Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Life in These Parts

Despite the fact that I'm doing such a poor job documenting it, there's actually a lot going on here. 

cuddling…in the dining room. We had to put the Christmas tree somewhere!

Watching Jayhawk basketball. Please note that Wyatt HAD to wear his jersey and shorts despite frigid temps outdoors.

Christmas #1 with the Grandparents Rock

look out world, someone gets it and loves to tear into presents!

cuddle time with Grandma

ahh, the cookie-making extravaganza

Natalie with her random shapes and green sprinkles

careful...

careful application of sprinkles

annnnnd more green sprinkles for Natalie

two thumbs up for cookies
Incidentally, it would be a lie if I told you that cookie session was totally enjoyable for me. It was really, really challenging to keep Natalie's hands where they belonged (i.e. not on Wyatt's already-cut cookies), to keep Wyatt from hoarding all the cutters so Natalie couldn't use them and to watch all that mess go everywhere. I finally succumbed to embraced it (after much frustration) and it turned out to be fun for all of us even though Natalie's feet were stained green from standing in spilled green sugar. Ahhhh, the days are long but the years are short, right?


It snowed!

Millie isn't fond of snow. Too bad we're moving to Kansas.


Me and my snowbabies. I love our snowman's pine mohawk!
It snowed enough that school was cancelled for two days, which doesn't mean much around here. I was very impressed that the forecast was for snow to start at 10 a.m. and it began snowing at precisely 10:20. I'm sure I'll be griping as I'm braving a foot of snow to take Wyatt to school at some point in 2011, but I was disappointed they cancelled since it was Wyatt's last day of preschool here. He was sad he didn't get to do show and share (because he wanted to take his two new Transformer airplanes) and I'm sad for him that he didn't get to say goodbye to all his friends. However, one good playdate later and he's totally over it.

In between all this fun, we've attended a couple of Christmas parties both of which also served as a farewell for us. It's always hard to move, no matter how many times we do it. Lucky for me, my friends  planned a little girls' night out last night, so I got to say one more goodbye in a less formal setting. After we'd been here for a while, I remember telling Jeff that this might be an assignment where I didn't make any lifelong friends. Silly me! I just had to be a little more patient. I'm leaving behind such a fabulous group of women. Even luckier for me, I know we'll cross paths with so many of them again, so I'm just going to focus on that.

Slowly but surely, we're checking off items from the to-do list just slightly faster than we're adding new tasks. We hit a slight glitch last Friday when a washer hose became unattached during the spin cycle - it's unfortunate our washer's on the second floor - and, despite a flawlessly installed washer pan, gallons of water came rushing through our kitchen light. Yeah, that was awesome. Wyatt had a friend here and they both thought it was very exciting. Wyatt just kept saying, "this is not good, this is just not good." Uh, yeah, no kidding it was not good. But, as there's always a silver lining, Jeff managed not to kill me for being foul about it and I managed not to kill him for being so freaked out at all the water that he didn't think to turn off the washer. More importantly, we were here and minimized the damage. One new light fixture later and we're good to go. And have I ever told you how handy we've found our box of Shamwows to be? Really, really handy.

The kitchen, living room, dining room, family room, office and Natalie's room are mostly packed. A friend came over yesterday and informed me it didn't look like we were moving, which I suppose is true. We have our Christmas tree up and the mantel decorated, but if you were to open cabinets in the kitchen or look in our  furniture where we usually stash stuff, you'd find it bare. The boxes are starting to pile up in the garage and throughout the house, so I think we're making process. So far, I don't find the packing-ourselves portion of this DITY move to be overwhelming. Wyatt has helped pack books and toys; Natalie has learned to cover her ears when she sees the tape gun and announce that it's loud. Jeff, of course, finds this to be the best time to paint the garage (no, seriously) and wants to paint the interior of our closet as soon as we pack all the clothes. Needless to say, we have really different opinions of the hierarchy of needs here. Between the two of us, the house should be in good shape when we turn it over to our renters next week.

We've promised ourselves no work on Christmas day so that we can fully enjoy it. I sure hope Santa comes through and that, in the midst of all this chaos, we take a little time to remember the true reason for the season. In case I don't make it back here in the next few days, Merry Christmas!

5 comments:

Susan said...

I hope that you've already had all your snow days for the winter, though if they're canceling school when you can see grass poking through the white stuff, you might have a new set of "snow day rules" with which to become reacquainted!

Great pics. I love Wyatt's total concentration face with the cookies and the fact that Natalie appears to be, well, less focused!


T-Minus TWO WEEKS!!!

SStites said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
SStites said...

Wonderful (and so true) observation that the "days are long but the years are short"! You have it all figured out, and I love sharing your insight and your adventures as a "super Mom" through this blog. The kids are beautiful and full of enough spunk to be really interesting and fun! Wish we lived closer, but in the meantime, thanks for the blog! Love to all 4 of you, and prayers for a safe and satisfying move! (Sorry about the previous deletion of my remarks--realized I left out a quotation mark and that was the only way I could see to correct it)!

Heather and Scott said...

You have been busy girl!! We'll be thinking about you as you start your trek to Kansas. And doing a DITY (you're brave!). Have a Merry Christmas! And give your sweet family a hug from us :)

Team Kuehni said...

Steph, your pictures ROCK! (pun totally intended) What kind of lens do you guys have?