Back in the saddle again

Ok, I'm going to try to restart this whole blogging thing.  While we start school, juggle a new job and other responsibilities, and slowly work on updating a house...

So.....

We've been in our hometown of Ripon, California for about three and a half weeks now.  We arrived in a cloud of excitement/frustration as we had car issues on the way down from Seattle which required us to spend an extra night on the road, making a 14 hour drive take about 3 days.  

The excitement came from the fact that as we neared the homestead on Highway 99, the back door of our trailer opened and items came tumbling out.  We confirmed that it was one roller skate and a few books as Jason heroically dove into the weeds on the shoulder of the road to retrieve them.  I'm sure there were a few more things that fell out, but, we've decided that since we can't exactly remember what specific items they were, they must not be super important to us.

We've moved into one of Jason's grandfather's houses out in the country. We're next door to Jason's childhood home and a mile away from mine.  We both grew up outside of Ripon in the almond orchards and we're excited that the kids are going to get to have a similar childhood.

Right now we're still settling in and unpacking.  With four little ones (one only being 10 weeks old) and starting 1st grade and pre-K, things are a little busy.  But we have our kitchen unpacked and the bedroom unpacked. 

 

So hopefully I'll be able to keep up with this blogging thing as we transition back into life in the Central Valley and do exciting things like install new electrical panels and re-wire the house.

What the living room looked like after we arrived. Awesome setup, no?

And here we go....

So it's been a little while since I posted on here.  Like seven months.

Life has been busy with three little people, lots of activities, playing, schooling, and then when you throw major morning sickness in there from Halloween until Groundhog Day, you might understand why I haven't been on here as much.

But I wanted to write on here again because we're about to go on a little adventure.  Well it may not seem super adventurous to move back to your hometown, but for me it is.  Any change for me is something that I need a long time to process and plan.  I like to fill out forms six months in advance for activities the kids are doing.  We've been talking about moving, oh, just...the entire time since Jason graduated from college, but we finally decided just to go.  So we're jumping off and moving back to the central valley.

When Jason talked to me this winter and told me he really wanted to just go this summer after we had the baby, I was not super happy at first to be completely honest.  I love it here in Moscow.  But as with all ideas, if you give them time to sit in your head, you start to get excited about new things to do, places to go, and adventures to have with the kids all exactly where you and your husband grew up.  So now I am on board...as evidenced by the fact that my living room already has boxes in it as I am starting to pack and sort through our stuffs.  Come the end of July, we will be hitting the road for the golden state.

To be sure, I will probably be a basket case when we actually leave Moscow.  And by basket case, we're talking a recently post-partum lady (yikes).  But over the last few months I have been praying to have peace about leaving the friendships and community that we have here and to look forward to all there is to come.

I will really miss Moscow though.  We will be leaving a lot of very dear friends. As much as we like to complain about living in a small town in the middle of the Palouse hills, I am very lucky that I can do all of my shopping within a 5 minute radius of our house.    Moscow has a wonderful community, both our church and the city.  Our wonderful farmer's market, the parks, the co-op...oh man, don't even remind me that I will be leaving our co-op.  I guess I will have to start perfecting my own pesto roll recipe.

The other strange thing about this whole move is that we're going back to our hometown as fairly different people than we were when we left it.  I know most everyone changes as they get married, have kids, and start making life decisions about how to raise their family, but it does seem strange to move back to our hometown with a different way of looking at life.  

But the most important thing is that we will be closer to family so that we can help out and the kids can spend more time with at least one set of grandparents.  We'll be much further from Seattle of course, but now we only have one side of the family to visit and they'll have lots of places to stay with friends when they come down our way.  I remind myself of these positives when I think about the fact that our car registration fees will be three times as expensive and utilities will be twice as expensive...which by the way, everyone in the northwest should be thankful for our hydroelectric power.

So my children will be sporting One World Cafe t-shirts and Jason and I will wear our moccasins with pride as we move back to the land of tract home sprawl, malls, and lovely, lovely almond trees.  And please, can someone tell me where to find a good coffee shop in Modesto?

I need to post more often.  But now they are 5, 3, and 1.  We had parties, cake, cupcakes, ice cream, sword fights, and crafts.  It was cold and rainy on their birthdays which is a little unusual for the beginning of August.  But it was also a nice break from the heat.  Our garden is starting to ripen and we are starting to get a few tomatoes, zucchini, and cucumbers.  Gladiolas and sunflowers too.  I like summer.

 

 

 

It's the little man's birthday today.  He is one.  I'm not sure how that happened, but a whole year has passed since Casper came into our lives.  All 10 pounds of him.  He is a cheerful sweet baby boy who adores his brother and sister.  He squeals when he sees them first thing in the morning.  He is furniture-cruising and thinking about walking.  He loves cuddling more than our other two and loves to sneak pieces of pillow-stuffing out of my craft closet to rub in his hands.

He has six teeth out and two more coming in.  He likes to say, "Hi!" We love him.

Happy birthday Casper Olevian Witt Schuiling!

Our first (very) busy weekend in June

This afternoon we made it up to Laird Park for the first time this year.  We love it up there.  Little picnic area, playground, a great place to hang out and enjoy the afternoon.  But more on that later...

The weekend was rather full and busy.  Friday night, Jason slept out in the backyard with Hazel and Klaas.  Casper and I stayed in the house.  While I do love camping, I like to keep my sleeping in a tent with an almost one-year old to a minimum. 

I woke up at 5am hearing Hazel and Klaas discussing what superhero they were (my window was open).  This was followed by silence from 5-7am.  I was amazed Jason had gotten them to go back to sleep, but I found out later he had given them his phone to watch Bob the Builder episodes.  I do love my husband and that he is willing to sleep out in the backyard with the kiddos, sharing a mattress with two rather squiggly little people.  I guess Klaas spent half the night asleep on the tent floor as he didn't want to share his bed with anyone. 

Around 7 they trooped out to get donuts (for the second day in a row as Friday was National Donut Day and I took the kids to get delicious and free(!) mini donuts from Buy the Dozen).  So the kids were rather hyper with the combination of sleep-deprivation and sugar.  It was pretty funny watch them zing around the house Saturday morning.

So of course we loaded them up to hit yard sales and the Farmer's Market.  We scored woodworking tools, a sandbox, a giant blackboard for the kids' room, and various little plastic toys that will soon find their way to the thrift store.  Also a little set of Thomas the Train books that Hazel adores as they are tiny and cute.

The blackboard was purchased from an Idahoan hipster couple holding a moving sale outside their apartment (which coincidentally, Jason lived in during one of his college years).  They had used the blackboard to decide where to move (Portland or Chicago) and the board still bore the Ven diagram they had used to evaluate each city and make their decision.

At the market we picked up more tomatos (the Latah variety - of course we have to try it at least once), cucumbers, zucchini, and melon.  Jason built a potato cage last night...now we just need to plant the potatoes.  And remember to water them since last summer we seemed to forget to water the potatoes a bit.

Back to today...we woke up a bit late, rushed around to get ready for church and I accidentally sat on some blueberries Casper had dropped on my seat.  I of course was wearing a white skirt.  Finally get everyone in the car and realize that my car keys are in Colfax (long story).  So we end up missing church and after some Bible lessons with the kids, Jason heads out to retrieve my missing keys. 

He gets back in time for us to head up to the river for the day with lots of good friends.  We had a great time eating hot dogs and watermelon, wading in freezing water, and just relaxing.  Now we are home and the kids are crashed. 

Hazel literally crashed down in her closet when we got home when she was climbing up to find something for her stuffed dog to wear.  So now she has a huge bruise on her cheek. 

So we are just relaxing to gear up for another week.  Tomorrow we get to hang out with our neighbors that we met at the yard sale on Saturday (yay!), swing by the recycling center in search of newspapers for our compost pile, and try to put away all the laundry that I have been ignoring that is in our room. 

Happy Sabbath!