Tuesday, December 15, 2015

First Half of December . . .


We moved some of the toys that had been stored in the attic. Little Bit was THRILLED to find the doll house and has spent countless hours playing with it already.


Little Bit and her friends enjoy singing up front for song service at church.


Decorating for Christmas




Laundry room progress


Longwood Gardens







Making gingerbread cookies.

And last Friday, the laundry room was finished (well, there's still some trim and stuff, but enough that all "furniture" was moved into place and I could start settling in)


Walking in from the kitchen, the extra fridge & deep freeze are straight ahead. The window just looks into the garage, but that means I can easily tell if a garage door was left open, or a light was left on.


"Mud room"! Straight ahead when you come in the back door. Hooks & bench.


I knew that long-term I wanted a new fridge, with an ice maker, but it was on my "someday" list, until I found an amazing deal on one of the only french door fridges available that fits the space. YAY!!!


Little Bit brought me "coffee and cookies" from her doll house.


Final night of Hanukkah. Our dining room window sill was perfect for all our menorahs :) 

And a few additional happenings that I don't have pictures of:

We're feeling pretty settled in here now. There's still lots of unpacking to do, and still some things to bring over from the old house (mainly things that I intentionally left over there out of the way until the laundry room project was done. Now I have no excuse LOL), but our day-to-day stuff feels pretty settled in.

Lexie and Ashlyn have added yet another "job" to their Sabbath mornings. During the church service, one or both of them is usually helping with the live streaming. Ashlyn generally runs the camera, and Lexie replies to remote viewers who asks questions or make comments via "chat". 

The cats are settling into the new house. With the completion of the laundry room we were able to move their litter boxes out into the garage (we put a cat door in the door going into the garage) woo-hoo! AND with the awesome, warm weather we've been having I've been leaving the garage door up just enough that they can go under it, so they can come and go as they please. When they're inside, they love all the windows in the sunroom, and for some reason, the windows in the master bathroom.

A nearby college offered a free performance of Handel's Messiah week before last. Loved it!!

Much to Daddy's delight, all 3 girls recently watched, and enjoyed, all 6 Star Wars movies (as long as "watched" is defined as being in the room while the movie plays, I watched them all too, but must admit I paid marginal attention at best). Daddy and the big girls (and a friend) have tickets to go see the new movie (I think he said IMAX 3D) on Friday (yes, I think they're INSANE). Little Bit thought she should get to go too, but since she "liked" the movies, but spent parts of each one huddled on my lap, mean Mommy vetoed that idea. I've promised her a "date" at Dunkin Donuts (her choice) instead.

I've very much appreciated how independent the girls are with their schooling. I've been able to focus on packing/unpacking/etc. And let them continue to do their own thing. Lexie is being rather challenged by Physics (which is a part of her current Pre-algebra text), but challenges are good for her. She continues to have to hunt for books to keep her busy. Thankfully our friend Sonya has similar taste in books, and has recommended (and loaned) some that she's enjoying.

Ashlyn's currently waiting to continue with science until I can track down some specific type of potting soil type stuff that I have a feeling would be much easier to find during normal growing seasons. While she doesn't fly through books at the alarming rate that Lexie does, she is definitely getting more into reading as she gets older. She appears to read slowly but it's because she "digests" the book so thoroughly, often taking notes on the characters' traits and interactions, and sometimes making up her own storylines to go along with the book's storyline.

We paused or normal Bible for Advent and have been enjoying "Ishtar's Odyssey".

Those are at least a few highlights from the last few weeks. 

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