Austin so far

Thanks my friends--for all your sweet words of encouragement/chocolate/hugs after my lousy day the other day. I'm doing much better today.Now that I've been in Texas for over a week, I thought I'd tell you about some things I'm learning about this place.

1. It's beautiful. I wake up to the sound of birds chirping and look out my window and see a huge flowering rose bush. I drive down the freeway and see green grass and bluebonnets, and TREES. Did I mention the birds? Tons of them. I think there is a nest in our chimney. And cute little rabbits hopping around everywhere.

2. There are indeed bugs here. I've yet to see anything huge or weird or crazy (other than the cute little lizard on my patio yesterday). Although-- I found out the hard way that if you stand on a giant ant mound with flip flops on, they WILL crawl up your pants and bite you about 50 times. Gross and creepy? Yes.

3. The mornings are awesome. It's more humid here than we're used to. And it's just nice to wake up to a cool and moist morning. This morning it was drizzling a little and Hendrix and I walked to our mailbox in the rain under an umbrellas. It was maybe the most fun I've had this week.(our mailbox is way down the street, which is kinda weird). But a fun memory of me and Hendrix since it was just me and him.

4. People are either extremely nice and friendly, or kind of rude. I've yet to meet someone who falls in the middle. Although I haven't met that many people yet ;)

5. There are so many freeways!! I've gotten lost more than once. Plus there are a bunch of toll roads. That's the worst. You go the wrong way and end up on a toll road and have to pay-- then need to turn around and go the other way to get going in the right direction, but you have to pay again. I've lived in LA, so I feel like I can kind of handle myself in traffic and with crazy highways, but it's just quite a bit bigger than Boise which is what I've been used to the past few years.

I'm sure I'll learn more and more stuff the longer we're here. But so far- I love it.

I'll take pictures of the house once I get things on the walls. I've also realized that I may never be done unpacking. There is just so much to be done. Then you add in sick kids and the normal day to day cooking and cleaning and laundry-- there isn't much time leftover for getting things out of boxes. I try to tackle a little each day, but it's slow going. And Dave just about blew my mind this morning when he said it was Friday. I could have sworn it was Wednesday.

Terrible horrible no good very bad day

Have any of you read the kids book called 'the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day'? It was a book we had while I was growing up. (i would link to it, but i'm on my phone). I thought about that book 50 times this morning as I experienced my very own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Instead of admitting Hendrix into the hospital last night, the doctor scheduled Hendrix for a follow up appointment first thing this morning with a pediatrician. While I was getting all the kids ready to go this morning, Hendrix was sad. He knew he was going back to the doctor and he didn't want to. He was sitting on my bathroom floor while I put on his shoes. He was whimpering and crying and holding his blankie and said: "I just want to go to aunt Sarah's house..." then I cried too. This poor little boy has been super sick and can't breathe and was tortured for hours at a clinic yesterday and all he really wants to do is play at his aunt Sarah's house.

So then I start loading all the kids into the van- slightly begrudgingly because I'm making Veda skip her nap in order to make this appointment. And then I can't find my keys. We're talking frantic looking everywhere for my keys. I took all the kids out of their car seats and then put them back in, went back into the house a few times, and looked everywhere. We said prayers and I called Dave to see if he knew where they were. After a few more tears I found them- they had fallen down in the floor where the seats can store down in the van. But I found them!!

And we were off to the doctor.
I had plugged in the address and suite # into my phone. And was quite impressed with myself when I got us pretty close to where we were supposed to be. It was supposed to be right by the hospital, and of course when you get right by the hospital there are all of a sudden 1,000 buildings. After turning around twice I finally found it!! While trying to park I almost ran over a pedestrian, and backup up onto the curb.

I unload and have to wake up Veda. And carry Hendrix kicking and screaming into the building because he really didn't want to see another doctor. I look at the directory and don't see the doctor's name. Granted- I don't quite remember the doctor's name. And I didn't bring my paperwork because I thought I didn't need it. The address was in my phone, remember? I decide to ask for help. I find a random office and walk in and tell them I'm looking for a pediatrician that I can't remember the name of. She points me to the only pediatrician in the building. I go there to find it's not a pediatrician at all but an O.B. (not quite what Hendrix needs). So I go back to the parking lot and decide to call the urgent care center I went to yesterday and see if they'll give me the pediatricians name and number. But I'm crying, so I call Dave first to see if he'll help me. Which he doesn't (sorry Dave). He just tells me to look it up on my iPhone. So still crying, I call the urgent care center where the nurse rudely told me that that info probably won't be in my discharge papers so she probably doesn't know. She looks... And gives me a totally different address than where I am. And a phone number. Which I call and get no answer. By this time we are at least 20 minutes late. And I'm so emotional that I decide to just go home.

When we get home I try and look at my paperwork to see if I have a different phone number. And sure enough, I had gone to the wrong address. Who knows where I got this random address I went too... But i had had a long day yesterday, so I'm just going to blame it on that :)

So I call the office, hoping that they will forgive me the $25 no show fee and have pity on me since I was so lost. And the lady doesn't even have Hendrix down for an appointment. WhAt??!!

I need some chocolate. And a hug.

Hendrix

Hendrix decided to try out the urgent care clinic. His chest X-rays showed no pnemonia-- which is good news. Although five days of steroids and breathing treatments is no walk in the park. Poor little guy.

Dining table

This is our new dining table. You never realize how much you rely on sitting at the kitchen table until you don't have it. Isn't it cool? (there's another bench on the other side). And those red curtains are coming down eventually.

My little bunny

Happy Easter. From my little bunny to yours.

first week

What a busy week!!! 

My folks left this morning. :( sad, sad, sad. Here are the highlights from the week:

1.  The dishwasher is broken. Not only is this place chaos already, but now we've had to hand wash everything all week. Super frustrating. It was supposed to take 72 hours to hear from the repair place. I called Wednesday morning. I really hope to hear something soon. I hate washing dishes.

2. We finally have a table!!! It was a little bit of a miracle actually. Dave and I know what we like-- design wise. And we searched and searched for a dining table/chairs that we liked. We finally found one online at West Elm and were going to go to the store to get it yesterday. We stopped at IKEA first to get a part for Quinn's new bed. While we were at IKEA, we called West Elm and just about gave the lady our credit card # to hold the table for us, when we dropped the call. We decided to call back when we were out of the store. But on our way out we found another table that we LOVE that was WAY cheaper. And to think- if we hadn't of dropped the call, we would have already committed to a more expensive table! 

3. We've been putting together a LOT of furniture. Or should I say-- my dad and Dave have been putting together a lot of furniture. Quinn's bed, a huge toy shelf for the 'playroom,' benches, three bookshelves, two chairs, a high chair. And we have more. Darn IKEA has to put everything in 200 pieces. 

4. We already have a  visitor!! Uncle Paul drove all the way here from Idaho-- on a motorcycle! Crazy, huh? But if he can do it, so can you. Come on over :)

5. Quinn hasn't adjusted very well to sharing a room. She refuses to go to sleep in there at bedtime (Veda is already asleep, so she just has to walk in and lay down.) Instead, she screams and kicks and won't do it. So we've been letting her fall asleep on our bed, then we carry her into her room when we go to sleep. Then sometimes in the middle of the night she finds her way back to our bed, but last night she didn't. So there's improvement! And I didn't expect her to adjust right away, she'll get it. And thank heavens that this week Veda has been sleeping through the night (last week she wasn't all week).

6. Crate and Barrel outlet is like heaven on earth. Seriously. I love it. 

7. We close on our Idaho house TODAY!!!! woo hoo!!!! Finally sold that sucker.

8. We are not even close to being unpacked. It is still just crazy crazy in here. Yet I find the time to blog-- you're welcome :)

And a few pictures, since that's the good part.

the move

well... we made it. The flights were bearable. The kids weren't perfect, but we got through it. And I just kept telling myself how much better it was to be on the plane than in the car for a LONG LONG time. 

Here we are in our new house!! We have lots of furniture to replace, so it's been an interesting couple of days. Here is Veda's make-shift high chair.

 Our first meal together in the new house. Using a desk for a table and the kids sitting in dangerous twirly office chairs and my mom in the learning tower. And the rest of of standing. Boy do we need a table and chairs!!

Hendrix got to ride in the Penske on the way to IKEA. To say he was thrilled would be an understatement.

 Veda eating at IKEA. :)

This isn't even our entire load from IKEA. Can I tell you how awesome it is to be super close to IKEA-- plus still have a moving truck to get it all home?! And how great Dave's legs are?

And finally last night we found one of these puppies. Too bad we won't get it until Saturday. Until then, we sit on the kid's bean bags :)

hendrix's big day

Amidst the crazy day of moving, we celebrated Hendrix's birthday. We had guitar cake.

 How did he get so old??!! 

 Everyone enjoyed the cake.

Here is our crazy full moving truck. I'm so glad that we sold most of our furniture because we were really packed in (we only got a 16 foot truck). But it fit-- and Dave and my dad did an AWESOME job of driving to Texas. 

Since all of our belongings were in a moving truck for three days while my mom and I and the kids were still in Idaho, a couple of my friends brought over dinner for us. On April Fool's Day-- my friend Jan made us 'dirt' for dessert. My kids thought it was awesome. :)

Moving day!!

Today was the big day! My awesome parents got to Idaho last night.
We spent the day packing up the Penske truck. Dave is a master packer. But even with selling most of our furniture, we barely fit in a 16 foot truck.
It was a rainy morning- quite fitting since when we moved into this house five years ago it was raining too :)
My mom and I have two days to hang out here before we fly out on Monday. My sweet friend jan loaned us beds and blankets and towels since everything went in the truck. We'll spend the next couple of days cleaning the house and playing with cousins. The kids are excited and happy that the house is empty- there's more room to run around :)
And hey- my girls are about to share a room, got any tips for me??? We've been so lucky up until now to have each kid in their own room. So any advice would be great :)

Hendrix is three!!

Happy three years to my little man!!!
Three things I love about Hendrix:
1. His laugh. He has the most sincere belly laugh.
2. His enthusiasm for cars, guitars, and treats.
3. He has the cutest teeth, fingers, and smell. All of them kind of weird, but it makes me love them even more :)

He gets to share his birthday with moving day. Hopefully we can still make it a fun and special day-- because he has REALLY been looking forward to his birthday. I can't imagine why... it's not like his mom is into birthdays or anything :)

I can't believe he is three- and I can't imagine my life without him!!

tea parties with toothpicks

Quinn loves having tea parties. The other day she even wanted to wear a dress (our tea parties are usually casual affairs). So we went all out and even had everything served on toothpicks. Because in case you didn't know-- if you serve the little food on toothpicks- it's WAY more fun. Try it.

They are hard to see, but we had guests too: Minnie Mouse, Pinkalicious, and Eloise.

 I'm sure you're all thinking that this looks fun but I should be packing my house. You're right. Off I go.

hat

We took a little break from our packing yesterday to get some party supplies for Hendrix's birthday. 

No- this hat doesn't match his party. 

It just looked cute on Quinn :)