Hamby House

Here is our house (as requested). It's easier to take pictures right now, because there are big trees in the front that cover and shade it. I wouldn't dream of cutting them down because even in the summer, it stays cool. It is a pretty house, but truly the backyard is the reason we bought here. Behind here is two and half acres of woods. The kids have blazed a trail . There are two large ravines full of giant rocks and logs to climb on. Sometimes we see deer and raccoons. We always see turkey vultures (a huge bird native to this area). The kids spent so much time out there in warm weather. They came in hot, dirty, and thirsty but full of tales of their adventures. A club house is on their Daddy-do list for spring. They have begun "drafting" up their ideas and passing them along. They dream of a tire swing that will swoop out over the ravine. I dream of send them out in bubble wrap and a helmet.

Finally . . .

I hate to even say this, but it's finally cold around here. It just hasn't even seemed like November, let alone December without a bit of frost in the morning. Last night it was chilly enough to watch TV under blankies. I sneakily took this pic to show how crafty and evil my children can be. I had told them NOT to let the dog sit on our new furniture. Technically, according to Paige (a.k.a. Ringleader-of-all-naughty), he is not sitting on the couch. To quote, "There's a layer of kids and quilts between Brom and the couch."

Christmas Spirit

Brant's mom gave us a good kick start in the holiday spirit. She devised a countdown game to get us all thinking. Each gift we unwrap is a Christmas song title. Some are hard, some even the kids can get. This has been one of my favorite so far. Can you guess it? It's "O Holy Night". There's been a few tricky ones that sent us to the internet googling words to find a song title. Each day has the kids anticipating what Grandma will come up with next.
Another holiday spirit booster -- mailing Santa letters. I think this is the last year of all four believing. The older two are already playing it cool about the big, red guy. I've quashed a lot of questions with the simple theory of if-you-don't-believe-you-don't-recieve. This seems to be spark their enthusiasm in the magic pretty quickly. I know I can't keep their ideas simple forever, but why can't they just purely believe for a few more years that a fat man jumps down the chimney of his own volition to bring them whatever their heart desires in exchange for a few, measley cookies. Is that so wrong?

Who ya' gonna' call?!

So, since I'm catching this thing up. Here is what the kids decided to be for Halloween. They came up with the idea and I helped put it into action. Now, before you judge. I have only let them watch Ghostbusters on the TNT made-for-TV version. They absolutely loved it. Of course, Brant and I jumped all over them replicating a dear part of our childhood.

They're proton packs don't show up in this picture, but they were a thing of beauty. Comprised of cereal boxes, various plastic packaging, and a paper plate all spray painted in matte black -- awesome and awesomely cheap.

This neighborhood didn't give out tons of candy, but what they gave out was the good stuff, whole candy bars and even a couple quarters. Don't you love having older neighbors.

Living in Lafayette

I know, that's us, wearing full blown Purdue gear. Jeez. Sad to admit, but it's Boilermakers or nothing around here. I procured tickets for the Illini game for Brant's birthday. We had to wear our local gear to blend. Seriously a sea of gold and black around here. Felt odd not cheering, "Juice" every time Illini made ground, but we yelled, "Boiler Up" as if it was all we knew.

Other greats about Lafayette (besides Purdue):
> Any kind of shopping you can think of (not that I go).
> Huge public libraries.
> Pizza like no other.
> Our backyard, note picture.

So far so good here in Indiana. Resisting any and all temptation to become a full-blown Hoosier, but could see us living here for quite a while. Maybe I should phrase that as, "Please, Lord, let us live here for quite a while."

Sorry for the Delay

Jeez -- I think it's been three months since I've blogged. It's just a series of unfortunate computer events (boy do I really miss my old neighbors who were total techies -- you know who you are). Also that whole moving thing kind of slowed me down. This last move was nuts. There was about two weeks in banking delays. This was not only a pain for us, but a pain for the family we were buying the house from. Finally we moved in two days before school started.

To say the least, we will always remember this first day of school. Paige and Claire started third grade, which seems like a huge grade to me. They actually have real homework and are reading thick books now that require book marks. Ike and Ava started kindergarten (sniff * sniff*). It wasn't as hard as I thought. They only go in the afternoon (Indiana still has half day kindergarten). I was so busy unboxing and settling in here, that there send off to school was sort of nonchalant.

So keep checking back, I promise to catch this thing up.

Summer Update

Has anyone even read this of late? We are no longer in Iowa, BUT I wouldn't really count us as residents of Indiana yet either. We have been in the Homewood Suites so long now that the kids know every worker by name and can completely run the waffle maker by themselves. I have quite counting in days and am trying to keep a joyous spirit. Our Iowa pastor calls this God's "refining" period for our life. Curious how refined we can become.

We packed up in Iowa on Thursday. Supposed to close on Friday, but found out that a water sample was required. The water test failed (small fix -- not a big deal), but here we are praying we can close on Friday. School starts on the 12th here -- poor kids won't even get a week in the house before school starts. I know it will all work out in the end, but I sure would like to get into a house. It's sort of embarrassing to give your address as a hotel.