Shopping Spree

Phil stayed home with the kids this morning so I could go out for awhile. I went to a thrift store which is owned by a rather large Christian school in the area. Most of the items in the store were 50% off today. Here's a picture of some of the things I found. The creamer and sugar bowl were $0.49 each! My next stop was Starbucks, of course! I sat in Starbucks for an hour, read the newspaper and enjoyed a decaf Pumpkin Spice Latte. My last stop was Hancock Fabrics. I'd like to make new kitchen curtains, so I spent almost 2 hours looking through pattern books for inspiration.

Happy Fall

Here are a few of our Fall decorations. The kids would rather skip Fall and go right into Winter, because we told them it snows up here in Spokane. Another reason they want to skip Fall? We don't have any leaves to pile up and jump into! We have 8 beautiful pine trees in our backyard, but brown pine needles just don't go "crunch" when you jump into a big pile of them. One thing they do enjoy about the Fall is candy corn. When Jared was 1, I told him it was "Mommy candy." A year later he saw them in a store and called out, "Mommy candy!" This is what our family now calls candy corn.

Despite the absence of Fall fans in my home, I'm determined to enjoy the season...apple cider in the crock pot, chicken and dumplings, warm apple pie, candles burning, turning on the heater in the morning, and tea before bedtime.

These Girls of Mine...

When I work in the kitchen, Gracie isn't far behind me with her little stool. She scoots it up to the counter where I'm working and is eager to get to work...no matter what I'm doing. Sometimes I'm making a shopping list and she scribbles her requests over mine. Sometimes I'm rolling out a pie crust and she begs for a turn with the rolling pin.

Lily, on the other hand, walks right past me in the kitchen, only stopping if she thinks I have something yummy to offer. Here she is on that very same stool--only she would much rather work on projects around the house with her Daddy or fix the tractor with her Grampa. Phil was trying to fix a battery charger last night after dinner, and Lily thought she'd offer her services.

Sweet Things

My little sweeties are making sweet things for their Daddy!

The problem with Autumn is that bags of little candy bars call out to me at Wal Mart and every grocery store I walk into! One whole aisle of Halloween candy isn't enough--they have to place the bags of candy on every end display, as well. And they do this months before Halloween! I broke down and bought a bag of Milky Way. At home I tell myself, "These are small, so I'll just eat 3." I'm eating one right now as I sip my cold coffee.

The other day Phil smelled a candle burning and thought I had baked sugar cookies. Nope! But yesterday we did and we surprised him when he got home from school. We decorated them after dinner...frosting, sprinkles and all! Aren't the girls cute in their little turtlenecks? They look like school girls. The crisp Fall weather comes a bit earlier up here in Washington than in California. It's refreshing after spending a very warm summer in Lake County.

Happy Tuesday!

Phil bought these for me last night to dress up our new porch.


Jared had a haircut yesterday. Caleb said he didn't need one.


Caleb is trying to arrange the numbers on our new address plaque.

Everyday is getting easier for us. We finally have some sort of routine, which puts most of us at ease. I put the girls down. I sit at the computer to blog while sipping my cold cup of coffee. Ah, the familiar!

Peace and Quiet

What is a mother of four young children supposed to think if she's working in the kitchen and her house is extremely quiet? My curiosity sent me searching for my quiet children. Grace and Lily were playing with their dollhouse and Jared and Caleb were playing with their Leapster in the recliner.

Yum!

I prepared this Amish Baked Oatmeal last night before going to bed and baked it this morning. Everyone but Jared tried it and enjoyed it. It was delicious with vanilla yogurt on top. Gracie had thirds.

Gracie Homemaker

I found Gracie in the pantry this morning. "What?! An open pantry door?" says Lily. She was not far behind! Gracie woke up from her nap this afternoon and saw that I was working in the kitchen. She pushed a chair over to the counter and helped me roll out the dough for our chicken pot pie. Here is the fruit of our labor. She was quite proud of the pie when I placed it on the table this evening.

In other news, we took a drive to a uniform shop after dinner tonight. Phil had to purchase a white doctor's coat! I don't have a picture yet, sorry. Our family outings are very interesting now that we live in the city. While I'm scouting out Starbucks, the kids are on the look-out for McDonald's and Burger King restaurants with playgrounds. Even little Lily joins in when she spots the golden arches. Would you believe that I've been up here in Spokane for 1 week and yesterday was the first time I went to Starbucks? Thank you, Brooke!

Just Catching Up

Jared and Caleb love to snuggle together at night.


I finally found the box where I packed my scissors, so Lily had her bangs cut last night.


We met Brooke, Addie and Paige at the park today. It started to drizzle as we were finishing lunch, so we packed up and headed back to our cars.

Wow!

All 4 of my children are napping right now IN THE SAME ROOM! I'm off to make a chicken pot pie and to get some apple cider in the crockpot before Phil comes home.

O Yes, He Cares

"Does Jesus care...As the burdens press, And the cares distress, And the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares, I know He cares, His heart is touched with my grief; When the days are weary, The long night dreary, I know my Savior cares."

This song has been going through my head all morning. I hesitated to get out of bed today because of yesterday's happenings. The kids have been especially clingy since we've moved. I struggled to get things done yesterday with little ones screaming while pulling on my clothes for most of the day.

While I don't want my children to spend their day in front of the T.V., a 30 minute video is a lifesaver for me! It keeps all 4 of them occupied so I can fold laundry, do dishes, straighten up the house, etc. Our VCR broke yesterday, but Phil discovered that PBS comes in pretty well, along with 2 other channels that we probably won't waste our time with. The kids were able to watch Clifford this morning while I did my "morning rounds." Does it sound trite to say that discovering that we get PBS is an answer to prayer?

The girls went down for their morning quiet rest time very well--another answer to prayer--so I was able to sit down and check my email. We don't have a phone yet, so this is my only way to communicate with family and friends. I was very excited to see that Phyllis sent a Southwest Airlines travel itinerary to come visit in 2 weeks--another answer to prayer. Yesterday I asked the Lord to send help.

This picture was taken this morning at breakfast. Lily was at my feet crying (she wanted to take the picture), but the others are enjoying the "chwocwat" donuts that Caleb picked out for them at Wal Mart last night.

A Night Out

Phil started school today. The kids and I had a very rough day. They were extremely fussy, so I spent most of my day crying. As I type this, my eyes are burning and I have one of those headaches from crying. Lily fell out of her bed a half an hour into her nap. She woke up crying, so that was the end of nap time for everybody. Then our VCR/DVD player broke...no T.V. and no naps today! Hopefully each day will get easier for us as we adjust to our new life up here. Phil decided that we all needed to get out tonight, so we went to the Super Wal Mart and did some grocery shopping after dinner. My heart melted as I watched my girls put on their shoes to go out. They heard Phil mention an outing, so they found their shoes and plopped themselves down in front of the fire place in an attempt to put on their little shoes. Maybe they were as desperate as I was to get out for awhile.

New Church

I've been looking forward to and dreading this day since I found out about our move. I love visiting new churches, but I've never had to do so with 4 small children. The church we visited today is a little bit larger than Clear Lake Baptist, so the kids were in separate classes (except for the twins, of course). Caleb didn't want to get out of the car until he saw that every child had a yellow balloon. Jared was very excited, but then when we got to his class he cried. Gracie screamed and held on to me for dear life, which made me very glad that I trimmed her finger nails after her bath last night!

In the end, they all did well. Nobody had to come get us during the service. They were all very happy when we picked them up. By the time we got over to the table where they were handing out yellow balloons, the last balloon had just been given away. Caleb was heartbroken, and I was sad for him. He loves yellow.

Gracie Looks Like...

Jared Looks Like...

Caleb Looks Like...

Lily Looks Like...

Cutie

We're off to the library and to the dollar store this morning. Gracie wanted pretties in her hair for the big outing. Jared can't wait to browse through the movies at the library. Wait until we tell him that he can only check out books because neither Phil nor I have a Washington state driver's license!

Playing Outside

Here are a few pictures of the kids playing outside in the backyard today. We miss everyone.

We Made It!

Our Room--the kids need the larger room (you'll see why)


The kids' room--this is the bed that Phil made for them.

We said "goodbye" to California on Tuesday afternoon. We stopped in Bend, Oregon and stayed the night in a hotel. We arrived after midnight, hoping to carry 4 sleepy children into their beds, but they were not the least bit sleepy!

We've been busy unpacking boxes all day. The kids love the new bed that Phil made for them, and they're having a great time in our new backyard! Lily drives the Gator all over the yard, and then grunts for me when she runs into trees and can't back up. Jared loves to explore in the basement. He repeatedly says to me, "Mom, if you need me, I'll be downstairs." Caleb is excited to see all of his toys again. He played quietly with his cars for most of the day. Gracie swept the house, unpacked boxes, sorted toys, and then found a spare moment to ride around with Lily in the Gator.

Brooke brought dinner over tonight! She also stopped by last night with food for breakfast and lunch today. Phil starts school Monday morning, so we'd like to get things put away this weekend. I'm amazed at how much stuff we've accummulated in only 8 years of marriage, but our family has doubled in size since our last move 3 years ago.