Hellooooo??? **Echoes**

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a slacker. Marisa has attempted 100,000,000 lashes with a wet noodle, but my poor blog has been blogless in BlogLand since April Fools Day.

I have an excuse though, I really do. We moved. It all happened fast and its been crazy busy.

But I think I need to start blogging again. I need an outlet for my pathetic little life. Well, its not really pathetic. Not at all actually. I have an amazing husband, who loves me and our kids and works hard to provide for our family. I have 4 beautiful, healthy children, who love each other...most of the time. My life is richly blessed with the screa...er giggles of little children figh....er playing nicely together. I feel very blessed to have a wonderful hubby who makes it possible for me to stay home with our kids. There are days when I'm at my wits end. But then, one of them gives me a sweet innocent smile. Or a big squeezing hug. Or a sloppy wet kiss. Usually Pete is the one that does that. Then its all better. It is a priviledge that I wouldn't give up in a million years.

So lets go back a bit. In early March, Pete was laid off from his job. There were no jobs in Spokane and the possibilities in Seattle dropped off quickly. No one really wanted to deal with someone who would be commuting M-F. Not to mention, we kept realizing how challenging it would be on the family. Seriously, you know that driveway of ours? How would I snowblow it in the wintertime with 4 kids in the house unattended? Just little things like that. At the end of March, Pete's old boss in Vegas decided he wanted Pete back. In a platonic kind of way, of course! It took FOREVER. Finally, in early May, we got the job offer. The one that would take us away from our friends and family and our home that we thought we would raise our children in. It would take us away from our extended family ranch in Addy, WA. But only temporarily. God clearly had his hand in it, but it was by FAR, the hardest move I have made yet. Emotionally. Physically, probably the easiest, thanks to his company.

We starting prepping for the move...got rid of a lot of stuff. I guess one good thing about Pete being home, is we had a lot of time to do that. Had a big garage sale. Listed our house up for rent.

On the 18th, his company flew us down for a house hunting trip. My mom graciously watched all 4 kids for 3 days, she is amazing! And definately brave! We found a great, fabulous, wonderful house. I flew home on the 20th, Pete stayed in Vegas to start work on the 21st. They just couldn't wait to have him. Which was good for our bank account! The movers came bright and early the 21st. Oh and the painters were there to paint the deck too. And I still had not gathered all the things I needed to take with me. Needless to say, it was quite hectic! Thanks to my mom and my friend Charmie who watched the kids that afternoon (and the next day...you are a lifesaver!!) I got it all done. They packed all day Thursday and most of the day Friday. They started loading the truck Friday, all day Saturday and finished on Monday. We had a great driver to work with, which made things easier! Oh, and in the middle of all that, Pete flew home Friday night. We finished up stuff around the house Saturday and moved into a hotel. He left Sunday morning to drive his truck down to Vegas.

Monday morning (5/25), my BFF Heather flew in to help me drive. She is really amazing, for flying there JUST to drive with me and 4 rowdy children for 2 days. She must really love us :) Tuesday (5/26) was MOPS, and lets just say, not a dry eye in the house. I miss those ladies so stinking much!! It was really special to know how many people's lives had been touched by me without me even knowing. Its really cool to know that you make a difference and that you will be missed! Right afterwards, we began our LOOOONG drive. The kids did quite well but were relieved to see Daddy waiting for us Wed evening at our hotel. The moving truck arrived on Thursday (5/28) and took ALL DAY long to unload. All 20,000lbs of ours. Apparently we have a lot of stuff. Fortunately, Pete got 2 paid days off for moving, so he had that day, plus Friday off, then the weekend. So we made a good dent in unpacking.

We jumped right into life...got Abby started in her new school and joined a playgroup. Abby is in a year round school, which is kind of wierd. She got out of school June 16, then she goes back 'technically' on Monday (July 13). However, I'm being rebellious and keeping her home an extra week. She gets out for good on August 7. Then they start the new year 2 weeks later. So wierd. Anyway, back to my rebellion, I have really be struggling to find activities for the boys that work with Abby's 1/2 day Kindergarten schedule. I don't know about you, but I just can't be in one place at the same time. So, she's staying home next week so that Tyler can go to Dinosaur Camp. He is very excited. And I am too. He needs something FUN to do.

It's been very challenging trying to figure out stuff to do that is manageable for me. Surprisingly, Vegas lacks indoor things that don't cost mega bucks. And with it being over 100 every day, I really don't want to go sit in the sun at the park. 1 mommy + 4 kids + pool = disaster. Our yard is full of rocks. But not for long! We have had a kiddie pool back there but that leaves much to be desired when all 6 of us get in there.

Not that we have done that or anything.

You know, hypothetically.

IF we were to all get in there.

Anyway, we bought a 12 foot by 29 inch above ground pool. We are going to attempt to try to get it up tonight, we'll see how that goes! We are also picking up a wooden swingset from a Craigslister this weekend. So hopefully, that will help make our back yard more fun for the kids. If we end up buying this place, if we end up selling our house in Spokane, I'm putting in an 8x4 piece of grass for me to lay on. Sit on. Feel with my bare toes. Yes, I miss my grass.

All in all, God has made it very clear that this was the next step that He had in mind for us. Who are we to argue, when he makes everything happen so flawlessly? Pete got an amazing job offer. Along with that came an amazing relocation package. God provided a renter for our house in TWO HOURS. Yep, 2 hours after listing on their website, they had an applicant. We ended up with two and chose the 'better' of the two. Interestingly enough, they are relocationg too, so pretty much exactly what we are doing. Maybe they will just buy it. One can hope! Our house had been on craigslist since we started looking at the possibilities down here in April. All of our other choices gradually were rented out but this one was still here. After seeing 11 other houses, this one was hands down THE one. Some day I'll post some pictures, but I promise, it's quite purdy. Or is it purty? So God was saving this one for me because He knew I'd love it. Moving with 4 kids can be quite hectic (no, really?) but the fact that we didn't have to lift a finger (well, I DID pack 6 boxes.) made things a lot easier. He provided us with amazing friends to help us with whatever we needed.

As much as this seemed like a step back from our dream of getting up to our family ranch, I no longer think it is. I think its just a step that I never would have imagined. One of Abby's friend's Moms (got that?) reminded me of Proverbs 16:9: "A man's heart plans his way but the Lord orders his steps." We don't know what the future holds, but for now, I am comforted by the fact that we are where we need to be. That doesn't necessarily make the pain of being away from family and friends go away, but I know it will lessen over time, and *in true Ahnold fashion* WE WILL BE BAAACK!!

So that's that. I'm going to try to be a better blogger, I really am. I promise. REALLY.

Now on to what we did today!

I am Super Mom today! Just for today. Tomorrow is back to regular mom. :) Anyway, I have not been able to find a preschool for Tyler down here for less than $350 a month. Oh and that is for 2 half days. 5 hours a week. $17.50 an hour for preschool? HUH????? So, we decided that we will send him to Kindergarten afterall. I'm sending my 4 year old to Kindergarten...he turns 5 two days after school will start. So wierd! Since I can't stomach the idea of another year (and I mean full year with the year round school business) of 1/2 day, we are putting him in full day. Which is cheaper than the 5 hours a week at preschool. Crazy.

So, today, I took all 4 kids to the ghetto of Las Vegas, braved I-15 traffic, to get Tyler's birth certificate. I tell ya, it's kind of handy that the one kid that you decide at the last minute to put in school, just happened to be the one of four that was born here. So then we went and drove by the place we booked for our 'staycation' in September (more on that later). While enduring Aaron's crocodile tears about how he wanted to go stay there NOW, we headed back to school. Got Tyler registered. He was quite proud and telling people "I'm going to school!" So cute :)

Then, since my boy has been begging for mengos, we went to Costco. Fed them lunch and then did our shopping. The kids were their normal selves...busy. Matthew was shrieking on and off between scoldings. One lady actually asked me how many valiums I had that morning. Whatever crazy lady. I can handle them with medication, TYVM. After canvasing the store, no mengos to be found. But then...by the toiletries...I spied a whole row of dried fruit. Ty found his precious mengos, grabbed a bag and hugged and kissed it and told the lady standing there that they were the only reason we came to Costco. I just realized you might not know what mengos are. Most people know them as mangos. In our house, they are mengos. They are dried and just so stinking yummy.

As we were leaving, the lady commented on our 6lb of cherries, 4lb of strawberries, Watermelon, dried mengos and a pkg of apples..."that's a lotta fruit!" Yep, and it will last about a week!

Now we are home and it is now mommy's favorite time of day...naptime!!

There are probably a lot of grammatical errors, but you know what? I'm too tired. So you'll have to deal with them. Forgive me?