new lot photos

I promise not to subject you to photos each and every week. But we stopped by the lot again last night, and were so excited to see the progress that's been happening on the house.





It was such a beautiful evening, and we were glad to spend part of it at our future home. How exciting for our boys (and us, too) to be able to watch the house's progression as time goes by.

"Not me!" Monday

Here' we are, at the start of another week, which brings us (usually) to "Not me!"Monday, the cathartic blog carnival started by the one and only MckMama. MckMama is not doing a "Not me!" post today at My Charming Kids, but I encourage you to hop over there all the same. Her blog is a delight to the eye and to the spirit.

I thought I'd let you know that you should not expect a "Not me!" post from me next Monday, on Labor Day. We will be out of state visiting family, and well...I just don't see it happening. I'm sure you'll all survive somehow.

I absolutely was not deep in a phone conversation last week, when, deciding I should look into Owen's whereabouts, found him standing on the top bunk of his brothers' beds. Nope, not me! I supervise my child much better than that.

So of course I would never discover him trying to put an "As Time Goes By" DVD into his brothers' CD player.

Likewise, I never allow it to possible that he would play in the toilet water. A tender 17-month-old instinctively understands that toilet water is icky. Therefore, I always make sure that all bathroom doors are shut tight...or lacking that, that there is a cinder block resting atop the lid. I keep that room like Fort Knox. Owen never comes to me holding out wet fingertips, voicing something akin to "whazzis?"

While my husband was gone last weekend, I definitely did not decide to wiggle my pregnant self, snake-like, under Kyle's bed. I would never be so desperate to be reunited with my favorite books. No way! Not me! It would be totally undignified to perform an act like that, and a pregnant women is, above all things, dignified. At all times. Especially during the transition stage of labor.

And last of all, I absolutely did not work myself into such a state of expectant anticipation of popcorn and an epic movie the other night, that I nearly cried when my 3-year-old came out of his bedroom with the announcement that he had a problem of a rather...personal nature. Definitely not. I am never fazed by interruptions, and my children's bathroom incidents always trump a silly old film. Even if it does involve popcorn.

What about you? What have you not been doing this week?

the lot

In our family, we have a new favorite pastime. I think I can speak for all of us (with the possible exception of Owen, who doesn't understand enough to be properly excited) when I say that driving by the site of our future home, absolutely rocks.

The question: "Hey, do you want to drive by the lot?" is always met with a chorus of "Yeah!" and "The lot? Yay!" That sort of thing. It is so exciting to see the progress that is being made. This photo was taken nearly a week ago, and much more has been accomplished since that time. I love seeing it - it warms my heart!

We now have dates for when they'll begin the framing. The foundation is all in. I can hardly wait to see the place start to look like a proper house!

apartment living

So....we've taken the leap. We are now -- currently-- apartment-dwellers: something we haven't been for 7 1/2 years. All it not yet unpacked, by a long shot. And of course, it won't be. There's far too much to fit inside our tiny little place. Many of our belongings (furniture, keepsakes, kitchenware) is sitting in our two rented storage spaces.

And here we are. The boys are loving it, I think. Benjamin and Kyle are clearly happy to have their bunk beds back, along with some toys which haven't seen the light of day for months on end. Owen has his own room, but gleefully toddles into his brothers' bedroom whenever he has a chance. He has so much fun hanging out in there, playing with his brothers' toys, and just being with them.

All three boys have been sleeping like champions since we moved in, which is more than I'd ever asked for or imagined. Especially considering that we're on the ground floor, and that the boys' bedrooms are out next to the parking lot: so they're potentially exposed to the noise of people passing by, etc., as well as vehicles coming and going. What a gift their sweet sleep is!

Jeff and I, I must tell you, are struggling a bit. Not with each other...we're just somehow feeling very low about our new living arrangements. Everything feels crowded, and we still have boxes of things which we'd like to be here with us, but have no good place to put them. We're facing a new round of "Do you know where the ________ is?" It's very frustrating, and often the items are fairly important - recently missing was Benjamin's soccer uniform (the season's first game is Saturday...Jeff found it, thank goodness!). This is a minor example, I know. But this kind of thing contributes heavily to our morale.

Also, many things seem to be going wrong - the case in point being the theft of our van's CD player, as well as the family camera (as I mentioned in Monday's post). Jeff's car is not working right now, and we have no idea when it will be running again. We're receiving help of various kinds from our friends and wonderful church family. Yet we find that we are living with a sense of "...what will happen next?"

I hesitated to even write this post, because I don't want to come across as complaining. We are very blessed, and we know it. We're incredibly excited about the new house in January...it's just that January seems to be so far away. And there's this foreboding sense of "...what could go wrong with that?" Still, I decided to go ahead and write it, after all, for two reasons. First, I wanted to let you know how we are, now that the (first) move is over. But secondly and most importantly, I wanted to ask you to pray for us. It seems clear to me that we are under spiritual attack. We're holding on, but we're discouraged. So if you think of it, please keep us in your prayers. We truly covet them.

We're getting there, though. I'm getting back into the swing of things in my tiny little kitchen. I believe it is doing our hearts and bodies good to have nourishing food on a more consistent basis. And our family is in the midst of a very busy few weeks; hopefully once we're past that time, we'll be able to relax and breathe a bit better.

We are so thankful that the sale of "our" house did close, and for all we have to look forward to. Jeff and I are grateful for good health, a lovely pregnancy, and easygoing children. So as we begin this new chapter of our marriage, we're reminding ourselves to count our blessings. Because we are so, so blessed. We do know that.

CSA report

It recently occurred to me that I haven't shared about our CSA experience since our first basket of produce. And although I have been posting weekly "CSA reports" on my Facebook page, I want to share here as well.

In case you don't know, CSA stands for "Community Supported Agriculture." It's an opportunity to purchase local, seasonal food directly from a nearby farmer. In my case, I get my produce from an organic farm in Sandy, Oregon. If you're interested in finding a CSA program near you, go to Local Harvest. That site also has a more thorough explanation of the risks and benefits of doing something like this.

This has been our first time participating in a CSA program, and it's been wonderful. It has been really fun, as the weeks go on, to see the different items that are coming home in the basket. This week's haul yielded this glorious slew of tomatoes:


...and a lovely collection of pears: Barlett (I think) and Asian varieties. They go like hotcakes around here!


We have also enjoyed several varieties of lettuce (so plentiful that I have sometimes ended up giving a head or two away), wheatgrass, kale, chard, zucchini, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, apples, red and gold potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, wax beans, burgundy beans, green beans, sweet peppers, hot peppers, basil, cinnamon basil, rosemary, mint, squash, and pumpkin.

Yes, I do realize that pumpkin is a kind of squash. Still, I feel that it's in a class of its own.

It seems that perhaps lettuce season is over, but the past few weeks we've been enjoying a plentiful supply of tomatoes. I am really digging the tomatoes!

I had hoped that this experience would stretch me in the vegetable department, and it has. I'm learning how to cool different foods than I've ever ventured into before. The boys are coming along for the ride, too...but slowly. My oldest is still the most adventurous eater of the crew. He makes me smile when he (often) tries to talk his 3-year-old brother into trying something new. "You'll never know if you like it, unless you try it!"

How very true!


***This post is a part of Real Food Wednesday, hosted this week by Cheeseslave. Feel free to hop over there and see what others are sharing about real food this week!

"Not me" Monday

This Monday brings us an installment of "Not my" Monday, a blog carnival hosted by MckMama over at My Charming Kids. Check out her site...it never disappoints.

During the weekend of The Move, I absolutely did not fall off the nourishing food wagon. I was not tempted in the least by the 3 large pizzas we ordered to feed our work crew. Nor did I hear the ice cream calling to me that came along with the meal graciously brought to us by a family from church one night, OR the plate of cookies which arrived with the second meal on Saturday night. Nope, not me! I am never tempted by the kinds of foods I used to thoughtlessly eat. Nope, not me!

Along those lines, I definitely didn't suffer many physical symptoms for days afterward, causing me to repent and quickly climb back on said nourishing food wagon. Begone, white flour and white sugar!

While cleaning out a bathtub in the empty house, I for sure didn't make myself cry by singing "If These Walls Could Speak" and thinking about all that had gone on in that bathroom. Because there is nothing nostalgic about potty training, nor any other bathroom activities.

Last week Jeff and I absolutely did not accidentally leave our van unlocked one evening, after arriving home late from Bible study. We certainly weren't so intent on getting the boys into the apartment and to bed that we forgot to secure our most important family vehicle. Consequently, the next morning, I definitely didn't find that our car stereo (CD player) had been stolen out from under our noses. No way! We would never have even one oversight, resulting in such a sad loss. And we definitely wouldn't have left our camera in the van too, which had photos from our last family visit to the old house, to say goodbye... Things like us never happen to us. Especially not during that week.

I am so not going to miss having a car stereo during our upcoming 9-hour drive to Idaho. Because I rarely listen to music while on the road...

Over the weekend, I certainly did not spend nearly $60 on a cleverly-designed t-shirt and maternity pajamas. No way, not me! I mean, why pay $37 on pajamas when I can just as easily sleep in my husband's shirt? I have not always wanted to buy some, but either way I definitely wouldn't have succumbed while in my 5th pregnancy. No. Way.

Speaking of my older children (sort of), I absolutely do not continuously implore a certain one of my children to "please, please keep your voice down." I care nothing for what my apartment building-mates think of me, my family, and boys specifically. So what if they believe that a band of hooligans has moved in? Let kids be kids!

I am totally not sneezing my head off today. But if I were, I'd blame the White Flour lapse...

the song