Sleeping

We are still having some sleeping issues with the boys. The other night we found Josh in Eli's bed. At least they share!

Before and After

When we were first looking for houses we would drive by this one and say, "oh, how ugly, I don't even want to look at it." Then of course, we looked at it and loved it. But one of the reasons we didn't like it was was the overgrown 1/2 dead bushes in the front. So we got rid of them.
The flowery ones really were beautiful, but I was just worried that if we trimmed them to where we needed them they would just die. So we got rid of it all at once. I'm not sure if we will plant flowers or strawberry's in the front, but something will be going there.

Car Blessings

Tuesday I went to the church for the Relief Society meeting. I had a really good time learning about self defense. I've realized I'm not prepared should something happen. It is hard to learn to try and hurt someone else with everything that you've got. There was talk about doing another self-defense class for R.S. that would be more involved, with mats and stuff, so we can really go for it.

Anyway, as Shannon and I were leaving my car would not start. There was hardly a turn-over of the engine at all. And I had checked before we got out that none of the lights were on. So I went back in the church and Brother Boeck came out, I had jumper cables in the car and Sister Keefe was parked next to me so we hooked up to her car.

I got it started, and as Bro. Boeck undid the cables my car died again. Not a good sign. So we redid the jump and when we took of the cables this time it still worked. Shannon and I had hoped to stop at Walmart on the way home, now we just went straight home. It was dusk, but I didn't turn the lights on because I didn't want to use more of the battery than I needed to.

We made it home, Morgan and the boys were still outside and he could see that the dome lights were pulsing. We turned the car off and it didn't start again. Morgan is smart with cars so he knew that the alternator needed to be replaced.

So Wednesday I went to an auto shop and bought the alternator. Morgan came home early from work so he could change it out himself. I had to run to the shop two more times to get a tool and a belt that Morgan needed. But he was able to get it almost done before Shannon and I had to leave to Young Womens.

We got home and Morgan hooked up the jumper cables from the van to the car and we started it up. We left them hooked for a while then undid them, turned the car off and started again. It worked!

We wanted to let it recharge so Morgan and I took a drive to McDonalds to get an ice cream cone (that was my idea!) The great part was, that our "check engine" light has been on for over a year and it is no longer on. (The manual did not mention the alternator as a possible reason for it to come on) the car is shifting a lot better too.

So the car working better is a blessing, and we realized that this car has never stranded us anywhere. We have always had some sort of warning before we needed to do major work to it. We are just really grateful that even though it isn't the best of cars, it has been really good for us.

I just remembered another reason the timing of this was good. Friday morning is leaving with the van to go on a work retreat for the weekend. I would have had the car with the boys all weekend, and if it had broken done sometime then I would have been stranded without a way to church or anywhere.

Eli's Song

Here are the words of a song Eli sang a few weeks ago as we were leaving a friends house. I tried to write them down quickly but may have missed a line or two. He just kept repeating these words.

I really miss Kamiah,
I want Kamiah
She wants me too
She is a really good friend.


My boy has got a crush!

Finger Painting

Eli is shirtless this time. Josh was asleep and I just didn't want to risk waking Josh to get a less nice shirt. So off went the shirt.

Greenhaven: Main Floor

Well, I've finally done it. I had been waiting to take pictures of Greenhaven to show family until we had it all in order. I realized that may not happen. So last night the main level was mostly clean so I decided to do this level first and show you the rest later.

So here is a little tour of my home.

First, if you walk in from the backdoor - our main door - you will come into the kitchen with a view like this.


Leaving our kitchen, you would see this.

Sorry this is sideways...I tried to change it. This is a little nook just outside the kitchen. Opposite the jackets is a door going downstairs. There is also a door that goes straight through to the living room. We don't use it much because it blocks the stairs when it is open.

A sideways view of the dining room from the kitchen. You've got to love those nice windows!

Here is a view of the dining room looking into the living room. But, we're not headed there next. If you turned around from this spot you'd be in the...

Office. Just a small room, but nice. It also has two famed closets in it.

#1. The WC. The water closet. Toilet, no sink, just hand sanitizer. But it sure is handy.

This big closet was the famed Sardines locked in a closet, closet. I'm glad we got out.

Okay, back to the living room. Notice our beautiful windows again! Also this pink floral couch was left here.

View from the corner of the living into Piano Bay.

View from the stairs to get a better picture of our entire living room.

Piano Bay, front door, and bench.

The bench opens up for storage, so we put all of our games there.

I wasn't going to take this picture, because it is a mess, but here is our front porch. We need to take all of the boxes to a recycling center.

So that is the first level of Greenhaven. Check back later for other levels!

Sardines

Last night we played Sardines. We thought that now we have this nice big house it would be a lot of fun and a great twist on our normal Hide and Seek. Everything was going well, until our second round. Shannon was the one hiding and hid in our office closet. I found her first and snuck in too. Then Morgan came in with Josh. We started making a little more noise so Eli could find us.

He did...but could not get the door open.

So we tried to open it from the inside and no luck. Now we're starting to get a little worried. Eli is concerned because he couldn't get the door open and I am thinking, okay, where can I send Eli to find someone to let us out. He doesn't know how to call anyone on the phone, we've only met a few of the neighbors....

Luckily Eli opened the door and we all went out. But we are going to get that door handle fixed as soon as we can.

Princess vs. Prince

Tuesday at Kid School we learned about the color Pink. We got to see what Pink looks like, tastes like, smells like, and feels like. Eli wanted to wear the Princess hat Carly had on. One of the mom's asked him if it was a princess hat. He said, no, it was a princess hat but he turned it into a Prince hat.

That's my boy!

Sleeping

I may have mentioned that we have found Josh sleeping on the floor. I find it funny that for nap time he goes right up to his room and doesn't make a fuss. Well, the other day I found him afterwards right next to the door, and it was apparent that he had slept there on the floor. His poor face made me want to go out and buy a crib!

Sleep marks

Eli had to get in on the action.

Now the other day we were were having another hard time getting the boys to bed. Eli opens the door for Josh, and I just told him to stop worrying about Josh, go to sleep and Josh will eventually fall asleep on the floor.
Eli told me that he was going to sleep on the floor then too. I told him I didn't care, just go to sleep! Well, he took me literally.

When we went to check on the boys before we went to bed we found them like this. Both sound asleep on the floor. We moved them to their beds so they would be more comfortable.

I decided to rearrange the boys bedroom so Josh's bed would be closer to Eli's. Between that, and the boys getting accustomed to their new house/room/bed things are going alot smoother. Josh is finally going to sleep in his bed instead of on the floor next to Eli's bed. We are still dealing with Eli opening the door and the boys coming out for 30 minutes after bedtime, but I just came up with a possible solution that we'll try tonight.