First weeks here

After our move in on Saturday,  things have been plugging along.

Sunday, we had breakfast at the Klopfenstein's  and then Nathan stayed home with the kids.  I went to church with my parents. They came over to our house for a while after church. Then said their goodbyes and left.  It was sad, but again, easier than I expected. 

grandpa reading to the kids

I don't think it will really hit for a while. I still text family a lot, we facetime, and call.  It probably will hit this summer when we just want to walk around the farm, look at the cows, and go swimming. 

The kids have gotten better each day. And finally, by the end of the first week, they were pretty much better. 

breathing treatments in the new room.

We spent the fist week settling in and quickly got ready for Christmas. 

Wednesday, we did paper work and went and got our finger prints done.

Thursday we had a half day of training. Thankfully, the kids did well for the sitter. Friday we had our first full day and again, thankfully,  the kids actually did really well. They normally don't do well with people they don't know, so I was pretty stress. Especially since all the craziness of the past few weeks. 

playing in the toy room :)

If only they loved each other this much all of the time....ha.

Around the house fun...

little missy is very into climbing these days.

bedtime reading :)

the coziest place

helping me with dishes. 

I like to get things in order. And the more things are where they go, the more it feels like home.  Also, when we came to paint, I painted the two rooms colors that were on the walls in Goodfield. It makes it feel more like my own then.  It didn't take long actually, there were maybe a few late nights, but we got things pulled together quickly. And, while it was clean I took pictures:

:) I love this by the way...

Brave Gideon and Brave Aurelia

(If you  can't see, the words around the knights are the armor of  God.)

kids' room

living room

bedroom

Kitchen

Toy room/office

In very short time, it feels like home.  In part to things being in their places and I'm sure greatly due to prayers. 

Saturday evening, Kacie invited us over to her parent's house with a couple from church to play games. We had a great time and the kids had fun playing in Rita's new basement. 

Boden and Parker were there too!

We had our first Sunday in Leo all together.  There was nothing of great note. 

That afternoon, the power suddenly went off.  And, since we can't cook without power, we decide to head out to Walmart and grab something to eat. Apparently, that was our whole neighborhood's idea too. (Our neighborhood is three other houses of Alternate HP families.) When we got out to the van everyone else was outside starting to load up their kids. So, we all went to Culvers together. 

The kids had fun together.

That is one thing I'm already seeing that I will love. Gateway is like a 1950s small town where everyone knows everyone and the kids just run wild with friends.

Gideon helped me bake muffins 

Warmish day called for breaking in the driveway

Maple Vanilla Chia Latte...

Reality... hahaha.

Gideon needed his too.

Little missy commandeered mine.

hahaha.... crazy little child.

This last week was a ton of training every day and we spent a few evenings at Pine house trying to learn the ropes. 

She was so frustrated she couldn't reach. I thought I had the perfect solution.

sigh. 

 I took some time to wrap presents this week. Sorry Bergners, JC Penny, brick and mortar small businesses, Amazon sent me a few big boxes and I'm pretty much done shopping. 

Wrapping is very stressful....

haha why do I try?

EEee :) 

Cheeeeeeze!!! :)

So yup. We are settled in and our training mostly done. We'll have a couple weeks of more intense observation/supervised-on-duty and then we'll officially go at it alone at the end of December. 

Pine house right now isn't completely full and the residents are fairly good kids (I mean they are definitely here for a reason).  So, it seems like it will be on the easier side of things for our transition into the house. 

One of the residents had lice. She was holding Aurelia on the evening they found it.  Ick... We've been very vigilant and have been washing clothes and sheets. Last night I thought I found nits in mine and Aurelia's hair  (Nathan thinks I'm just over reacting) but, we all did hair treatments anyway, and did a ton more laundry. 

We are doing well and looking forward to being back in Illinois for family Christmases.

In Christ

~Michelle