oh the adventure

as it always seems to be with us-

• we have moved!
• into an RV
• while the house gets a makeover
• don’t like living in two places
• makes for fun nights of freezing
• progress on the house
• not enough progress to feel accomplished
• hate the color of paint that got applied
• too blue and not yellow tinted
• has anyone ever done this before?
• going to try and change it today
• Note to self- don’t EVER put wallpaper in your house! it is SUCH A PAIN to get off!!!
• Don’t like cleaning up after people who never cleaned
• girls handling things pretty well
• Abi has joined us in our small RV bed for the past two nights
• Brooklyn loves screaming lots during the night
• lots of fits but can’t blame abi for the upheaval of it all
• Abi loves to help us paint – I love the proud look she gets
• Dan is awesome!
• works so hard
• The ward is going to be great
• so welcoming for us
• Brooklyn had a blowout in sacrament and Dan had to drive home to change her
• Family coming this week!
• get ready to get dirty and painty
• Complete and utter shun of all my responsibilities
• forgive me!!! it has been such a crazy time – I am SURE I have forgotten a lot of people, events, plans, etc…
• trying to work on some sort of routine
• yeah right!!!

upheave!

so we are in the midst of moving… and in that midst, we took a trip to Colorado… crazy us. We were blessed to have Dan with us.

Abi made her own bread with Mima- then ate the whole thing! I love how poud she is of herself-

brooklyn is just growing. She now grabs at everything and is just as social as ever! She still doesn’t sleep through the night and still loves to be held… I am grateful for a backpack during this packing and cleaning phase.

She loves her toes- such novelty.

My beauty queen- check out those eyes!

Okay, I have been WAITING for this girl to get big to put her in the most adorable jacket that my aunt sent to her- These photos are just classic and I love them so much!

And as usual, it is always an adventure as a Thomas… I got sick at my parents’ home, then Abi, then Brooklyn, and now Dan. So the girls have all been sick for a week (all together) and Dan just a couple of days. It has sure added to the chaos. We also didn’t have a closing date on our house set until after we were supposed to be out of our apartment so we had no place to move to! Thankfully the manager let us extend a couple of days… with a fee, of course.

Okay, now for some photos of REAL life- what we are living in today. My kitchen- everything is pack and all we have left is food out on the counter.

My dining area- just a catch all for what we are going to need right away at the new house.

My living room- a storage unit

Driving you crazy yet? It is me… 

Oh and p.s. see the streaming toilet paper on the floor into the kitchen? Abi came out of the bathroom with “Rapunzel hair”

And my girls- notice Abi’s hair from yesterday and Brooklyn’s pjs still on… well, sort of on.

In the midst of the chaos and much like myself, I taught RS on sunday. It was on the postmortal Spirit World. This was the diagram that I took to class.

And this was Abi’s replica- it makes me smile. I had to share it with my class. I talked about how important it is to let our children learn by our example.

So tomorrow is the big day! We will be first time home owners! – more like project undertakers… however, we have done this before (remember NY for those who have followed us since then?)  Thankfully, it won’t be this much demolition, but a lot of work otherwise, and more sq footage… and two kids!

I am sorrowed to leave this comfort zone of mine and all my friends. I know that we are going to thrive where we are going (we always do). I will miss so many people that I have grown to love and appreciate. But I won’t miss my Winco or Macey’s or Kohls because we are just blocks from them. Can I get an AMEN?

Sigining off from Orem and on to the next! (I will have internet on Friday again)

confessions

this episode gets three confessions of motherhood-

• Brooklyn is chilling screaming up in our room right now. She is terribly sick and so am I AND so is Abi! I just needed a break. At least I know she is still breathing! I will crawl up the stairs get her when I am done with this.
• I heated up a bottle in the microwave. Actually this isn’t the confession. I am a full supporter of zapped bottles. So actually here is the confession – I opened the microwave to realize that it was empty! The bottle was still on the table. oh geeze
• This one is gross. I am forever tainted. I was letting Brooklyn lick one of my green beans last night at dinner since she kept grabbing them off my plate. When she was done I stuck it back on my plate (spit-up drool and all) yeah, you know what’s coming…. I TOTALLY SPACED that green bean was previously claimed and ATE it about three minutes later!!! I could not figure out why I could smell spit-up so much! That was it for my dinner and was surprised I kept my food down all night.

trying to keep up!

oh my word, do we have a lot going on!!! if I had time, I would be able to keep up, but cannot do it. Such is life as a mother right?

First we have the latest statements by abi –

This was Abi’s prayer Monday night- “please bless that Edward and dad can come home *sob *sob *sob” (Edward is our Beamer that just got a “new family” and Abi is upset about it)

We were singing the sacrament hymn in church and Abi sang along while belting out “Mary had a little lamb” at the top of her lungs. I leaned over to Dan and said out of all the children's’ songs she could have chosen it was the perfect choice because Mary did have a lamb (Jesus Christ).

If you remember my post about Abi’s questions and how we are trying to combat it with the rule that she is not allowed to ask one word questions. So she asked me why I was doing something… one word. Dan, being exhausted said, “Abi, that is only a one word question and you need to use two words.” Abi wittingly rephrased her question, turned to me and asked, “Why mom?”

Brooklyn Updates-

We had her four month check up this month… here are her stats-

Weight – 11 lbs - 14%

Length – 24 inches – 39% (abi was above the 100% at this age)

We switched to formula this month – did the same with Abi at the same time – and we are SO happy now… both of us

She doesn’t sleep through the night still – at least two feedings a night

Brooklyn LOVES to scream – happy or sad, she is a social girl

She loves to wiggle and be free, but also wants to be swaddled and sit on your lap (usually those all at the same time)

She rolls over both ways – front to back and back to front

She loves to watch Abi and I know just wants to boogie with her – if you ask her where Abi is, she will find Abi – smartie

 

In the meantime of these vocal and active girls that keep me in my sweats all day, we have been packing! Packing for what?

We are closing on a house next week! What a CRAZY experience this has been and it is only about to get crazier – we are moving into an “investment” home – I am having to come to grips with the fact that I will not be “moved in and settled in” this house for at least a year. Ugh! I am overwhelmed at the, no kidding, 8 typed pages of things to be done on the inside of the house alone.

I am WAY excited and WAY nervous at the same time. We know nothing of the neighborhood or people, but it is a nice looking area. I am nervous because this will be the home that we will put our roots down – our first home! And at the same time, it is exciting too!

So let the adventures begin! I have documented the whole house as it is now and I am already excited to post our progress – not that we have made some yet.

I also plan on posting all that I have learned in buying a HUD home and the process (but this is just a dream for now).

 

To send you off, I have photos of our Halloween parties and the girls in their cupcake pj’s– yes, multiple parties.

Abi the “Ariel Mermaid”

Abi dancing in the costume parade

At the Ward Carnival

Brooklyn the Ghost

 

before

after :) I love 1) that this got worse as the night went on and 2) how the lip liner stained my lips on the outline

the cupcake girls

 

and actual halloween

I let abi wear some pink eye shadow, lip gloss, and blush… she was thrilled

abi did great with trick-or-treating! she wasn’t nervous to knock any and all doors :) or to help herself with other peoples’ candy buckets! It was hilarious and kind of embarrassing, but thankfully everyone around here is great about that stuff… since we all have toddlers and don’t get very many treaters. In fact, the majority of the neighborhood (our ward) was out between 5 and 7 because we all have toddlers. So the majority of us left our candy buckets out on our porches. how I will miss this place!