Times Are A-Changin' at the Treehouse

Yes, I am STILL here. In my same house. With my same four crazy treekids and Pops. For now.

"Life" has been super crazy here at the treehouse. Pops has been promoted to a new position within the company he works for. That means a move for our family. That means until we move, Pops is commuting via air to the midwest nearly every week. We won't move until after the first of the year. I am wondering if I will have hair when we move...

So, a snapshot of what life looks like right now - Pops leaves and we hold down the fort. We try to get all of our schooling completed in the morning. We TRY to stay on our best behavior and not drive anyone else crazy.

We are making grand attempts at letting go of "stuff" and creating a big "donation pile" so that we don't have to find a place for excess stuff in a new home. We are learning to keep all the little bitty toys off the floor so that Bump doesn't find them. We are learning how to be 15 minutes from show-ready at all times in our house. (Uh, can I just groan and say that 4 little kids at home all day every day and a clean home hope. I think that keeping the house ready to show is going to drive me mad!)

We are eating strange meals. For supper today, we ate mac-n-cheese and celery. At noon, we had grilled cheese, chips and cauliflower and a plate of various cheeses as we talked about America's Dairyland, Wisconsin, for Branch's 50 States Unit Study. Breakfast was tasty with french toast and peaches dressed with vanilla yogurt. I need my grill master around more, yes - he is sure good for that!

To top it all off... it seems that Bud, Blossom and Bump have some kind of a virus with runny/stuffy nose and sore throats. Cute moment: Blossom was telling me all about what ails her and she said, "My nose wants to run, but there is a stop sign in it so that it doesn't run. I can't even blow it out past the stop sign." Huh? Where does she get this stuff?? She also was telling me that her neck hurts. What? Well, she slept out of her bed the other night, so I figured that was the trouble. I overheard her talking again about her hurting neck. So I asked, "Does it hurt ON your neck or IN your neck?" She pointed ... one finger at the front of her neck and one in her mouth... "Inside my neck, Mama. IN.SIIIIIDE my neck." OH, I see, that is called your THROAT! Goodness gracious, child.

We are excited about what may come for us as this craziness winds down. We don't really know yet where we will move, or when for that matter. All we know is that we could be anywhere in the middle of the country near, say, Kansas or Oklahoma or Nebraska or somewhere around those parts. When we know more... we'll know! Currently, Pops is in Oklahoma, next week - maybe Iowa, so the following week might bring Kansas to his schedule. It is all new and different!

So, if I don't show up regularly around the blog-o-sphere it is just because I am treading water and am just barely keeping my head above the surface most days! I am not purposefully neglecting all my peeps... I just can't find the where-with-all to get everything done! I'll show up every time I am at the shallow end!

And to all of my midwest friends... See ya soon!!! And my west coast friends... We will miss you all! Come visit us in the frigid winters or the blistering summers!