Settling In

Our house is coming together so great! We are excited to have all but about 2 boxes unpacked, and those have books in them that we haven't read in months, so there's really no rush! The kids are adjusting rather well. The have fun in the playroom together. Kaleb has really taken to his chair, when his sister isn't in it (she has one of her own on the other side of the room...of course, that's not the one of interest, though, so why would she choose to sit in it???)

And with wood floors, and it being winter, it's a bit chilly downstairs, so we have worn house shoes much more often than we ever have...ellie's complete with painted "toes" and ruffles!

my craft room has been christened with the completion of valentines for both kids' classes. and this afternoon i've got my sewing machine out on the desk and a quilt laid out on the floor, and i'm working to piece it together. i've hung partially-completed projects on the rod in the closet. my thought is that if i see them out and more accessible, i might finish them faster...we'll see :)

here's the GREAT-looking light my husband worked hard this weekend to get hung for me. it rocks! and we undertook this project in the midst of having no internet to consult about how to wire for lighting, etc. ikea picture-instructions work just well, i guess.

now to work on a cute valence for the window and some more stuff on the walls to make it such a fun space to hang out in. i'm finding that when i get off of work in the afternoon i'm coming home to retreat to here for an hour or a little more before i have to go pick up the kids at school. it's great me time, and i'm so thankful for the space! in exchange, i have conceded to eric that his half of the garage can be used as a climbing wall. (the garage is narrow - probably too narrow to park both cars in and get kids in/out, even after all our moving stuff is gone). i figure that way we can each have our own space in this house to spend some time relaxing and doing something we each enjoy.

andy's adjusting rather well also. here he is cuddled up on ellie's bed - his favorite place in the apartment, he has discovered, moved to the new house as well!

he hasn't gotten used to his giant floor pillow bought for downstairs, though, and still doesn't understand why he can't get up on the couch with us. i think in time he'll find it's great...we'll see.

we're really enjoying our living room, though, with the addition of the floor rug, which really softens and warms the room to make it more enjoyable for family playtime nightly after dinner. the kids have their kitchen behind the couch, and kaleb crawls all over for his little bin of toys on the rug. it's really a great space for us!

in kid news, kaleb is LOVING bath time these days! ellie was never this excited about getting in the tub: 

i think the usual bath routine is to take kaleb's clothes off, then start the water, so that he can stand at the edge of the tub and look in as the water fills. he hyperventilates and smiles and stamps his feet impatiently, and then practically dives in when we help lift him over the side! he crawls over his sister from one end to the other to get toys and letter and the cup and washrags. he's taught himself to drink out of the cup, and once or twice even almost drown due to the massive water intake from the cup - he learned quickly, though!

ellie's still good at letting him take over bath time. i guess someday soon they'll have to follow one another in the bathtub instead of bathe simultaneously, as kaleb really is enjoying the time to crawl around and explore. and as a friend of mine used to bathe their kids, we'll determine who gets the first bath by which kid stayed cleaner throughout the day :)

and lastly, the kids and eric took a walk last night before dinner so ellie could get in her first bicycle ride on the new sidewalks, and they were done super-fast! ellie rides like a speedster! she told me she had fun on the sidewalks, and from what i could see from upstairs, she did really well at steering and peddling on her own. andy appreciated the outing as well. 

we are looking forward this weekend to a visit from coach and nonna. ellie's biggest highlight at this point is that she gets to sleep on an air mattress in the craftroom. mommy's biggest highlight is that she gets to go on a child-less date with daddy - thanks coach and nonna!