Settling In

In the last few weeks, we have been working hard to make our new home, home.  We have yet to hang things on the walls.  That always takes time.  I need to make sure furniture is not going to get moved and I need to see where to put old favorites.  However, boxes are empty and we are able to park one vehicle in the garage, a sign that we are almost there.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks.  Besides working on the house, we hosted a family birthday party for Trevor's 12th birthday and visited a favorite state park, which is now less than an hour away.

Coming Up For Air, Briefly

The past month has been quite eventful.  We love our new home and location.  Jeff continues to enjoy his new position as well, making it all worth the effort.  Some of the highlights of this month:

• Jeff and I celebrated 19 years of marriage.
• We closed on our house almost 2 weeks earlier than planned, making our packing a bit challenging.  
• We moved two days before my birthday. 
• I turned 46 (!) spending the day cleaning up the rental house. 
• We got back to our lessons while unpacking.
• We started looking for a newer van. 
• My baby turned 12!  

Here are a few random pictures I took this last month.  

A Week in Pictures 9/22-9/29

I am making an another attempt to keep thing going over here.  The biggest reason it is an effort is because my brain is busy, not really a time issue.  My brain has one track right now, which doesn't seem to include blogging.  So, I thought I would just post pictures from our previous week, until we move.  After all, I am able to take cell phone pictures.

From Sunday to Sunday last week we kept busy with family!  

Family reunion 

Caught my avid reader in action. 

Birthday brunch with Grandpa here at home. 

Birthday with Grandma at the Lake. 

Spent a little time here. 

Gave a birthday concert.  

I also managed to keep the house going, pack 11 boxes, make 2 trips to Good Will, and kept the kids busy with their weekly activities and lessons.

We hope to get a firm closing date on the house this week.  Right now it is set for the 21st of October with movers coming on the 25th.

Have a great week!
~Jenn

Under Contract

We have a house under contract.  We will be moving in October.  I am trying to maintain our lessons and pack, so much to do!  More later...  :)

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 34

Note, I wrote this earlier and did not get it published in order.  Sorry!

Just going to bullet point this one!

Ryan, teaching himself piano. 

• On Monday, Jeff and I looked at 13 homes, eliminated 9.  
• I am thankful for our realtor. You must need to be very patient to be one.  
• Our house was shown 4 times this week. I freaked out the first few times trying to keep things show ready. 
• We learn that an applicant wants this home in early September.  
• We panic.
• We look at more homes.  

This Week At Home, 2013, No. 35

I know I am off track on my numbering and posting, but I figured I'd better just jump in when I get a moment and today was that day!

Summer is trying its best to make its mark.  Lately, we have had record heat in the upper 90's!  That is just too hot for September.  This too shall pass.  I want to go to apple orchards, play disc golf, and once again ride in my un-airconditioned van without passing out!

We continue to wait on the home buying.  We do have reassurance that the people who want this house still want this house and are just waiting like us to get released from their current home.  It is a great opportunity to build up my patience muscles.  We continue to show the house, just in case, so keeping the house tidy is top priority.

Lessons are going well.  We have managed to do work each day.  We are even excelling, I would say.  I was proud of the youngest two, who have been doing a good job with their individual studies.  I am working on training them to be more independent, like their big brother.

The cats have been working on a peace treaty.  Dorothy has not granted Giles a full pardon for invading her space, but he can at least be in her presence for short periods of time if supervised.  She forgets her manners unless reminded.  I am very happy to have reached this stage.  I see progress!

Jeff loves his new job.  The hour and twenty minute commute in the hot van is worth it, says he.   I am very thankful for this, as I personally would have a problem with such a commute!

That about wraps up the status of my life, lessons, cleaning, keeping cool, and waiting.

Here are some pictures I took on my phone this week:

My big baby loves his momma time!  

Happy birthday, Mom! 

Been in a Whirlwind!

The past month has been quite busy around here, and then last week, we enjoyed having our daddy home for 10 days before he started his new job today.

As for our moving, we are getting closer to that goal.  We have a family who wants to rent this house.  Our landlord has approved them.  We are just waiting for a bank approval of the sale of their home.  As soon as that comes, we will put an offer on a house.  There are several that we like and that would work for us.  We are leaving that detail up to God.  Whichever house is still available after we get released from our lease, that will be the one for us.

We started school 2 weeks ago, as well.  We have done a decent job at keeping on task, despite all the distractions.  We are studying American History this year.  So far it feels very familiar since we studied world history, which includes a lot of American History, for the last 2 years.  For science, along with Apologia's Exploring Creation with General Science, we signed up for a free online co-op, which I am really impressed with.  Virtualhomeschoolgroup.com offers several at your own pace classes.

Between keeping the house show ready, looking for houses 45 minutes away, and keeping our lessons going, I have been kept away from this poor blog way too long.  I did manage to take some pictures along the way.  Here they are for your viewing pleasure.  (Ha!)