still here.

Just in case you're thinking of it, I wouldn't recommend moving a few days before school starts. 

Not if you're a teacher, anyway. 

I feel like I need hours to spend here at home. 

And I need to spend hours working up at school. 

Slowly, slowly getting things crossed off my to-do-list at the house. 

Sometimes big things, but usually just little things. 

Tonight we hung hooks on the walls in the kids' bedrooms and in our bathroom. 

(No excuses for towels left on the floor!)

Constantly adding things to my to-do-list at school, though. 

I may never feel caught up. (New curriculum for math this year...)

But, no matter how overwhelmed I am, my days are full of lots of smiles, lots of songs and lots of hugs.

Who wouldn't love that? 

These are the little people I get to spend my days with this year...  (plus one more starting tomorrow.)

One of these little people brought me chocolate chip cookies this morning. I kind of love her. =) 

farmhouse. {chaos}

On Sunday Corey and I tried to figure out if it was really true that we've only been here a week. We're at that funny stage where this doesn't quite feel like home yet (mainly because things aren't organized and put away) but yet it also feels like we've been here forever. 

We are loving it here. I am so anxious to have everything organized and decluttered, but I am so exhausted by the time I get home from school. I'm trying to do a little bit each evening, but it's slow going. So excuse the clutter and mess and chaos, and take a peek at the happy place we are calling home now... 

The kitchen was one of the first places I tried to organize. You know, since these people want to eat and all. It looks so much better than this now, but there are still a few things waiting to find their home. 

Refrigerator magnets in place... =)  

{My sister did the "I deserve to experience geysers." on my fridge YEARS ago. I got rid of the rest of those crazy word magnets shortly after, but have kept these few. Just because they make me smile.} 

I spent a few hours out here alone our first morning (Corey went back to get the last few things from our rental, mow the yard, etc.) I hung out with my protector and tried to unpack as many boxes as possible. 

Thankful for the DVD player and some of my favorite movies. {This is "Miracle" about the US Hockey team. Love it. Corey and I use the "you worry about yourself... plenty there to keep you busy" line all. the. time.)

I was trying to get through boxes because we had this lovely trash trailer parked right outside in our driveway. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but it sure was convenient to just walk on the deck and toss boxes in.

No idea how long it will be before I can show you those picture perfect house pictures that you always see on other blogs. Possibly never. =) So I'll show you how things are right now and you'll just have to imagine things clean. Because you all know my house is *always* clean, right? =)

Breakfast nook...

 Living room/kitchen/breakfast nook...

Dining room...

Craft room/extra bedroom...

Mudroom... {which actually looks a lot better than this right now. I'm just too lazy to go take another picture.}

Office area... {which isn't really an office area, at all, but we don't have a better name for it at this point.}

Which looks more like this right now...

 Down the basement stairs...

Probably the messiest place in the whole house right now...

Sophie's room...

She's had it organized/decorated from day one... {although I haven't hung pictures on the wall for her yet. She's pretty anxious for that.}

Gretchen's room...

Which thankfully, looks more like this now... 

The kids' bathroom...

More family room...

Oddly enough, the huge storage room is one of the most empty rooms in the whole house. That will change soon, I'm sure. (Remember that full storage unit? Blah.)

Our bedroom... the bright red curtains are temporary, I think. We needed something on the windows our first night here. {Especially since my lovely brother-in-law was threatening to come knock on the windows in the middle of the night... just to scare this city girl.} Thinking we'll go with some of the bamboo blinds we had in our old house/bedroom. We just need to get one more.

Our bathroom... (looks all happy and sweet, right?)

But then you turn around... 

(I've pretty much conquered this area, too, by now! Yay!)

So much mud. And dirt. And rocks. Someday we'll have grass... 

Gretchen and Lawson are LOVING having a place to play/ride bikes outside again. They spend hours outside. (Sophie's not really an outdoor kind of girl, but she's spent hours in her room. Alone. She's loving that.)

Lots more to unpack. Tons more to organize. 

Pictures to hang. Places to decorate. 

So much more work to do. 

But it will get done. Eventually. 

And then we'll all look this happy and smiley... 

moving memories.

Our move this summer wasn't quite as organized as our move last summer. {And you have no idea how happy we are that this is that last move we have planned! (Until the nursing home, Corey says.)} Less organization this time, but so much more help! And when it comes to a house move... I will take help over organization any day! 

This was my little lifesaver basket this year. Tools... felt for the bottoms of chairs... tape measurer... Sharpies... tape... and all the little bags of screws that we didn't want to lose. (Except for all the screws to the kids' beds. I gave Corey a labeled bag to put them in at the old house, and it never made it back to me. Major relief when we found that bag in his toolbox.)

We went for the classy move this year. No rented UHaul... just this lovely stock trailer. (With a tarp down to cover the leftover cow manure.)

I didn't get pictures of all our helpers, but at one point we had 15 people at the new house, helping move stuff in.  6 of those people were technically kids, but 2 of them were really big/strong kids. Then 2 others Sophie and Lawson's age. Plus Gretchen and another little person. (I don't think they actually carried anything, though.) =)

Plus 3 other offers of help that we turned down. So different than last year when there was Corey and I, my mom and Dallas. It wasn't 110* either, which was nice.

My dad and my mother-in-law got all the beds put together (once we found the screws!)

Gretchen showing me her big muscles... =)

We lost all our kid-sized helpers here after awhile...

 Corey, my dad and I went back later that evening for the last load of random things that were left. We were a bit depressed to see just how much random stuff there was! Another trailer, van and truck load. Seriously... how do we have so much stuff?!

I was debating the whole "curtains on these windows" idea... but that evening, realizing how crystal clear you could see in these windows... made me think we do need them.

But, since this is the view on the other side of those windows, I still go back and forth. 

Actual "inside of the house" pictures coming soon! As long as you promise to overlook the chaos and mess. =)

first days.

{Lawson was a bit spazzy that morning.}

Our first two days of school were so different this year compared to last year. {Day 1, Day 2, cute pictures}
No nervous children. (at least not ones who belonged to me.)
No tears. (except when I fell down the deck stairs last night. There may have been a few tears then, as I tried to crawl my way back up.)
No feeling like I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.
No emotional meltdowns.
Extreme stress and being overwhelmed to the point of numbness, yes... but no meltdowns. =)

whew.

* We are in the farmhouse! So far from being unpacked and organized, but we are in! (Except for the completely full storage unit we still have in town. Blah.)

* We are loving it here. So far only one light switch that we wish we would have put in a different spot.  And I've only freaked myself out with this whole "living in the country thing" a couple times, so far.

* The kids are loving their new rooms and everyone is sleeping great! (Still need to work on those early bedtimes, though.)

* Internet was finally hooked up today! Yay! This girl without a Smartphone has felt so out of the loop.

* School starts tomorrow. And I'm realizing I haven't taken a single picture of my classroom! Not one! Crazy.

* This is probably the least prepared I have ever been before the first day of school. I should probably be more nervous about tomorrow. But I'm not. This will be my 15th "first day of 1st grade." I'm pretty sure I've got it down. (And it's only a 1/2 day. Since we spend HOURS learning and practicing procedures, time fills up pretty quick.)

* Honestly, I think I'm too overwhelmed to feel stressed. I'm just kind of numb.

* I locked my keys in my van today. And basically left myself stranded in the middle of a little town I didn't need to be in. That was awesome.

* Seeing lots of cute First Day of School pictures on Facebook and am realizing I have no plan for tomorrow. Rats. There are plans for a fun chalkboard door here at the farm, but it hasn't happened yet.

* So anxious to show you pictures of this happy place we are loving. Soon. (Like, as soon as I shove some boxes and random stuff out of the way...) I wish you could have seen the sunrise from out here this morning. So, so pretty.

* Off to bed to pray for sleep, early rising children and for sweet, calm little people tomorrow. That's not too much to ask for, right? =)

moving day.

It's been more like a moving week, actually. 

But today is the day all the last of the big stuff (our bed, all appliances, the rest of the furniture) is going to leave this happy place... 

and move here... 

We've had amazing helpers this week. My mom and Aunt Carol basically packed and unpacked my whole kitchen. 

So my nice clean kitchen doesn't look like this anymore... 

But more like this...  (see, Kristin? I need you!) =)

But look how fun and happy those barstools are! =)

My dad has been his normal rockstar, super-packer self and has taken quite a few truckloads out this week. We've had other friends (who live a 1.5 miles away... Neighbors!) help us unload a couple times. 

More friends coming this morning to finish off the rest of the big stuff.
My organized system has gone out the window in the past 2 days and stuff has just kind of randomly been thrown in boxes. Whatever works, right?

My first day to report back to school is Tuesday (with Meet the Teacher Night that evening at 5:00!) then kids start on Thursday.
We'll see how much organizing I can get done in the next 3 days.
Anyone have a magic wand?