Ain't It Funny How Life Changes?

I heard that song the other day called "Life Changes" by Thomas Rhett and man did it ring a bell with me. I know I haven't blogged in forever but well, our life has been changing like crazy.

We finally packed up and left our sweet little rented River View for a place of our own. That's right bloggers the very first blog in our brand new home! Our home! The first one we have ever purchased! How crazy is that?!?! We are officially home owners. The move was crazy but good. A huge shout out to everyone who helped us! Both the dads came on different days to tackle different projects. They each have a different skill set and man were they a massive help! Even just sitting here writing I get tears in my eyes thinking of how much went into this place. All the love and prayers. The hope, and dreams built into the very walls. The names of every person who ever worked on it are written into the beams and under the paint. Heck, Clay even managed to decorate his walls in crayon already. Our first open house was a blast, total chaos, and kind of hilarious. Josh's dad got hurt at the hotel before even coming. The garbage disposal leaked everywhere and of course, dinner got cold. Ah well, what's life without a little crazy right? Round two open house with off without a hitch with the exception of Josh not able to attend. Thank you to everyone who came and for all the wonderful blessings and food!

A new house isn't the only major change in our lives either. We adopted! A kitten. Her name is Spooks. She was the one kitten who looked like an almost exact replica of my very first kitten Oreo. And she was the only kitten who hissed at everyone who came near her cage. So, me being me, I reached in and booped her in the nose with no regard to the fact that she might go ballistic and scratch the ever living crap out of me. She stuttered for a second seemingly surprised that someone wasn't afraid of her little hissy fit. Next thing I knew she was purring like a little engine and clambering to get in my arms. Now she is rarely more than a few feet away, unless she's not already sitting on my shoulder or in my lap. She couldn't be sweeter. My mama even found an ornament that looks just like her for our tree. She likes to sleep on my face or curled into my spine. Spooks is playful, gentle, and the klutziest cat on the planet. After several tumbles down the stairs, a run into the oven, countless falls off everything in our house including even our laps, we have begun to wonder if she is part dog. And possibly part parrot as her favorite spot to sleep is my shoulder. Goofy kitten. Did I mention she is incredibly loud? She chatters just as much as the rest of us, and just as loudly. So all in all, she fits right in with our little family.

Let's see, what else? Oh yes! Sam has started kindergarten! And by that, I mean I'm crazy enough to homeschool her. She is going through a program at a private school that helps keep us accountable but we do everything on our own. Which has been an adventure let me tell you. I started with the Abeka curriculum thinking I had everything I needed. Then promptly discovered I didn't...only to find I then had purchased the wrong thing to correct the first mistake. Oops. Go me! #mommyfail Oh well. We have started to get the swing of it and will continue to learn and grow as we continue. If all else fails she did start a year early and can repeat kindergarten easily. At least if we have to do that, we will both have a year of experience under our belt, but I'm hoping that won't be necessary. She a quick learner and can retain stupid amounts of information. I think she is to smart for her own good. Then again, I suppose I deserve whatever she throws at me as I did the same thing to my dad as a wee tike. If I believed in karma I'd say I got it back in full. LOL!

Clay is officially out of speech class and doing screamingly well. It seems like every time I turn around he has something new to say that he just figured out. He is also getting tech savvy very quickly. Oh the fight we have when we take his kindle away in the morning. We have a rule about how long the kids can have their kindles each day (assuming they didn't lose the privilege the day before). He has figured out how to not only turn it on and watch his car shows (because, boy...cars...you get the idea.) but also how to play most of the games on them. Even if they are meant for older kids. Crazy kid. He's as opinionated as his mother and rapidly making those opinions known. The two of them get along for the most part but I can already see the little bit of "Mom! He's bugging me!!' starting. It's going to make life interesting. 

Josh's work is going well. Though with the snow flying, he's had several slow downs to the point where we weren't sure he was going to make it home for Thanksgiving. I'm happy to report that while he was late, he did manage to make it just in time for dinner. With Christmas in just a couple days, he was able to get it off and we will have a whole 5 days together to catch up on family time. We intend to have a quiet little Christmas here at home with Christmas music blasting and laughter abounding.

How am I? Well, I started as a consultant for Pampered Chef to make a little extra money while hanging out at home with the kiddos. I'm trying to start taking time out to blog on a regular basis but if I'm totally honest, I barely have time to think let alone blog. That doesn't mean I'm going to stop. It just means I'm going to spend the next year trying to sort our life and house out enough that I can finally start to take a little extra time out for me. Which will include my blogging time.

So, with that my dear bloggers I think I will sign off for now. I'm bushed and just about ready to hit the hay. In the mean time until my next post, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Happy Holidays!

Goodnight!