House Updated / Putting Away The Trailer!

The last place I left off with the update on the house was the garage doors and house #'s. I hadn't been able to take a nice picture because the trailer was covering up half of the garage. Once we got it put away I was finally able to get a good shot of our basically completely new house!! 

I love it! 

And for a fun comparison....here's what the house looked like on the flyer when it was for sale in 2005! 

Crazy right!!! 

Here's a closer look at the front of the house. Black, white and red brick!  

Here's almost the exact same shot as the new picture. The house is SO dark...especially with that huge tree in the front yard. 

Here's after we had built the fence and painted the house, but before we had the tree taken out. 

And just for fun....let's look at these side by side! 

Night and day! 

And for more fun...here's a picture of the old deck vs. the new deck.

Since we bought this house back in 2005 the following things have been done to the outside of the house / yard. 

- Put curbing around the driveway and front yard

- Built a fence

- Had the tree removed in the front yard

- Had new gutters installed twice

- Installed two new front doors

- Painted the house twice

- Had trees removed from the backyard

- Built a retaining wall in the backyard 

- Leveled out the backyard

- Built a new deck

- Built faux covers for the front pillars 

- Installed new garage doors

Insurance paid to have...

- New sheeting

- Earthquake proofing

- New windows

- New siding

That's just the outside! The inside has also been completely redone. The only original items still left inside the house are...the light in the stairway (which I hope to replace this year), the railing at the top of the stairs and the two upstairs toilets. That's it! Everything else has been changed or completely renovated at some point. Totally crazy!!! 

The only reason I was able to get that first picture was because we were able to get the trailer in the garage. Hallelujah! It had been parked in the front of the house for SO long I was so ready to put it away! 

It is most definitely a tight fit, but it does work better now that we rearranged how the garage was set up. The best thing was we were also able to fit my van in the garage!! I did not think we were going to be able to do this so it was a total plus!!! 

Here's how close the trailer is to the back wall. On the left is our big deep freeze. We can't completely open the door all the way, but we can get into it just fine.

One reason we didn't think we'd be able to get the van in is because of my Elliptical. That thing is huge! 

But I was able to figure out how to basically nestle it under the front tongue of the trailer. It was not easy and it's not going to be easy to get it out, but the benefit outweighs the hassle. :) 

When I'm on the Elliptical I have to make sure to keep my feet closer to the front of the pedals so I don't scrap my right heel on the tongue. 

While I'm working out I now get a nice view out the little windows in the garage doors. 

Yep...it's a pretty tight fit!

Even at this point we weren't settled up with the insurance company. We were still waiting for them to deliver all the screens for the windows. That finally happened in mid-November! After 1 year and 9 months we were able to close the wind claim on the house. It felt so nice to be finished and we feel so blessed that God looked out for us in a way that at the time we didn't even know we needed looking after. He is so good! 

Fall Camping!

When we first bought the trailer my goal was to always take it out at least 4 times a year. Why have one if you aren't going to use it right?!?! The first year we had the trailer 2018 we used it for the Camping Trip from Hell, 4th of July at my parents house, Jenning's Family Reunion and Our Oregon Camping trip...here, here and here. All in all a super successful first year of adventures! 

Then 2019 happened...with almost all of Michael's vacation being used up for our trip to Maui or time off to paint the house we only made it out twice. The first time was our "End of the School Year" camping trip at Deception Pass (here and here) that turned into "Yay you only have 3 more days of school" camping trip due to snow days. 

The last trip of 2019 was in October. I have actually wanted to go Fall Camping for a while now. There is something about being out in nature when it's a little bit colder that makes it so fun. I love to sit around the fire and actually need the warmth coming from it. We decided to go during the second weekend in October since the kids were off from school on Friday, October 11th. Michael got off work early so we get to the campground to set up before it was dark outside...one downside of camping later in the season. 

Another slight downside of camping later in the season especially after a wet summer was the lack of firewood. All summer long there was no burn ban so the campground (Dash Point State Park) didn't have any firewood for sale. The nice thing about staying at Dash Point was we were only about 15 - 20 minutes from home. After we got the trailer set up Michael drove home, load up some wood and stopped at the gas station to get the second propane tank filled up. 

Our campsite was really nice...on the left side of the trailer we had some tall blackberry bushes so it felt private. There were also some bushes on the right side as well...even further on the right was the trail that led to the bathrooms. 

This was the best part though!!! 

Our campsite opened up to this enormous field! It was amazing! The kids could run and play. They brought a soccer ball and a frisbee so it was perfect! They also made friends with some kids at another campsite. Isn't that the best thing about camping....kids playing in nature and make new friends! 

It was also great that the bathrooms were right there so the kids could run and go anytime and we could watch them from the campsite. We also use the bathroom inside the trailer, but mainly only after dark.  

 Our picnic table was nice, but not really in a good location. It seems like at most campground your table is right outside the door of the trailer. At this particular site it was about 10-15 ft behind the trailer. It just wasn't as convenient in regards to making trips from inside the trailer over and over again. We only ended up sitting at it and eating once. 

While Michael and Jack went to the house and the gas station I got dinner ready. I had been wanting to try those crescent roll wrapped hot dogs over the fire for a while now. I was a bit nervous about the dough being undercooked in the middle so I left them on a little bit longer. They were definitely done and surprisingly everyone loved them.

While I was cooking the kids were enjoying the trailer and the campsite. 

When Michael got back we ate dinner and enjoyed the fire for bit, but shortly after that it was getting cold and dark so we we headed in for the night. I had bought the kids a new game called Santorini on clearance at Walmart for $7. I quickly looked up the reviews online and they looked good, but I knew even if they didn't like the game they would enjoy building with all the little pieces. 

Michael was in bed asleep by 7:30pm while the kids played around until around 9pm. I stayed up reading my book a little later than that. 

In the morning we got up around 7am and started making breakfast. Since it was so cold out we cooked everything inside the trailer....Bacon, eggs and toast. 

After that Michael took the kids on a 4 mile hike while I got to stay in the trailer and read! It was glorious! I will say that I felt guilty for not going at first. I hate when the kids go on an adventure without me...I love making memories with them, but at the same time they need to go and have fun times with only Daddy. They have had SO many fun adventures with just me...they need to get that same experience with Daddy. And if that wasn't enough major win points for Michael he even took tons of picture of their hike. 

This was the book I was so wrapped up in. It was excellent! If you are at all interested in the events of 9/11 and want a through comprehensive look at it this is the book. 

After Michael got back we had a quick sandwich lunch and then drove down to the beach to explore a bit. 

Rocks and water always a fun mix! 

Especially when you can climb on the rocks! 

Michael was carrying a bag full of blankets. I thought we might be able to lay on them in the sand, but once I saw all the sand fleas jumping around that was a no go! 

The kids bought me this scarf last year at Christmas time. I had only wore it once...mainly because it leaves little white fuzzy bits everywhere. I do love it and it's SO long it made a great scarf/hat. Michael was laughing at me, but I didn't care since my neck and ears were nice and warm! 

If there's a hill they will climb it! 

Such a pretty girl! 

At one point while Michael and I were sitting on a log we heard scurrying and looked over towards this spot where Ella had been and we saw a rat running into the woods. When in nature!!! 

No trip to the beach can be complete without throwing rocks at the water. 

Matchy boys! 

When we got back to the campsite Michael was out tending the fire while I was inside making hot cocoa. I made it with milk instead of water and the kids were over the moon about that. 

While standing there I decided to take pictures of my surroundings. 

Behind me and to my left is the dining table that turns into Ella's bed and the bed in the distance is Michael and I's. 

My kitchen which I'm pretty sure is super typical of most tent trailers....no counter space! I have seen people build these shelves that go over the sink using PVC pipes. That way you can store your food off the counters and since it's PVC pipes it doesn't weigh much. I might be looking more into that for next year. 

Directly to my right is the bed all the boys sleep in. Surprisingly it really has worked out well with all 3 of them. We separate their bed space by using pool noodles under the sheets. That and letting the kids stay up later than normal has been quite successful! 

And directly behind the stove is the bathroom door that has a mirror on it! :) 

That night for dinner we had tacos. It wasn't long after that when we ran out of firewood so we came into the trailer. Michael was in bed asleep again by 7:30pm. It started raining at some point and Ella went outside to pull the chairs under the trailer so they wouldn't be soaked. I love the sound of rain on the trailer! In the morning it had stopped raining, but we were ready to get home. We ate cereal for breakfast, packed up and headed home. Since everything was wet we had to set the trailer up again to let it dry. Ella helped me clean out the trailer to get it ready to be put away for the winter. Then I started the loads and loads of laundry....my least favorite part of camping! 

Even though we only made it out twice in 2019 they were both memorable trips and for good reasons. Hopefully we'll make our goal or surpass it in 2020! 

Tutoring!

A few weeks ago Michael and I dropped the kids off at AWANAS and went out on a date to Trappers Sushi. It was so yummy! After enjoying our dinner we drove up to the church to wait for AWANAS to let out. While we were waiting we started chatting about what every parent always ends up talking about...our kids. Our conversation focused more on Ella at this particular time. 

If you remember our sweet Ella Grace was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus at 18 months old after falling from a slide and fracturing her skull. She ultimately had brain surgery the following month at 19 months to put in a VP Shunt. She still has her original Shunt to this day Praise The LORD!!! 

Due to her Hydrocephalus Ella has had some speech delays. She's been in speech therapy for years now. First at Children's Therapy Center when she was 4 years old and now at school where she has an IEP for Math, Reading, Writing and Speech. 

Ella has made huge strides academically in the last few years, but her reading is where she struggles the most. It's almost painful to watch and listen to her struggle through a book. Even simple sight words can be hard for her. I know that her short term memory has improved over the years, but I do see that there are certain areas in her life that it is still a factor. 

I will say honestly that Michael and I have probably not helped her as much as we could have in regards to working with her at home. That's hard for me to say, but at the same time I have 4 kids. Life is crazy busy and to take the time to sit down with each one of them is just a logistical nightmare especially when you factor everything else in that is required to run a home/family. Also we are safe for Ella and her home is her safe space. What I mean by this is she will work so hard for her teachers and never complain, but she's safe with us and she knows she can pull at our heartstrings so she uses that. She gets emotional and frustrated and then so do we which is not a health environment that encourages learning. Also school is a place where she has to act tough and keep it together, but home is where she can let her guard down and wear her emotions on her sleeve. I remember when she was a toddler and we were going to MOPS we would get home usually after noon when she would normally be napping by this point if we had been home. She would be fine in the van and then the moment...I do mean the moment she crossed the threshold from the garage into the house she would melt into a pile of emotional mess. She would LOSE it! She would be inconsolable! There was no way I could even get her to eat lunch...she would just go straight to bed and that was the only way for her to deal with her exhaustion. With this knowledge of how she is emotionally it made it very hard for Michael and I to push her to work harder. 

I will say Ella's reading has improved, but she is drastically behind where other 3rd graders are. This school year she has actually showed interest in having me read books to her. I love to read books to the kids, but that has never really been something that Ella has enjoyed. Reading to her is great, but she also needs to be doing the reading as well and that's where we've struggled the most. She did a Fancy Nancy book at the beginning of the school year and it took her an hour to do it. We were SO proud of her and she was proud of herself, but it was so mentally exhausting for her. 

So back to Michael and I sitting in the van...Michael mentioned that we needed to get her a tutor. He said money doesn't matter right now we need to help her learn to read because it's the foundation for everything. God has blessed Michael with a great job and this is too important for her and her future. So right then and there I used my phone and typed in 'tutoring in my area' and up popped Varsity Tutors. They had an online form you could fill out and the very next day I spoke on the phone with a very nice lady and we got Ella set up with a plan for her to have 50 tutoring sessions....in our home!!!! I can't even tell you how amazing that is. With 4 kids life can be crazy and we don't even do sports! I don't even understand how families with each of their kids in a sport even do it...no thank you! The thought of having to take Ella to a tutoring center was not fun one, but I would have if it was necessary. This though was such a blessing!!!! 

The person I first spoke to on the phone asked me all sorts of questions about Ella. It was actually really fun to talk about my girl and her progress and then areas she needs help on. I did learn from her that 3rd grade is the last grade they teach reading. After that they assume you know the basics and will pick up more words by learning vocabulary words, but they won't actually be teaching reading in the classroom anymore. Now I know with Ella's IEP she would still be getting that resource, but this did confirm to me that she really truly needed this assistance. With all the information I gave her about Ella she said we would be matched with a tutor that would be perfect for her. I was concerned because I know there can be times when teachers and students don't necessarily work well together and she said if that ever happened we could request a new tutor right from the app and they would reevaluate, pick a new tutor and even credit us a tutoring session. A couple days later I got a notice that Ella was placed with April. She is a retired teacher...she taught for 27 years and she has loads of experience. I called her and after talking about Ella for a bit we set up Ella's first tutoring session for Monday October 7th at 4pm. The timing is really perfect since the kids get home at 3:30...Ella gets a chance to have a snack, but doesn't really get to change over to full on playing mode. She knows Ms. April is coming so she still has her learning hat on per se. 

Ms. April is WONDERFUL! She is older as I expected since she is retired. She has arthritis in her knees so she walks with two cane and is slow going, but she is amazing with Ella. I warned her that Ella can be a charmer with her teachers and she is definitely charmed by Ella. She is so patient with Ella and she laughs at her stories. She has all sorts of tricks up her sleeve too and made sure to let Ella know that if she needs a break or doesn't like something that's okay. She really wants this learning time to be positive for Ella. I have been so impressed...honestly I feel like she is part of our family. Her and Ella sit at the dining room table working and usually I'm in the kitchen prepping dinner and it just feels normal. So far Ella has had 3 sessions. Ms. April comes every Monday and then she will also come 1 or 2 Saturdays a month. The 50 / 1hr sessions that we paid for will most likely take Ella all the way through the school year if not a little bit into the summer due to skipping certain weeks for holidays and such. 

As for the price...it wasn't cheap! They had a special going on when we signed up so I believe the price per hour was $46. Sylvan Learning Center's price starts at $47 per hour and it goes up depending on what kind of tutoring you need. Plus you have to go to one of the actual Sylvan Learning Center locations. Being able to have Ella home in her comfort zone I think has made her tutoring that much more successful. She is used to her surroundings, she's used to her brothers making noise and she knows that people that love her are right here if she needs us. She doesn't have to get used to being at strange facility and everything that goes along with that.  

If you have a kiddo that has a tutoring need I would highly recommend Varsity Tutors. You do not have to buy a package that has 50 sessions that's just what we chose for Ella because of how much she needs to learn. They did give me a referral link that gets you 3 tutoring sessions for free. I have honestly been so impressed and I'm so happy that we are getting the help our little girl needs! 

Birthday Tea!

On September 25th, Kim took me out to The Secret Garden Teahouse for my birthday. We hadn't been to that Teahouse in years so it was fun to go back. 

We got the Hollyhock Tea and it was so yummy! Makes me want tea and scones just typing this. 

We had such fun conversations! I love spending time with one of my besties! 

After eating lunch we had a little time to kill so we headed over to the Fred Meyer in Sunmer. I had been talking with Kim about finding some cute sandals on clearance at FM's, but what I really wanted to find were some booties. Lucky me we ended up finding the cutest pair of black booties on clearance. It was so fun! Shoes have definitely been my thing to get this fall. I had recently bought myself 2 pairs of highbar tennis shoes, a pair of sandals and then this pair of black booties, but then almost a month later I got a box of goodies from my Aunt with 6 more pairs of shoes for me. I love me some shoes!!! :) BTW...thanks again Auntie Linda! OXOXO 

After shoe shopping we drove over to the theater and watched Downton Abbey!!! It was the best girly day ever! Downton Abbey was even better than I thought it would be. I loved it so much! That also wasn't the end to my fun filled day. By the time I got home it was time to get the kids in the van and take them to AWANAS. Then Michael and I went out to my favorite Mexican restaurant Circo Circo and enjoyed a yummy dinner....yay for mid-week date night! In fact since AWANAS started Michael and I have gone on a date while the kids have been there every week except one! It's been so fun trying new restaurants and getting to spend alone time with my man. 

Serve Day!

On Saturday September 28th, our church had a Serve Day. There were a bunch of groups going to a bunch of different locations to help out. Our group when to Bread of Life Mission in downtown Seattle. 

Bread of Life's mission is to "Bringing hope, healing and recovery to Seattle homeless through a Christ-Centered approach."

Our job for the day was to sort through toiletries and then pack bags to give out to the homeless in the area. At first we had only planned on bringing the 3 older kids, but then the plan for Zeke to go hang out at a friends house fell through so he came with us. I'm so happy that he did because it was such a great experience for all the kids and they really surprised us with how much fun they had and how much they really helped out. 

The first thing we did when we got to the mission was we met Michael the Housing Manager. He gave us a tour of the mission and explained all the programs they offer. It was really amazing to hear about the support they provide the community. After the tour the guys started to get out all the boxes of toiletries that we'd be sorting through. The kids were hanging out in the room where we'd be sorting and stuffing bags. That's when I heard, "Mom come here!" I thought I was going to need to break up a fight, but that wasn't it at all. In the area we were going to be working they had some fun pictures hung up of previous volunteers and lo and behold we found Ms. Ruth and her daughter Sarah. 

Ms. Ruth is on the far right....she married Michael's Dad back in January of this year. I immediately took this picture and texted her. She texted back and said, "Wow! That was a long time ago!" 

Once we got all the boxes out of the storage areas we got right to work. We sorted through them and then started an assembly line for filling the bags. It went really fast and everyone had a great time. We actually finished so early we decided to go hand out some of the bags. 

Out of privacy I didn't take any pictures of us doing that, but I was really blown away by my kids...especially Ella. She was not hesitant at all. She was going to give out those bags. It really was beautiful to see her loving on people. 

There was a total God situation that happened as we were passing out the bags in the middle of Pioneer Square. I was walking over towards a group of people and I saw a lady from down the street walking towards us in a hurry. The bags are bright orange so people know that they are from the mission. This woman stopped and asked if we had any shoes since she only had a pair of sandals on and it was cold and rainy and she had bare feet. I told her unfortunately we didn't have any shoes in the bags, but some of them did have socks. Let me say this first...when we were packing the bags there were certain items that we only had a few of....socks, chapstick, combs and a few other things. We packed a ton of bags and the socks were one of the first things to run out. When we finish the bags we were putting them in these big containers and filling them full with packed bags. The ones that would have had socks were most definitely buried in those containers. When we left to go hand out the bags we just grabbed a few bags for each person from the top of the pile. After telling her that some of the bags had socks I was sure that none of the ones we had would possibly have socks in them. Of course I was going to check the bags I had to be certain. The first bag I checked had a nice pair of warm socks in it. Total God moment for sure! 

When we finished handing out the bags to the people we walked over to this waterfall park that I didn't even know existed! It was so amazing right in the middle of the city. 

Michael offered to take a picture of our group. 

I also wanted a picture of us by the sign in front of the building. We did still have a few bags leftover...the square was actually pretty empty for a Saturday morning, but Michael wanted us to take them with us and hand them out when the need arose. I had so much fun helping out and I know the kids did too.

 There are a lot of things wrong with the world, but there are also a lot of people trying to help out and make a difference just one person at a time. I think the world would be a much better place if instead of sitting in our nice cozy houses arguing about this and that if we just got up volunteered and supported good organizations like this that are helping the community. The world is such a big place it can feel like nothing that you do will ever change anything for the better, but even little things like stuffing toiletry bags can make a difference. My hope is for our family to come back and volunteer again. Michael said they need help with wrapping presents at Christmas. I love to wrap presents and to know the joy that those presents will bring to a person in need would be an amazing feeling. 

So Patriotic!

On September 21st, my Mom and I went out for a shopping day to celebrate my birthday. She bought me 2 pairs of my favorite skinny jeans at Kohl's. We also went to Target and got matching jammie bottoms and this fleece top that has pockets and is the most comfortable sweatshirt that I own. Plus I'm not even ashamed that I do this I totally wear it as a normal top out in public. We also got a bunch of other stuff....why is it so hard to go into Target and not come out without spending $100....it's like the Bermuda Triangle of shopping!!! Anyways after that we ate lunch at Sonic and it was so good!!! 

While we were out Michael did a few things around the house. One of those things was hanging up my wooden flag. I actually didn't notice that he did that for almost a whole day. The wooden American Flag had been leaning against our frig in the kitchen, but it's not something that normally would be there so once it was missing my brain didn't really register that anything was gone. Also since the weather had turned I hadn't actually been spending a bunch of time out on the deck. I ended up noticing it when I went over to lock the sliding glass door prior to us leaving the house. I was SO excited!!!! 

Michael had put off hanging this up mainly because he was not super excited that he was going to have to put holes into the side of our newly sided, newly painted house. There really was no other place for this to go and I loved it so much it wasn't an option that I wouldn't be hanging it up. 

Getting this hung up really felt like the cherry on top of the deck sundae! That's not to say that there won't be anything else added to the deck. I really want to get outdoor string lights to hang up giving it a fun vibe. I don't know maybe those would be considered the sprinkles on the sundae! 

I think it's funny that I hung this up on our back deck because we have neighbors that are behind us that have an Impeach Trump flag and it's pointed our way. I don't think they did that intentionally...they have no idea what way we lean politically, it was just the best place for them to hang their flag. I did not hang this up back here to make some sort of statement. It's ridiculous that the American flag would even been seen as a statement in a negative way....it's the flag for our nation for crying out loud. I am and have always been very patriotic. I have Americana decor in my house...I even had a 4th of July tree at one point. I love our country for better or worse and I love the freedom that America provides us. We really do live in a country that is so immensely blessed and I have no problems showing off my love for it. In fact hopefully we'll be having a really flag flying around in the front yard once Michael puts up the flag pole!!! So exciting!!!