Fledgling Number Four

Hello world. I feel like I am back. Well,  back to the internet, that is. The blogging....is stacking up and causing me anguish. I don't know where to start or what I am missing. It will be a bit hodge podge for a while, while I get things straightened out. (I think it is interesting when you can use the same word right next to itself.)

I have pictures on my phone that need to be incorporated and lots of pictures that were never taken. (I have had trouble picking up my camera. I need to give myself a goal.)

I did manage to snap a picture of Daisy on the first day of school...barely. It was not set up like I like, so the words are a bit squished, but her favorites are still there. The one that surprised me the most was the last one. Never heard about it before, but I think she would be great at it.

As for life in the new home; everything is finding its place slowly. But it is glorious to be here and know that we don't have to go anywhere. We can take our time. The kids seem to love the house. I find them here and there and I love that we have more space to move around. It is delightful.

I hope to be posting more frequently. I miss writing. Stay tuned for Robyn's birthday gallery.

Say Goodbye to Cat Pee

That wasn't very kind of us to leave you all hanging like that. But we have been without internet and that makes it more difficult to blog. Not impossible...you just really have to be dedicated and I have not been so much recently. Well, truthfully I have been dedicated. I have been engaged in getting my family settled into a new home and unpacking a lot of boxes.

We did buy our new home, and we all LOVE it. ADORE. It is such a good fit for our family. There are a few glitches, like the lack of internet currently, but nothing that a little time and effort won't solve. Would you like a tour? I knew you would. Really, these pictures are mostly for family living elsewhere, but you are like family too, so come along.

In fact, I brought my camera the very first day we got the house, so I could take nice pictures of all the vacant rooms. Then I didn't take any pictures because I was always in the midst of something. By the time I got around to it, there were boxes and mess in almost every space. But you'll get the idea of what the house looks like. Where shall we start? In the front, I guess.

Here is my house. Cute huh?

I love the details like the glass in the door and on the garage.

Oh, and there is a mailbox. Our OWN mailbox, not connected to a dozen others.

There is a sweet front porch area, complete with swing.

While we're outside, let's go in the back. Here is the back from the lower yard. Doug and Tyler were pressure washing the house at this point.

Here is another view of the back yard. It isn't huge, but I love the trees and the patio. There are even water misters connected at the top so you can cool down while you BBQ.

An odd temporary attachment is the sport court. The girls love to play down on it, but it will be leaving soon as someone is building on the property. It is not part of our yard.

Here are the stairs going up to our house.

Now back to the house. As you go in the front door, there are some stairs. Might as well go right up.

The master bedroom is huge. I have no idea what we will do with all that space.

There is a bathroom.

And then an added sunroom. Also not sure what the ultimate purpose of the sunroom will be, but we like it.

Hallway. Never really had a hallway before.

Girls bathroom.

Which also contains the laundry room.

I caught Ivory off guard when I photographed her room.

She and Robyn are sharing at the moment. Robyn was promised the room in the basement, but we currently have boarders. We hadn't planned on having people stay with us, but it is a great arrangement for all. Robyn will get her room eventually. In the meantime, she and Ivory are feeling right at home. Look at the welcoming sign they made for their door. (I like the puddle of blood.)

The littles are sharing a room again.

June gets her own, which is a little smaller.

But she got the secret closet in a closet. Very cool.

Let's go back downstairs. 

There is a front room, which will be the music room. And Tyler has named it Carnegie Hall. That way, our children can feel really special when they play there. (Not everyone gets to play at Carnegie Hall.)

Connected to Carnegie Hall is the library.

It's getting there, but I love that I have a place for so many books in one room.

Next....the kitchen. This is probably the main reason I bought the house.

Amazing huh? That post there in the middle has been named the anti-social post. It does tend to block people out at inopportune times.

Off the kitchen is Midgard (family room).

Also off the kitchen is the office/computer room.

See how the spaces are all connected?

The kitchen is the great hub of the household. Good thing too, since I spend a LOT of time in the kitchen. Oh, and there is a little half bathroom in the hallway.

Then downstairs, we have the basement family room. (Not named yet.)

There is the bedroom.

And the bathroom.

And the storage; empty when I took this, but now blissfully filled with my holiday decorations. It is a glorious thing.

Phew, are you still with me? Quite the trip around this place. Even since I took these pictures, so much has changed inside and out. The house looked great after a good wash. The boys....well, they were a little less clean. Here are Doug's feet after he took off his shoes. (I'll give the boarders a proper introduction soon.)

And so ends our tour. There are other nooks and crannies, but you have to come visit to see it all. Please do, we love company.

As for blogging, I really hope to get back into a groove. The children pulled out some old blog books and I remembered how much I love them. It physically hurt to think of so many things I have missed over the summer. But I'm hoping that we will fall into a nice routine in the new house. Nothing like being Home Sweet Home.

Ya We Just Bought It

If you have no idea what "it" is, then you probably don't care. If you know what "it" is, then woo-hoo, we bought it!

P.S. stay tuned to find out what "it" is. The next few days will be busy for sure, but I'm sure we'll put something about "it" on the blog.

Mr. Mom

Maleen left for the Shakespeare Festival yesterday morning. Since then, it been 1 man vs 5 girls. To make a long story short...they're winning.

A few examples should suffice:

Pearl's Ride

While I finished up the dishes, Pearl went for a little trike ride "around the cul-de-sacs." There are two cul-de-sacs on the other side of the street, and she knows to just ride around those and come home.

I wasn't ten minutes finishing the dishes until I went outside to find Pearl. As you've already figured out: she wasn't there. I checked both cul-de-sacs, no Pearl. I jumped in my car and blazed the island: no Pearl.

I was forced to call in reinforcements—so I got Maleen on the phone. She'd only been gone a few of hours at this point.

Any parents who have lost a little one know the feeling. While that feeling is bad enough, it's much worse knowing that your mother now knows that you've lost a child and will bring it up in every conversation for months and perhaps years to come.

Pearl's ride ended happily when she rolled around the corner from the other side of the neighborhood—where we never ride. She had become lost and was retracing her steps. Smart for a 3 year old! Total "lost" time: 34 minutes.

I still beat her, of course. Ok, I didn't really but we had a talk about not going outside without a buddy.

Daisy Snuggles

Daisy is my snuggler. She likes to come up in the night or early morning and snuggle with Dad. No problem. I kind of like it. I'm sure she'll grow out of it soon enough, but I relish it while I can.

That said, Daisy came up this morning about 5:00. I wasn't getting up yet, so I told her she could snuggle with me for a while. 

I should mention that shamelessly stole Maleen's side of the bed last night. It's closer, has better pillows, etc. And hey, it was novel. 

So Daisy came up and ended up sleeping on my side. No problem. Well, no problem until I realize that the reason Daisy was awake at 5:00 was because her micro bladder had informed her it was time to hit the potty. Hmm, I forgot to remind her to visit the potty before snuggling...

6:00 came soon enough, and with it came recognition of the above facts. My side of the bed was...well it needed some scrubbing.

We'll Change the Oil For Mom

It was getting about time to change the oil in Maleen's car, so I figured I'd take advantage of her absence to get the service done. We popped over to Honda. They are AWESOME. 

While we were waiting, we watched some of ICE AGE 2, sipping hot chocolate and munching popcorn. Fun, I'm a good dad.

Well, it was fun, right up until Pearl dumped hot chocolate all over herself.

So now I have a child swimming in luke-warm hot chocolate punctuated with soggy popcorn. I'm frunning (which is short for frantically running) back and forth snatching paper towels to mop up the mess. There were two moms there, just enjoying the show. It felt a little like a, "oh we'll just sit back and watch this guy pretend to be a parent" conference meets a "oh now he'll understand how hard our job is" meeting. 

Child screaming and crying.

Movie interrupted for all.

Hot chocolate dripping on everything.

Now a mostly-naked diaper-clad, giggling toddler is cruising around Honda while her father stands by with a fistful of sopping clothing, while the Honda techs explain some of the finer points of brake inspection.

Nailed it.

And the moral of the story is...

For all you power moms out there, let me be perfectly honest: we men are woefully bad in this area—at least this dad is. It took me a few kids to learn the humility to admit that, but I can admit it. So I want to publicly give credit where credit is due: Maleen is awesome and I'd be lost without her. She's is the anchor of my life, does an amazing job at raising our kids, and I can never shower enough praise on her. She deserves every bit of it.

Second moral of the story: never let Meleen leave.

Children crying...gotta go.

Rigamarole

Yep, it is just like it always is, except that each child gets a bit bigger each time. It is BACK TO SCHOOL time!! This year should be very exciting. Daisy will finally be at school with her sisters, even if only for half the day. Pearl will probably drive me crazy. Life will settle into a routine. It will be great.

I got some pictures this morning, but I should not take pictures by anything with lines. You'll see why....the lines are never straight. Oh well. Minor. Let's see what the kids are liking this year.

June clearly has problems choosing a book.

Robyn seems chipper and consistent.

Ivory (the glasses are new from last year) is my new favorite child since cleaning in on her list of favorite activities.

Someone else got in the midst of the photo shoot, so we'll list his favorites as well.

Here is to a great school year!

Trek Gallery

I really need to wrap up these Martin's Cove posts because so much is happening in the meantime. I finally took Robyn's birthday pictures (almost 4 months late), we celebrated Fete Day, and school starts tomorrow. Not to mention that we move in a week. Huzzah!

But there were some photos that I loved and don't want to forget. There are no captions. Just enjoy.

THE END.