The New View

Over the past few weeks we have been pretty busy packing and unpacking boxes yet again. We do not intend to make this a yearly occurrence, moving around New Years, but we found ourselves relocating, this time to a bigger and better HOUSE.

We are now in a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house with a HUGE (unfinished) backyard where the kids (and hubs) can do things like this..... and this.....

and find shiny rocks like this.....

and ride their scooters around on the large patio like this.... (and doesn't everyone have a tractor and trailer in the middle of their backyard?)
The yard is obviously a work in progress but the inside was ready for us to move-in at the most perfect time since the kids were off for Christmas break and I wouldn't have to worry about getting them back and forth to school and dealing with juggling that schedule while moving the household.

Aiden LOVES his new room, though he is having to adjust to going to bed by himself. When he wakes up alone he gets a little disoriented and often ends up upset and wandering trying to find where we are at. Andrew is LOVING the fact that his toys have been separated from Aiden's and he hasn't once had to clean up a Lego catastrophe. Alexis LOVES the mirrored closet doors and will love them even more when the boxes are cleared out from in front of them so she can dance around.

*Thank-you Auntie Charity for passing down this fun busy block that has already provided HOURS of fun*

My favorite room in the house is the kitchen. I am no super cook by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy making things for my family. Though the kitchen is SUPER narrow (read: one way street), the cabinets are VERY well thought out (a friend who was helping us move in said that our landlord must be a man trapped in a woman's body when he designed the cabinets because he thought of EVERYTHING). There are tons of uppers and lowers and a HUGE pantry with drawers so I won't loose another can of anything in the back.

With so many places to put things I set out on the task of putting everything away. First I laid it all out on the top of the counters and organized it in like groupings.

By the time I was finished the counter tops looked like this again.....

and my pantry looked like this...... Alexis and Aiden were my SUPER helpers who brought me cans from off the counters to make my job go A LOT faster.

And of course my kitchen would not be complete without my alligator. This salt shaker was once my dad's and now takes up residence in whatever kitchen I am in as a daily reminder of my dad. (I believe my sister Charity has the other half.) Aiden sees that alligator and says, "Papa" and then I give it to him and he gives it a kiss. Mind you Aiden never knew his papa since Papa passed away in 2002 but he will always hold a place in our hearts and in my kitchen.
Our first meal in the new house was generously brought over by our church family and from the kids faces it was a hit!!! SPAGHETTI!!!

I am sure there will be many more great meals in this wonderful new home, just hopefully not as messy as that one was.

Here is to a great 2010, getting settled in, and staying put for a LONG time!!!!