Where I've been for the last three weeks...

Can it really be that the last real update I've posted about our family was on Halloween? Life in the three weeks since then has been truly chaotic. Let me help you understand...I want you to close your eyes and imagine with me for a momont. First, visualize your house. Now pretend that you have 40 year old storm windows that are leaky and creaky and dirty. Not pretty, I know, but take heart, because you are getting new ones from the insurance overage on your roof. Yippee! To get them installed, you have to remove all of your blinds and curtains and move all of the furniture two feet away from every window in your house. A little messy, huh?

Now, you aren't able to put all the blinds and windows back up right away because your husband is crazily putting the tile floor down in the new master bath addition so that the new carpet that will be installed a few days after the windows won't get ruined. But the new windows are fabulous and you don't really need all the blinds up right now any way. Sheets will do in a pinch. Also, you will need to iron all the curtains, because hubby just kind of tossed them on the couch when he was taking them down and they are all wrinkled. That's okay though, because they were really dusty and could use a good shake when you have time.

Which you don't have. Time, I mean, because you are getting new carpet in all the bedrooms! (Hurray! Go ahead and do a happy Snoopy dance. I'll wait.) Now get moving because you have to move every single thing from all of the bedrooms and the closets to the living room. Here's where it gets really messy. Take a minute to truly picture this...ALL of the furniture and toys and things under the bed AND the closets and the floor of the closets of six people all stuffed any old haphazard way into your living areas. Say it with me now...YIKES! Oh, and since your kids are going to be switching rooms after this whole crazy upheaval and since you don't want to chance ruining the new carpet and the rooms are empty of furniture, why don't you paint a couple of rooms real quick.

Whew! Take a minute to blow your nose (you're excited because you can after being stopped up for a week) and admire your new carpet and your squeaky clean windows and the new paint colors. Isn't it lovely?

Now, have fun putting it all back!

That's where I'm at now...Putting it all back. It's a much slower process than the dump and run of emptying. I have to sort and toss out and re-arrange and organize. But we are all settled into our new rooms for the most part, and it is heavenly. David and I are in the new master room addition that he has worked so tirelessly on for forever, it seems. Cole didn't move to a new room, but we re-arranged his furniture so it sort of feels new. Mason and Grant are enjoying having more space in our old bedroom. And Miss Jenna is loving her new pink princess room as she calls it. I was worried she would have trouble transitioning to being in a bedroom by herself, but she has done great. I think we'll be able to put up her big-girl bed in the next week or so.

So maybe now you understand a bit better why I haven't called y'all. And why I forgot your birthday. And why my kids homework didn't quite get all finished. (Homeschooling gets a bit difficult when you can't get to a table!)

Our life has been in a crazy upheaval for going on two years now, but I feel like we will soon be able to turn a corner and be normal again, or at least find a new normal. I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to focus on my friends and extended family for a while now. Attaching to Jenna and trying to hold things together for our family has consumed every last ounce of energy that I have. That will be changing soon, I hope. I look forward to re-connecting with you all and having some fun! Thanks for loving me in spite of my craziness and neglect....You guys rock!

Oh and I'll be posting photos once the sheets come off the windows and we get a picture or two hung.