life lately // may

Another month just flew by. FAST. How does this keep happening? Where is the time going? For reals! I suppose maybe it's US who needs to slow down, because time sure won't oblige!

This has been another crazy CRAZY busy BUSY month for our family. One day things will slow down a bit (or so I keep telling myself...yet at the same time with a growing and busy family I am not sure things will ever slow down the way I sometimes envision). 

The biggest event: We moved into our new house!

Everything has been a whirlwind, and even though kids generally are great about rolling with things and are resilient - change can shake anyone's world a bit. Kids just process and show it in different ways. I've been sensitive to this lately, because our kids have sure had a lot happen in the past year. A new baby in the family, a big big move from the north end of the country to the south end of the country. Temporary living in a small apartment. Missing old friends. Making new ones. Then having to pack it all up again and say goodbye to new friends. Move to new big house (bigger than any of us are used to!), and start making new friends again. It's no secret Sawyer and Aspen are best friends, but I think having to stick together and be extra tough the past few months has made them even closer. Sawyer is beyond excited to run and play in our yard (they both are, but there really is something hard wired differently in little boys!) As you can see (above) one afternoon we were watering the lawn and he made himself a little mudhole, where he pretended to be a little hippo. It was awesome :)

I will be honest, Sawyer is our child most sensitive to all these changes (or so it seems) and he's been acting out a bit, which is frustrating but also just makes me sad that he's having a hard time. I had a little heart to heart talk with him about his recent behavior and he said "Mama, I'm just having a hard time because we're not settled yet". So...who's room have I been working on getting together first? The one he and Aspen share, of course. Each day gets a little bit better...but it is certainly a process to get unpacked and organized. Hang in there, Sawyer boy! Life WILL calm down a bit, I promise!

I finally finished the kitchen cabinets a few days before we moved in. Jacob got the drill out and helped me put the hardware on. It's looking pretty good! Progress is being made! In the next week or so we will be getting a new sink, faucet, and garbage disposal installed. I would've loved to put the money towards a new sofa (ours is old and gross...but hey, it is still really comfy!) but instead, I get a new sink. I pretty awesome one, at that, but still. Being a homeowner is expensive and keeps you busy, for sure! And it always seems like just when you get everything fixed up the way you like, it's time to move! Hopefully, we'll be here a long time! At least 5+ years - time to enjoy the work we put into this place and calm things down a tad (or am I fooling myself with wishful thinking!?!)

I knew it would be important to get the kids as settled as possible right away, and even though my husband at times thinks I'm crazy (he may have a point!), I went ahead and dragged the kids over to the house and let them run wild (kind of) while I painted their rooms. I actually ended up painting Hazel's room TWICE because I wanted it to be just the perfect color, and the first try was just a little off from how I had envisioned it. Now, though, both rooms are painted and looking awesome! 

In the midst of all of our chaos, Mother's Day came around. We don't usually do much in the way of gifts on these types of occasions, and we had planned not to even do much celebrating because of the craziness - we had leftovers instead of any kind of special dinner. SO, it came as a total surprise when out of my custom-designed Mother's Day card at the breakfast table (they did make me a nice breakfast!) fell this little card into my lap. The kids and Jacob told me to pick out a new BIKE! I'm really excited! A few years back I traded in my bike so we could upgrade Jacob's bike, as he commuted every day on his bike in Seattle, and I rarely rode mine. But now that I have people to ride with, I had mentioned a few months back how it would be fun to get a bike someday - so I could get a little trailer to pull some babies along, and then have Sawyer and Aspen ride along side me - I could bike with the kids to drop them off at elementary school or we could all go for family bike rides in the evenings or on weekends. I thought it would be a long way off. But, to my pleasant surprise - it's going to be soon. Thanks, my loves! 

Theses guys are my greatest gifts. Love them SO SO much!

We moved on a Saturday morning. That evening, we were invited to a big party in celebration of Jacob's employers ten year anniversary. It was a family friendly event and while it was a big day and we initially kind of hesitated at attending...we decided it would be the best thing for the littles (and us, too!) to have a break from all the chaos and just go relax and have some fun. Soooo glad we did! They had a bounce house, art station, little barrel train rides, BBQ, CAKE, live music and dancing (you better believe we made an appearance on the dance floor!) and when we sat in the grass, we saw FIREFLIES! Lightning Bugs. Whatever you want to call them - they were MAGICAL. 

I laugh a little every day, because you know the saying "You can Never Say Never"...it's so true! At one time in my life I said I'd NEVER live in Texas - but here I am LOVING every minute of it! It really is an amazing place! It's like summer almost every day, and the weather isn't the only thing that's warm - the people are, too. Some of the nicest people I've met! And such a family friendly place! I laugh a little, and then I just enjoy it. I love Texas :)

Here's a cute little video of Sawyer and Aspen dancing the night away...I can't quite tell who's leading...but I think Sawyer is trying to lead like a gentleman. (sorry for my yelling in the video - it was loud and he couldn't hear me until I got closer)...


Two Steppin from Tysha on Vimeo.

Part of the craziness has been non-stop errands - paint stores, home improvement stores, ikea runs etc. Sawyer says Ikea is his favorite store! Good thing, because we went twice last week! Aspen cracked me up the other day, when I asked "do you want to go to Target with me?" (She says Target is her favorite store). She said, very seriously with her cute little voice, "Mom, it's not Target. It's SUPER TARGET!!!!" (the one by our new house is a Super Target, so I suppose she's right!)

I know blogs can be deceiving a lot of the time, because we focus in on one little person or spot of our home - and it maybe looks close to perfect. But no one is perfect and no one's home is perfect all the time - especially with little people living there! Above is an accurate reflection of our kitchen last week. I was feeling pretty overwhelmed trying to unpack boxes yet pay attention to the kids, and then all the swatches of colors I painted all over our walls are a constant reminder (and motivator!) of all the work I have left to do. Every day, we'll get a little closer. But I'm trying really hard to just relax and enjoy the time RIGHT NOW. We haven't hesitated in taking a day off our taking a break to join up with new friends at the pool, or go check out our new neighborhood pool (which is a couple of blocks from our house - we can walk there - it's awesome!) Yes, the good-bye to the green walls will happen soon enough. The new sink will be in soon (with a functioning garbage disposal - that will be SO nice!) the subway tile will be up before we know it, the board and batten and new tall baseboards will get done before summer is over, painting will happen, etc. but I gotta constantly remind myself that the joy is in the journey. Because, truly, it is!

To end our little monthly recap, this weekend it downpoured. It reminded me of Seattle when the clouds covered the sky and made it gray. Only it rains a lot harder in Texas than in Seattle. And rain is something NOT taken for granted. It is something we pray for. And it's warm when it rains, so actually, it's just fun! I was thinking how things can change so quickly in life: just a year ago I was praying for the rain to GO AWAY! Let the sun shine, darn it! And now, we welcome and pray for rain to be a healing balm to the drought that has been going on here for some time. We dance and puddle jump in the rain. (but we still don't take the sunny days for granted! I hope that never changes!) 

Last night, the kids hopped on their bikes and we strolled/rode a couple of blocks to the neighborhood playground. I marveled that they had this beautiful wide, tree-lined, manicured sidewalk to ride on. I didn't have to worry about it being a crazy busy city street. It was nice and warm, with a soft gentle breeze. Jacob turned into Captain Hook and all my babies turned into Pirates, who were all trying to capture me, the Mermaid, and put me in jail. This lasted all the way home and didn't end when they were tucked snugly in bed. When we walked home, I stared at this beautiful house that is now ours. Walked up the long driveway, looked at the rose bushes. We've worked so hard to get here. Made a lot of sacrifices. Last night, as I walked through the front door with Hazel in my arms, I thought "Wow, we're finally home." It sure feels good. I don't always believe the grass is greener elsewhere, but having a home and a situation that fits your situation in life does make it a little easier to breathe. No more (questions we've had to think about and wonder about for the past several years), "what's next? we know we can't stay here forever, we know we will have to move on?" because, now, we're here. Where we want to be. Where God most certainly guided us. Amongst the many challenges have been many blessings. Maybe our home isn't anything super spectacular to certain crowds, and yet to some, it may be a mansion that could house several families - all in all, though, it's just a house in a suburban neighborhood in Central Texas. BUT it's our home. And it's so nice to finally feel like we're not just in a house, but we are truly in our home. I am grateful!