what's up weekly. (last post from our Como house.)

Well, one more week under our belts in the countdown to the move.  We spent the week putting some last remaining things in boxes, cleaning out the van, running errands, and filing paperwork.  Nothing was too frantic, but we kept busy.

The kids spent a lot of time playing outside, since the weather has finally cooled down a bit and most of their inside toys are packed up.

This week held a lot of "lasts."  I'm dealing with a lot of emotions as I process through our time here.  Moving to Columbia was hard fought all the way - between deciding to move, to actually getting settled and feeling like we knew what our purpose here was, I spent a lot of time feeling restless and untethered.  I don't think I could have foreseen then how sad I would feel now to leave.  But this is the longest I've lived anywhere in my adult life.  I have come to have good friends, and good local food, and a good church, and I will really miss them all.

On Saturday, we took our last weekly trip up to the Amish.  I will miss my cheap raw milk, and our amazing raw butter, and bulk foods, and fresh produce.  But I will also really miss the friendships I made up there - I have been making that trip almost every single week for the last six years.  I see them more than I see most people in my life.  My friend Irene and I have watched each other's kids grow up, gone through pregnancies at the same time, and traded gardening ideas and home remedies and recipes.  But it might shock you to learn that she doesn't have Marco Polo, so keeping in touch might prove more difficult than with my other friends.

High summer at Irene's.

The bulk store where I shop.

Irene's house.

We also made sure this week to take a walk through Shelter Gardens.  I think we'll go again tonight.

This little blondie has not been sleeping well this week and has given me a run for my money.  The lack of sleep probably isn't helping my ability to cope with change.

We had our last family popcorn party in this house.  We chose Princess Bride.

I got new glasses... that basically look just like the old glasses.  BUT with a couple notable differences: 1) these fit my face much better, and 2) they're much lighter weight, so they don't keep sliding down my nose.  When I bought my old ones a few years ago, I had all the kids in Walmart with me and they were having meltdowns, but I desperately needed to get some glasses ordered since the previous ones had been badly scratched, so I just ran into the vision center and grabbed the first pair of frames that looked similar to mine.  I didn't even try them on.  And they ended up being humongous (as you all already know).  I liked them, but they never fit right.  So I was glad to find these this week.  Ignore my makeupless face and my unstyled hair and the farmer's tan/burn and the twenty extra pounds I'm holding onto while breastfeeding... basically, only look at the glasses and not at any other part of this photo.  See?  Pretty cute when you selectively edit.

And the last big news of the week is that we managed to keep our chicken coop!  We had been pretty sure we would have to leave it behind, as it is big and wouldn't fit through the gate.  And even if it did, we weren't sure how we'd get it to Leavenworth with us, or where we'd put it right away.  But a friend and her husband were so incredible and offered to keep the coop at their place (they already have our chickens).  Her husband rounded up some help and brought his truck and trailer, and between Todd and the neighbors and the help Andrew brought, they were able to get it through/over the fence and loaded onto the trailer.  They'll keep it at their place until we're able to come back and get it.  (See? This is why I'm so sad to leave our friends behind.  They're great.)

And that was our week.  I am going to take the kids to their favorite playground this morning, and then spend the afternoon continuing to box things up.  I'm also hoping to get our little car cleaned out because it's in sorry shape and a friend is driving it back to Leavenworth for us next week, and I kind of don't want to look like the kind of person who would let their car get this dirty.  Not the most pressing thing in the world, but it would be nice to get accomplished.

Wish me luck.  When you hear from me next, we will be living in the new house!

what's up weekly. (we've seen some stuff, and we have the receipts to prove it.)

OKAY.  The last two weeks have been so full, so I'm just going to jump right in to the good stuff.

First of all, in case you were worried, I can assure you that the boys are still acting like their run-of-the-mill selves: lots of stop motion movie-making, lots of play battles.

The girls have been in the business of loving Scooter Boo to bits.

See what I mean?

We also have been jet setting lately: last week, we headed up to Iowa to stay with family and visit the Iowa State Fair!  Good gravy, do I love me some Fair.

The Fair was full of firsts: here we see many of the VVs having their first cotton candy, compliments of their Uncle Austin.

I think it was a hit.

This photo doesn't show much, but HOW OLD DOES PENELOPE LOOK? She is so pretty.

Here, we have our first hardboiled egg on a stick.  Why?  Because it was free, and it was protein, and because Penelope loves eggs.

Here, we see the first time I can remember this baby falling asleep in the Ergo.  And the first time wearing a cap.  And good gracious, it turns out I love Ergo-wearing sleeping babies in hats.  Who knew?

 

First time seeing the Butter Cow.

First time emerging from the bean tunnel.

First time talking to a plein air artist.  Zoom in and enjoy my face.

First time trying a corndog.  It was a hit.

Unfortunately, I also crossed a less exciting milestone: I twisted my ankle and fell while wearing Ophelia.  (It was far from the first time I've twisted my ankle - it's given me trouble since I sprained it when I was fourteen - but it was the first time I've fallen while wearing a baby.)  Thank goodness Ophelia wasn't hurt, but both my pride and my ankle were. 

My pride deflated, but my ankle inflated... and inflated... and inflated... this photo was taken five days after I fell and it still looks jiggly and fat.

Later that evening, we took the six biggest kids to a Skillet concert after the two littlest girls were in bed.  The kids love Skillet, and when we heard they'd be at the fair, we knew we had to go.  Todd got us great seats, and the kids had SO MUCH FUN.  It was so fun to look down the row and see them singing along.  It was funny to see them all enjoying live music in their own unique ways - Atticus was up singing and dancing, Finneas and Rocco just kind of sat and watched (Rocco sang along, but Finneas just kind of gaped), Laurelai sang with all the energy in her whole stringy little body, and Penelope liked holding Callista and dancing and singing.  And I am not typically one to love concerts (they make me tired!), but this one was so fun.  I'm really glad we went.

Blurry and after dark, but I think you can see the excitement, yes?

Atticus loved singing his heart out.

Then there were fireworks after the show!! This might have been the kids' first fireworks show.  The last one I can remember going to was before we had kids.

The rest of our time in Iowa was also well spent: Todd and I got to go out to eat for our anniversary though we got to the restaurant like half an hour before it closed, so we kind of scarfed it down and hustled home.  We visited my grandpa.  We spent some time at my sister's and got to see a cousin whom I haven't seen in years (he lives in Japan, so contrary to what you might think, our paths don't naturally cross all that often), and the kids played and played and played (and then bathed and bathed and bathed) at my mom's house.

We headed home last Saturday morning, and hit our Amish stops on the way down.  It made for a long day.  In the evening, we went over to the neighbors' for s'mores and hula-hooping.

And in other news, the girls are really growing up fast, like Penelope, who now works out and wore MY dress and MY shoes to church this week.

And Laurelai, who will be NINE in a week and who is such a big help around the house.

And Ophelia, who turned eight months old this past week!!

She's already old enough to cordially challenge you to a duel.  Ahhh, they grow up so fast.

She was coronated.  Time flies.

You tell me that's not the cutest baby in the world, and I'll tell you you're a dirty stinking liar.

Learning to crawl.

Starting Pilates.

In order to keep up with the kids' growth, our marriage decided it should also probably age, so we celebrated our fifteen-year anniversary.  We took the kids out to Shakespeare's Pizza.

Our couch (a wedding gift) also celebrated its fifteen-year anniversary/birthday in solidarity with us.  It looks tired.

And that was basically our week.  I did get more packing done, as we are less than two weeks away from L-Day ("Leavenworth," you guys; keep up).  We sent our chickens to stay with friends for a while, we wore matching outfits to church, and we loved being together, like usual.  That's a pretty good week, in my book.

Isn't our church the cutest little thing?

The chickens were very confused about traveling.  Especially that one being sat on by the other two.  Chickens aren't great at common courtesy, or ever really knowing what's going on.

Not pictured: 30% of us.

And that was the loooooooooooong story of our last two weeks!