This week-it was a big one!

Big things happened in our little world.

The kids and I have been talking about decreasing (not eliminating) our electronic time and what we can do with our free time instead of defaulting to turning on a screen.  They suggested a little challenge to help us reach our goals and after 3 weeks, we went to Sky Zone to celebrate.

The biggest news is Alison joined the church!  Since the church we are going to here is a baptist church (and we are not baptist), Ben talked with the elders of Hope and they agreed to interview Alison via Skype and let her join Hope.  She professed faith, took vows and they prayed over her.  Now she can take communion with us at our current church!  What a sweet day it was.  

Seeing George and Dale talk to her brought tears to my eyes.  We may move all over the country, but we have a solid foundation of people behind us everywhere we go.    

We celebrated with ice cream sundaes and Alison got to pick all of the toppings.

Colin lost another tooth!

One day Ben picked him up and he told him that his muscles felt a lot bigger.  Colin said, "Yep.  It's because I ate A LOT of pretzels."  Ha!

He told me to snap this picture because his Spiderman pj's are too small.  sniff, sniff.  Seems like just yesterday that his little tushy couldn't hold up those pants.

Eli has been building Legos like crazy!  It's good to see that all the money we've spent on Lego's over the years has been put to good use.

You can check out his masterpiece of the week on our homeschool blog.

Life

"Eli, what would you like for breakfast?"

"Everything."

This is the conversation we have every morning...he is growing like a weed!  And he will literally eat anything and everything.  I decided it was time to teach him how to make his own breakfast if this was going to be our trend.

It only fueled the fire.  He was like, "This is great!  Now I can make as many eggs as I want!"

Normal people would sit at a table, but not us.  No, no.  We like to sit on the floor and play Exploding Kittens a million times while eating all the eggs in the house.

Sometimes it feels like Groundhog Day around here, because Colin also wears this outfit almost everyday.

My dad bought Colin this while in Kansas and let me tell you, it was a good investment.

Speaking of good investments, the chairs for the den finally arrived!  Our dreams of sitting by the fire, sipping some wine finally came true!

Ben is training for a trail half marathon.  I told him that he should consider going to a masseuse to work on his quads, but he hired the boys instead.  Nonny, if you are reading this, sending Exploding Kittens was the biggest hit.  I'm pretty sure he told them he would play a round if they rubbed his legs, that's how much they love playing.

 I should be posting a picture of Colin playing soccer right here because it is the best thing on the planet to watch, but instead you get this:

Soccer practice means I get 20 minutes to sit on the beach all by myself.  Therapy Thursdays is what I like to call it.

Maya has gotten a lot more vocal.  She has a noise for settling into bed at night and a noise for when Ben gets home from work and a noise for when she wants to play or will just randomly make the funniest noises, like she's trying to join the conversation.  Ben will tease her that she sounds like a wolf and if he makes the noises that she does, she'll repeat them back to him.

If noises aren't coming from Maya, they're coming from the boys. I got out play dough for school and it very quickly turned into guns and bombs.

These kids are growing way too fast...sure would love to freeze life right here:

The empty den

We ordered chairs for the den shortly after moving into this house...2 months ago! Fingers crossed, they are supposed to arrive tomorrow! We have joked that we've gotten so used to this room being empty that we might not like the chairs taking up space. Alison was particularly bummed when we told her the news tonight and said, "But where am I going to do all my tricks?" Ben pointed out that soon she won't be able to do cartwheels in the house anyway because her feet will hit the fan. So, for our last night of an empty den, we documented what life has been like in it for the last 2 months.

Pre-Christmas & Our 15 Year Anniversary

I made the boys get "real" haircuts at a salon.  They were not happy, which I'll take as a compliment, so we decided to find a treat afterwards.  I just typed candy into my map app and it took us to a barn 10 minutes away.  I was very skeptical, but that quickly turned into enthusiasm when we walked in.  It was a fruit and nut store, very similar to one I went to as a kid.  They had all the familiar treats my parents would buy, even a tea similar to that my mom would make us when we came in from sledding.    Each of the kids picked out a treat and then I got some goodies for stockings.

If someone would kindly tell Alison to stop growing, that would be great.  People did not believe she was my 11 year old daughter at the church we went to this past weekend.

I found a cookie decorating kit at the grocery store and it was the perfect solution for this years' Christmas activity.  You could eat them or let them dry and hang them on the tree.  I loved how the icing and candy was all ready for us and we could just sit down and enjoy decorating.  We may be pushing the easy button again next year because the ease of not cooking made it a little more fun.

Colin making the face of his gingerbread man:

Ben found a store very similar to Food City, but nicer!  He was so excited that he decided to make tamales. 

Right before we moved, my friend Gwen gave me this puzzle to do when we got to our new house.  It was such a sweet gift and a great relaxing treat for me.  It also fit great on our awkward island :)

We randomly found this picture while unpacking boxes: on our honeymoon.

It sat on our kitchen counter for a few days and even the kids commented how young we looked.

15 years later:

Ben had to work on our anniversary, but met us on the beach for a little bit.  We saw a whale and two dolphins!  It was the best present!

Later that afternoon, we went to the Reagan Library.

They had an exhibit on Pompeii that we were all excited to see.  We have a book on it, so the kids were familiar with the history, but it was amazing to see it come to life for them.

We ended up getting a membership so we can go back whenever we want.  The views from the library were breathtaking...pictures just don't seem to do this place justice.

Eli got a little carsick from reading the book through the mountains, so we ended up ordering Indian food and having a home date while the kids watched a Christmas movie. 

Colin just can't get enough of being outside.  Alison and Eli will be ready to go home from the park and Colin will want to stay 5 more hours.  So, a couple of times, I've taken just him back out for some one-on-one time.

Lucky for him, we can walk to 3 parks from our house.  I love watching him run.

AND he lost his 3rd front tooth in church!

Moving to California; part 1

The tale of moving begins with Jose.  

Senior Jose showed up at our 2800 square foot house to pack it up...by himself.  He didn't speak much English but I was actually quite impressed by his quick packing skills.  While he packed, the kids and I tried to stay out of the house as much as possible, but we also had to take Maya with us.  She decided to be a complete diva that week and refused to go in the back where she belongs.  She would steal one of the kids' seats and then refuse to move.  

We booked a couple of rooms at the Inn on base so we had a place to put our stuff/hang out while the movers where in our house.  I made the kids do a little school work and we started reading Pippi Longstocking.

I was thankful to be able to stay at the Inn and not an empty house, but I was not prepared for the week of essentially camping.  And our two rooms were far away from each other, so we were basically apart all week and constantly shuffling and juggling kids and the dog and our stuff and jobs that needed to be done.  It was exhausting, as moving notoriously is.

By a miracle, everything got done.  Jose packed up our entire house in a day, then it took 2 men 2 days to load up everything.  It took another day to have the carpets cleaned and to clean the entire house, which surprisingly was not as bad as I had anticipated.  We also fit in a doctor's appointment, a work dinner and Maya's 3rd birthday.

Ben had his end of tour ceremony.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures of the ceremony, but it was amazing.  I wish I could have taken a video to capture all of the wonderful things said about Ben.  There were great challenges that came with this command, but Ben's work blessed so many people.  I am so proud of him!

Chaplain Jenkins, Ben and Chaplain Ellison

And their RP's...don't ask me their names :)

Chaplain Jenkin's giving Ben his awards in their office:

By the end of the week, it was time to start saying goodbyes.

Our last trip to Chili Peppers:

We went to the empty house so the kids could say goodbye to the house and their neighbor friends.  We also had to release Hermione, Alison's fish.

I will not miss those tile countertops, but I will miss all the memories that filled that house.

We went to the White's for dinner one night and the kids decorated cookies.

We also had dinner with Justine's family.

Our last Sunday at church, they had a little reception for us.  Saying goodbye to these families was hard, but we also find comfort that we're only 5 hours away...I'm pretty sure the Yuma heat will drive them to visit us.

The boys and I hit the road for California right after church.

The kids will always remember Yuma with fond memories, but this is Yuma in all reality:

A town full of snowbirds doing the most insane things.