Moving In

I've been too busy unpacking boxes to take many pictures, but I do have a few. Grandpa and Grandma Tractor slept on the futon mattress in Caroline's room and the frame was set up in the living area. It looks awfully uncomfortable.

Uncle Alan and the kids and Grandpa and Grandma Idaho brought dinner over Friday night. After a very long day of unpacking and cleaning we were starving. Dinner was delicious. The kids ate at a little kids table making up silly phrases and laughing their heads off at each other. Ella exclaimed loudly "I knew it was gonna be fun to have Ezra living here!"

Here's the kitchen at the end of Friday. We focused on this room that first day. I figure that if I can cook meals for my family, I can slowly work on the rest of the house.

This set of 3 open shelves is one of my favorite parts of the kitchen.

Last week when I visited my friend Sarah at her house I was complimenting her on her cute window treatment above her sink. She told me they were just cloth napkins hung over the curtain rod. Another friend, Aura, had recently given me some cute springy napkins from World Market and I was hoping I could use them in the same way. Sure enough, there was a curtain rod above the window over my sink here and I was able to add a splash of color with the napkins.

A cabinet for my china! Yeah. I love my china and am so happy to be able to use it now. It's been hiding in storage for quite some time. I can't wait to get it out for some entertaining. It's fun to be able to see it every day too.

And now for the sad part of this story. Sunday afternoon we had to take Grandpa and Grandma Tractor to the Idaho Falls airport and say good bye. I did not handle it well. Ezra wanted to go with them and campaigned the whole drive there. He told Grandma he didn't really need a ticket because he could sit on her lap.

Caroline tried to sneak on the plane on top of Grandpa's suitcase. In the end, both kids had to stay here with us and Grandpa and Grandma had to go back to life in Gig Harbor. We will make sure that there are many visits back and forth. These kids (and their mommy) cannot live without seeing Grandpa and Grandma Tractor on a regular basis. Praise the Lord we have plans to drive to Moscow in less than two weeks for Uncle Jakey-pooh's graduation.

I don't want to end on a sad note, so here are a few more pictures from around the house.

This little lovely was given to us as a welcome gift Friday morning. It was surrounded by warm fresh-out-of-the-oven delicious muffins. Thank you, Lucy!

Here is Ezra's room. My mom and I organized and put away all his toys on shelves in bins. You can see how long that lasted. His room is also the toy room.

And Caroline's room. The last "little" girl to live here left quite a dainty feminine room. Eventually we'll get a bed in here so that it will double as the guest room. Anyone care to be the second (mom and dad were the first) guests to use this lovely room???

And this is our room. It's as big as half of our old house. Seriously. And the view is pretty nice, my friends. Living here in this rental might prove to be a huge mistake. One could sure get used to living in such luxury : )

This is the view from the windows in our bedroom.

Miss Kine insisted that I take her picture.

This fancy lady is a jewelry holder that my parents got me for my birthday a month ago. Isn't she stinkin' cute? I just love her. And her mesh butterfly wings hold so many necklaces, bracelets and earrings.

One last kitchen shot. My favorite room in the house. I can't wait to have some friends and family over so that I can cook up a storm in this kitchen! Have you caught all my hints at wanting visitors? Come on people! I apologize for not getting all the unpacking, organizing and cleaning done before taking these pictures. We'll be slowly working on the rest of the sorting and organizing for quite a while, I'm sure. And I'll be hounding Tadd to help me hang pictures and put up decorations for the next week or two. It already feels pretty homey. We can see how much He has led us all the way and gone before to prepare the path for us. And we have felt all of your prayers--so thank you!

Also, yes, I know the word "kine" means cow. No, I don't think my daughter is a cow. Ezra started out saying "Car-kine" since he couldn't say "Caroline" and somehow it changed into the single syllable nickname of "Kine". We'll try to get rid of the nickname before she finds out/cares what it means : )