This'n'That

I have so many stupid things to mention, that I think I'll have to resort to list format here.  Sorry if that's annoying or boring...

-The other day, when we got home from church, a robin was sitting on the stroller which I'd left on the porch (because there was no room anywhere inside the house).  Its' back was to us, and I was surprised that it didn't fly away as we all ambled up onto the porch.  We all looked at it for a moment, and then Bentley reached out and just picked it up.  He set it back down gently and it flew off.  Does anyone else think that's the craziest thing ever????


-And speaking of birds, the chicks are getting HUGE!  They've been in that awkward adolescent state, and are just starting to grow out of it and look like actual chickens.  They're also being kind of stupid and keep knocking their water over, so all their wood chips were wet all the time and, since they're sitting under a heat lamp, the whole thing was starting to smell TERRIBLE.  We decided to just move them outside, and also switch to a water container they can't knock down.  Then Craig decided to list the chicken coop he'd built on Craigslist and someone actually came and bought it for $200!  So then I ran out and bought a smaller one (also for $200).  That may seem like a really dumb thing to do, but this new one is very small and charming and easy to move, so we're hoping it will make our new neighbors less likely to complain about us breaking HOA rules.  Fingers crossed!  During that in-between time while we're showing the house and still living in it, our friends the Losees have agreed to keep our chickens for us.  Where would we be without them???


-Camille discovered her hands and spent quite a bit of time staring at them in fascination.  I love it when babies do that.  (I also always wonder if it's anything like people do when they're high, or if that's just in the movies?)

-Camille is also in that fun stage where just seeing my face makes her get all happy and excited.  Her grin is so big she ends up with slightly crazy-looking eyes.  I haven't managed to get any decent pictures of her smiling though because as soon as I start waving my phone in her face, she stops.  I have to admit-- it's pretty fun to be someone's favorite person like that!

Only slightly crazy eyes...

-Colton is suddenly talking non-stop.  It's super cute, but can also get annoying, especially when I can't figure out what he's saying, so he just keeps repeating himself over and over (with increasing volume), hoping I'll catch on.  I keep reminding myself that he probably sounds like how I sounded on my mission.  A typical conversation with him sounds something like this, "Fish!  Chair!  Fish eat!  Fish eat chair!  Fish!  Chair!  Eat!  Fish eat chair!"  But with me repeating everything along with him or else he gets mad.  At least I didn't get mad at people when they didn't understand my Japanese...


-Bentley is also constantly mad at me, but that's just because he's going through a grumpy stage.  I suspect our impending move isn't helping, but who knows with that kid.  It was bad enough this weekend that we had a family home evening lesson about how to deal with our emotions and we discussed how yelling at mommy was not on the list of appropriate ways to deal with anger.  And then we assigned a punishment for the next time it happens.  We'll see if that helps...  Through all this, I keep telling myself that I'm doing this for his future wife.  Some day, if he's (hopefully) not the kind of guy who yells and screams at her, she'll have me to thank.  Not that she'll ever know that...



-The kitchen is done!!!  There are still a few little things to touch up, but that's the case for every room in this house.  The actual remodel, though, is done.  Here's one picture I took late at night:

It's not a great picture, but you get the idea.  I really like how it turned out-- too bad I'll be leaving it so soon.  And even worse, we're too busy trying to get the rest of the house ready to really cook anything and USE it.  So that's a shame.  But doesn't it look pretty?  I'm not sure how well you can tell here (this picture was taken at night), but the walls are a light grey, and all the trim and cabinets are white.  And I love how that looks.  So calm and clean!



-Speaking of busy, Craig has been working his tail off getting the house cleaned up.  Saturday he tackled the front yard and was edging, mulching, power washing and tidying everything.  Monday was the back yard, and today he was touching up the paint on all the outdoor trim and (at my insistence) painting our porch.  The house is looking so good!  I only hope I can get the inside as clean as he's getting the outside!  I have to admit, though-- every time my kids make any sort of mess, I get a little ill inside wondering how I'll ever be able to keep it spotless once we're showing it.  That feels like quite the Herculean task...