Big day tomorrow

Tomorrow's the day! Ben and I need to be out the penthouse door by 7:45am. Quick stop at DD for coffee and bagels, then we head to the bungalow and... hang out doing nothing until the madness begins.

We've got the cable guy (really, let's just rename him the internet guy or the PBSkids guy, because the only station our tv is ever on is pbskids...) coming anytime between 8-11am.

Then, Abuelita, who raised 3 sons and (blessedly, repeat BLESSEDLY - yes, I am yelling) loves to dote on the only female grandchild, ordered a full "princess" bedroom set for Emma. That awesome delivery is supposed to happen anytime between 9:50am and 12:50pm. (Gotta love the windows of time...) Emma has absolutely no idea this is happening and I will video for all to see! (She thinks she is getting the bunk beds and Ben is getting a new bed.) The set includes a twin bed with canopy, giant dresser with mirror, a nightstand, and a desk. Seriously, Abuelita, we love you and are so glad you only ever birthed boys and are thereby given JOY by loving on Emsadoodle. (And I mean that with all sincerity!) :)

Daddy will get Emma on bus F for the very last time at 8:35a and then go pick up the moving truck. Our local awesome LDS missionaries are on the time clock at 10am to load up all the furniture from the penthouse (that is about all that is left - I've done an amazing job [pat pat pat myself on the back, wink wink - oh, wait, Gramma Lou helped big time!] of getting the "stuff" in boxes to the bungalow in the past week) into the truck then transported to the bungalow 1.7 miles away. I predict the whole move should be done by 1pm, then daddy and I have exactly 2 hours and 20 minutes to unpack EVERYTHING before the kids get out of school and GET IN THE WAY. :)

My only concern is driveway CONGESTION. May I suggest to the Universe that the internet guy arrive promptly at 8. Then the girl furniture guys arrive at 10:15 - be out by 11:00, so the bungalow furniture movers (i.e. Daddy et all) can unload easily... Please, Universe?

Daddy has been "working" every night from 10pm-2am painting and prepping the bungalow for the move. It looks amazing and I am beyond excited to begin this new chapter in our lives. (Oh, and take pics to show you!)

I have been trying very hard to not "do too much" with my gnarled ankle, but the timing is just bad - so, gnarled ankle - zip it and I promise you come Saturday at 1pm, I will rest you. In the meantime, continue your awesome mending (swelling is down, bruising is ROY G BIV beautiful) and let's revisit the whole " you really should see the ortho doc suggestion NEXT week. xoxoxox)

Timing is everything.

It's funny how the world works. I wasn't supposed to be a) moving boxes b) into the basement on Thursday morning. I should have a) been doing a presentation at the realtor's office who helped us get the bungalow but she didn't come through with the scheduling; and b) I should have been putting the boxes in the sunroom but the painters ran out of ceiling paint and that was the only ceiling that had not been painted. So Thursday found me and mama putting boxes into the basement of the fabulous bungalow:

Today's picture of our new home!

With just a few boxes left I decided to NOT pay close attention to my footing and did myself in on the bottom step into basement rolling my right ankle real good. I didn't hear any cracks or crunches but it swelled up real good:

Oh, HELLO!

so Mom agreed with me that I should get some x-rays. Thankfully they turned up no broken bones, but one gnarly sprain. Don't believe me?

How about now?

Or now??

And let's not forget my left knee:

It's even prettier now that the bruising has come through!

I have spent the better part of the last three days on the couch with my foot elevated while my Mom has played nurse / nanny / house mover / dog walker. Have I mentioned how awesome my mother is?? Ben wanted in on the elevation and suggested I put my leg up on his butt! I'd let you make up a caption for the pic but I just don't think you beat Daddy's finest:

We shall forever call this "Bootie and the feet".

Can't walk but I can still make curtains! I think she likes them...

Fun with screen shots

Ben's personal trainer continues to work him hard. He never really wants to go, but doesn't put up a fight, and when we get there he has a blast, so we will continue to go as long as our schedule allows. When he has been a good listener and tried hard, Miss Lauren lets him finish up in the ball pit.

"Hey, Mom, take my picture!"

Ben is still such a great sleeper. Put this kid to bed and he's out in 5 minutes for a good 10-11 hours. DST hasn't affected us too poorly this year - he actually sleeps 'til 7 (as of now) vs 6:30... I went to check on the kids before going to bed the other night and found this:

Not sure why he chose the floor, but he looks pretty cozy!

Emma on the other hand continues with her Daddy's night owl ways. She goes to bed around 8, reads her chapter books for a good 90 minutes, before I make her turn off the reading light. We are blowing through all our books and have become frequent visitors to the library once again for new goodies. Her reading skills have increased her spelling confidence, but her "comprehension" may still need work - case in point, I was napping the other day and she decided to text Gramma Lou and ask for the Frozen movie. But she chose to pretend she was me and Gramma didn't catch on! (If you ever receive a text from me that doesn't quite make sense, IT'S PROBABLY NOT ME TEXTING!)

Clue #1, all the YES answers. Clue #2, misspelling "Angry Bird Pirate Pig Attack".

Clue #3 - weird comprehension

The cute thing is she came into the room afterwards and woke me up and told me what she did. I guess her guilty conscience was getting the best of her!!

We've been cracking down on Ben' horrendous eating at dinner. We feel like Beast yelling about Belle, "If she doesn't eat with me, she doesn't eat at all!!" Except our howl goes, "If you don't eat what we eat, you don't play with the iPad!" The kid was iPadless for days and days as he is so wicked stubborn and went to sleep on an empty stomach, too. The upside of the starve-out, he is finally starting to take nibbles of new foods and his arts and crafts creativity has skyrocketed. He's been hooked on the Angry B*rd Go Cart App - so he decided if he can't play it, he'll make one and pretend. What a novel idea!

Our clever beaver.

We hit up the explorium w Henry and Jane and made a Leprechaun trap. They were so focused! Ben, not so much - he played the time away with the marble design game...

He will never escape!

Daddy had a long day yesterday at the office which is pretty rare and left me for the day solo with the kiddos. I was pretty delirious by bedtime... Em is doing a project for the science fair that use a water balloon - as in one balloon - but I had to buy a whole bag as they wouldn't just sell me one balloon. This is what I decided after 10 hours of being tortured:

That's good parenting, right?? (Luckily Gramma Lou is coming for a few days to help while daddy is in FL!)

Two weeks?

Wow. How has two weeks passed since I blogged? We've been keeping busy. I've packed a lot of the rarely used items for the move. Now I just want to donate them to some needy organization because, really, I am excited to simplify - and rarely used are just that, rarely used! But alas, I will bring them and find a new space for them in my giant big bungalow. (At least that is the way it is going to feel compared to the penthouse.) The family moved out over the weekend, so we went spying through the windows to refresh our memory as to the space. SEVEN more days and we should be able to get inside and get to work making it our own. Waiting is the hardest part!

We got a break in the weather this weekend. A lot of the snow melted off and the ground is muddying up. It's supposed to be in the high 40s / low 50s all week until Thursday - which is supposed to be 27 and snow! Zoinks. We busted out the waffle maker last weekend for a cold Sunday morning treat...

Hit the spot!

I'm trying to pack and Em keeps stealing my boxes to create projects. Behold her rocket ship, complete with a finger knit seat belt for safety.

Captain Emma, at your service? Where to? Mars? Let's go!

We've been doing a lot of praying for this handsome fella. He's feeling good but not too pleased with the news that he has to do another 6 months of aggressive chemo. We are looking forward to seeing him next month when he returns from Florida.

Kick it's ass, Grandpa!

Ben walking across a tightrope - and this kid qualified for physical therapy!

He's ready for the circus.

Our elementary school has a full size pool that opens it's doors on Monday and Wednesday evenings for family swim. Em's been bugging me to go, and we finally made it last Wed. Guess what? It was awesome! How have we never done this in 3 1/2 years??? (Gramma Lou - bring your swimsuit! and a towel! All our beach towels are packed and we had to share one towel between the three of us.)

We survived family swim.

I finally used my gift card from Christmas at the shoe store. I got fancy heels for work and have yet to wear them because I can't get them off Em's feet...

Mom, can you buy me shoes just like this?

Daddy had a birthday yesterday! The kids made cards for him and Ben wrapped up some legos with some "instructions" on how to build a plane. It was adorable.

Just say no to clutter in the bungalow!

What is it? What is it?

Only the declaration of Independence!

We pawned the kids off on our pals and did a little of this:

Yes, please! Happy Birthday, Daddy!

It's birthday party weekend - 3 yesterday and one today. I'm exhausted!

I'm not tired! But I am only 5. Maybe you shouldn't have waited so long to have babies old lady!

Time for a nap!

Em and her pal, Abigail.