Week 1 - Back to (pre)School, MLA, and "Uncle" Rory

Exciting events of the week:

1. Preschool started up again on Monday -- hooray for afternoon naps for everyone else! The college doesn't start until this week, so David was still off and spent some time at home, until...

2. On Thursday, David flew to Los Angeles for the annual MLA (Modern Language Association?) convention where he presented a paper on something about Juan Rulfo and Brazilian literature. You'll have to ask him for more details. Suffice it to say, the paper was very well received. David hated LA though -- too many people and very expensive food. It was $6 for the bottled water at his hotel, so he suffered and drank the nasty LA water from the tap. Ewww! I would have bought the water.

3. My cousin, Rory, arrived here on Saturday morning. He will be attending the law school just up the hill, starting on Monday, and is staying at our house until he finds an apartment. He arrived just in time to save my sanity. The kids loved playing with him this weekend.

4. On Saturday we also had a contractor come knock out a wall in Kathryn's room. Here's the story: her room is actually intended to be a "study", so the entrance to it was right in the middle of the living room -- it literally cut the best living room wall right in half and made it difficult to arrange furniture. Plus, it was annoying that her room was "off the family room" while everyone else's rooms were down the hall. My solution - close off that original doorway with a wall and create a new entrance from the hallway. We had to sacrifice a coat closet to do it, but it's going to be just fine and I'm excited for how it all looks. Right now we're waiting to get a new door so the old closet doors are still hung and you have to walk through them to get to the bedroom -- it's like entering Narnia.

5. Last night Rory and I painted the entire living room and dining room. It's awesome to not have all the spackle spots that the previous owners left, or the 3 shades of paint samples that I put up a month ago. Earlier in the week, David and I painted the ceilings in there too -- no more shiny, grubby ceilings!! While David was gone, I painted our bathroom and the half bath. Everything is painted in a neutral beige color. David was sad about our bathroom because he liked the dark brown that was in there. It was way too dark for me - the place felt like a cave. He doesn't use that bathroom anyway though (the roll-in shower leaks water everyone), so I went for it. He'll get over it someday. All of the this painting and remodeling is in preparation for new carpet that we're getting in the living room on Tuesday. I'm so excited! The old stuff is over 20 years old. It smells and it's filthy.

6. Sarah is worked hard this week at school and finished a few projects. She also decided that her bangs were "getting too long". She didn't have bangs before...but she does now. They turned out pretty good, for a 4-year old. (Sorry, no pictures, David had my phone, aka camera in L.A. all weekend). They look like a cross between baby doll bangs and 1980's bangs that just need some hairspray and a good tease. They look best when they're pushed back in a headband. =)

7. Joseph has been working furiously on a little preschool workbook because he wants to finish it and give the whole thing to Grandma Carol, who is coming to visit us on Tuesday. He also enjoyed playing outside on the swings and riding his bike this week when temps broke 45 degrees.

8. Kathryn is having an identity crises. She alternates between wanting to be a big girl who plays with the older kids and wanting to be a baby. She asks me to make baby food for her (rice cereal with pureed fruit, or yogurt and fruit) and wants to eat the same thing as baby David. Then at bed time, she throws a fit if I put her in the crib. She wants to sleep on her toddler bed, and I don't mind because for the most part she'll actually stay in her bed and go straight to sleep.

9. The little guy - baby David - is getting stronger and more coordinated everyday. He pulls to standing on everything and easily goes from sitting to crawling and back to sitting. He adores the bath! He splashes and swims around on his tummy, and doesn't mind the water getting on his head or face. He still wakes up at least twice every night, which is getting to be really annoying. I've tried letting him cry, but he seems to be ravenously hungry most of the time, so I give in and feed him. The kid isn't exactly chubby either - in fact he's around the 25th percentile in weight - so I figure that maybe he does need the calories. He does sleep longer on the nights when he eats 3 dinners (at 4pm, 5pm, and 6pm).

10. David got a new calling at church. He will be teaching institute every week. He's supposed to get released from his Sunday School calling so that means he won't have to travel once a month, aka I won't be alone at church with all the kids!

Well, that's all for now. I'll take some pictures in the morning of all the new stuff around here: hair cuts, holes in walls, paint & carpet, and maybe I'll throw in some of the babies too because I know that's the only reason people check this blog -- to see pictures of the kids!