her cartwheel is actually looking like a cartwheel these days and she picking tricks on the bar and vault with alarming speed.  She isn't afraid of anything these days and it's wonderful to watch her blossom. 

Beckah.  My sweet, stubborn, beautiful Beckah.  She is heading in the horrific three's full force.  She has made if very clear that she is her own person and will make her own choices even if they are to her own detriment.  She can be as obstinate as she is loving.  She is full of fire and adventure.  She started Gymnastics in October and is loving it.  She is by far my most physical child and the guided activity has been so good for her. She looks forward to it every week.  She wants to be completely independent and won't take no for an answer these days, but she wants to go with me everywhere at the same time.  She is often my shopping buddy and I love the chance to spend alone time with her and enjoy her extremely entertaining conversations. 

Owen will be 18 months on the 11th.  He runs now, and is forever trying to keep up with Beckah.  He is 100% boy despite being surrounded by girls all the time.  He loves trucks and cars and bugs and dinosaurs.  He loves to climb and jump and make huge messes.  His speech is coming along nicely these days.  He calls both Brady and I 'daddy' and refuses to say mommy even though he can.  He loves to dance and put on shoes.  He's quickly catching up to Beckah in height and weight and I was asked for the first time last month if they were twins.  He loves the word 'no' and can throw the best temper tantrums I have ever seen.  He is also me snuggle buddy and adores his Dad more than anything in the world.  

Brady is getting ready to retrain into a new career field with the Air Force.  He is excited for the change and is looking forward to the challenges it will bring.  We aren't looking forward to him leaving in a couple months for training, but are excited for him and this new opportunity.  Other than that he has been keeping himself busy with the Deacons at church, our own kids, games both on the computer and some new board games, watching the Rebels play ball.  

I have been busy with our crazy brood.  I still get to serve in the Nursery at church.  I love those kids so much and there really isn't a better calling in the world than Nursery.  I am also still the Ward Blood Drive Specialist, which has been hard with the Nursery calling, but I am still managing to get it done.  The Lord always seems to help me out when I need it and allows me to fulfill both callings.  I'm finally getting back into photography and taking pictures of the kids now that I have a computer again.  I missed it more than I thought I did.  

We added a new kitten to our family in December.  Nimbus is so much fun and he and Bullseye get along famously.  The girls love him and he LOVES me which has been a nice change from all our Brady loving animals.  

All in all last year was a good one and we are looking forward to what 2014 brings!