Hiatus

I'm taking a hiatus from the blog until I get our house packed.  We're still adventuring every day, but I won't be posting any updates for awhile because all of my spare time is being spent packing boxes....which I am almost out of.  Local friends, bring me your boxes!

Moving day will be here before I know it, and I'm determined to not be one of those people who has the ward show up to help them move and nothing is even packed.  This house will be ready!

This is one time where my OCD tendencies really help me out. Every box gets a number and a code. The code tells whoever helps us unpack what room the box goes in.  The number tells me what's in the box.  I have a notebook with a list of numbers that corresponds so when I get to box #37 I will know that there are two lamps and a curtain in that box, without having to open it.  Winning!

Did I mention I am out of boxes? I seriously don't want to go to local businesses and round up boxes 3 at a time but I think that's what I'm about to resort to doing because I'm running out of time.  I haven't even really made a dent in the packing and I'm almost out. We had movers relocate us to Arkansas 7 1/2 years ago and I still remember how happy Angela Bithell was when I passed my fancy professional boxes and packing paper along to her. Now I know why.

Ok, break time over. How did I accumulate so much stuff?

Fort Willy 3.0

Our house goes under contract today, and our offer on our new home has been accepted! 

Both homes close on July 19th and then this darling abode will be the new Fort Willy!

It's right here in Bella Vista. We were looking for acres and weren't even planning to stay in Bella Vista, but our whole family felt drawn to this property, and we just know it's where we belong right now. It's at the end of a cul de sac and the neighbors (you BET I knocked on doors and met them!) are incredible.  At least there is common property behind it, so no one can build and we will always have woods in our backyard. And the neighborhood...it's so charming I can hardly stand it. I cannot wait to sit on that porch swing and watch my children ride bikes  and play basketball with their friends (yes! friends! Next door and down the street!) in the road.

We have 10 days to complete the home and termite inspections and get all of the mortgage stuff taken care of. Will be gone the first 2 weeks of July, and then we close 5 days after we return. So basically, I have a week to pack!  Wow, I have a lot to do!

This is happening! We are very excited!

In other good news

We have an offer on our house!
Updates soon...

iPhone Blogging

Check it out, I'm blogging from my phone. 

Baby has had a fever since Saturday. Soren had a scheduled well check yesterday anyway so the pediatrician checked him out and everything looks fine, no explanation for the high fevers. We left with a charge to monitor his temp closely. 

Other than that, Soren is one healthy and happy little guy! And "little" is right...his growth is par for the course of a Willy baby. At 9 months, Soren is 17lbs 7oz and will probably only gain another 1-2 lbs by his birthday.  All of my babies grow like weeds until they hit 16 or 17 lbs and then stay around the same weight until they are one year old. He went from being a chunky hoss to a skinny soren with an appetite that can be matched by no other. The kid loves food. The other night he downed an entire bowl of quinoa salad with bites of mango, red pepper, green onions, and black beans in it. He feeds himself bananas and cut green beans and cheerios and loves just about anything you put in front of him.   

This morning, the fever finally broke but he woke up covered in spots! Hives? Heat rash? No clue, but the timing following the fever seemed too perfect to be coincidental. So back to the doctor we went and this time we left with a "most likely" diagnosis of Roseola. There's really no way to know for sure. It could just be a heat rash from sweating his fever out, we may never know.  I'm just glad we kept him home from church on Sunday when he was contagious. Now that the fever is gone we're home free and doc says life should be ready to partay this weekend. Until then, I will be here, doing what I've been doing for the last 5 days straight: snuggling my cuddle bug baby! He's been lethargic and wants to be asleep in mama's arms all week. 

It's sort of like having a sleepy cuddly newborn again. 

Roseola isn't so bad after all. 

Kansas City

We had plans to make a temple trip last weekend.  Mother nature told us no way, no how would we be going to OKC during the tornado outbreak there, so we hit the road for Kansas City...which I prefer to travel to, anyway.  

The sky was not very hopeful, but we looked at the radar map and figured that if we left right at 6, we could sort of play frogger with the storms and make it north to KC in between the red patches moving across the mega doppler weather map. 

We we made it about 2 of the 3 hour drive without a drop of rain as we traveled under this fat wall cloud.  When the rain hit, it REALLY hit, and thanks to my weather app and smart phone, we realized we hadn't quite been fast enough.  The girls were really scared so we decided to make a stop. Before we could even make it off the freeway, the rain was pounding so hard that we had very low visibility of the road.  We made it off the next exit and waited out a tornado warning inside of a Mc Donalds.  Just to give you an idea of how hard the rain was coming down, in the 15 seconds it took Aaron to unlatch Soren's bucket seat and close the van door, a ton of water poured into the van and the carseat base  had an inch of standing water in it when we got back in the car. Everything and everyone got soaked, but we were safe and happy.

It was sort of a shame to have to stop only 20 miles from clear and dry skies, but that's the way these storms are. If you're in the path, take cover.

I took the kids into the bathroom and everyone stood under the hand dryers to dry off.  We thought the graffiti on the dryer was amusing: "Press Button, Receive Bacon." (...but only after C...hahaha!)

After an hour delay we hit the road again and rolled into KC for a long, sleep deprived night. 

The next morning Aaron and I took turns attending the temple and it made the entire trip worth it. It was peaceful and wonderful.

Since it was such a nice day, we hit the KC Zoo per Corbin's request. We usually go someplace to see animals for his birthday so this was a belated celebration for him.

 Notice Quincy's shorts.  Those would be Corbin's because she unpacked her skirt out of the suitcase, assuming I would buy her new clothes in Kansas City.  My sister, HolleeAnn attempted this move on a trip to a family reunion when she was like 14, hoping my parents would purchase a new wardrobe for her.  My parents did the awesome thing and had my sister wear all of my grandmother's polyester pantsuits and scarves for the week, instead.  Quincy got to wear a pair of Corbin's shorts. What's sad is that they fit her better than they fit Corbin! 

Soren was apparently not finished nursing.  He cries every time I cut him off and then tries to lift my shirt. Aaron offered empathy.

 Reese loves polar bears.

It was a nice weekend spent together as a family. We plan to go back to KC soon for more adventures.
On Sunday, Reese stood at the podium in primary and shared her testimony that she felt comforted by the Holy Ghost after we had a family prayer in the car asking for safety during the storm.

Last week at Fort Willy

I dead headed the tulips and mulched the flower beds.

Tiny flower buds started to become tiny grapes. Lots and lots and LOTS of grapes!

The strawberry harvest and adorable haircuts happened.

Pool passes were purchased and used

Da baby took his first dip. (don't be fooled by the "hold me, Mama!" look. He loved the water. He just loves me more, which is obviously what he is trying to tell everyone in this picture. Notice Corbin's matchey matchey swim trunks in the background. Cuteness. I die.

Two little girls sang their hearts out and thought I wasn't listening. or recording. I was doing both. This particular performance was of "Good Morning"

The local snow shack was discovered after living here for 7+ years! How have we been missing out on this goodness all these years?  The frozen cream topping is where it's at. 

We hit up Dave Peel Park one afternoon after library story time with said snow cones.  Corbin loved the zip line. It was really funny to watch him hang on and slide across.

Downtown Bentonville is one of the most charming places on earth.

I found some chalk and taught the children how to play hopscotch.

Baby Red hung out in a swing and was fed samples of snow cones by all three siblings.

A game that involves throwing a rock, drawing on something other than paper (public property, even), and jumping? Hopscotch is a new fave for this kid.

I can't resist. there are too many. Wednesday was such a lovely day.

A S'more's snack mix was made by a chef in underwear and two very patient assistants.

We had visitors!  My brother-in-law Paul's parents came to see us!  We had a great visit and went to none other than the original Walton 5 & 10 to check out the walmart museum and then Monte Ne Inn for fried chicken to give them a real taste of Arkansas. Jim and Carla are good peoples, man.  They can always be counted on for their extremely easy going personalities, big laughs and good conversation. I love them so much. After being trapped indoors due to a spontaneous thunderstorm for most of the day and enduring a long list of chores for an afternoon house showing the Willy brood were in rare form that night. At one point, we got stuck waiting for a train on a road in the middle of nowhere, Quincy got a case of uncontrollable giggles, Reese was crying and had a bleeding finger or something, it was pouring buckets outside, and when I looked in the mirror to the backseat I discovered Corbin was barefoot. Classy. But what are ya gonna do? We turned on the radio, gave the kids a piece of penny candy and carried on. Corbin ate almost an entire loaf of bread slathered in butter and nothing else at dinner and took funny face pictures of Carla and of his bare feet with my phone all night and we chowed down and had some laughs at the restaurant. Here is my favorite of Carla's funny face pics.

Playing in the fountain at the square right before a flash flood storm soaked us to the bone.
Side note: There is a monument tribute to the Confederate army in the middle of this fountain. When in Arkansas...

Daily chores are in full swing here. I'm going to take a minute here to say that my kids are REALLY good at doing chores. I was raised in a home where I was taught how to work and how to love work and I am so happy to see that my children also love and appreciate a job well done.  They sing and dance and get distracted and sometimes don't wear any clothes (see below) but the jobs get done, they get done well, and they get done with a happy attitude. I read a book forever ago by Michelle Borba (I think that's her name???) that emphasized the importance of teaching children HOW to do chores and correcting them so they do the jobs right. Back when I read the book, I thought this idea was ludicrous, since I only had an 18 month old...the thought of correcting any of her efforts to clean up seemed wrong.  Now, I get it. As long as they give their best effort, that's all I truly care about, but because of this book (the name escapes me now) I have always put extra effort into the teaching part of getting them to do chores by giving them detailed instructions and then showing them how to go back and check if they did the job correctly and completely.  Dude, Michelle was right, y'all.  Extra effort in the beginning totally pays off and my kids are amazing cleaners.  When they do their chores they actually ARE helping...especially the girls.  I love my kids and I'm thankful for all of their contributions to our home. Living in a house that is for sale is not for the faint of heart.  I have a list of "must do's" before I leave the house. ever. I very rarely host play dates at our house anymore because Murphy guarantees that there will be a showing after 3 hours with a house full of extra kids. The first few days with all of the children home all day was difficult, but by the end of the week things were running smoothly and as long as everyone stays on top of their responsibilities, I can have the house in perfect condition in 45 minutes, and "good enough" in less than 10 at any given time of day.  I owe that to my patient and hardworking kids.

This kid is awesome.  he joined us at Jump Zone last week and kept us laughing the whole time with some impressive dance moves. Reese, Quincy, and Corbin were darling little smother-parents to him and held his hand as they took him around to play on several of the inflatables. It was really sweet and made me think about how fun Soren's toddler days will be with so many siblings to love and care for him.

The other night brought a storm so bad we actually pulled the  children out of their beds in the middle of the night and took everyone into our room to be together while the weather raged outside. They begged us to let them go back to their own rooms and sleep in their own beds. We finally let them once the tornado warning lifted. It was still kinda cute to see everyone huddled together into our bed, even if only temporarily. That particular storm was nothing compared to what we waited out the following weekend. More on that later.

Mom mopping the kitchen = build a fort in the living room with the chairs. 

The children signed up for the reading program at the Bentonville Library and so far, have doubled their weekly reading goals. The prizes this week were slide whistles.  My bleeding ears sorta wish we'd signed up a week later! ;) 

Week 2 coming atcha tomorrow

Likeness

My mom texted me this photo of my great uncle Mack (McKnight) Hatch.  He is 2nd from the left and I think my little Corbin Mac looks just like him. How cute are all the 1920's bob haircuts on the girls?  Reese requested one this week, and I obliged. Photos to come. She's a sweet little Daisy Buchanan, now.

2013 Summer Bucket List

For obvious reasons, this picture is my fave.

We're basically killing it when it comes to the summer bucket list. I will come back and edit this post throughout the summer so when I print our book we'll know we hit everything.

1) Make homemade snowcones (check!)
2) Get Pool Passes (check!)
3) Ward Campout (check!)
4) Homemade pizzas (check!)
5) Berry Picking (check!)
6) Snow Shack (check!)
7) Library Reading Program (check!)
8) Temple Trip (check!)
9) Visit a zoo or aquarium (check!)
10) Kikiberry (check!)
11) Happy Hour slushies at Sonic (check!) (check!) (check probably 5 more times)
12) mini golf at Metfield or Kingsdale Park (check!)
13) Blowing Springs (check!)
14) Monte Ne Chicken (check!)
15) Make summer music cd (check!)
16) Road Trip: Colorado/Utah/California (check!)
17) Pickin' on the Square
18) Farmers Market (check!)
19) Movie at the theater (check!)
20) Splash Park (check!)
21) Run in a race (check!)
22) Secret Service Sundays (check! continuing...)
23) Fishing
24) Sunset or Sunrise hike (check!)
25) make s'mores trail mix (check!)
26) Bike Ride (check!)
27) Read A Series of Unfortunate Events #2 (check!), and #3 and watch the movie (check!)
28) Shareholder Concert (check!)
29) Stadium of Fire (check!)
30) Summer journals (check! Just like every other summer, we kept these up until July and then life got too crazy.
31) Swimming Lessons/Spin Class at WLFC (check! continuing...)
32) Summer haircuts (check!)
33) Paint nails (check!)
34) Spanish Treasure Cave
35) Theme park (silver dollar city? Disneyland?) (Disney!!!! Check!)
36) Jump Zone (check!)
37) Chuck E Cheese (check!)
38) Party with friends (check!)
39) Plant garden (check! continuing...)
40) make homemade salsa
41) have Sue Moon over for dinner or take flowers to Pam Guest (check!)
42) donate a book to the library (check!)
43) wash the cars
44) swim/kayak in the lake
45) living room campout (no bedtime party)
46) make friendship bracelets
more to come, but we are off to a very good start.

Goals:
keep having family scripture time before bed every night.
swim across the pool without help
reading goals 30+ min/day
try new things
daily chores
9th Article of Faith memorized
Read Book of Mormon cover to cover before school starts back up
sell this house!