Seeing old friends

This past weekend a friend of mine and her family came to visit. We haven't seen each other in 3 years. We may have talked a handful of times, but not much. Life got so busy for the both of us that we just didn't have the time to be on the phone. She has 2 children one 12 and the other 5. Her husband wanted to surprise my husband (his birthday was Sunday) so we met at Mazzio's Pizza. The kids were so surprised! Everyone was busy talking and commenting on how much each other's kids have grown; when my 8 yo came up behind me and asked "Mom, who are these people?" It was so cute!

Time went by too fast. They spent the night and went to church with us, then we came back fixed lunch and they left around 4 p.m. We're the ones who moved away. It can be hard keeping up long distance friendships, but it is so worth it! My kids got along with hers just like old times, it was such a blessing to have everyone get along great. There are some friends that just have an extra special place in your heart, and she is that kind of friend.

Proverbs 18:24
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

Easter

Our family had a nice Easter. I wasn't sure how it would all work out, but in the end it worked out well. Friday and Saturday I laid down as much as I could to get the muscle spasm to quiet down in my back. Then Saturday night my husband and I went to Wal-Mart, bought some cheap plastic buckets, candy and plastic eggs. Usually we boil and color eggs, but I wasn't feeling up to that. I took the plastic eggs and put candy inside each egg, then after church I ran into the house while everyone else stayed outside. I hid the eggs and set out their baskets with some extra candy inside; before I let them in I hid an egg under each child's pillow.

They came in and looked at their baskets, then went around and hunted for the eggs. It was pouring rain outside all day so everything had to be inside. My youngest, Ezra, had a lot of fun looking for eggs. It took him a minute to understand what we were doing then his face lit up and off he went.

With my first 5 kids, I used to do a lot of special things with them. Then one day I realized that my 3 youngest haven't gotten the same "fun" from me. I'm going to work a lot harder at being the "fun and creative" mom that my older children got. Its easy to put that stuff aside with the business of life, and when the older kids no longer enjoy that stuff like they use to. Thanks to reading blogs, I have realized how much I don't do anymore and reading those same blogs is giving me the desire and ideas that I much needed.

My husband has been buying buffalo steaks each time we go to the store. We had 6 steaks saved up, after the egg hunt we started fixing dinner. I worked on getting baked potatoes ready and he defrosted the steaks and got them ready. We don't have a good outdoor grill anymore, so he broiled them in the bottom oven while I baked potatoes in the top one. I also fixed a Caesar salad, plain salad and broccoli with cheese. His parents showed up and we had a nice dinner together.

Now for some pictures, remember that we just moved in and I am in no way unpacked all the way or organized :-)

The Easter "buckets"

Nehemiah, Ezra, Samuel and Zachary

Rebekah, Kati and Elizabeth

The Move

I haven't been on the computer much these last three to four weeks. We bought a house and moved in March 26. We had some friends available to help us move our main stuff that afternoon so we could sleep in our new home. Within an hour and a half of signing the papers, it was raining. Then that weekend it snowed! Just the week before had been upper 70's weather. You can pretty much count on the weather changing to the worse when it comes time for us to move. It is a fact that has been proven many times!

We worked slowly on getting stuff out, moving the dressers one night, the couch the next nice evening, ect.... Then I hurt my back. Sitting down was terribly (still is) painful. Once I sit down the pain in my lower back starts radiating outwards and down my legs. Then when I try to stand up it is even more painful and I have to walk hunched and slowly straighten myself out. I was able to go to the chiropractor a couple of days ago. It helped in some ways and made it worse in other ways. I might go back tomorrow if I'm not better. The only thing that takes the most pain away is to lay on my side. Not very practical when your homeschooling in the mornings and working on moving in the afternoons.

We moved to this town/state 4 years ago this month. We have rented the same house until we bought this one. Yesterday a dear friend of mine helped me clean the old house. We started around 11:30am and finished at 7 pm. We wiped down all the walls, fixtures, cabinets, swept, mopped, you name it we did it. It looked so sparkly clean today when my husband and I showed up. We had a few last things to do today and then we took our keys back. So now it is official. I no longer live there. Kind of sad, Ezra was born while we lived there, a lot of memories were made in four years. In fact that is the longest we have ever lived in one town or home before.

Tomorrow is a new day and I'll not have to worry about trying to move everything out of the old place. Now I can turn all my attention to our new home. There is still much work to do, but I look forward to personalizing this place and seeing how I can arrange everything.

Some nice things about our new home: five burner gas stove top, double built-in ovens (one is convection), a more open floor plan, single story (yeah! no move stairs!), two fireplaces, a lot more storage, the laundry room in the back of the house (away from the front door!)... so many nice things I can't even mention them all. I can't believe we finally own our own home again. I am truly grateful for what God has blessed us with. I am also so grateful for the many dear friends that I have made in this town. I love them all so very much and thank them for all their hard work and the time they gave up to help us! God is so good!