Seven Quick Takes-Friday, June 2

1. I have been off the blogging train for too long and the motivation to write anything is really low; not to mention that I have been getting used to living in a new house and getting back into the rhythm of daily life with three little ones. I was hoping to write during naptime, but no one is napping right now. The baby is not quite there and L is having trouble falling asleep. Though that just reminded me that I should put the baby down now, because when I wait for her to be ready it is a lot harder... brb.

(30 minutes later...) Okay now I have two nappers and a quiet timer all in their normal places. I guess I will give some highlights of the last two weeks:

2. The day of the move: everything went great! We pushed the move date back several times, the last time being less than a week before the move. It turned out to be a really good choice since we spent most of Sunday doing the packing of all the final things. We had some really awesome help from extended family and friends and got everything loaded and unloaded with a break for lunch in 6 hours! M and I then spent every moment of non-childcare time unpacking until he left for his 48 hours overnight seminar for work. There are a few stray boxes that will be unpacked eventually, but for now we are pretty much unpacked. It takes a lot longer the more kids we have to pack and unpack. :)

3. Mark's seminar for work: I had my first overnight with the three kids alone. I think G and L finally understand when I tell them that I need them to be quiet and stay out of the room when I give the baby a nap or put her to bed at night. I got mostly normal sleep that night, but appreciated more than ever having a husband who is a great help with the kids. The second night he was gone we had our WI relatives come and hang out with the girls and me. The oldest cousin was doing a daylong workshop at the home school conference in town. The kids had fun with the boys and I had some much needed adult company. I think that is the hardest thing when alone with kids is the lack of other adults even just to talk to.

4. New neighborhood: There is a large Catholic church a mile away from us, and the priest there seems pretty solid. There is also a perpetual adoration chapel. There morning Mass is 7:30am, which we have managed twice already. It is not too bad since we are already used to going to am 8 am which is 15 minutes away, a one minute away 7:30 am is not bad at all. We will still attend St. Agnes for the most-part, but for daily it is nice to have a nearby option. We tried the new library the other day, and I found it to be fairly kid friendly. They had all of our favorite authors and it was about 4 minutes away. Another thing about this neighborhood is that I have seen at least five different very pregnant mothers going speed-walking in the last two weeks. I have heard there are a lot of Catholic families in this part of the Twin Cities area, and it makes me wonder if these pregnant ladies are evidence of that... not that only Catholics have babies, but they do more often...

5. I mowed the lawn last week for the first time in my life. I used our reel push mower. The grass had gotten about 5 inches tall and was wet. It was hard work, but I feel like a real grown up now. I am going to try out the mower again with shorter dry grass and I am sure it will be a breeze.

6. My new oven is AMAZING! I made my tried and true brownie recipe in it the other day and the brownies were perfectly baked, so evenly baked, and so deliciously wonderful. I am going to make a cake in it today for the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart. I am so blessed to have gotten to choose my own stove and for us to have the money for it after buying a house. :)

7. And finally, I really do like our new house, but it feels still like we are on a vacation or something. It takes time to get used to new neighborhoods and grocery stores and churches. We only moved 8 miles, but I think I am still going to need time to adjust. But I love the hardwood floors, all the wall colors we chose, the new furniture we bought, and the laundry chute. I can only hope the children's enthusiasm for cleaning up dirty laundry lasts for many years to come.

For more quick takes head on over to Jen.