Our New (Rental) House

Here are pictures of our new place. It isn't quite like having your own home, but we appreciate the warmth and the roof over our heads.

This is a picture of the outside of our house. Now we also have a mailbox on a 55 gallon drum which is on cinder blocks. It definitely makes the place appear more trailer.

B tried to get in as many pictures as she could. At one end of the house is B's room, another bedroom that is just like hers, and our room.

The bathroom between B's room and the extra bedroom.

Our room, which is the 2nd largest bedroom in the house.

When you step into the hallway out of the bedroom area you enter the dining room.

Just past the dining room is this large kitchen. I am thankful for all the storage, but the layout isn't ideal. At least all the appliances are functioning. Through the doorway at the end is the laundry room and back entry.

After you go through the dining room you can turn into the living room. Unfortunately, we couldn't bring much furniture in our vehicles, so this chair is what we have for sitting. There is also an entry to the living room from the kitchen.

Through the living room, at the other end of the house, is the master bedroom. Right now it holds our clothes and all the other things that we don't have a place for yet.

Just off the master bedroom is the master bathroom. It has a large garden tub, which is common in most trailers. The room is extremely large to just be a bathroom. Again, it doesn't seem to be arranged the best.

That is a tour of our house. You are invited to come see it in person.

Puzzles

B got some puzzles for Christmas and they are all she wants to play with. It was a bit difficult for D and I to help her at first. She always wanted to put the pieces in the wrong place even though she knew where they went. Now she does them on her own over and over. Of course, she still asks us for help, but that just means she wants us to hold the board that the pieces go on.

Moved??

Last Saturday we moved the absolute bare minimum to our new place. Thankfully J's parents took B for the weekend so we could pack and unpack. We didn't move much, so it didn't take long to get settled, but we are missing some of the things we left behind. The list of things we still need, or B thinks she needs, gets longer every day. Next weekend we plan on making a quick trip to get those items, especially since we are traveling that way for our first doctor's appointment for the baby.

The transition has been much easier than expected. Right away on Saturday one of D's county committee men and his wife invited us out for supper. We had a great time, and ended up spending 2 1/2 hours with them. On Sunday after church another family invited us to their place for lunch. It has been easy to meet and get to know people here. I am praising the Lord for that, especially since I was worried about being lonely. It also helps that the whole family is together so B and I can see D every night. We have all enjoyed that.

Even though things have been going well, B unfortunately got sick today. She has been throwing-up all morning and can't even keep liquids down. Hopefully this will pass soon. I also am just getting over a bad cold.

Sorry that there aren't any pictures to share. We haven't had time to take any, and things look a little empty at our new place. I'm sure we will have some pictures soon, because we always like to have something to remind us of what it was like once we do have everything here.

Moving...Again

For those of you who don't know, we are moving again. D's training for his new job is complete, and we have been assigned a new location. We had been hoping for the location that would allow us to stay where we are, but God had (and continues to have) a different plan for us. Needless to say it has been very stressful. We have put our house on the market and taken a house hunting trip in the last two weeks. D has also already started at the new location. B and I will be joining him in a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, most of our stuff will not be coming with us, at least not for a while. Even when the movers can finally come in and move us a lot will have to go into storage. Also, our cat can't come with us, as the owners of the trailer we will be renting will not allow pets. (If you want a house trained 8-9 year old cat who is good with kids and has been fixed, please let us know.)

A couple of pieces of good news (not that D's job isn't good news) have also come about this month. We found out that B will be a big sister about the beginning of September. We already have a purchase agreement signed on our house (it was only on the market 4 days when the offer was made :)). The agreement, however, is contingent upon the sale of the buyer's house, so we don't have our hopes set too high. We are being realistic about it, considering the current economy. It was confirmation though, that God is in control, and we are following His plan for us. He will also continue to provide when He puts us in a new situation.

Big Bed

After we came home from our Christmas traveling, B moved into a big girl bed. (Obviously, it has been a while since I have posted anything.) Her new bed just consists of a full size mattress, that we already had, laying on the floor. She enjoyed the change, but it has been a challenge to get her to stay in her bed, especially at nap time.

B's first night in her new bed.

Several days after the B started sleeping in her new bed she discovered that she could get up and play because she wasn't confined. I expected this to happen since she hadn't been napping even when she was in her crib. She loves playing with her clothes, so when I got her after her "nap" she had found her tights and put them on over her sweat pants. It was a funny sight.

A while after the above nap time, she again was trying on clothes from her drawers and decided to put on a t-shirt (that is almost too small) over her bulky sweatshirt. I have no idea how she even fit it over.

We have now changed the rules for nap time. B is no longer allowed to get out of her bed until I come and get her. It has worked the last couple of days, she had even fallen asleep.

More & More Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with D's family over New Year's. B always loves being able to play with her cousins and, of course, her grandparents.

I'm not sure what started this, but it is common for the grandkids to pile on grandpa at some point during our stay.

We opened our Christmas gifts one evening so the kids could play with them the rest of the time they were there.

The kids had fun with their toys, but they also had a lot of fun with the snow cave Uncle C built in the huge snow mountain grandpa built with the tractor. The tractor rides, sled rides, and four wheeler rides were also great.

More Christmas

On Christmas Eve we went to J's family. The weather was nice compared to home, so B had to get outside and play.

Since B is the only grandchild on J's side, she can get everyone to help her. Here Aunt T and Aunt D catch B before she falls off the mountain unintentionally.

B sliding down the snow mountain. Her first time down she needed some encouragement, but after she made a path she wanted to keep going.

B also really enjoyed sled rides. She even tried to pull grandpa and grandma on the sled. I think she preferred riding it herself though. She had a lot of sled rides over the time we were there.

The family ready for the Christmas Eve program.

Christmas morning. We didn't have much room for ourselves around all the gifts!

B was excited to open her gifts. She got plenty of books, puzzles, and clothes.

She also got her first bike, which she had to ride in G & G's house. Of course, she couldn't ride it herself very well, but by the end of our time there she was getting better at pushing the pedals.

J and her siblings the morning after Christmas. What a silly bunch.

The weather was very nice for the first part of the day, so everyone had to get out and build a snowman in the field behind G & G's house. That meant that I got to go for a walk. I miss that warm weather.