New Room

Well, I have a backlog of things to tell you all about, but frankly that feels overwhelming. So, instead of trying to get all caught up at once, I am going to pick one thing.

The New Baby's Room.

When we moved into this house 3 1/2 years ago, we loved it for a lot of reasons.  It had 4 bedrooms, a real yard and just a lot of things that were us.

But one of the bedrooms was strange.  It was big enough to hold 2 queen size bed, comfortably.  No really.  That was ok.  Elliot used the room and it had a spare bed for when guests came.  But it seemed like a silly waste of space really. 

For whatever reason, I don't have a good before photo, but this one gives you somewhat of an idea.  That's a queen bed and a set of bunk beds in the same room and there is still a desk and a rug behind the camera!

So we got to thinking, "What if we put a wall up in the middle of the room and cut a door to the hallway?"  We talked about it when our friend Jamie was here and helped us build all sorts of hobbit shelves.  She thought it was doable.  We talked to other friends and finally our landlord.  He was a bit skeptical about it, but when we said we'd pay for it and that our architect friend thought it would be fine, he was good.

So, in mid January, we finally were able to hire two guys to come and build the new baby's room! 

It was a simple project as these things go.  It was just putting a drywall wall up to split the room in half and cutting a door in the existing hallway wall.  I say simple.  We still hired someone to do it.  But there was already separate wiring for lights and outlets, and a window on that side of the room, almost as if this had been the plan all along but they just never got to it. 

So now Elliot's room is much more manageable.  I think he feels not so overwhelmed by it.  He's got new green everything (his favorite color).  I would show you a lovely photo, but honestly, when I went up to take one, I realized he managed to leave the house this morning with a lego explosion everywhere.  So instead I'll just show you pictures of the Baby's room because she can't mess it up...yet. 

There are still some things that I want to do in here, like paint her name on a sign above her changing table, but that requires that we know her name, which still isn't certain yet.  Yeah, yeah, I know.

I love how the furniture came together in this room.  The changing table and the rocking chair came from our church here.  We did some updating of the nursery there and those things needed to be moved out.  So we got to give them a home.  The changing table is the same style as one we had in the states with the two biggest kids.  It's sweet when God gives you gifts like that.  The red pillow on the rocker is one that my great grandmother made. The crib is one we used with Quinn.  There is something sweet about reusing all the baby things.  There is even a walker up on the shelf above the changing table that at least three of my siblings used along with my boys. 

The little table with the light came from the garbage and I sanded it down and painted it.  I love how it turned out. 

The book shelves Noah found on a sale site and they needed some love. So we sanded those down too and painted them.  There isn't much on them, yet, but I am sure they will fill up in the years to come.  I am thinking baby needs a rag doll soon.

So there you have it.  The new room.  I am sure it will morph over the next while, and baby probably won't sleep in it for several months after she is born, but it feels good to have that huge project checked off the "To Do Before Baby Comes" list!

Three Weeks

Three weeks in.  Feels like we've been back a lot longer than just three weeks.

We've done a lot in that amount of time.  And there is a lot more to do to really truly be settled again.  There are still piles of things to sort and put away, we still need to register the boys for school that starts in a month, still need to restock the panty supplies fully.

But we are on the way.  I think all the bags are unpacked even though there is still stuff to put away.  The big projects are mostly done, with the exception of staining and vanishing the shelves and cabinet.

Oh, and just for the record, if you are planning on moving internationally, don't do it three days before Father's Day and a birthday.  Honestly, we've done Father's Day, Quinn's Birthday, Noah's Birthday since we've been back!  That's a lot! We totally skipped out on the 4th of July this year, much to the disappointment of several of us, me included!  Oh well, live and learn.

I think our hearts have caught up to our bodies for the most part.  It's been a bit rockier of a transition than I was anticipating. But boy, have we've so enjoyed being back at church each weekend,  and being part of our community here!  Noah's been in the office this week some, and it's been good to get back in the swing of things.

I'm hopeful that by August, when the big boys start school again, we'll be resettled.

And with that, this might be the last blog post for a while.  My computer decided to act up three weeks after being in Costa Rica, which means it gets a trip to California tomorrow, then to the repair shop, then to Illinois and then back to Costa Rica in September!  Yikes!  That's a long time without it!! Not sure how well I can blog on a tablet or phone, so we'll see ya when we see ya.

The Casita, errrr Fort

Around Thanksgiving time, our church ordered a bunch of paving stones to pave the parking lot.  These pavers came on pallets.  Now.  I have been on the hunt for pallets for 2 years!  So I asked around and was told "take them.  Please." Well ok!

I had lots of ideas, but the first project I wanted to get done for the boys was a playhouse.  Or a casita (little house).  And I was told, "we don't want a playhouse, we want a FORT!"  Ok then.

Our landlady had some big posts and Noah and the boys promptly got to work on digging the holes. After about an hour the boys abandoned Noah.

But really, the ground was soft and he got the the post sunk in a morning.  Then, our landlady had some leftover aluminum sheeting she offered for the roof of the casita err fort.

The boys love it.  We are still working on a floor of some sort because it's in a low spot (one of the few level places in our yard, which is on the side of a mountain), but really, they are in it almost everyday doing something.  

I am praying somehow we can keep this house with it's amazing yard and great landlady while we are on home assignment next year.  It's just too good of a space to give up!

HodgePodge

Ummmm, hello?

Yeah, welcome to Week 4 of Summer Camp, the time of year when we try to accomplish normal life like having a kid in school and do the insanity that is camp!  It's been an interesting season for sure!  Full of a lot of good things, some hard things, some weird things, and some just normal things.  But we are tired and looking forward to next week, when Noah will be home.

So in an effort to get caught up, we're going to do one of those bullet point posts.

• Did I mention we're starting Week 4 of Camp?  We are.  I think I've said this before, but while the camp weeks are shorter and the season itself is shorter, it's harder on our family than Barakel.  I think there are a lot of reasons for this, including: We don't live at camp, I can't just put the kids in the stroller and go into camp, I still have to cook, Forrest has school everyday, and because we have weekends free, there is a temptation to try and do "normal" life too.  We about killed ourselves last January trying to do both.

• Forrest is back at school after  4 week Christmas break.  School + Summer Camp = hard. 

• I made my most expensive language mistake to date.  I thought the robotics class for Forrest was $60 for the semester.  Turns out, it's $60 a MONTH for the semester.  Yeah.  matricula and mensual are very, very different words.

• I got  new to me cast iron skillet and I love it!  I don't know why it took me 10 years to get one.  Anyway, it hangs above my stove and it's lovely. 

• I have been revamping the house.  The playpen is now put away sand the kids table and chairs are in the kitchen.  I bought two end tables from the same family as the skillet and use one for desk type stuff in the kitchen, and we took apart a desk that Noah was "using" and now a bit more space in the living room.  We also turned the kitchen table the other direction and for  40 cents I bought 12 cup hooks and revamped where the mugs and coffee things go.   

• I finally (it only took 3 years to have the mental wherewithal to find the necessary components for this project) made a blackboard!  I love how it turned out and today I am going to make two smaller ones for the bigger boys' rooms.  I might also make one for the garage...you can never have too many blackboards.

• Saturday the boys and Noah had a water balloon fight.  And when I say "the boys" I mean Forrest and Elliot.  Quinn tried playing with some water balloons, but every time
  they broke and he got wet he cried.  He needs a bit more time before he understands this is suppose to be fun.

A Bath Tub from Heaven

When we were praying about finding a house here, we prayed often that it would have a great yard for the kids and a bath tub.  When we found this house, it had a fantastic yard and what we thought was a tub.

Well, the tub really didn't work as a tub.  It tried.  Really it did, but it was just too big and the drain didn't seal, and well, for as much as it wanted to be a tub, it wasn't.  So for the boys we resorted to buckets.  Which, really, was fine.

That's how they played in the bath together.

But the buckets didn't work well for mama.  I tried the big red one, and while it makes a great bath tub for a preschooler, for a grown human, it didn't work too well.  Oh, and did I mention my biggest unwinding method is a bath.  And good grief, have I needed to unwind in the last 4 months!

I kept praying about a tub, but didn't really see how God could make it work.  And then one day in early December, Noah mentioned something to our landlady about it.  To which she responded, "you know, I was thinking of putting one of those in soon!"  What?!?  So they talked about sharing the cost of it and the hunt was on for a tub to fit the oh so not standard space.  After several weeks we didn't here anything, and I thought it wasn't going to happen.

But two weeks ago, they called us late on a Friday night and asked if they could come install the tub the NEXT DAY! 

So now we have this!!

Yes indeed!  That is a real bath tub!!  It's wonderful  AND the hot water tank fills it up.  Don't laugh, that was a concern of ours, because we only get about 10 minutes of hot water from it.

Now, we still had to get creative with Quinn, because he doesn't sit up very well still and well, water and soap don't help the sitting action usually when you are 7 months old.  So here's what we came up with.  And yes, he loves it!

For me, the tub is such a reminder of how God loves to give good gifts to His kids.  And we are so thankful!

Nuestra Casa, Parte Cuatro

Well, our bedroom has taken a while to get situated.  First, there was the cleaning.  When we started cleaning we discovered mildew in the dressers and wardrobe.  And then there was a panic, and talking with the landlady, and getting the stuff out of the house.  Then came trying to figure out where to put our clothes.  And we had a crib, but no crib mattress.  It seemed that our crib was rather short compared to all the mattresses we could find.  But after about a month and a half, we are settled into our room. 

So here it is.  The photos aren't the greatest because Quinn is sleeping (finally!!!) and I didn't want to turn lights on and disturb him.

What we finally did for the crib mattress is bought a foam one that was cheap (you know $30) and cut it down to size with a bread knife and taped the end.  It works well actually and it's nice Quinn has a crib for the first time in his life.

As for a lack of closets and dressers.  We bought the bookshelf from the family we bought the 4Runner from and it works well.  As long as we keep things need and tidy that is.  And yesterday Noah was able to hang a bar from the ceiling.  It's actually the same dowel that we used for Quinn's swing.  Apparently here at the hardware store, you have to buy the whole 10 foot dowel.  But it works!  I have always wanted wooden hangers, but could never justify them...until now!  Since things are out in the open now, the hangers need to look nice, right?  And really, I found these at Pequeno Mundo for about 80 cents each, so it wasn't that extravagant.  I really like how it turned out actually.

And we're not quite sure how to handle this, but we actually have a master bathroom!  Quite impressive.  Remember when I mentioned we had a bath tub?  Weeeeelllll...kindasortanotreally.  It is suppose to function as a bath tub, but the drain doesn't stay plugged and it's so big that our little water heater couldn't possibly fill it even if it didn't drain as you were trying to fill it.  Noah is brainstorming solutions, but for now, we just use it as a shower.  See how tall the side of the tub is?

There are some things we still want to do to this room, like paint, and deal with the curtains still, and maybe put something up on the walls, but for now it's neat, organized and works well.

Nuestra Casa, Parte Tres

Today was an exciting day!  No really.  And this is going to show that I am in fact an adult, we got a bigger stove and refrigerator.  Remember the play ones we had before?  Well, now, we have a lovely 6 burner gas stove and a huge refrigerator.  This means a couple of things.
1.  I can use my cookie sheets again.
2.  I can cook vegatables and a meat in the oven at the same time
3.  I don't have to go shopping every three days.  I am so very used to shopping once a month from our time at Barakel, this whole shopping once a week or every three days just seems silly to me now!

Look at these things!!

We were able to help the same family we bought the 4Runner from by buying these and three bookshelves and a little kids' table.  They are moving this week to Texas to start the next phase of their ministry.  We know what a help it is to have someone buy your stuff to help you relocate and we were glad to help!

We also bought three bookshelves from them.  One is being used as just that, a bookshelf.

We don't have a lot of real books with us...well, not a lot compared to what we did have (we still have about 5 tubs in our trailer...just can't seem to part with them.  They will come down little by little), but we do have enough to warrant a bookshelf just for them.  Isn't this space cute?  I think I might need to make a little pillow for the chair and a bean bag chair might be in order too.  We'll see.  And just to keep it real here, yes, those books aren't neatly on there the way one would think a bookshelf should be arranged because a kid got to them in the 5 minutes between when I put them on there and when I got the camera. 

Another of the bookshelves is now in my nook.  Yes, that is the name for the space at the top of the stairs.  My desk is there, and now the boys' little table and chairs and another set of shelves.  Isn't it darling?

I love how hobbit like it feels.  The lamp on my desk, yeah it's made out of a log and it was here just waiting for us. 

The boys have wanted a little table and chairs since we left Barakel and they were very excited today when it showed up on the truck.  They both worked together and carried it all up the stairs themselves.  I think this is where we'll do some school stuff when we start Kindergarten in February (on the Tico school calendar).
.

Things are starting to have a home around here.  There are places for things to go and now I don't have to look at a suitcase full of school books.  They can sit nicely on a shelf.  Oh man, is that sticker still on that binder?  Man!  So many little details like that to deal with. 

 

The last set of shelves is down in our bedroom and that is a whole other post because of so many issues down there.  So we'll just save that for another day.  

For now, I am just going to sit and enjoy my nook and figure out how to make bookends.  Anyone got any genius, cheap ideas?

Hodge Podge

So this is more of a hodge podge than anything else.  There is a little of the house, a little of the boys, and a bit of an update about Noah's job.  So you know, feel free to jump to what interests you.

House
Not a lot of pretty pictures on this front, mostly we have done some deep cleaning over the last few days.  I found mildew in the dressers and wardrobe in what will be our bed room last week.  After bleaching them, tea tree oiling them, leaving vinegar in the room, leaving baking soda in the wardrobe, the stink is still there.  So we asked the landlady if they can be moved out, and she said yes.  Today they came and got the two dressers and tomorrow they will come for the wardrobe.  That will mean I can finally get us moved down to that bedroom.  Although, now we have to figure out a closet solution.   And still find a crib mattress for Quinn.  I have been to two different stores and while they had crib mattresses, they were all too long.  So the hunt continues.

Noah was able to finally put up the tapestry last night that has been hanging on the banister since we moved in.  Isn't it nice?

The Boys
Overall, they have been doing really well.  I think because we had help with this move, it meant we could work on helping them through the transition.  They are loving the yard, the garage, and their own rooms.

They have been sharing a room since we left Barakel a year and a half ago.  The first night in this house, we let them sleep wherever and said we would talk about it the next day.  In the morning, I asked Elliot if he liked sleeping by himself.  "Yep, because Forrest can't hit me."  Oh boy.  I asked Forrest what he thought about the whole situation.  His response was "I like it, becuase Elliot can't bother me."  And that sealed the deal. 

Quinn is charming just about everyone he comes in contact with.  He gets called, guapo (handsome), precioso (precious), gorditio (chubby) muñeco (doll) and all sorts of other sweet names. 

He has also decieded that he needs to eat every two hours (again!) and that sleeping in the living room is far more fun during the day than his tent.  Funny little old man.

Noah's Job
Noah started work last week Monday.  It's been good for him to get there, get his feet wet and work on getting to know the volunteers.  He was working from home one day last week and I laughed because much of the time was spent on Facebook and Twitter!  He's been able to chat online with some of the volunteers who are very excited we are here.  This last weekend, he also worked with the program department and some of the volunteer leaders to start creating the theme for the upcoming camping season (in January).

So there you have it, a hodge podge update. 

Nuestra Casa, Parte Dos

Ok, so most people don't show off their garage, but I am going to.  I really like it!  It's covered and attached, which if you need help understanding why that is important, think about an attached garage in Michigan in the winter, only here it's rain!

It has space for the 4Runner and a picnic table and still places to play.  Again, huge because of the rain!

Yesterday I finally figured out how to put up a clothes line.  It's not completely under it, but it gets a nice breeze.  And you all know how much I love my clothes lines!  I was able to get three lines on the top and three on the bottom.  You are looking at a full load of clothes and almost all the cloth diapers hanging up there! 

Yesterday I found those big Christmas tree lights and I strung them up over the picnic table.  I want about 8 more strands of them.  Won't that be a fun place to have a party?

And today as the boys were playing, I thought, "you know, if I could find a baby swing I can rig that up from the rafters for Quinn!  And maybe some hanging baskets of flowers here and there!  This place is going to look down right adorable by the time I am done!"


So thankful for this part of the house.  I think tonight we are going to have dinner out here and do something with the little tiny pumpkins I found at the store last week. 

Nuestra Casa, Parte Uno

So.  We've been in our house just a week now.  And can I just tell you how amazing it was that we found this place 2 days after we got in country? We have been looking at it online for about 2 months, and it was still available when we got here.  It was so great to be in it for most the time Laura and Dan were here because they were able to help so much getting things situated.  There is still a lot to do, but we are thankful that the house is furnished, and while there were a few things we need to get, for the most part we can live, and sleep and cook just fine.
 
Alright.  So it only took me three days to get part of the downstairs ready to really live in and take photos of.  Everything needed to be DEEP cleaned, there was so much to situate and organize, so many brainstorms to get everything where it needed to be, a couple of shopping trips to get it all together.

So, without further ado, here's our kitchen, laundry room and dinning room.  There is still two bathrooms and a bedroom to take care of downstairs.  Another day.  I promise.

This is what you see when you walk through the front door.  Dinning room first, steps, and then kitchen and laundry room.

There isn't a lot of counter space in the kitchen and most of the counters only come up to my thigh, which is going to make things interesting, but there was a folding table in the house, and while it isn't the most sturdy thing, it helps with counter space.

Here's our mini stove.  It's gas, which is great!  Although we've already run out of gas, which is just another learning experience, figuring out where to get more gas, taking the tank (which looks like one you would use on a gas grill) to the store, and hooking it all back up (it sits outside the house in the back and there is a hose running into the house).  And yes, it really is as tiny as it looks.  My cookie sheets don't fit in it really.  I can only use one at a time and I have to tip it up in the back a bit to get the door shut.

And look!  We have a matching mini fridge!  This is the tiniest "full size" fridge I have ever seen!  The family we bought the 4 Runner from has a stove and fridge for sale too.  We are hoping both fit the spaces in our house and we can get them from them just before they leave the country.  But for now we are thankful there is something to cook with and something to keep our food cold.

Yep, my mixer made the trip and is working just fine!  The action packer trick worked! 

The kitchen doesn't have a lot of cupboard space.  So yesterday we found this baker's rack for under the counter.  I'm glad my pots and pans look so pretty.

This was another storage solution.  This space is under the stairs, and behind these shelves we put long term storage things.  With the shelves, I now have a pantry!  I was so excited when this was all put together and organized yesterday!  And yes, that is a 2 1/2 lb jar of Nutella I brought from the states.  Just FYI peanut butter or Nutella will make TSA check your bags.  Apparently it has a suspicious consistency.

And here's the laundry room.  Well, room might be stretching it, laundry hallway, perhaps?  Anyway, we're thankful for a washer and a dryer already in the house and for clothes to clean!

So there you have it.  Part of the downstairs.  Everything takes just a bit longer here, so as we get more and more rooms set, I'll give you more and more photos.  And at some point, I hope to get a video so you can really see how the whole thing "flows" as they say.