Halloween

Yes, I  know it's December...kind of.  This Southern California weather has me all confused.  I guess people go by the calendar more than the weather here.  Having lived in places where the weather significantly changes with the calendar (except for a dozen or so crazy days in Colorado), I'm not quite used to it, but here's our Halloween update (which we did celebrate the end of October).

I've been kind of divided on Halloween the last bit.  I found this post awhile back, and I think it summarizes my feelings.  I'm glad someone with the same ideas was able to say it better than me.

So, being new to the ward, we planned to go to the ward party.  Now just to figure out kids' costumes....  Hazel and David were easy.  Bring out the pumpkin sweats that fit and the dino costume I made 2 years ago.

 I tried to get the girls to wear their same costumes they had 2 years ago, but the funny thing about kids is that they grow.  So I told them they had to choose something simple...preferably with their own clothes.  They thought and thought, and they came up with a good plan. 

Samuel wanted to be a cowboy...jeans (check), denim shirt (check), cowby hat smashed in the dress-up box (check), all he needs is a vest.  I had left-over fabric from Eliza's indian costume, so I cut out 3 pieces, sewed 4 seams--done (gotta love non-fraying faux suede!), 

The girls wanted to be pioneers, They had shirts and Eliza had a skirt, we even had a bonnet--with a big purple marker stain in the back.  So, just 1 skirt for Sarah, 2 aprons, and 1 bonnet ("could you make a new one for me please?") 2 bonnets.  I just happened to have a bonnet and apron cut out from Sarah's pioneer costume 3 (or was it 4?) years ago, so half the job was done on that.  I had some white muslin that I cut out another set, and I sent Sarah into my stash to find fabric for a skirt.  I used this awesome ruffle skirt pattern and sewed up the skirt, bonnets and apron pretty quickly. 

Hooray!  5 costumes done and ready for the big trunk or treat! 

The candy made it all worth it, I'm sure.

 

Though, I'm trying to decide, is it a good thing, or a bad thing that I was able to come up with 3 costumes entirely from my fabric stash.  I'll say it's good, and try not to buy more stuff.  After all, it's a pain to move it!

The craziest 2 months of my life!

So, I've been a bit under the radar this last bit...Here's my recap of our crazy end of summer.


End of August:
Landlord is crazy.  He's threatening us.  We don't feel safe.  We have to move.  Tomorrow.  Stay up and pack until 2 a.m., maybe get 1 or 2 hours of sleep...living off adrenaline.
In the morning:  Load 2 26-foot Penske trucks in 2 1/2 hours (thank you awesome ward!)
Leave that afternoon for Utah.  Arrive 1:30 a.m. (thanks Jared!)
Sleep well for the first time in weeks.
Next day:  Unload stuff into Brother-in-law's garage (thanks Joe!).
Day after that:  Take Jeff to the airport for him to continue working in Denver (so hard!).

2 weeks later:
San Diego job is coming through (whew!)
Meet Jeff (who is driving a Penske for his brother) in Cove Fort, UT to drive to San Diego.
Next day:  Arrive in San Diego, help unload 2 26-foot Penske trucks for Brother and Sister-in law
Next 3 days:  Look at rental houses in San Diego.  On 3rd day, find the perfect one--it's still available, Hooray!  I fly back to Utah, Jeff flies to Denver.

1.5 weeks later:
Got the Job in San Diego.
Load stuff from Brother-in-law's garage into 2 26-foot Penske trucks (do we see a theme here?).  (Thank you family!)
Next day:  Drive to San Diego!  (thanks Mom and Dad!)  Arrive just in time to unload a few mattresses and find some sheets.  Sleep well
Day after that:  Unload the trucks and get moved in!

The next week:  Unpack and get organized.  Unpack so there are no boxes in sight.  We're sick of living out of boxes!

Since then:  Family is back together, loving San Diego weather (currently 85 degrees!), using cloth diapers again, school in full-swing, visited the beach twice, started sewing a little bit again, finding my way around, terribly missing Colorado friends, emotionally recovering from the drama.

Next step:  Build a house.  After these last few months, it shouldn't be too hard, right?

The Nursery

This post seems a bit anti-climactic as we have already moved and most of the nursery stuff is in boxes.  There were a few more items I was going to add to the room:  a throw pillow for the rocking chair and a female Jack Rabbit for fun.  But the house sold really fast, and these items are on the "to do when I finally settle down and get out my sewing machine again list."

I think most of my decor (except for the quilts) came from this post on the sew 4 home blog.  I have most of the links for the tutorials on my nesting list page. 

I had a lot of fun making all these and the fabric was awesome.  I can honestly say that after sewing all these things with it, I never tired of it. 

So, here it is:

The crib is really the focal part.  It was fun to do all aspects of the crib. from the bumpers to the skirt to the sheet.  I just love how it all looks!

Above the crib, I took scrap fabric and stretched it in wood embroidery hoops I got at Jo-Ann's.   Cheapest wall hangings I've ever done and they add so much to the room!  The quilt hanging over the crib, I took pictures and blogged about it at the end of this post.  I love it more and more every day.

The changing table area turned out great.  I would sit and stare at it while I was nursing in my chair.  The boxes are really stuffed with cardboard (and are so functional!!).  The quilt was so fun to make--and surprisingly easy.  I followed a quilt-a-long and the top came together in no time.  I quilted it with my walking foot and after it was bound, I sewed little rings in the back for hanging.  Perfect!

So there it is.  I couldn't be more happy with the way it all came together.  It really was amazing.

I also have to share one more thing...I made curtains for the boys' room and they were so hard to leave behind.  They were perfect with the animals on the wall.  I'll be making some more just like this in the future, I'm sure of it!

Blessing Day

 We took a break from stressing over our housing (which in fact may end up to be a blessing in disguise) to celebrate our sweet Miss Hazel.

She wore the blessing dress both Sarah and Eliza wore.  And even though it was a very warm day, I had to put on her bonnet that I made her!

Grandma and Grandpa came (as well as my brother who seemed to evade the pictures, I think he was the photographer in most cases!)

 

 

 We took pictures with the family.  (Wow, there's getting to be a lot of us!)

And pictures with "the girls."

It was definitely a wonderful day for our Hazel Ann.  She's already getting so big!

A New Twist

The last few weeks have been busy.  Packing up, moving into the rental, closing on the house, etc.  We got it all done just over a week ago and we were just starting to breathe a sigh of relief.  We still didn't have an absolute plan (or a job) for San Diego, but we felt like things were OK and that we would live in this Colorado rental house, eat up our food storage and try to relax a little.

Until last night...it's funny how plans can change in an instant.

At about 7:30 last night, two Realtors came to the door offering "assistance" to those whose homes were about to be foreclosed.  Through the conversation, we soon found out that this rental we are living in has been in foreclosure proceedings for almost a year and a half and is scheduled to be sold at auction on August 17th.  Great.

We talked to our landlord asking him what was going on.  Of course, he is trying to "work it out."  Whatever that means.

Meanwhile, we feel like we need to move and be gone before August 17th.  This last week, Jeff has had some good job contacts for San Diego.  After praying and thinking much last night, we have determined to move straight to San Diego just as soon as we can.  Jeff booked a flight to find us a good (non-foreclosure) home to rent and I begin packing today.

Our big hope is that Jeff is able to get a job quickly.  Splitting up our family has never been something we have ever wanted to do, but we feel like circumstances may dictate a few weeks of him flying back to Denver to work until a job comes through.

We feel pretty confident that all will work out.  Maybe this is just the big "leap of faith" we need to take.

Wish us luck (and keep us in your prayers too!)

Better this week

This last week has been an emotional roller-coaster.  With our house going on contract,  my biggest worry:  Where are we going to live!?  Since we are hoping to relocate down to San Diego sooner rather than later, we wanted to find a rental that wouldn't lock us in.  Hmm...easier said than done.  I probably called or e-mailed at least 50 people asking i f they were willing to do a short-term lease.  Almost everyone said, "no way" and some people were downright mean about it.  I was just asking.

We did find a 4 bedroom apartment.  Seriously though, 5 kids in an apartment for who knows how long?  And it wasn't exactly inexpensive either.  We would have to sign a year's contract, then pay $2,000 to break the lease, but it was the best we could find!  Then add on storage for all our stuff, and if I wasn't able to sell my piano, that was a big worry too.

Enter Craigslist.  I put an add on Craigslist asking for a 3-4 bedroom home with a short-term lease.  I got 1 or 2 replies offering a sublet room (thanks, but that won't exactly work), then a guy e-mailed me with an offer of a 3 bedroom 2200 square-foot house, basically agreeing to month-to-month rent only $100 more than the apartment.  It wasn't exactly in the area we were looking at.  It's farther in Aurora, and I was a little worried.  Aurora can be really spotty, there are great areas, and really scary areas.  But I figured it was worth a look.

The house is about 40 years old and has 3 enormous bedrooms with a big family room and living room.  The kitchen is an OK size and was updated about 1 1/2 years ago.  The tub is the lovely 60s orange color and I think there is still some original wallpaper on the walls.  But, it's on a full acre and the homes around it are amazing with the yards immaculately kept and big, mature trees!  This house could be pretty amazing too with some TLC and a big bucket of $, I have a feeling that it's the bucket of $ that's lacking.  A friend of ours told us that Mike Coffman, our US Representative used to live right in that area.  As I walked through the house, I kept asking myself, "Can I live here?"  I'm not buying it, I'm not even decorating it (as my brain has been in the decorating mode lately).  The answer was yes, I can live there.  The flexibility is worth a lot. 

So, as fun as an apartment might be, this situation is better.  We can take my piano and other furniture (if they don't sell), the kids will have tons of room to play, I will have room to baste quilts (providing there's time for sewing....I sure hope so, I'm going through withdrawls!), and we can shove all our stuff in the garage and basement.

So, life is better.  I haven't broken into tears for about 2 days now.  Feeling homeless is not a happy thing.   I just hope we can move before winter as the house faces North (ugh, a pain for shoveling the driveway!) and we probably won't have a garage to park in, as it's full of "stuff."

So, as long as the house really sells, we're in good shape.  Here's hoping for a job.

(Oh, and this week I was linked on a fun "quilty blog," Pleasant Home.  It was like a small moment of "fame!")

Be careful what you wish for...

So as if a new baby didn't keep me busy enough, over the last several months we have been getting our house ready to sell.  With the help of a friend, my fabulous husband, and wonderful kids...it looks gorgeous!!

We put it on the market on Friday the 17th and had our first walk-through the next Wednesday.

So, the old adage, "be careful what you wish for, it might come true."  Yah, that's us.  We had an offer in our hand... in the amount of high sales in our neighborhood, Sunday night.  Of course we accepted it.  They want to close July 18.  Wow.

We are trying to relocate to San Diego and thought the house would be the slow part.  No, it's the job.  We "had" a job in February whenever we wanted it, but thanks to Congress, the current administration, and the welfare state, defense spending was cut and the job is "on hold."

We feel so blessed, it is almost surreal, but life just turned into a total whirlwind.  My biggest question right now is, where do we live?  We're not ready to abandon Colorado as we do HAVE a job here, but do we rent for 1 month, 6 months, 3 years?  I have no idea.

We felt so strongly to put our house on the market when we did that I know the Lord has a plan for us...I just wish I had the outline.

Anyone want to buy a piano, it's a good one, and it's for sale!

(why it posted sideways, I really don't know and I don't have time to figure it out.  It stands right-side-up in real life)