Just a regular day along the way

I don't have any fun pictures ready or even downloaded to post.  I have a lot of pics waiting to be shared - playing outside, some fall fun we've had around here, a trip to Dallas, and Lucy finding places to sit all over the place. I don't have the energy to deal with downloading pics, but I will give a snapshot of our day.  You will probably not be all that interested - it's just regular old life.  But, these posts are some of my favorite as they remind me of what regular old life was at any given point along the way.

We had to be out of the house by 8am this morning as we are on day 3 of window replacement.  Since all of our windows had lead paint on them, they have to treat it like a toxic renovation project (complete with a warning sign on the front door!).  They encapsulate all of the brain-damaging toxic dust (for an extra fee per window), so I think we're ok, but it's still kind of unsettling.  The new windows look beautiful, however.  8 down (including all of the huge ones), and 6 more to go tomorrow.

Kelly came by to pick up Luke, since we're driving one (slowly dying) van these days.  She may have another year or so in her, but she's wearing out.  We're thankful for gracious friends who give him lots of rides to and from school.  We're only 5 minutes away, though, so it really isn't too inconvenient to take him ourselves.

The kids and I loaded up with all we needed for the day - basketball, nap supplies, gymnastics clothes, lunch, school work, extra diapers, shopping list, and water bottles.  We headed to Panera to kill a little time and eat bagels.  Then, we were off to a new park w/ basketball courts.  Isaiah's trying out for Upwards Basketball on Saturday and we haven't really given him a chance to play at all in months, so he needed the warm up.  The 4 of us had fun dribbling, "tresspassing"(Noelle), and shooting hoops.  I was glad to see that things were coming back pretty quickly for Isaiah.

Next stop was a great, local Hobby Lobby-esque store across the street.  I found a clock for our naked walls.  The kids loved looking at Halloween decor and suggesting we buy many ghost, witch, and pumpkin items.  Isaiah, especially, loves the "spooky stuff".  Lucy just loves being free in any store.  She listens pretty well, but she sure keeps me busy.

We hung out in the car for a little while.  The kids watched Looney Tunes for a few minutes.  I browsed Craigslist on my phone, hoping for some furniture/decor gems.

Time to head to our home away from home - the Kuecker house.  SO thankful for many dear friends here.  We have a handful of friends that we'd be totally comfortable asking to invade their home for a while.  Kerri and Addie have welcomed us for a few days now.  The kids love playing w/ the Kuecker toys, and Lucy naps in the pack n play.  Isaiah and I worked on his school work before he was set free to play with Star Wars toys.

Next stop, gymnastics.  Isaiah and Noelle missed last week due to Isaiah being sick, so they were glad to go back (other than the sadness of Isaiah having to leave all of Gabe and Josiah's cool star wars toys).  Lucy ate cheddar bunnies and pointed out Noelle and Isaiah as they worked.  She's just started saying "Isaiah" instead of "I-ya," which makes me a little sad.

After that, we stopped at a horribly over-priced used furniture store, where the kids fell in love with some stuffed animals that we did not buy.  Lucy had a hard time saying goodbye to a blue duck.

Grocery shopping next.  The girls rode in the giant car-cart while Isaiah pushed his little cart.  We got what we needed to make chili for our pumpkin carving night, I tried to get a flu shot but didn't have the right insurance card, I splurged on individual fruit/veggie pouches for each kiddo, and we loaded back up in the car.

Next stop - Doctor's office for flu shots.  Isaiah gets really nervous about shots.  The anticipation is so much worse than the event for him.  Noelle went first - hardly a tear.  Isaiah cried before the shot, but recovered quickly when he realized how simple it was.  Lucy let out a whimper - and we were done!  Quick and easy.

Off to Little Caesars for a $5 pepperoni pizza.  We've been doing this a little too often - but it's cheap and easy (they are always ready!), and we all like them.

Finally, home to find the windows were not done, but some good progress had been made.  Luke had gotten a ride home from Kelly.  The girls' room had plastic sheets hanging up around the windows to be done tomorrow and there were tools and equipment in every room and outside.  Dinner, baths, bed, and a new PBS show we're enjoying called "Call the Midwife".  Just before bed, Isaiah checked the mail to discover his Anakin Skywalker halloween costume had arrived.  SO excited.  He put it on immediately and his face was glowing.  It will be a well used and well loved costume around here!

All of this house work has been a LOT of work and it feels like there is a long way to go.  We are making progress, but doing regular life plus fixing up the house makes life tight - and the chaos makes me TIRED.  The next major project is removing lead paint in the garage and repainting it.  That's a big one.  It's a problem because the paint has a very high lead content and it's deteriorating, chipping/pealing... and it can cause permanent brain damage to kiddos who breath it in or eat it... lovely.  The person I spoke to on the phone recently told me "It is mostly a matter of housekeeping.  You know, the kids who have problems are the ones who's mothers don't clean well enough."  Great.  But, once the garage is safe, we can move things out of the living room and put that room together.  There is a stack of doors at the end of the hall that need to be deglossed, primed, painted, and replaced.  The door out to the garage is in bad shape.  There are light switches to change out and the kids bathroom is still 95% done.  We figure we'll get everything we can done by about April - in time to tear up the kitchen and possibly the master bathroom.  But, we are grateful for the steps we HAVE taken forward - which Luke has to keep reminding me of.  We're making progress!!