It's official!

Well we did it! We signed the lease this afternoon claiming our home for the next two years. Anyone willing to let a family with 4 kids, a dog, a cat, and two rabbits rent their home is the kind of landlord we need! Our new house is really nice and will have a lot more space than our current place, and it's in a nice, quiet, kid-friendly neighborhood. I'm really going to miss this crazy old house though! We've been here for two years now; this is where Coral went from tiny toddler to big strapping preschooler. This is where the kids got their first swingset that my dad built for them, and this is where we brought Hobie home when he was just two days old. I guess we'll be making lots of new memories in the new house!

I also just realized that I'm planning to start school in just over a week. I have to go buy a few supplies, and I'm just about finished with my lesson planning for the first six weeks. It's going to be tricky packing and doing schoolwork but I don't feel like delaying the start of school until after we're all moved in; I like having that flexibility later on if we want to take time off around Christmas or a vacation or whatever. I'm hoping we get our workbooks in for Alexei next week! If not I have a 4th grade English book calling his name - I'm sure he'll be thrilled. I think getting back to school and a schedule will benefit Ibis, and I know Coral is looking forward to some pre-K lessons.

exploring the big yard when we first moved in here, September 2008, Coral had just learned to walk!

Not a creature was stirring, not even a...

Oh wait. A Hobie is definitely stirring! 10:30 on a Friday night and here I am sitting with the little guy while everyone else is tucked in bed. Well, technically Alexei & Ibis are camped out on his bedroom floor in their homemade forts - wonder who will last the night. Nothing says good night's sleep like the hard floor. Personally I'll be thrilled to stretch out in my own bed if I can ever get a certain someone to give it up for the night.

What a loooong week. I am not much of a multi-tasker so I've taken to writing down lists of things to accomplish during the day. Not really daily chores, but extra things I need to tackle like finding a new 4-H group, updating craigslist posts, and renewing my domain name for my website. I start feeling so overwhelmed that it gets tempting to sit in the glider and crack open a good book and forget about everything on my plate for the day. Sometimes I think one of the biggest ways schools (and parents) fail their students is by never letting them set their own schedules or make their own decisions. You get to adulthood and suddenly there's no lesson plan written on a chalkboard or grade given for meeting a deadline. I think personal responsibility isn't taught anymore; I know I struggle with it sometimes and I see friends and family around my age doing the same. I never neglect my kids but it gets really easy to neglect the things that are outside of the immediate needs of the house. This includes my personal friendships, and I am really trying to work on that!

On a happier note, I sold 3 things on craigslist this week and made myself $50 towards a new camera body. One was a baby gym that Hobie was developmentally past using; another was his infant bathtub, also past use; the third was his Rainforest Jumperoo. I admit the third thing was a bit of an emotional struggle for me: although Hobie hated it and never played in it, we bought that for Coral when she was 6 or 7 months old. She was such a tiny little thing in it, and we had to place a pillow on the floor under her feet at first. She absolutely LOVED the jumperoo and it made for many happy memories. It was one of the few things that she could accomplish gross-motor-wise in that first 18 months of life, and to see her have a bit of normalcy after such a struggle was a real shining moment for us. I'm going to miss you, Jumperoo!

a little baby Coral the day we bought her big present