Divisionals swim meet

The regular swim season came to an end last week. Joel ended up getting most improved medal for his age group plus highest point medal for his age group. You'd never know we had to bribe him each swim meet to swim. He went from refusing to move out of guppies to swimming in a lane and being at the top of his age group. 

He also made the divisional team. Which is a big honor and something all the kids hope for. Colin moved up an age group and worked hard all summer. Colin was always swimming and when we went to play at the pool Colin would swim 200s back to back while Joel just played. But Colin is the youngest in his very large competitive age group and didn't make the meet. 

But I think this week has been good for Joel in making the divisional meet. He hopped out of bed this morning (we had to wake up at 5am to drive to the meet in time) and was so excited to swim his relay and then back and free. We didn't need to bribe him today. 

And now we are onto to All Stars swim meet for his relay. We've never been to all stars so it will be fun to do. Will be a busy Saturday since we wee planning on moving in then - still hoping all goes well with closing on the house (not looking good at this point...) 

Because of Joel's summer birthday he will swim as a 6 &under again next year.  So we are aiming for both boys to make Divisionals and Norah will even be able to be on the team as a guppy. The coaches are already recruiting her. 

This is six

At six you can get into the hot tub at our YMCA 

River walks

We spend hours walking down to the river with the kids.  At first we would just walk down and watch the boats and walk the trails. Then we collected snails. Now we bring nets and catch grass shrimp and minnows. We need a fishing permit  to really go fishing but these little nets keep them entertained.  

Grandpa joined them for some low tide exploring 

Homeless no more

In two weeks we close on this pretty house! And I'm so glad to stop looking at houses. The kids are so glad and I'm sure our agent was thinking we'd never find a house. 

This was the 5th house we put a contract on. And 5th times the charm. The first house they never got back to us. We only offered $6k less than asking. Their agent said they wouldn't take less than full asking price.  Second house we called cat pee house but it was 30k overpriced plus cat pee so bad we couldn't go in rooms...and they were unwilling to go lower. Third house was a short sale and even though we had a contact on our house the bank wouldn't accept our offer until we officially closed and it was already under contract when we closed (our agent called) and 4th house was my favorite but they flat out rejected our offer and didn't want to counter and Brent wasn't in love so we didn't offer more and when Brent began to see how great that house could be it was already under contract. 

So after looking and looking several times a week and spending hours a day online looking at homes we narrowed it down to two. Both needed a lot of work but we went back a second time to see one and I even brought a tape measure to see how things would fit. But then we saw this house on zillow close to the one we were strongly considering and it was higher than we wanted to go but decided to look anyways. And there is something about standing in a new house where everything has been done that is so appealing to us who've spent the last 5 years gutting and fixing our house. So after going over our budget this more expensive house just made sense. it has an amazing open layout and a huge yard for Brent's garden and it's in the best location for Brent's work. And the night after we saw this house I slept for the first time through the night - I hadn't been able to sleep in months worrying about house stuff. This house is an answer to lots of prayers.

We are very excited and can't wait to get our stuff out of storage and start making it feel like home. Brent loves this house and while I'm very grateful and do love the house part of me is a little overwhelmed at having such a nice house and also a little guilty. But it's a really great house and a perfect layout for our family with plenty of room to have lots of people over. And I'm also looking forward to being able to unpack and enjoy the house instead of immediately working on a list of house projects that need to get done. 

Hurt thumb

Yesterday Norah was standing next to the car after swim practice and I got Colin clothes to change into and told Joel to get in the car. Norah started screaming and it took a minute to realize her finger had gotten stuck into the hinge of the door. Another minute to get it out.  And Joel innocently hopped in the car since it wasn't his fault because mommy told him to open the door and get in. Colin came back from getting changed and made a huge fuss over Norah and her boo boo. 

Got everyone in the car and we left but then had to pull over because Norah began  screaming really hard.  We sat in a mcdonalds parking lot for a long time holding her while Norah screamed and I quickly googled how to tell if finger is broken. 

I finally got her calmed down and we went through the drive thru to get a cup of ice and a drink for Norah. 

Joel was yelling in the back that he was hungry too! And not fair that only Norah gets something and why doesn't mcdonalds make happy meals at 10:30 am.  He drank her sprite after she refused. And he somehow ended up with hashbrowns too. 

 She ended up calming down and swam and did ballet class and then played all night with a friend without crying about her finger. So hard to tell the damage done. She still walks around holding her thumb up and slept awful last night - she would wake up every time she rolled over.  

But so funny to me how both Joel and Colin reacted to her. Colin fussed over her all day and Joel could've cared less about giving her special treatment. 

In fact at lunch they both got cookies and Norah and Joel chose different cookies so they could share. Joel would hand off a crumb of his cookie to Norah and she would hand her entire cookie over to him for a huge bite. Not really fair but she wasn't complaining and gratefully took her crumb from Joel. He probably has only one more year of that with her before she wises up. 

She wanted a bandaid on it and unfortunately it's one of those waterproof ones that has stayed on all day and now she won't let me near her finger to take the bandaid off. Poor girl. I had my finger slammed in a car door in high school and my fingers never been the same since. So I'm on Colin's side making a huge fuss over Norah and trying to talk her into letting me take a look at it. So far she won't let me near it. 

Sleeping beauty

Sleeping beauty she isn't most nights here. Norah has good nights where she stays in her bed all night and then other nights where she screams bloody murder in the middle of the night. One night she kept saying bad dream bad dream and insisted on brushing her teeth and after that calmed down and went right to sleep. Another night she was crying and repeating flying kitties over and over. 

So there's a lot of this and the fact we spend most of our days in the car for hours at least she can make up for the lack of sleep at night.  

Six

Sweet boy turned six last week. He'd been sick all week running a high fever and randomly throwing up. All he wanted was to be well on his birthday. And he also asked for a house too! (Which we have one under contract!! So birthday gift complete!) 

Joel woke up feeling good so we went to swim practice where Joel got to do his birthday belly flop. 

Then we went to this fountain park where they played for a few hours with foam pieces and the water. 

Joel had everyone at the end come together and build this huge aqueduct. It was impressive. 

Then we went to get lunch and a few minutes into lunch Joel was like this 

So I quickly packed up and we walked to the car and Joel started to throw up. And thankfully was fine after that and hungry.... Poor thing. And I wouldn't let him eat anything until a few hours later. 

He was mainly worried about not getting to open presents but we assured him he still could. 

(Notice the two different wrapping papers. My parents wrapped with pretty wrapping paper and I just wrapped Joel's gifts with brown craft paper. Colin pointed out that it was because we were homeless that our gifts looked like that! Haha) 

A few days ago Joel  drew out what he wanted for a cake and I made it. He was very specific on what went on it and how it would look. 

It was really good. 

Joel is our strong willed determined boy who can't be made to do anything he doesn't want to. But he's so sweet and always looking out for things his brother and sister like. He will find a pretty rock and give it to Norah since she loves to collect rocks or when watching tv always want whatever Colin wants to watch. But he will also be quick to push his brother and sister'a buttons. It's interesting because he is so strong willed but also so laid back about stuff and goes with the flow a lot easier than his brother and sister.  When I told him we got a house he sweetly asked which one and Colin was deveststed we didn't pick the one he wanted.  Joel is so creative and loves to create whether painting, drawing, cooking, or building. He loves to make us laugh and has been teaching Norah all his poop jokes which she thinks are hilarious.

 

Happy birthday sweet boy! It's been a rough summer for our routine school loving boy who got right off the school bus and left the only home he's ever known. A few more weeks and life with get back into a new normal when we move into our new house. 

Summer so far

We moved! This was our living situation for a week. All furniture had been moved out and we were camping out in the house while the kids finished school. What made me laugh was the kids all would ask to be excused after each meal! 

The boys got off the bus as a fourth grader and a first grader and then we got in the car and left the house for the last time. Such a crazy week with swim practice, moving, cleaning, and all the end of the year school stuff. 

Neighbor best friends. Heartbreaking that  this sweet girl has been asking why Norah had to move every day since then. 

Swim team has been different this year with late night practices at another pool while ours was getting fixed. Which meant after we moved into mom and dads we wouldn't get home until 10:30pm. Thankfully for the last two weeks of practice we will go back to morning practices which is better for us. 

We've explored parks and playgrounds 

Taken walks down to the river sometimes several times a day. 

Norah wears that butterfly dress almost every day. 

Helped in grandpas garden or "gam-pa" as Norah says

And had a scary moment with Colin. He hit his head on a metal pole playing tag with Norah and busted his lip. Then the next day he was really tired and didn't want to do too much. Went to a swim meet and he just sat in a chair the whole time except when he swam - not himself at all but he did drop a few seconds in butterfly. Then on our way to drop him off at his friend Connors house for the afternoon he started throwing up and shaking violently. So we took him in for a possible head trauma. Besides the head he had a stomach virus. Poor boy. But scared his mom big time! 

Spent the 4th in Yorktown 

Norah was not having Colin stand next to her.