I love this girl.

  Early this morning she jumped into my bed and said
"I'm starving. And my breath is terrible."
She also wore her hair down for church to impress a boy.  I know this because she told me.  She expresses her feelings better than most 8 year olds I know.  She is honest and straightforward and has the best sense of humor.  Currently, she is working on writing a book in her leisure about wizards and bigfoots and is on the 9th chapter right now.  Every time she adds another chapter, she has to read the enTIRE story to me all over again.  I love that she's so proud of her work.  Today she stole 7 cookies from the cupboard and was only caught because Jordan could smell her cookie breath when she was up close to him.

Seven cookies.

I was mad when I found out, and restricted her from eating anything sweet for an entire week...but really, I have to laugh whenever I think about it.   Can you just picture the whole scene?

She said "Spies are supposed to be sneaky."

I said, "You're not a spy."
 "Yes I am." she said

and what else could I really say?

I'm Still a little mad about it,  ;) but I love her just the same.

Just a bunch of pictures today folks...

As mentioned before, our camera is somewhat "broken"... It still turns on and takes pictures, but only on one setting, and you can count on 97% of them turning out blurry.

So here's what's been happenin',

J swept the little boy away on Sunday and gave him another big boy haircut.  

Here are my three semi-neggids.  The girls couldn't get enough of Ty's new look.  J and I agree he looks much less innocent now.

Less innocent indeed.
This is him being sneaky at the doctor's office.

The reason we were at the doctor was that Tia can't hear worth a lick, and we needed to get her ears checked.

"Show me the face you make when you can't hear what we're saying to you,"  I said.

And here it is...the exact face she gives me at least 30 times a day.

"eh?"

Here are a few pictures of our new place...

Ty's room.

The girl's room.. (I probably don't need to label these, as they are pretty obvious)

This is our favorite room in the house.  So big and spacious...and they have their own deck!

Here is our master bath...with the Dutch sign I made for J above the toilet, reminding him that I love him every time he goes to the bathroom.

The girls' bathroom.

Here is Ty doing what he does best.  Disobeying me. ;)

"Get back down here!" I say.

But it only makes him go faster

Ty beggin for some kisses.  

Well, yes please.  I'll have me some of that.

We're working on finding a new table for our dining room.  2 of the 4 chairs were found on the side of the road and don't match...and really, it's just too small for the five of us.  We like our space when we be eating. 

Living room.  

Haven't decorated this room much, as you can see.

And this.  This is my dream come true.

Welcome to my Woman Cave.  

(Exercise room)  

So far, this is the only decoration in it.

If you're wondering why you keep seeing me wearing beanies inSIDE my house...it's because it is always freezing.  Gone are the days of free heat.

Here is our back deck.  The wind knocked this chair over the other night.

J wants to leave it like that to see how long it takes for someone to report us to the 'association.'

I didn't take pictures of our kitchen, since at the time there were dishes in our sink.  I also left out our master bedroom...laundry/craft room and one more half bath.  

Hope you enjoyed the tour ;)

Snitch

We've lived here about 2 weeks now, and already we've been reported to our condo "association" twice.
Once for leaving our car in front of our garage instead of parking it IN the garage..and another for having 5 cars.

You think I'm kidding.
Here's the email I got from our landlord this morning:

"How many cars will you have at paladin club? Someone told the condo association you have 5 cars. Your only allowed to have 2 cars at the unit. Any more will have to be parked by the tennis courts."

Really?

All I could do was bust out in laughter and dial up J at work.

"Babe did you read Terry's email?  Are these people for real?"

3 questions:
What might one do with 5 cars?

Do we look like the kind of people that could afford 5 cars?
And if we could afford it, do you really think one of them would be a Dodge Caravan?

Lastly, and most importantly,

 Who is the snitch?

I realize that was 4 questions.

You can bet that J will not rest until he gets to the bottom of this.

I'm guessing it was the lady on the end who told me she moved to Paladin because of the mature trees.

                    

I actually did it.

I got a chuckle out of my husband the other day. Not quite a laugh really, more like a "heh" but with a real smile, and genuine amusement.

Every year on April 6th we celebrate his mission homecoming by pulling out the box of his "Dutch stuff" and letting him do a little show and tell. We look at pictures, read letters, listen to his stories...then we top it off by eating his favorite Dutch meal.

This year, April 6th fell right in the middle of our move. It was stressful, and Dutch day was the last thing on our minds. On the morning of April 7th, I stumbled upon his Dutch box and was reminded of Dutch day. Feeling bad that we had totally missed it, I thought of a way to make it up to him (chuckling to myself already)

In my bedclothes (if that's what you want to call them) and ratty morning hair, I slipped on his huge wooden shoes, pulled his Dutch flag out of the box and draped it over my head, and dug a little deeper into the box to find his Dutch hymn book. I could barely contain my laughter as I scooted into my bedroom where my whole family was sprawled out on my bed. I even snorted a little trying to keep the laughter in.

And then in my scratchy morning voice I proceeded to sing a hymn in Dutch....making sure to emphasize the throaty CH sounds, and trying to keep a straight face.

Unsuccessful with the straight face.

J was intrigued. He couldn't help but smile from ear to ear...and as much as he tried to hold it back, the 'heh' escaped from his lips.

Victory. It is so very sweet.

I just wish I didn't have to make a fool of myself to achieve it.

I found this on the internet a while ago as something I wanted to try. "My girls will get a kick out of this," I thought.

So I sat in bed at 11:30 last night and drew this on my fingers with the intent of showing them in the morning. By the time I woke up, most of the pen had been wiped off, and I was left with a useless faded image. I'll have to redraw it today while they're at school.

And now you know the incredibly productive ways in which I use my spare time.

Moved.

This last week has been exhausting, but the worst is over, and now it's just finding places for all of the little random things that somehow found their way into these boxes.....like spools of thread, chopsticks, screws, bad smelling lotions, magnets etc. My husband has been a powerhouse throughout this move and although we sometimes/allthetime get kind of irritable under stressful situations, I believe we make a fantastic team.

If my camera weren't broken and covered in goldfish crumbs at the bottom of my purse, I would insert a picture here of our new place. Imagine us smiling pretty big....except for J who only ever does his fake smile in pictures which is not very convincing at all.

"Shnooks," I say, "a real smile this time please,"

So then he'll open his mouth a little wider to show more teeth, but still not into a form that could be classified as a real smile. There will be no bothering this man with fake emotions...even for a quick little snapshot, I'm telling you.

Anyway, imagine us smiling...

zoom in a little. zooom in. What is that black thing on the wall?

Oh that? That's a big fat black ant who has apparently been hosting a family reunion in our place since we moved in. I've been on a killing spree since last Friday, and it hasn't been pretty.

Also in the picture, you would notice boxes of decorations still lining my living room floor, because I haven't yet found the energy or the motivation to spend any time decorating. I'm not sure when or if I will...

We really are happy here. It's been a fabulous change, and I can't tell you enough how great it is to have space to put everything we own. In fact, my new favorite and overused phrase is "I have just the place for that." because, I really do.

Come on over sometime and hang with me. I'll serve you ice water with lemon then I'll show you all the new places I have to put things! ;)

Or we could just sit and chat or whatever.

You choose.

Us.

Guess who gets the key to their new town home today.

Guess who will be having a dance party on all 4 floors tonight.