Hello, long-neglected blog. I think it might be time to begin again. Not to catch up--that may or may not happen--but at least to start afresh. Too much slips away when it's not written down.
We live in our new house! I love the windows. When I feel sad about all that we had to go through to get here, I think about how we wouldn't have had these windows if the house hadn't burned down, and I feel better.
They let so much light in for a cozy Saturday morning board game session.
They're particularly stunning when it snows, even if Annie is in a bad mood.
Drew fixed all the power shades so the main room ones open up half an hour before sunrise and we get to wake up to the mountain every morning.
...and the deer parties in the orchard at night.
It hasn't been quite as snowy as last year, but there's been enough to make the mountains pure magic.
Someday I will learn to paint and probably paint nothing but this mountain in all her seasons.
Dad, Drew and I tried gliding around the golf course one day on the old cross country skis. Always a bit of struggle to get gear in shape after extended periods of storage.
I know it's not Drew's favorite, but I think cross country skiing is so fun! I did manage to have a great fall. Well, I guess the fall wasn't that great, but the struggle to get back up left quite an impression in the snow.
Drew and I went for a snowy run together on another day, and that was more fun for him. It was so beautiful...
...but the trail was covered in crusty, pitted snow and it was too much for my 35 year old ankle ligaments. It takes a long time to heal now. It's swollen and stiff and weirdly pointy on that right ankle still.
Drew still had energy after running a 10K to take the kids sledding up at Lambert Park.
Look at this icicle!
Oh, snow. We do our best with it. There is so much cement in the combined yards now, but in every job that must be done there is an element of fun. Like a DOUBLE sledding hill!
Merrick was definitely the star sledder until he had a bad start and went off the path head-first into a planter. I didn't get a picture of the scrapes--I've gotten out of my photo-chronicling habits.
I do have this one of Annie with a scab on every vertebrae.
And this one of Rafe's knees all banged up after a slip on the ice.
Maybe a kid update is in order. Behold this Vivien, looking so beautiful and grown up in the dress I made her for Christmas.
She woke up super early the morning of her Space Camp field trip to make herself some potstickers to take for lunch. She didn't know how long it would take, so to be safe she got up at 4:30. She spent the next hour before anyone else started stirring for school sleeping on top of the heating vent in the family room corner.
She is in the middle of her COPA MDT winter showcase right now. They are doing a School of Rock medley.
She had a tech rehearsal at the Covey Friday during school that I checked her out for (then had lunch with Rex while I waited).
She had her first performance Saturday afternoon. Nana picked up some lip stain for us at Walmart while we were hustling to get her out the door. We're all going to see it tomorrow.
Rafe has started Junior Jazz and is enjoying playing on a team with all the neighborhood boys (also, Vivien is wearing a sock she knitted on a loom in this picture).
He is getting so big. And he does a very good job taking care of his growing self. He has a drawer in the bathroom where he keeps all his hygiene things.
Here's Annie taking an evening nap after having a headache all day at school recently. The kids have been passing a little bug around to each other.
How about another view of that sweater she is wearing that has been a work in progress at my bedside for 2 years but is now a wearable piece of clothing! The fit's a little funky, but the fabric is so soft and nice.
And she usually chooses to wear it first after laundry day, which is very validating.
Annie sleeps with her princess nightlight like a spotlight on her face. It makes for a sweet view when I go wake her up in the morning.
Here she is sharing a different spotlight with the magician at the Highland City Library's birthday party a few weeks ago.
Here are Annie and Merrick wrestling with Papi after watching Sky High together.
I've got a couple of Drew too. He is a much beloved uncle.
And a good brother-in-law, even though he's so much older than everyone. They were looking very conspiratorial over there in the corner at this dinner...
Drew's up in the back for this EMBA class photo from the winter soiree. He's SO CLOSE to being done!
And here's a video that will probably get flagged and rejected for copyright, but he's playing in a band with Uncle Bruce right now. He's so cool!
Now I just have a bunch of ME things. Mostly house projects. It's hard to move in. You have to make a place to hang your swim towels...
...and winter gear...
...and cleaning supplies...
...and costumes!
I had designed mudroom cubbies for my carpenters to build, but they had been hunting for 20 days before they got to the job at my house and were overwhelmed by how long it was going to take them to do it, so I told them not to worry about it and I'd just get IKEA stuff later. Isn't it fun to make a sketch...
...and see it in real life later?
I am starting to feel more settled. My to-do list is changing from "moving" jobs to more regular housework.
Haley invited us all to do a Citrus and Pear class with her before her baby #3 comes...
...so now our freezer is even full of meals. I think the craziness is going to end!
Then we can figure out what to do with this puddle in our garage.
And spend more time playing games like Wingspan! This is my highest scoring preserve yet.
I got released from Primary music. No one is sad, because Scott Tanner is the new chorister, and he's a hoot. My only regret is that I don't have another Primary calling so I can't just sit and watch!
Speaking of sitting and watching, look at the home theater room in Jessie and Seth's new house on Caddy Lane! We went by to see it today. There was a dead rat on the floor in the basement, but Papa Mark is pretty sure it was a pet rat. He had put it in a tennis ball cannister in the trash and got it out to show the kids.
Oh, our pets didn't get an update. Chickens are still laying eggs like champs. We got a giant double yolker the other day.
Gigi is still allergic to her own teeth and frequently has bleeding gums and Seiji continues to get in territorial tomcat fights with neighborhood cats, so their mats in their outside house are disgusting and bloody.
The Hutchings' kittens are comparatively less troublesome. But they are bold. If a door gets left open, they will definitely be coming in. When Mom and Dad were getting their windows replaced they came downstairs and found Scout and Hunter wrestling on the couches!
Dad doesn't want cats on his couches. He wants to be on his couches.
I have two more pictures. Kids eating midnight cereal on a Friday night while Drew was on a business trip in Las Vegas and I let them play on the Switch until I had finished watching the latest season of The Crown.
And here is their preferred method of storing their gross mochi toys.
