Not so warm homecoming.

We had a very long drive home after Christmas and pulled into the driveway at 8 PM to find out the house did not have electricity.  We were the only house around that didn't have power.  In this house that also means no water since we have a well, and no heat.  My thoughts of doing some laundry and running to the store for food ended quickly.

The house never got too cold, the coldest it got was 54 degrees, so we bundled up and called the power company.  The guy who showed up couldn't help and said a different crew would be by later.  Later happened to be the next day, when it was snowing.

 Apparently the people who installed the new fence right before we moved in put a footing on top of the buried electric line.  It just took a lot of rain, 7 months, and some freezing temperatures before it shorted out. 

We figured we were only without power for about 24 hours, (the ice cream in the freezer was still solid)  So it wasn't too bad, it was just not the way we planned on coming home.

Scouts Big Bed

We finally moved Scout out of the crib.  He is sleeping in a big bed now and while he looked huge in his crib, having him in a big bed makes him look tiny.    He usually is pretty good about staying in bed.... except for this morning.  He has a cold and isn't feeling well and therefore isn't sleeping well.  So he wimpers at night, but usually puts himself back to sleep in under 30 seconds, so we don't get up.  When I went to get him this morning he was sleeping on the floor.  He must have wimpered a lot
to end up on the floor.

I also need to go buy some more boyish sheets.  The pink cowgirl ones are a little much.

I also need to get rid of the crib. It is finally time for it to be given away.  Any takers?

Eating at the table

We are a family that eats dinner together at the table every night.  It is an important part of our day.  When we moved the movers lost some parts of our dining room table. Some VERY important parts, like the legs.  We moved in our house in early July and have been eating on a 5' church folding table since we moved in. It worked, but was tough, we had to serve off the kitchen counter because the table was less than 30" wide.  It was tough to have guests, we would eat in shifts.  i.e. Kids eat first then adults eat.
We finally found and ordered a table, but it was custom because it had to match our existing chairs.  We were told it could take up to 8 weeks to be delivered.  FINALLY it was delivered.  It is wonderful to finally able to have normal meals at the table.  It has been a long 3 1/2 months, but we are enjoying every meal.

Now we just need to get the money from the movers to pay for said table. 

Playground time

One of our favorite parts of our new neighborhood is the playgrounds and beaches nearby.  We frequently go for walks to burn off energy and let the kids play.

 

Again I tried to get a good picture of all 4 kids, this is something I keep trying to do, because eventually I need a good Christmas card picture.  But they Stick out their tongues.... 

 Look at each other and not me....

 Put their hands on their heads....

 And I just give up and hope for a better day.

They just want to play and have a good time.  I eventually let them.
Do you remember the merry-go-round, the playground toy that causes many minor playground accidents.  The kids love it and we play until the 1st person falls off and gets covered in mulch or gets hurt. 

Decorating Oops

I attempt to work on a project most days during Scout's naptime.  Somedays this doesn't happen due to cooking/cleaning/laudry/sick kids/errands/bill paying/Olympics/facebook/email.  You know all the other stuff that fills my day.

Today I decided to tackle the master bedroom curtains.  Since we have lived almost a month without any type of window covering I was getting desperate.  I sorted through the fabric and old curtains and decided for now to use a window treatment we used 2 houses ago.  Basically sheer curtains with a type of fake valance on the top.   I completed the 3 windows in the bedroom and they look OK, not great, but at least now there is not a free peep show for the neighbors.

   So then I had one more slightly different color set of sheers.  These were left over from some previous house.  They were going into the closet, so didn't really need to match exactly. I was just hoping for some privacy in there.  I hung the curtain rod and then hung the curtains.  I stood back and started to laugh.

Did you see it?  How about a closer look.

They are just about a foot short... so now I need to find another solution to the closet peep show.  Maybe for now I will leave the short ones up.  At least they aren't laying on the floor of my sewing room anymore.

When things go wrong

When things go wrong, it is usually not just one thing.
The light cord fell off when Daddy was putting breakfast on the table one busy morning, plus the ceiling fan switch broke a few days earlier. We had cereal by candle light.  We finally took the time to fix it, 2 days later. 

While standing on the table to reach the light, the table broke.   After 3 trips to the hardware store, all is fixed and back to normal. 

But for a little while, our dining room looked like this: