Oranges for Christmas

A few days before Christmas my Gramps and his wife came over to bring the kids some goodies(and a yummy Kaluha cake for Jonah and I). They have tons and tons of orange trees at their house and they brought a huge bag of them for us. First off, I must say they are the best oranges I have ever tasted. Second off, Justus played with and carried that orange around for at least 2 hours. He didn't even bother to drop it to scratch, which is honestly unbelievable since all he wants to do is itch and itch and itch. Here are some cute pictures of my boy.






And here's the whole gang posing for a picture with their new teddy bears.

Alana is learning...

to stand on her head. :)

Only 5 more days

and we will finally have a table to eat on because we will be in our new house for good. Well, kinda. We still have to drive back down for Jonah to work his last week and pick up our 3rd car. Then, the following week we have to drive back down to make a court date to terminate Justus' birthfather's rights. Please pray we can find him so that we can serve him! After that is done, we will not have to drive down for a bit, I hope. I am really looking forward to eating at the table in my dining room. I think the kids are too.

The things kids learn when Mom is gone...

Alana has something to show you. While Mom was gone, getting a pedicure, she and Dad perfected this little beauty.


Up, up and away. She called this scaling the wall like Spiderman.



Push your legs straight so you can get up there!




And then Daddy lets go while she holds on to the ledge, 12 feet above the ground.



And then they smile for the camera and Mom is telling Dad that it's enough. Mom saw it and he can take her down now. Mom's heart is beating really fast and praying that her baby girl holds on tight.




And she comes down, happy as a lark that she was brave enough. Mom is so proud ;)

Have a very Merry Christmas

from my little grinch.

Desperation

The other day I went out to run some errands and decided to stop by Starbucks to get myself some coffee. You see, we were really stupid and we left our coffee machine in our new house, 500 miles away. Jonah and I are accustomed to drinking a cup (or 2) of coffee each morning and weren't using our brains very good. I, of course, didn't tell my husband that I had stopped for coffee but when he saw this:



I was in trouble.

Next thing I know I see this on the counter top. What the heck?





When I took a closer look it seems Jonah was desperate enough to make some coffee on his own using his smart little brain. I didn't dare try it.

The house- outside :)

First off, Brandi, the house may look big to you but it is only 1400 sq. ft. That may be big to some but we are coming from a house more than twice that. However, when we build our carriage house(the first phase of our dream house) we will be living in 1226 for a few years, so 1400 is a good practice for living in a small space with all 8 of us. :)




The front of the house. You can see the garage, which is holding all our extra stuff in it that we don't need, and to the left is the front porch.



See that great outdoor furniture? Jonah and I had some great cold morning conversations sitting on it with a hot cup of coffee and enjoying the beauty of God's creation.




A view from the right of the house.




After my camera battery died, Jonah was amazingly able to take one last picture to document the start of the snow. Right now I hear there is over 2 feet!

Officially Jonah starts his job January 12 and so we think we will move for good the weekend of January 3. We will see. We have to come back down for a court date for Justus (not his adoption hearing) on January 16, so we will be doing lots of driving for the month. I can't wait for February to come and feel settled.

Santa Claus anyone?

We have chosen not to "do" Santa Claus with our kids. I'm curious. Do you "do" Santa Claus? Why or why not? And do you think we are damaging our kids by choosing to forgo this certain Christmas tradition? I wanna know what you think. Let's have a little healthy debate, yes?

My kids' future jobs

I took the kids out to a somewhat special dinner as my amazing Aunt sent us some money for Christmas and told me to have a treat. Going out to dinner is a treat with 6 kids, let me tell you. Although, if you asked my kids, they would think it was expected. Yes, we are working on that. Anyways, we are sitting around the table and somehow got on the discussion of what everyone wanted to be. Sarah wants to get a job at BJ's pizza so that she can have Mommy and Daddy come in and give them free pizza(and I will not disuade her from this at all as I LOVE Bj's BBQ chicken salad). Malakai wants to be a cook. He wasn't specific so I am assuming he means a fancy chef in some posh restaurant. Isaiah couldn't decide and then Alana pipes in at the end saying, "Oh, Mommy(think wondrous, dreamy voice with a ton of Alana drama) I want to work in the back as a cook at Taco Bell!" I was ROFL with that one. What dreams that girl has, huh?

Our new pad

I am sitting on my bed on the floor of our Southern California house wishing I was in my other house that has lots of snow and is small and cozy. The kids are begging me to go back and I don't blame them, this house is depressing. There is nothing in it except for some random things that still need packing and our bed that has been moved off the platform and box springs and onto the floor. It is echoey(yes, I know this isn't a real word) and cold and, worst of all, there is no where to sit if you are a 31 year old woman who has a bad back. Well, except for the bed, which isn't to comfortable to begin with.

Here are some pictures of our new temporary house we will be living in for a year or so while we build a house on our land. We LOVE this little house. It is brand new and warm and cozy and small and inviting. I took these pictures during the day we were unpacking things and putting them where they belong so there is a lot of extra stuff. We will be moving the rest of our stuff up after Christmas, I can't wait! Enjoy!




What you see when you walk in the front door.




And looking directly left is the dining room which is really tiny so we can't put our leaf in the table. This means 2 of the kids have to share a seat if we are all eating at the same time when Jonah is home.




Walking forward to the "kids" hallway and looking left. While I was taking these pictures I had no clue the kids were running in front of the camera until I downloaded them. Judah really liked being in the pictures :) Notice the hallway to the right of the picture? That is the master "suite". Nice and secluded from early morning kids talking, hey?




Now if I have turned around and look down the "kids'" hallway the girls' room is on the right. Aren't they lucky to get our old bed?




And to the left is the boys' room. Look how neatly that crib fit in that nook. There isn't but an inch on each side.



And straight ahead is the kids' bathroom. Nice and small and easy to clean:)




This is looking into the kitchen from just outside of our bedroom hallway. The highchair will need to find a new home once our refrigerator is in place.




Looking into our bedroom which the girls are using right now as evidenced by the dolls and flowery quilts. That is an air mattress and if we have a queen bed to sleep on why would we sleep on an air mattress? Besides, the girls thought this was very cool and kept remarking how very comfy it was.




Looking out from the bed you can see a sliding glass door, which has no covering of any kind. It got really, really cold in this room because of it and we are hoping they will have this taken care of before we return. To the right is our bathroom and closets(you can see Jonah's but mine is the same directly across from it) and you can see that cute little 2 year old waving at all you blog friends.




And last but not least, a view from the laundry room door looking into the kitchen. I did not get a picture of the laundry room but it's bare and boring anyways.


Coming up next... pictures of our new house decorated for Christmas and some snow too!

Upside Down

Upside Down from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

A tag

I was tagged by Rachel for this simple but fun tag. It says to tag 5 people but consider yourself tagged and then put a comment in the box if you follow this tag so that I can see!

The Rules: go to Your Pictures file. Go to the 5th folder, open up the 5th picture and post it. Then tag 5 people when you are done.


Justus, at 6 months old, climbing for the first time. You may not realize it from this picture but he did NOT fall on his face.

A one year old boy

Justus is one. Amazing. Isn't he cute? He has slept all the way through the night since the day he turned one. If you knew our sleep woes, you would be amazed that he chose his birthday to not wake up and come in Mommy and Daddy's bed.


Dancing with a new toy.


He was very curious about what was in those packages.


My amazing brother Kelly. You may remember he was diagnosed with Lymphoma. We just got good news that it seems to be confined to the one spot on his neck with should make chemo and radiation very affective. Praise God!


He really liked his cake but didn't want to eat too much of it. Thank goodness.


He's just so sweet.

A boy and his bear

This is Malakai and his Juicy Bear(he named him that when he was 2). It used to be my bear but when Kai was born I passed it on to him. Kai LOVES his Juicy and carries him everywhere, treating him as if he were real. He tells me what Juicy wants for breakfast and if Juicy is having a potty mouth or being disobedient, Kai disciplines him accordingly. I am handed Juicy each day all wrapped up warm in a blanket so that his "Grammy" can cuddle him and give him kisses just like I will when Kai has his own babies(so he says). I cherish this sweetness as I know very soon he will no longer love this little bear as much as he does now.

The state of our house

Today(Sunday) we had a small family party for Justus that was really small but fun. You may remember my amazing friend Michelle. After my family had left, she stayed for a bit to hang out and volunteered to help pack. Most of the time she sat around, talked to me and played with the little one's, which is what an Auntie is supposed to do, right? And then she decided to get busy and help Jonah carry all the heavy stuff down the stairs. What a blessing! You see, a little joke around here is that we call Michelle the "Amazon Woman". She is tall, beautiful and strong. I am pretty strong too, but you try carrying a dresser down the stairs at 5'4" with your 6'5" hubbie on the other end! Doesn't work too good. With Michelle though, things are much easier for me :) Before she left she and Jonah carried ALL the heavy things down the stairs and into the, well, all over the bottom story. We have very little room to walk around now but the kids are finding all these really cool hiding spots and "forts".







Tomorrow we pick up the moving van and pack it up. On Tuesday Jonah and Sarah will hop in the U-Haul and the little's and I will hop in the truck and drive for a LONG time to get to the rental we will be living in until our house is built. Oh, by the way, we will be driving back down to continue living in this house next Monday. Of course it will be without beds, dressers, a couch or dining room table. Should be interesting. I really hope we will hear soon when Jonah's start date will be at his new position.


Of course, here is a cute picture of the birthday boy loving the singing.

Happy 1st Birthday Justus!

This little boy captured our hearts the moment he came into this world a year ago. It has gone by fast and we have enjoyed this babyhood more than any of our others. He has grown so quickly and is such a charming, happy, fun little boy to be around and we all love him dearly. I

I would write more but I am SO busy packing my house up to move on Tuesday. We have a full weekend as Jonah's grandpa passed away and his services are Saturday and on Sunday we will be having a small family party for Justus. Pray for us this weekend and next week if you think about it, we are both feeling overwhelemed by it all.