Spring Break

Packed up and planned out, through the door and on the plane, our family vacation started off without a hitch...and would you believe it, the entire week went off without a hitch!?! A week of sun in Colorado Springs, a week of 6 cousins playing together, a week with very few tears and plenty of smiles! Three days of water play at Great Wolf Lodge, and the rest of the days filled with limiting plans so the kids could just play. Because that's what they really wanted to do, not be tourists, not go on adventures even, just play together. It was beautiful. I'm so thankful for my brother and sister in law who hosted, the family with whom we rarely talk to until we're together. And then it's talking and eating and laughing and getting caught up...until next time. The people you can just pick up where you left off and not feel guilty about the lack of letters or phone calls or emails because you know we're all living this crazy parenting life together even halfway across the country and sometimes focusing on the family in front of you takes precedence over small chat with the ones living somewhere else. And you know it's ok that the email you've been meaning to send since getting home almost a week ago hasn't been sent yet.

"I sho do wike ife cweam"- Evelyn 2.5 Years Old

Exciting few weeks around here. Starting with Super Bowl Sunday...not so exciting for me but we spent it with good friends and it began to snow...and snow...and snow! The next day was our 20 week ultrasound and since we'd be finding out the gender we planned a party for Monday evening. But the snow never stopped. All night it continued and we woke up to a winter wonderland!

Of course we also woke up to a lack of electricity and internet. Ironically we'd placed the order for a woodstove for our new house just days before! Monday was chilly but when I could no longer convince everyone to "stay in bed, it's warmer there!" we boiled water for hot chocolate on the propane grill and toasted bagels on it for breakfast; a mix of staycation and snow camping.

Sweetie Saying Good Morning to our landlord's horse

Everything cancelled, no school, no appointments, no garbage pick up, no way of leaving our road without skis. So we played. We built a snow wall which was fun but never ended up being used for a snowball fight, we hiked down the road in the silence of the snow to the river and tested to see who could throw the biggest snowball into the water, and we appreciated the electricity when it came back on and we stood on the heater grates excited for warm air. I can't think of a better reason to have an ultrasound and party cancelled than a surprise snow day!

That week we enjoyed the last of the snow and by the end of the week our new house was back to taking shape. The roofing was delivered and the plumbing was close to completion. Even the windows were installed!

The end of that week my parents took ALL THREE kids for the ENTIRE weekend to their cabin 4+ hours away. They left Friday at 5:00am and didn't return until Monday evening. What a quiet weekend we had and what a loud weekend they had! But everyone had a spectacular time making memories and Evelyn loved going to be in her "fweeping bag" like a big kid. The kids had a BLAST with Gram and Gramps while Daniel and I stayed home. We didn't do anything exceptional, but everything we did, we did together. And we went out to eat wherever we wanted on whatever schedule we wanted. Glorious. When Daniel went to work Monday I pretended it was my birthday and ran errands at a leisurely pace, stopped for frozen yogurt, and checked out Daiso to see what junk I "needed." It was finally the day of my ultrasound and getting to see the little baby wiggle around while ultrasound technician comment over and over about how active the baby is was the best gift!!

Our exhausted happy kids went to bed late Monday night and when they woke up the next day Capper said, "Wow, that was a short night!" They did a good job of treating me well for my birthday and I only had to pull the "Please do it for me? It's my birthday?" card once or twice. Capper is quite the generous gifter and almost couldn't wait until Daddy was home for me to open my presents! The evening was spent with family, a friend, and the decadent chocolate brandied cherry cake I brought home from a bakery in California a few weeks ago which had been waiting until that day in the freezer. Of course the "adult cake" made its appearance after the kids were cozied up for a much earlier bedtime than the night before!

Finally, on Thursday, I opened the card from the ultrasound and couldn't believe my eyes. I read it over and over. I set it down and came back to it later. I considered asking Sophia to read it for me to make sure I was reading it right (but I didn't want to give away the surprise). I excitedly made a cake and filled it with BLUE candies. I filled a balloon for the kids with BLUE confetti. It was going to be an exciting party!! That evening my parents, my grandparents, our neighbors, another couple, and even Daniel's Mom came over for the BIG REVEAL.

My Happy Baker

OH BOY!!!

Grandma A stayed overnight

It's been fun to think and plan now that we know the gender. I had to spend my Carters Rewards before they expired so I've started buying a few adorable outfits since Capper's were given away years ago when we found out our "final" baby was a going to be a girl! It's fun to think about the rooms in our new house differently and plan on Capper sharing with a brother. Sweetie and Evelyn have been looking forward to sharing a room and I think he was feeling a bit lonely.

Building a LEGO replica of our new house complete with stairs and all the bedrooms!

Today was President's Day so no school for the preschoolers and no work for Daniel. We left Daddy to work on the new house while we went on a hike with some friends, being inside was starting to get to us after a wet weekend! This upcoming week is mid-winter break so tomorrow we'll go to the Seattle Aquarium and Wednesday evening we'll enjoy not being out late for AWANA. But other than that it will probably be a pretty normal week. Normal if that's what you can call anything we do around here.

Clearing the trail of some of the smaller debris left by the snow storm

Friends, Fruitsnacks, and Snoqualmie Falls

Capper

I found this draft post from over a year ago, it's too sweet not to post!

"Look Mom! I can break my cookie into a bunch of pieces!" "Oh Capper, please don't, it'll make a mess." "But how will I share if I only have one cookie?" "Here you go Evelyn, a piece for you, and a piece for Bennett, and here Mom, here's your piece" crunching on his own. "Oh buddy" heart swells, catching in my throat, "it's ok, you can eat my piece." Looking at cookie, thinking, "huh, ok here Bennett I guess you get two, mine was bigger."

What!?! Where do these things come from?? This little soul, this little one who has almost been around four years knows how to live with a generous heart. Will he lose it some day? How do we harbor it?

This was far from the first time his generosity knocked my socks off. He is kind and thoughtful, so much more thoughtful than I'd ever expect a three year old to be. He will see someone struggling or see a door that needs to be opened and run to help! What a heart!

House Progress January 2017

This isn't a DIY so you aren't getting the current picture first!

It's already been a long road just getting the permit so every bit of visible progress is awesome!  The house is finished being framed out as of yesterday and the plumber will be starting work this week.  In the next couple of weeks we should have a roof, windows, and the garage will be started.  We've been staring at the plans for years and it's amazing to be inside the structure and see the plans take form.  We're very thankful for Gramps' attention to detail and oversight!

8/7/16- Blackberries are removed and silt fence is installed.  Well driller in the background.

10/27/16- Foundation is dug and poured.

12/6/16- Posts, floor joists and sub floor completed for the first floor.

12/30/16- Ridge beam and framing coming along.

1/2/17- First and (hopefully) last snow fall in the house. (Evelyn did her own hair...)

1/25/17- Framing done!

Beyond Survival

Joseph and Mary visited on Christmas morning to tell the story of the first Christmas

It started out fun- Christmas followed by bringing the kids to my parents' cabin. Daniel stayed home and my parents met us there. Our days will filled with snow, hot cocoa, and Pie in the Face. Wonderful memories.

She loved being buried in the snow

Snow Sisters

Sledding Buddies

We returned home for a couple nights and then I went to California...alone! It was glorious. I enjoyed my week-long "work-cation" where I could spend every evening catching up with friends. I did feel a little guilty knowing what Daniel was dealing with at home, but I still enjoyed it.

Hotel Living

Unfortunately Daniel had caught a bad bug and generously shared it with the kids. They were all coughing and napping while battling fevers and snotty noses. To compound the situation, the plumbing on the house we are renting went out for the third time in a year so Daniel was also dealing with the plumber. Finally he'd decided he'd had enough and after being told, "can't you just deal with it for a few days?" he moved himself and the kids into a hotel. Not sure why he cared so much about flushing the toilet more than twice a day and being able to bathe once in awhile (or as a special treat, do laundry or dishes) but he'd decided he was done and the hotel-living for the rest of the family began.

Like I said, it was rough!

I returned home for one night and essentially just unpacked and slept, then met the family at the hotel before they were awake the next morning. The next few days were a fun little stay-cation as the kids were feeling better (just a little tired) and I hadn't gotten sick...yet. The pool was warm, the pillows were soft, and the complimentary breakfast was plentiful. We were finally able to return home to a hole in the yard but working pipes...then I got sick.

I don't remember much about that week except that I was miserable and the kids weren't because they were watching endless amounts of Paw Patrol and Little Einsteins. They even probably watched My Little Pony and some of the other shows I usually don't let them watch.

As I've come out of the fog, things have started to return to some form of normalcy (if that's ever possible!) Capper turned 5 (I'm still in denial) and the kids returned to school. I've gotten almost caught up on work and Daniel and I have started having real conversations again instead of just getting through the evening and heading to bed. We're hopeful that we have our sickness for the year out of the way and that the rest of it will be a little smoother. Maybe challenging in other ways instead?

So with a growing belly and a growing building, we are now starting to GROW into 2017! It's going to be an exciting summer as we meet our newest addition in June and move into our long-awaited house in June or July! Capper and Sweetie (if she still lives with us) will start kindergarten in the fall and Evelyn may even begin preschool in the fall.

My toes are hiding already!

I'm hoping for more than just traditional life changes and growth though. I want to go deeper. The last few months of 2016 were a struggle as this surprise pregnancy knocked me off my feet. I couldn't get up as early as I had been and I definitely couldn't stay up late, I needed as much sleep as I could get! My quiet time quickly became non-existent and as I worked on surviving the juggle of motherhood and working from home, putting effort into marriage slipped down on the priority list. But now I'm back!! WE are back. Daniel and I have talked about how to keep our marriage a priority no matter what life throws at us. I've made tangible plans on action steps to support spiritual growth. I'm ready to grow with God, grow as a mother, and grow in my love for Daniel. So here we are, almost at the end of January and moving beyond survival. I'm excited for what the year will bring!

I know you're anxious to see the house progress, but I need to give you SOMETHING to look forward to!

Once Upon A Time...

You know your site is complete with it has a HoneyBucket!

Once upon a time the Royals decided to build a house. Everything took longer than expected yet time and again pieces fell into place in the nick of time. Last week the concrete was poured into the forms, within 24 hours it rained enough to cause mud and dirt to slide downhill. Had the footings not yet been poured, the forms would have been filled with mud and dirt making the concrete work nearly impossible. But now there are footings, the build goes on! The poor concrete guys worked in their raingear through the big storm last week all day while the kids and I just made a quick trip to "leave our mark" in the concrete.

Before the rain

Daily Progress

Groundbreaking

This is it! This is the moment we have been waiting for. The moment we hoped for since before Capper was born. The moment when I can finally announce, "WE HAVE BROKEN GROUND!" After years of planning and months of prep work, our building permit was released on Monday! So here we go, it's going to be a busy year but by next fall we will be living in the house we built! Or rather the house we paid to have built but did a few things here and there. Either way, it's exciting!

The easier way to remove a tree

My Dad in the excavator, Daniel in the tractor. Clearing the land!

I can't believe how different things look in just one week. The footings will be poured tomorrow and it's not a day too soon. The ground water has already started to come up and is within inches of being at the level of our footings. If we had a few large rains we would have to wait until spring to pour.

Yes, those are my amazing parents. 

Almost ready for concrete