what's up weekly. (and a big life update!)

Howdy y'all!  I feel like saying something like, "Whew!  This week was full!" is starting to get old, so I'll say... "Wow!  This week was... stuffed."  

(Same dad, different dad, as Todd would say.)

We definitely had some stuff going on, like the fourteen million birthday parties we ended up throwing for Penelope.  This was already the Month of All the Parties, with Juni's birthday, and then Good Friday and Easter, and then the joint birthday party, and then Penelope's birthday.  But to put the icing on the cake (ha! ha! ha!), Penelope's birthday weekend was extended.  On Friday, we ate all her chosen meals but we planned to wait until Saturday to do her party and cake and presents.

  

Unfortunately, an Amazon package containing her party supplies and many of her presents was delayed.  So we scrounged up party supplies we already had on hand and decorated anyway on Saturday morning, and we planned for her to open the gifts that were already ready.  I also went ahead and made her cake.  Unfortunately, I overfilled the bundt pan and it ended up doing this:

We were miraculously able to salvage the cake, so after dinner we did cake and presents.

Penelope helped me decorate it with flowers she picked out.

Nothing like a Penelope Pile.

Then on Monday, the box with the rest of stuff arrived, so we did another present opening Monday night, and then ate off her party plates for meals the following day.  And that is how we found ourselves still celebrating April events in May.  I feel like we should get a medal for stamina or something.  "Party Hardy Champs 2022."  

And if you needed more proof, we also celebrated this little brudder's half birthday!

In addition to all of that, we really buckled down on school and crammed over two weeks of work in this week.  I had told the kids that if we utilized all five weekdays this week and next week, and really stayed diligent, we could finish four weeks of work in two weeks, and be completely done with the school year by next Friday.  They voted and it was unanimous: let's just tackle the beast and be done.  So we did, and while it made for a tiring week, we really got a lot accomplished and feel excited that the end is so close!

We also have some other big news that has been percolating and consuming much of my free time: we have decided we're going to list the house and move to be part of the church in Leavenworth.  We've felt drawn there for this past year or so, and it has suddenly felt like the right time.  I can maybe dive more into those details at some point, but for now I'll just say that getting the house ready to list is keeping life interesting.

How many Van Voorsts does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  Four.  One to stand on a ladder in the stairway, and three more to hold the door closed so there was something sturdy to lean the ladder against.  We like extreme adventure and hairsplitting risk in this house.

We've had a realtor over to tell us what needs to happen, we've had plumbers and window repairmen and a friend who is in junk disposal come tackle some neglected projects.  I've painted walls and trim and registers and ceilings, and hung doors and blinds, and scrubbed dirty walls, and ironed the bookshelves (yes, you read that right).  I'm surprised at how much headway I've been able to make the last couple of weeks, even with our full school days.  

I'm going to try to post photos of our house as it is now, before we start clearing it out for listing.  Listing photos are always beautiful, but I want to make sure I have documentation of how we actually lived in our house.  This is the nursery.  Juni sleeps in here at night, and Ophelia naps in here during the day.  I spend many hours each week in here with the lights off and the fan running, rocking Ophelia to sleep.  It's a sweet, cozy, well-loved room.

The hope is to finish up school and major projects by the end of next week, then spend a week or so packing up our 'extras' and moving them to a storage unit so the house doesn't feel quite so crowded, then putting it on the market before the end of May.  

The first mowing of the season!

For those wondering, we don't know what the next step is.  We're considering looking for a rental for a short while before house hunting, but we're still unsure.  Prayers for this would be much appreciated!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, your weekly dose of Ophelia (who, I forgot to mention, cut her first tooth last week!):

They made her a baby throne.

Keeping Nen company while she plays solitaire.  Which defies the nature of solitaire.

Whu-WHAT?!

And that was our stuffed week!