Copper Drew, 8 months

This month you learned to crawl and pull up to stand. We learned we’re all in trouble now because of all the things you like to get into. Your crawl is a lot like your sister Reese’s with one leg up. You tried lots of new foods and really love anything you can feed yourself rather than off the spoon. You loved playing in the snow, and discovered the little ride on bulldozer that you liked to be pushed around on. Some favorite activities are looking at yourself in the mirror, digging through a basket, and generally being out and about! We love you so much!

little cub school

Little Cub School for Reese, and eventually Copper, is officially open! I've been trying to get something put together that's more structured for Reese to work on, but we're just now getting to do that. She knows a lot of letters and has been writing her name by herself, but she still has sounds and other things she could work on. I found this Letter of the Week Curriculum that I really like and we are diving in! The first week has gone pretty well. I like how many activities there are, and we work on it during the day when we can. We started with Letter D because I wanted to pull out the dental health books for reading this week. Even Elle and Todd have been encouraging Reese by asking for the letter sound, and reading with her.

We're trying to make Ds with our bodies!

I had to do it to. I really need to stretch some muscles!

Snow day fun

Today the kids had a scheduled two hour delay for faculty meetings. But an overnight snow meant that school got cancelled for the rest of the day. They’ve had so many delays and snow days that I’m surprised they’re learning anything! This was also the first day of pre-k registration and Chris still had to go up to the school at 5:30 am to make sure he got Reese on the list early. He came home for a bit and he and Todd shoveled off the driveway then took Reese out to play in it. They played for a while, and by mid morning the snow was starting to melt so we went to sam’s. I let the bigs get either a hot dog or big pretzel for lunch and we came home to watch Cars 3. After that we played in the basement for a while. Copper discovered the bulldozer and loved it! The big ones did a lot of legos today and Elle built her own version of the Winter Olympics complete with a luge! (You’re also getting a glimpse of the mess we still have in the basement. I promise it’s getting better little by little!) We had tacos for dinner, watched the kids new favorite—Wheel of Fortune, some Jeopardy and then it was time to get them ready for bed. They were all so tired and the Olympics come on so late here they had to miss them tonight. All in all they had very little bickering and played pretty well, even cleaning up their rooms so I call it a good day!

moving to west virginia, august 2017

Almost heaven, West Virginia
Blue ridge mountains, Shenandoah river
Life is old there, older than the trees
Younger than the mountains, blowing like a breeze

Country roads, take me home
To the place I belong
West Virginia
Mountain mamma, take me home
Country roads

It has been six months since we moved to West Virginia. I figured it was time I said something about it. We technically, haven't even been in our house six months since once we got here we were basically homeless. It was probably one of the most vulnerable times of my life so far. To uproot four babies and not have a place to solidly land was so scary. We came on a wing and prayer hoping we'd find a house in the school zone we wanted, and before school started, not knowing really anybody or where anything was.

While the first few weeks were rough, we were very lucky that so many things worked out. We found a house quickly, were able to get one within our budget, in the neighborhood we wanted to, and get paperwork to enroll kids in the school we wanted before the year started. We were able to convince the seller to let us rent it before we closed, and he let us move our stuff off the truck and into his porch, garage, and basement before he was moved out. We were blessed by many people giving us shelter, food, support, and physical help moving and cleaning.

I wouldn't say we're glad to have moved from what we've known for so long, but we are and have been happy. Chris pointed out that we had been in over a dozen people's homes after we got here. Life is a slower pace and we needed it badly. We were all feeling the effects of the life we were living in OKC, and I'm afraid of what would have happened had we kept going. Stepping out of that has given us a new perspective. We've had more time to just be with each other. It doesn't take any time to commute anywhere. It's a safe place. The helicopter mode has been lifted some. The kids are able to play outside by themselves and we don't worry as much. Everyone has been so helpful and nice.

This really has been a leap of faith for us. Chris wasn't happy in the environment he was working in. One of the components of our marriage is to be doing things to glorify and build God's kingdom. Where he was at just didn't seem to be doing that. So he went on a hunt for some place that he would find good work to do. While we were sad that meant ultimately leaving OKC for a while, we knew we had to jump on this opportunity. And I can say with 100% certainty this has been a good thing. Chris has flourished in his new job. It's been wonderful to hear him speak in chapel, see him not be so stressed, and excited about his classes and projects he's able to work on now. We're very proud of him!

I'm mostly momma and trying to organize all our belongings in the new house. A task that is overwhelming at times. With such short notice to pack and sell the house we didn't get to go through much, and this house is so different from our other house. That's another post though! I'm also teaching at OVU in the education department, so you know keeping up a little of the old pace. It's been really special to spend more time with the kids.

We've tried to explore some of our new environment,  but with life having to start immediately once we got here, and with a new baby it's been slow. WV has some really great things about it though, and we can't wait to discover more.