More Hiding Spaces

More Hiding Spaces. This is one of the things Apollo's most excited about. Carleton likes the three car garage, I think the laundry chute is cool, and Annie likes the backyard. Anytime someone would talk about the house, she would talk about the backyard. When we found out we got accepted on our offer, Annie jumped around the room saying "new house, new house" she was so excited. We are very happy to be here.




















I wanted to make a list of things I won't miss about our apartment so I can look back on it and not take our house for granted:
-2 bedrooms and one bathroom. It gets complicated when we had people visiting or when we babysat and put the kids to bed-we were very creative.
-Laundry. We spent tons of time walking back and forth. Apollo said Marshal gave him some coins and he told me he was saving them to use for the washing machine. He didn't understand when I said we wouldn't need them anymore.
-No yard. There was a drive around our whole complex and I had to keep close eye on the kids if they ever played outside so they wouldn't get run over.
-Space. The living room was our toy room, craft room, laundry folding room, etc. Even a little mess made everything look chaotic. My family has stored some things for Annie's room and a piano my great grandma gave me when she was young.
-Decorating?? Didn't happen.



I took some pics before moving of 5 kids sleeping in two bedrooms while we played games to remember the good ol days.













Yes, I also feel blessed to have lived in our apartments since we've been in CA too. I tuned out that love of decorating part of my brain for awhile. I really had a chance to really be with and be with my kids-we were always literally close together. I know now that I can be happy anywhere. I was truly happy there with great friends, a great church group, neighbors, and beautiful surroundings and weather. We made the most of it.

Two days after we moved in, I ran a red light, hit a truck, which in turn hit a car. Lawyers are involved. All three cars had to be towed...very big mess. Realized I need to slow my life down. Big mess. We had tons of sprinkler probs-had the guys fix it...and the next day had a lake outside our house. They came back to fix it and the water was shut off in the house when they left. We didn't have hot water for awhile and now we do:) We have been busy on the phones with insurance people, gas people, pest control, and Carleton has been fixing up a lot of stuff himself. Even in the midst of this, we have been having a lot of fun. Carleton doesn't mind the commute-he gets up at 5am to meet his biking buddies, play racquetball, or workout at the gym, and is home earlier or at the same time as before! For the first few days, the kids didn't ever want to leave the house. They loved running around and playing together. We're excited about some of the updates we can do in the house.

Thank you to Suzana and Kimberly for all your help unpacking!! and Krista, Carol, Heidi, Ken, and everyone that helped us to get here.


A little catch up. Carleton, Heidi, and I ran a half marathon in Vegas.


Vegas buffet...who's hungry?



Big Bear ski weekend. Little cottage with a hot tub, great weather, good slopes, fun trip.



Carleton did a killer mountain bike race called Vision Quest. He biked 50+ miles and climbed 11,000 feet in elevation. The kids and I made a sign for him to cheer him in.






Fun with Buddies.






Happy Birthday Aileen. Beautiful Hike.




Apollo likes to organize his toys-his projects.



Last time with our little preschool troop together. Aren't they the cutest! What a magical year.