Moving?!

The funny thing about moving is that you say you are moving but really it just means that you are putting your house on the market and waiting..... and waiting... and waiting... until, hopefully, one day some person wants to buy it. Hmm...not my favorite set up. :/   We worked pretty much all of April to get the house ready to sell: painting, trim work, mulching, weeding, washing, cleaning, purging, organizing. It was this mad rush of 24-7 work to get it ready. We finally got it done. Put it on the market. And now we wait in a perpetual state of waiting. But not just waiting. Waiting while keeping the house clean and show ready 24-7. Oh, and did I mention this is while living life with 3 small children in the house who often seem to have the sole mission to make messes (aka play).  It is definitely an interesting journey.
I have had a wrestling match for months years with God about wanting to move. We are giving it a shot. However, I am working on having peace about following God's will no matter the way it turns out. Being at peace with putting the house up and the fact it could just never sell is hard. I pray daily for God to give me this peace. To be content in the waiting on his will and timing. To enjoy life in the waiting.
Of course if you want to pray we can sell quickly for the price we need, I would be more than happy with that too! ;)

I love surprises!

Soo excited! My brother and his fiancée showed up on my doorstop right after I had a strange delivery from a Jet's pizza delivery (that he ordered). I was so shocked (yes, I am gullible and easily surprised)! It was the the best! The rest of the week was spent having great family time as my sisters and brothers all came home. I love my family! We went out at night, had our own Super Bowl party, and stayed up late. We had a girls' dress shopping day with my daughters, sisters, mom, and future sister-in-law! It was great girl time and we even picked the bridesmaids dresses for Katie's wedding. We also took the whole family bowling. It was all so fun! It was Caleb's first time bowling. The boy loved it... Not surprising when you consider it involves throwing a large ball down an aisle to hit something over! He specializes in that stuff!
The weekend unfortunately was also rift with sickness. Nolan screamed all night in pain until we were finally able to get him to the doctor. Poor boy ended up with a double ear infection. :( Kayleigh and Caleb had 103+ fevers the whole weekend and Grace lost her voice. Not fun! The weekend is over just in time to pass it on to Josh and I. Here is to praying that we ALL get well soon!

Mini family vacation

This weekend my family and I headed to Boyne Mountain for a weekend of skiing, waterparks, and tubing. It all started because my brother and fiancée were supposed to be coming into town. We were all super excited but at the last minute they had to cancel because of school scheduling issues. :( To say we were disappointed was an understatement, but we were determined to have fun anyways (and we really did!). Friday Josh got off work late so we didn't make it up there until late. Since everyone else arrived earlier, they went skiing and we had just enough time to check out the hotel pool. The kids loved it! The water was warm and they had so much fun swimming by themselves, having us throw them in the air, and jumping to us from the side of the pool.
I realized as we set up three sets of sleeping bags on the floor that this was their first time ever staying at a hotel! They were so excited for their sleep over (see pic). Since we were staying at the casino hotel everyone went to the casino to use our free credits while dad and I put the kids to bed. I even got some cuddle time with Nolan when he woke up before they were back.

Saturday was spent at Avalanche Bay water park. Kay loved the ice glacier crossing, Grace the purple slide, and Caleb loved the basketball kids area. They even went down the big water slide on the tube with us adults. Grace and I did fine (although it was so fast I had to hold her down to keep her in the tube). Caleb with Trev and Kay with Josh did not fair as well. When they hit the water at the end of the slide, they totally flipped backwards into the water with the kids! Kay came up sputtering, "that was NOT fun!" The rest of it they loved though. :) Saturday night we went to dinner at the casino's all you can eat buffet! Sooo good! I loved the hot German chocolate cake with ice cream, hot fudge, strawberries, and whip cream. The kids got a kick out of riding in the casino's shuttle! They thought it was a school bus! ;) (see pic).

Sunday we ended the weekend with tubing. The boys were too young but Kay and Grace were just old enough. After a rocky start of frustrated parents trying to get kids in snow clothes (ugh- my least favorite part of winter), we were off to more fun. The girls had a blast and by the end were going down in their own tube. They were so proud of themselves. We did have one unfortunate adventure down the side of the mountain in search of bathroom that led to much hilarity. We even got a group going fast enough that they sent Marian over the back wall at the end! From that point on they only let groups of three down at a time.
Overall it was a wonderful vacation filled with lots if family time, fun, and adventure! Unfortunately I got barely any photos but it still was a great weekend!

Kindergarten

Every time I think I have things figured out with kids and school I get thrown another curve ball. After much looking and debate, last year, we are very happy with our preschool and have had a great year so far. We were planning on sending the girls to the half day morning kindergarten next year and were all excited! .....And then everything went wrong.
They both were required to take the kindergarten readiness brigance test. After school I take them to the office, then the tester (who they don't know) takes them from the office to be tested separately. Grace did fine. Kay cried the whole time and refused to answer a single question. I knew before we even went that she would not be a fan of it. They already are older in their class now. Part of the reason we waited (November 25 birthdays) was because they both were shy and we knew they could use some more time. They will be fine academically but they have always been shy. They don't like performing or being singled out in group situations. So basically she is retested on Thursday. I am praying she completes the test. If she doesn't complete it, there is a chance they will want Kay to do young 5s and Grace to do kindergarten. I am strongly against this. I really don't think this is best thing for either one of them. Kay would be devastated and I know she would do fine in kindergarten. She is shy and reserved - that is part of her personality and who she is. She can obviously grow in these areas but part of me rebels and says, 'so what- that's her'. Another year before kindergarten is not going to make a huge difference in her personality.
Now of course there is $600 in registration fees, it all is due by this Friday, and we won't know their recommendations until after the deadline... Oh and did I mention that a ton of people are applying and there are not enough places for the number of applications. Even more pressure!!! And that doesn't even address the fact that we wanted half day kindergarten and now that is not an option since they are moving to all full day kindergarten programs. I want to cry. We don't know if we should start looking elsewhere or just stick it out. Anyways here is to praying for peace and guidance. May God place my dear children where he wills them.

5 days later.....
Yay- just talked to the girls preschool teacher! She echoed everything I was thinking. She definitely recommends kindergarten for both girls! She said they should stay together and will do fine. They are shy but do fine in class when they know their teacher and friends. :) yay!