Grandbabies, Moving, a Marriage and a Graduate...Oh My!

Today is June 15, so we are half way through the month that marks the halfway point of the year. That means that six months of 2013 are gone. History. What? How did that happen? Where have I been? Well, I've become a grandma, a mother-in-law, drastically downsized, and celebrated my youngest stepson's graduation. All within four months. Doesn't seem like that much to look at what I just typed but mercy-sakes-alive I feel like I've just escaped a hurricane...albeit mostly unscathed. 

I've wanted to blog more, but there just hasn't been time. Too much to do! I can't remember too much of the first quarter of the year...I was holed up and hibernating as usual. Except for March 28, when our first grandchild was born. No way I'd forget that! That little guy started out at 4 lbs and 7 oz...

Grandpa and Jr, just a couple days old
and soooo tiny!

...but look at him now: 

Isn't he precious? He's about 2 1/2 months here and almost 9 pounds!
He's also rolled over already and just continues to amaze us all.

 He is just so cool. I get all verklempt every time I'm around him. Just love him to pieces! And I'm completely proud of his parents, they are doing a great job!

April started off with a few trips to the hospital as the grandbaby was there for a bit (born 6 weeks early). The next thing I know, we are moving out of our ginormous, old, five bedroom house and into a super cute teeny, tiny two bedroom. Thank goodness it was only six blocks away, that made the move so easy. Still, I had a house full of stuff I didn't want to move and had to get rid of, plus deciding what I could and wanted to keep, get it packed and all that fun stuff that goes with moving. Makes me tired to just reflect on it. 

Here's a virtual "tour" of our new digs:

The "Cracker Box", which sounds infinitely better than
"Sardine Can". 

The Welcoming Committee, sans furball
Say hello, Sister and Mister

Step inside into the kitchen, which is about half of
the downstairs. Seriously. So actually it's a pretty
nice size, as long as  you have a small table. Which
We do. We also have a Mister who loves to be in
every picture. And a dishwasher! I'm in heaven!

This is Friday, so I have our table ready for the start of Shabbat.
Since it stays light until midnight these days, thanks to my
favorite Dumb Stupid Time, we do our Sabbath-welcoming
around sundown, looooooonnnnggg after supper. No, we are
not Jewish, we just desire to honor Yahweh's commandments
and I don't see anywhere in His word that the Sabbath was
changed from the seventh day, so we honor the Sabbath and
rest on Saturday. It's wonderful!

Moving on, we have Mister and Sister and the furball in the
living room. There is just enough room for the four of us
to lounge around, but still room for company! We just have
to sit vertically, is all.

Not sure if this gives any indication of size, but it's the view from
the other end.

Not much to show here, it's a teeny, tiny bathroom.
When Sister saw it she said "That's not a bathroom,
that's a closet with a toilet in it". Apparently, the
tub and sink are extraneous. 

Going upstairs, you land in the kids' "room". Yes,
they share a room. I was concerned a bit that it
might prove to be disastrous, but really, it's going
exceptionally well. Mister stays out of Sister's stuff,
which is a miracle. Sister wisely reduced her
possessions to something more managable.

Our room is the other room upstairs-with the door. I
wish the cable hook up thing was on the other side of the
room, it would have a better "flow" to have the bed
against the other wall, I think. Since we have about
five miles of co-ax cable crammed behind the tv, I'm
thinking we could pull it off. Not sure I want to ask
Hubby to move furniture yet, though. I love the cozy
feel of this space. And, I found a use for the homemade
wrap I used to carry Mister around in when he was a
baby...as a "swag" valance, I think that's what you'd
call it. Mister is sharing his ducks and blankets with
me, isn't that so sweet? 

The tiny-ness of the house is balanced out with a humongous
back yard. We're going to put in a fire pit some time soon.
We love campfires! If we were going to live here longer, or buy it
I'd want to put in a garden.

Lots of potential here for flowers and stuff...if I had a proclivity
for that sort of thing instead of killing plants! I have a pallet there
leaning up against the house that I plan to plant culinary herbs
in, as soon as I can get to it. And look...central air!! Aaaahhh

So, instead of a regular kind of garden, I have a Container
Salsa Garden on my back steps. A couple of Roma type tomato
plants, a cherry tomato, two bell peppers and two hot peppers.
I have some mint growing in the window well to the left. Just

got them planted...late as usual, but hopefully we'll have enough 

to do some spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce and salsa!

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that organization has never really been what you'd call my "strong suit." I think I did a pretty good job of letting go of things we really didn't need. I know that my husband was surprised a few times with how easily I agreed to get rid of some things. Truth be told, I was surprised too. There was still a lot of work involved to get things packed and moved (in less than two weeks), plus unpacking and figuring out where to put things. 

The task now will be to not accumulate a bunch of stuff in the year or so we live here before we head west. I know that this move, I reduced things to things I didn't want to live without in this new home. The next move will require more difficult decisions, because neither one of us wants to move all this stuff across the country. When it comes right down to it though, there isn't that much that I couldn't walk away from if need be. I'm going to take time over the next year to find and consolidate those precious things that can't be replaced...ultrasound pictures of the kids and special mementos and such...and limit myself to what will fit in a decent sized box. As we get closer to moving, I'll do the same with books and other things that I would like to take but need to take less of. The kitchen things will be kind of hard though, cast iron pans are almost irreplaceable...when you consider the time and effort put into seasoning and maintaining them!

It's nice to know that I am less attached to "stuff" than I used to be. I think I used to see my "things" as part of me in a sense, and it was hard to get rid of them with that kind of perspective. Now when I look around, I just see stuff for the most part. And stuff is just stuff...it has no power over me other than what I give to it. 

The night we moved into our new home, Number One Son stopped by to tell us he and his fiancee were getting married...the next day at 4:00 in a town an hour away. Hubby didn't take that so well, but in his defense he was exhausted from moving all day! And to spring something like that on him at that moment...well...yeah. Thankfully, they put it off a couple of days at least so we could be there. There was no way we could have been there on the original day, so I'm glad they moved it so at least some of his family could be there.

Mr and Mrs Number One. Hoping and praying for a long,
happy marriage for them!

Next up, my youngest stepson's graduation! Of course that meant planning and putting on an open house, for which I agreed to make meatballs. I love making meatballs, really! I had 15 pounds of venison and hamburger I mixed up to make them. Yum! Hubby cooked up some chicken wings at his job, and their famous Pit-tatoes...which I discovered are NOT gluten free. So, consuming those and veggie dip made with Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (which I discovered AFTER I ate it...) and coupled with several days of extreme busyness before and after the party...well, I felt pretty much like I got run over by a very large truck. It took several days for me to "recover"! But it was a great party, our Marine was able to come back and surprise his brother, my Arizona in-laws were here and got to meet their GREAT-grandson, and my stepson made out like a bandit. Plus, the weather was absolutely gorgeous! Our Marine's high school graduation and open house two years ago was in weather reminiscent of what I imagine sitting in the foyer of hell would be like. Sooooo hot!

Four generations of Yoder boys! Jr is on Great Grandpa's lap,
next to Grandpa with Mister, and our Marine. In back are
the Graduate and the Number One Son, who recently made
me a mother in law. It was so nice to have all the boys
together again!

So, yeah...I've been kind of busy. I think that finally, things are put together well enough, although there's a few projects that I have yet to complete. They aren't essential, but I'm hoping I can get them done. And I love having waaaay less space to maintain. Housework is getting done in half the time, or less, and everything pretty much has a home. I have really enjoyed this Sabbath, because I really felt like I could REST. Last Sabbath was not restful at all, but I enjoyed the opportunity to be a blessing to our Graduate very much. Today, I could just rest and not even think about anything on any "to-do" list. Aaahhh...

Before I sign off...I must leave you with another picture of our sweet grandbaby...I just can't get enough of him!