It has been less than a week since I last posted but there has been a lot that has happened since then. We moved, found out how scary this house can actually be, tried to make it home, had two birthdays, a few shopping trips, finished one school, started another one and visited a zoo. Hey, I just finished my blog post! Sweet. Time to go find chocolate.
No? Fine.
We had awesome friends that took a few trips of our stuff to get us moved over to our new house. The last day we weren't quite as lucky because of timing and had to carry about 8 bags, a stroller and two kids to the train stop and then walk all of those up a hill to our house. That was fun enough. The best part was that I had to literally drop all of my stuff on the front step, turn around and hop on the bus to get back and pick up the kids from school while Steve took everything in. Ethan was VERY unhappy that he didn't get to go into his "white house."
We picked up the kids and met Steve so we could go shopping for the house. So our first night started later at night. Steve and I were on an inflatable bed and Gavin and Ethan also got one. We took a mattress upstairs for Ashley and then Jakob and Andy got a futon bed that was here already. Comfy, right? Sure, if you didn't already have a neck and back that didn't like you.
The next day we took the kids to school - 40 minutes away. As I didn't want to sit there for 7 hours, we turned around and made the trip home. Another 40 minutes. I did my best to get some of our stuff unpacked. I had things cleaned, Jakob and Andy's room was unpacked and I did a few other things. And then got back on the bus. Again. For 40 minutes. We picked up the kids, turned around, and headed back home. Again. Did you get that? 160 minutes on a bus with a 2 and 1 year old. Was it pleasant? The first two trips weren't bad. The second two trips I wanted to cry, scream and throw fits along with them. And then nap. My favorite part was the little old ladies that chose to chew out Ethan for yelling and shrieking. I admit, it was annoying but the poor kid had already been on the bus for two hours. He fell asleep shortly after and made for a nice rest of the trip. For him. I still got to deal with Heidi. The other kids were awesome. They were excited to get to their house.
Oh, I nearly forgot. One of the reasons we stayed at that school for two more days was so that Jakob could play soccer. He begged and pleaded and I know how much he loves soccer so I let him play in a tournament. Five games. They won four of the five and tied for the fifth. I was thrilled because the poor kid had lost almost all of the games he'd played for the last two years in Utah!! He scored a goal and when Steve asked how he felt about it, he said shrugged and said "I don't know." Silly boy.
So the next day was Jakob's birthday. I explained that in another blog. We got on the bus (again) and headed to school. I wasn't about to put my kids through what they had to deal with the day before so we went shopping. Great therapy right? It is, if you can handle the prices (so pricey here)!! I had three people to shop for (Jakob, Ethan and Steve) so I went to Borders because it was going out of business. Ethan insisted on a blue book before we got to the shopping centre and guess what I found? A book called "My Little Blue Book." I was thrilled.
After there we went to find a Target for a movie for Jakob and got distracted by another bookstore. Seriously, not sure how I can pass up a good bookstore. Plus, the Guinness Book of World Records 2011 that Jakob was begging for was $12.99 marked down from $49.99. So there you go. I might have a found another three books there too...
Anyway, then I REALLY went to Target and made myself stop buying birthday presents and it was time to find something to eat. I was starving, it was lunchtime and I had forgotten to eat breakfast. We went to Woolworths and grabbed some bacon and cheese topped rolls (Seriously AMAZING) and drinks. We had a while to wait so we went and ate at a table. Ethan ate one of the huge rolls himself while I checked my facebook and texted Steve to tell him to be ready to get to the school.
We STILL got to the school early but not too early. We went and met up with the kids. Andy really really wanted me to play Monopoly with him and was sad that I had to go get the other kids too. We did play one round before realizing it was missing a bunch of stuff. So we left the classroom and went to find the rest of the family.
I found a guy who actually knew where Rupert, Idaho is and who has a cabin in Park City. I wanted to cry when he said he knew all about Idaho spuds. Most of the time here I have people stare at me when I mention my dad is an Idaho potato farmer. Seriously?!?! Its like we're in a different country or something. Oh wait... Actually the guy that's supposed to fix our broken window is Irish and he knew about Idaho spuds so that's good.
Anyway, we had fun at the school and then it was time to head home. Steve went to work for a bit and I went home to bake a cheesecake. Yummy yummy cheesecake. I'll just sit here and revel in the memory....
...
There, I'm done. Anyway, Steve's training ended early so he didn't actually get to be trained before coming home and decided to get some grocery shopping done. He came home and we watched Jakob open presents and then we had dinner. We waited and waited and waited for the cheesecake to chill before everyone got impatient and we cut it anyway. The middle was soft but it was still good. The next day was MUCH better.
The next morning we woke up and headed over to the new school to buy uniforms. Apparently part of uniform buying includes wrestling on the ground and running through the classroom while Mommy tries to talk to the teacher about what we will be needing. I was embarrassed but could do nothing until we left. We managed to catch a bus and went home for a long day at home. Which I really liked actually. Not that we got much done... Steve had training again and then we met up to go shopping. Again. We do that a lot. We tried to find Andy some blue sweats for his uniform but were reminded that its not a great idea to shop for uniforms in the same shopping center that everyone else would be shopping for the same uniforms.... No luck for us there!!
Saturday morning we got up and got ready to go. We were going to go to the Healesville Sanctuary but buses changed our mind. It was fun to go to the end of the train in Lilydale. And I figured out that had we been to Lilydale before this weekend I wouldn't have lived anywhere else. Its gorgeous, wide open and green. Of course I also found out this weekend that there are nasty spiders and animals there that maybe I'm glad I'm not near.... Anyway, the bus wouldn't come for 2 hours so back on to the train we hopped and went to the Melbourne Zoo.
The zoo was awesome!! The landscaping was just amazing and made you feel like you were there in the jungle. I'm just glad there was a cage between us and the lions. Jakob didn't want to leave where the monkeys were. He was in love with them and wanted one to take home. :) If we could, I'd do it but then I already have a few monkeys of my own! The orangutans were my favorite. We stayed near them for a while before moving on to the next exhibit. We also got to see a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch!! It was so cute. And a baby monkey in a monkey's arms. And two baby elephants playing. And a baby baboon trying to get an adult baboon to play.
We pulled ourselves away from the zoo before heading home to our own zoo. I was a super mom and got all the kids bathed and showered at once. Four in the bath, two in the shower. All in the same room. I do like my huge bath!!
Sunday was Ethan's birthday. He got to go to a new ward on his birthday. He was happy with nursery and went running back in. Never looking back. Which is how I like it!! The other kids loved their classes too. We have a very transient ward. Lots of move-in and move-outs. There is a huge group of college students and several elderly people too.
We had our friends over for dinner and cake. It was a lot of fun. The kids had plenty of space to run around and they used it to the best of their ability. We enjoyed talking and eating and more eating. Ethan loved his new gifts but wasn't thrilled about sharing. It was wonderful though.
And how do I like my house? Well..... its pretty and big. And has a nice table. And I like the blue paint... its a good size for my family. And an oven that's raised off the floor so that's nice. And that great old house smell. And the mildewy moldy smell every time you open the cupboard under the sink? Wonderful. The broken stove that keeps getting delayed getting fixed? Awesome. Spiders everywhere (ok so we're in Australia, that happens). Great. Ants in the office. GREAT. Oh and the floor in the kitchen that if you jump just right, you'll go through? Classic. My kids love my house. Steve loves my house (well, mostly). Me? I don't know. I'm having a difficult time with that. I clean it and cook and go through the motions but its not MY house. Maybe it'll come. Or maybe one day the non-working stove will explode while we're gone and I'll have to move somewhere else. I'll be sad for my stuff in it.
Oh yeah! I forgot the best part of my house... The way we introduced ourself to the neighborhood. We have these sensors all over the house. We knew we had an alarm system but we didn't know if it worked or how to turn it on. Steve decided to check on Wednesday night. And accidentally turned it on. And then touched the doorknob. Not good. Screaming alarms, flashing lights, nasty loud sirens - inside and OUTSIDE the house!!! At 9:30 at night. Yep, welcome us to the neighborhood, everyone!
We called the police. They told us that if anyone called with a noise complaint they'd take care of it. We called the alarm system company. They couldn't do anything so they would have the techs call us back. THEY couldn't do anything because of some agreement signed. So Steve ripped out part of it from the wall. It will work again... but it stopped it for now. And we got the access code so its all good. Until the kids turn it on when we don't know about it....
The kids are now in their new school, I'm avoiding making anything for dinner and the two boys are upstairs trying to break themselves by sliding on an air mattress down the stairs. Or something. I did stop that one. Hopefully they've moved onto something less destructive to themselves and the house.
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