The time has come.

Okay, friends, I'm back. Sort of.

I have missed you all SO MUCH lately. Has it really been that long? It sure has. My how time flies when you are unpacking and setting up shop.

We did, in fact, move in right before Christmas. Shhh....our final inspection is tomorrow. Do you think he'll notice the master deck with no railing? Or the jimmy-rigged staircases leading into both garages? Nah. I'll make him brownies and offer some coffee.

 

(Don't worry. Steve temporarily took care of all the items that need to be signed off on.  :))

There are many things that are unfinished but many, many more that are. I am happy to say that we are finally to a point where I can relax a bit in the evenings. Until now, as soon as I get all four kids down for the night it's back to work for Mommy and Daddy. I actually went to the movie theater the other night and saw a movie! Can you believe it? I put on, like, real clothes and everything. My friends around here keep asking me if I am going to reemerge any time soon. You know, the real me. Not the I'll-talk-to-you-for-20-minutes-but-then-I-have-to-go-because-I-only-have-so-much-naptime-within-which-I-can-be-productive me.

Six of us going from living in essentially 700-800 usable square feet to well over 4,000 has been such a beautiful blessing. The first couple days we were here, while I was tidying this, cleaning that, or unpacking these, I could hear the kids. Playing. Running. Laughing. Rolling around on the floor in their rooms. They were giggling again. It was the most beautiful sound I had heard in nine months. I couldn't stop them. Not yet. It was Christmastime and it was beautiful. I was tired. Exhausted, really. As was Steve. But our kids? They still haven't stopped playing. We actually have a family room now! Where we can all sit together (on the floor because we don't have enough furniture yet!), snuggle up, and watch a movie. 

I didn't realize it until recently but we really did sort of put our lives on hold a bit while we were in the rental. I made it as much like home as I could but it never really felt like my home. I don't feel like my heart every really rested there. Does that make sense? Everyone that came to see us in the rental agreed. For 700 square feet the layout could have been MUCH better. We lived in Steve's parents garage for about six months when we were going to build about three years ago. It was 400 square feet. It felt like a mansion compared to that rental!

Did you know that if you wait to put up a real tree until Christmas eve, and then you go to a lot to pick one up, usually they are on their way to the dump? With the little, crummy, sad looking trees and with the huge, insanely overpriced and gorgeous, intoxicatingly scented Noble Firs? Yeah, we got two of those babies. For 20 bucks. Steve went out to get us a tree and came home with two nine-foot Noble Firs. The nice man told him he could have them for free but Steve felt too bad taking such beauts without some kind of payment. We promptly stopped unpacking and cleaning, put on some Christmas music, lit a fire, and decorated the trees. The kids had a ball and so did we. It finally felt like Christmas ( I hadn't even decorated the rental, knowing we were moving). We decorated the house, made baked brie and crackers, and drank cider and champagne. Merry Christmas Team Prentice!

After Christmas Mass in the morning, Grandma and Grandpa came over and we had a lovely time together, opened gifts and had a great dinner (cooked mostly by Steve's mom since I was not adequately prepared to host much just yet!). My mom and Stepdad came a few days later and we had another Christmas celebration! It was so wonderful to finally be able to have other people spend the night in my home again! To have a place for guests is just. so. us.

I haven't taken many pictures of the house just yet. I am sort of waiting until things look...well...I won't mince words here, perfect. Yes, that's right. You read it. I want them to look perfect. What was that you said? I couldn't hear you over my delusional brain noise. Who am I kidding? I'll start taking some pictures. Soon. Just as soon as we finish the kitchen cabinets this coming Tuesday. And after we get our dining room table. And after those dummy knobs are on. And after we have a shower head in our master shower.

Last night was a long night, as I fear this one might be. I have one baby cutting his first teeth and another, bigger baby, cutting his two year molars. Steve and I took turns comforting the respective babies for much of the very early morning hours. The ones that are too late to be called 'midnight' but too early to be called 'morning'. Those hours are buggers. So are bulging, irritated, red gums apparently. Poor babies.

School started back up on the 3rd of January and we have since been trying our darndest to got back into a good routine, a routine that works for everyone. I am finding that there just don't seem to be enough hours in the day. I must go back to getting up at 5:30. I know it seems silly but, for me, it seems to make a difference. I start my day off right. I meet the day instead of the day meeting me. I can shower, sip coffee, nurse the baby, pray and prepare breakfast all before I hear any pitter patter whatsoever. I have mentioned it to Steve a couple times now but the reception is luke warm. Let's just say my beautiful husband isn't exactly a 'morning person'. Was that delicate enough, Honey? ('morning person' is code for one who is able to think AND move at the SAME time before 8 or 9am)

So, the time has come for me to stop waiting for the house to be perfect and to start back into a routine, carving out prayer time, Mommy exercise time, family time, phone call return time, and meal prep time. I am good on the family time and the meal prep time. The rest? It's a struggle every day. Some sweet friends of mine have mentioned reading again  Holly Pierlot's "A Mother's Rule of Life". Once I get to the boxes marked "books" in the garage I am going to get right on that.

I have missed so many of you. Have I said that yet? I will post the pictures that I just ordered from Kodak to go on our wall in our living room and hopefully you'll feel like you're sitting here, next to the fire sipping coffee right along with us.

*end note*-I tried to post some pics but blogger wouldn't let me. Ornery blogger.