Love this house.

Our home has been on the market for a month now.   I’m trying to live ‘an hour away from spotless’ at all times and it’s taking a lot of my energy!  We’ve had some showings recently and are praying for more in the next couple weeks.  When we put up our ‘FOR SALE’ sign Emily said, ‘Who is going to buy our house?  We only know of one other family that has six kids.”  She was shocked when I told her that maybe the people who buy our house would only have two kids or three.    It’s hard to picture someone else living here though.  When I look around at all of these rooms, three years worth of memories come flooding in…  family home evenings in the living room, BBQ's on the patio, birthday dinners around the kitchen table, two little boys learning to crawl on the floor of our bedroom, Thanksgiving meals around the dining room table, kids playing in the bonus room that is NEVER this clean,  a hundred family movie nights in the family room…  We have loved this house, and although we are not quite ready to say goodbye, we need someone new to love this house too.  Know anyone coming to Columbus?  One very loved house for sale.

from the entry

dining room

 

entry and living room

 

living room

family room from kitchen nook

      

kitchen

master bedroom

backyard patio

back half of the bonus room

girls bathroom upstairs

What we did tonight…

Chris – took Ryan to basketball practice, lay on the floor with a cold pack on his back, watched American Idol

Lisa – made cookies for the kids, clean the kitchen, watched American Idol, organized pictures

Ryan – basketball practice, watched American Idol

Katie – timed Math problems, watched American Idol

Emily – worked on an elephant mammal project, got a sticker for happy attitude chart

Megan – excited to wear her Canada shirt to school, played trains with Luke

Luke – played airplane with Mom, kicked the soccer ball back and forth, played trains

Matthew – crawled on dad on the floor, had a bath

Above the clouds

White Rock Beach

On our last day in Vancouver we headed over to White Rock beach to play on the playground and wander around the beach. 

 

 

Boy do I love this little kid.  Like any two year old boy, he is happiest outside where he can pick up rocks, scrape his fingers into the sand, kneel down and get all muddy, splash in the water, stand on posts and walk as close to the water as possible.   And since I’d rather watch through my camera viewfinder and capture every happy boy moment, I had another outfit in the van.  Get wet and sandy, Luke.  It’s the beach.

I had a change of clothes for Megan too which she needed because of an ‘accidental’ reach into the water.  Megan had such a great time with her cousins all week.  It’s so great to have little girl cousins just for her.  Megan was especially excited to be my biggest kid this week.  Early in the week she said, “Mom, why are you always telling me to get something for you or something?”  When I explained to her that she was my oldest girl she beamed and handled all extra responsibilities beautifully.  She really can be a sweetheart… sometimes.

 

 

 

Too bad Matthew, I know you want to get down and crawl around.  No eating sand today… just hang out with Dad and Grandma.

 

 

Chris’ back update:  Chris spent most of the week lying on the floor of Grandma and Grandpa’s family room with a heat pack or cold pack on his back.  He felt the best when he could walk slowly.  Standing was tolerable.   Lying down was ok.   Sitting was painful.  This day was the first time he held Matthew all week and just for a few minutes.  When we returned home Chris went into work and had his staff squeeze him in for an MRI… so handy being a Radiologist… he has two herniated disks, but at this point neither are impinging (is that how you spell it?) a nerve.  Since we’ve been back home he is getting better every day.  I know because EVERY day Megan asks, “Dad, is your back feeling better?” and Chris answers “Yes, Megan.  Thanks for asking.” and then she beams.  He is wearing an ‘oh-so-trendy’ Velcro waist support thing every day and still has me lacing up his army boots every day… but he IS getting better.  At least that’s what he’s telling us, since he has a golf trip in two weeks and there’s no way he’s going to miss it.

Another day downtown…

We had so much fun this day… eating fries and gravy at Costco (a must-do when coming home!) riding the Skytrain downtown, sitting up front with Grandpa to ‘drive’, walking through the streets of Vancouver, taking pictures on the medal stands, taking in all the crowds and atmosphere, walking down Robson Street, seeing the Olympic torch, wearing our gloves, being with siblings and cousins, eating at Grandma and Grandpa’s favorite Greek restaurant for dinner, getting warm and cozy by the fireplace and watching the Olympic highlights that night.  A great day.