Oliver's room

Carrying on with the theme of paint making everything better, here are some before and progress pictures of Oliver's bedroom.  He still needs new carpet, closet doors, his dresser repainted, and his bed skirt ironed and put on, and maybe I can practice using my new nail gun and air compress on some crown molding.

My favorite things in Oliver's room are his curtains that I made
and my grandmother's dresser.

The closet doors here are the worst.  I ripped Oliver's out right away.
I also replaced every single hideous gold door knob with lovely
brushed nickel knobs. 

Lydia's room

We got to California last Thursday, and on Friday I took the kids to Lowes to pick out paint for their rooms, with the goal of getting their rooms painted before the moving truck arrived.  Oliver picked the color he wanted and Lydia demanded to have the same.  "Mine blue." The color is basically the same color as their rooms back in Kansas.

Hey Jim can you go borrow a ladder from the neighbor so I can paint the bedrooms?
-Do you really need a ladder?
Ummm, have you seen how short I am? Or were you planning on painting the top?
-I'll go get a ladder
K, thanks

Painted the walls tradewind
Painted the trim blanched pine

I didn't love the wall color at first.  I wanted it to be a little less blue but once their furniture was moved in it felt perfect.  The house is a disaster, but the kid's rooms are lovely.  We won't call these after pictures, let's call them during pictures.  The after would involve fresh carpet and new closet doors. 

before

Lydia likes baby to sleep right next to her, but in her own bed

Just woke up
Enjoying some pant-less book time
Yes, her baby is wearing a swim diaper...you find things when you move

Lydia's dresser is my favorite

Pinterest search "free printables" so many cute things

womp womp
sad sad closet doors

 Lydia seems to like her room.  She likes reading her books and playing with her baby.  She also enjoys standing next to her dressed and crash landing in her chair then jumping up and yelling "ta-da." Lydia is also sleeping fine, her regular 11ish hours, which is really the main goal. 

before

My house is a pit, a mess, stuff is everywhere, but it's slowly coming together...slowly. 

I managed to snap a few before photos before our moving tuck arrived.  In good pre-makeover fashion the photos are not the best and I didn't wait for great lighting, makes the after photos look all the more lovely, right?


Upstairs

This is the room Oliver picked

 

Sweet Lydia's Room

Kid's bathroom

Hall with a sneak peek of Lydia's new paint
and the closet doors I ripped out of Oliver's room

Toy room, upstairs loft area
Is Oliver hanging a basket from the cord of the blinds, yes

Our room
That fan is so low, and I'm short!
It will meet a new owner soon.

Yes, I can see my toilet from my bed, that's going to need to change

View from our balcony

Downstairs

under the stairs storage area where the kids like to hide out
it's complete with lighting and electricity

Guest room/Office

Guest bathroom/laundry room

living room

tiny kitchen

dining room

Happy 6th Birthday, Oliver

Can't believe it, our boy is a big six year old.  In like 5 minutes he's going to be in full day first grade, and then high school, and college, and bam where did he go?  But I've gotten ahead of myself. 

Oliver is doing really well these days.  He knocked kindergarten out of the park, he's reading at the level he should be, gymnastics is still his sport of choice and he's got muscles for days, he loves to ride his bike, and run, and climb trees, play with his trains, beg for more TV time, pour over books, draw trucks and spaceships, swimming, and he's trying to figure out how one navigates dealing with a two year old sister.

Oliver is one of the most extroverted people I know, even more so than I am.  He feeds off people.  His energy sky rockets when he's around others (not always in the most positive way)

Conversation from two days ago...

Oliver "Why isn't anyone knocking on the door and asking me to come out and play?"
Me "Buddy,  no one knows you're here"
Oliver "No one knows me?"
Me "Not really, but soon they will"

Conversation from yesterday at the pool

Oliver ::taps on kid's shoulder:: "Can I play with you"
Kid "Okay"
Oliver "What are you playing?"
Kid "Pool tricks"
Oliver "I know pool tricks" 

Then he proceeds to jump out of the pool and do a somersault into the pool

Impressed kid "Let's do more tricks!"

He went on to get the little boys name and find out that he is also six.  Eventually there was a whole gang of 6 year olds playing at the pool, jumping in and chasing toys.  It was a sweet time.

It was a little hard that Oliver had to share his special day with the massive event of moving all our stuff into the house.  However, he did have a lovely birthday party with many of his favorite people before we left Kansas.  Today he got to open his family gifts, our neighbor brought him a cake and lunch, and he got to pick a restaurant for dinner, and sleep in his own bed...that seems like a success. 

------

Oliver's birthday is a lovely time to celebrate Oliver, and the boy that he is.  However, I also think about his biological mother.  The mother before me, the one that carried him in her belly, delivered him, and eventually realized that she couldn't manage in any longer and made the ridiculously hard and risky decision to place him in an orphanage and hope for the best.  I wonder if she knows he's not there any more.  He made it out like she hoped.  He's a family man, he's such a family man.  Does she think of him on this day?  Does she look through pictures of his first months? Pictures I wish I could see but were far before my time.  Above all these things I wonder if he has siblings in Russia.  If he does I pray they are safe and happy at home with their mama, because the odds of a babe making it out of a Russian orphanage are far less than they were a few years ago.

Our boy is awesome.  We look forward to the adventures the year ahead of us will bring.

His referral photo

Arches National Park

last day of Kindergarten

Kansas City - Oakley, Kansas

Our movers came yesterday and managed to pack and load all our stuff in about 10 hours.  This was our third cooperate move and these guys were my favorite, with the exception of them forgetting to pack my trash can and drawer full of mixing cups, just throw it in the trunk with a million other random parts back there.

This morning I wrapped things up at our place and loaded up our rental.  Lydia and I went to the post office to forward our mail and out to pick up a pizza.  We called the order in, popped into the post office, and stopped at the pizza place.  It was so busy, there was some convention of 10 year olds hanging out by the pick up counter.  When almost to the front of the line Lydia pointed to her mouth and grunted, that's her "I'm going to blow chunks in a second, you'd better get me a bucket" sign.  I had two choices 1. the bucket of lollipops 2. run for the door.  I picked 2 and stampeded through the mass of pre teens.  They all got emotional about Lydia's chunks and her funky smell.  I stripped her down in the parking lot, dressed her in the first clothes I found, PJs, and drove home, we didn't want that pizza anyway. 

So if you were feeling pity on me driving my two kids half way across the country you can up your game now that you know Lydia has been puking for 5 days straight.  She went to the doctor and was prescribed an anti nausea med, but the problem isn't getting fixed, just masked..slightly.  Praying she feels better soon. 

We managed to hit the highway around 1:15, we didn't make it far before we were stuck in traffic, not slow moving traffic, but the put it in park kind of traffic.  Lydia slept and Oliver and I made friends by blowing bubbles out the window, who doesn't love bubbles.  A few stops, some playing, dinner, and we made it to our hotel around 8:00...it was only a 4 hour 30 minute drive, but we didn't rush. 

The next few days will be long, but plenty of fun.  I'm excited to hang out with my kids without all the responsibility of selling a house.  The last few weeks/months have been long and filled with endless cleaning, organizing, fixing, and more cleaning.  Now I just have to drive, play, and go to bed at 8:30pm, totally doable. 

park time in Salina

PJs and bare feet, so classy

moving on

A little help from Will Smith in his Fresh Prince days....

Now this is a story all about how
My life got flip turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became a mom in a town near L.A. 

Do you need a second to read that again?  You read that right.  We are moving.  Southern California. 


Let's recap for a second...

We left Boston for Jim to pursue a career with BNSF.  Leaving Boston was one of the hardest things.  I moved around a lot as a kid and felt a deep connection with the city and being on my own in charge of my life.  I loved my friends, our house, my job, and life in general.  It was comfortable, it was easy, it was fun.

We moved to Nebraska.  Before finding out I was moving there I couldn't even tell you where exactly it was.  Made new friends, got a new job, life was good.  Heck the welcome to Nebraska sign says "the good life."

Then BNSF moved us to Kansas City.  We moved to Kansas City at maybe the hardest time in our marriage.  Our house in Nebraska sold so fast, we were in the midst of an adoption that was falling apart, and we left everyone that supported us through the whole journey.  We lived in an awful apartment (it was fine, but we had NO furniture and 1 pot and 1 pan  and an air mattress and our clothes) while we searched for a house.  We found a church.  A good one.  A community of really really great people.  People that were there while our adoption got back on track, people that came to the airport when Oliver and I made it home from Russia, people that realized we are alone out here in the middle and always made sure we had a place to go for major holidays, friends that took Oliver at a moments notice and kept him for days while I was at the hospital having Lydia, and friends who just like playing games and eating my food.  Life is so sweet here.  Kansas City is truly a hidden gem...if they only had an ocean. 

But my silly husband is just too talented a railroader to be left alone here to plug along moving trains.  He is smart and talented and people take notice.  When people notice then it's time for a new job, a new challenge, and in this case a new state...California. 

First I must say that I do get the final say in these matters.  Jim fully understands the "happy wife, happy life" motto.  However, I know there are worse places the railroad could ask us to go...I won't list them but there are a TON of places I'm not willing to move to.  Is Southern California my ideal spot?  Ummmm have you met me?  Probably not ideal, but we are going to make it work.

A few positives....
*You can fly anywhere from LAX and lots of places are cheaper than Kansas City
*Closer to Hawaii
*They have an ocean...I haven't even been to that ocean yet.
*There are a ton of fun things in that area that I'm sure the kids would love and would guarantee us visitors.  Hello DisneyLand and Sea World and The Pacific Coast Highway
*It always looks like you're on vacation..I'm rallying for a house with a palm tree.
*Tickets to the Ellen Show!  Who is coming with me?
*I get to order a new state print form my favorite JHill Designs
*Lots more to blog about.

The negatives...
*These shall not be mentioned





The time line....
Mostly unknown.  Once our house is appraised and BNSF approves Jim for the moving package then he can start the job.  He will head off to California, buy a car (why did we sell our extra car?), find an apartment, and get to work.  I'll stay here as long as it takes to sell the house, then drive over with the kids and some things that the movers won't take...mostly kids and plants.  At some point we will buy a new house, then sometime in June I'm running away to Massachusetts with the kids for Jim's cousin's wedding....Jim is coming too, but I see us staying there a good long while (I should probably tell my in-laws) while we wait for our stuff to be moved into our house, nothing is known for sure at this point, but that's a guess.  Eventually, Oliver will go to first grade (August) and I'll try to find a new nanny job, but it looks like we are taking the spring/part of summer off to adventure around the country and settle our lives.  

Welcome to the next part of the adventure.