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