First Day of School at Coyote Ridge

Not only were they starting at a new school, but they were starting back to school after 6 months of vacation and home school. They don't look very enthusiastic, but they were excited to be back at school. Eliza is in Ms. Christian's 5th grade class. Clara is in Ms. Clifford's 3rd grade class. Leona is in Mrs. Timm's 1st grade class. All of the kids and staff wear masks all day, except at lunch and (outdoor) recess, the desks are spaced out, and there are desk "shields" on top of each of the desks to give kids added separation.  At lunch there are only 3 kids to a lunch table as they have to be spread out while eating. Everyone is so relieved to be back to "normal" school, even if it isn't normal.

 

Getting Moved In

After not having our stuff for a week it finally arrived. When it did Collin tried to unload as much as possible by himself before everybody else showed up, and then he tripped over something getting down from the truck and sprained his ankle. It was a group effort to assemble Timothy's borrowed crib. He kept climbing out of the packnplay and running away from naptime so we had to borrow a crib from the Caldwells.

We have lizards at the new house. Everyone really likes it except Eliza, who is terrified of the lizards and the way that they pop up out of nowhere.

Texts from Auntie Mel describing online school with Leona.

Hanging out with the cousins.

 

On the Road to Texas

The day we drove away from Shoreline it was hard to get on the road. For one we were doing last minute cleaning, throwing out trash, gathering stuff, loading the cars, and then we had to say goodbye to the neighbors, which was really hard. Peter and Brianna's families came over and there were tearful goodbyes all around. Brianna gave each of the kids a little gift bag with coloring books and crayons for the road trip. Peter's family gave our family a photo album with photos of the kids hanging out on the court as well as sweet notes. It was hard to say goodbye.

The first day we drove from Seattle to Ogden and made it to Jacob and Kaleigh's house. Since it took us so long to hit the road we didn't get there until about 2 am. Everybody was out of it but then perked up the next morning when Kaleigh fixed everyone breakfast and the kids could run around for a couple of minutes. That second day we drove from Ogden to Denver, to Gma and Gpa Roueche's house.

The last day of our drive was on Timothy's 2nd birthday. We had donuts for breakfast in his honor. He was very dubious about the candles in the donut and had to have his birthday present opened for him as he was too shy to do it himself. Then he had to spend the rest of his birthday strapped into his carseat.

Outside of Denver we hit a random snowstorm. 

Finally we made it into Texas and to Auntie Mel's house. The next morning we all loaded back up into the car to go see our new house. The kids ran around like maniacs claiming bedrooms and exclaiming about how "huge" the backyard is. Since there aren't knobs on the doors, just handles, Timothy opened and closed every door in the house at least six times each. He kept closing himself into closets and then opening the doors and yelling, "Boo!" The girls thought that game was just as hilarious as he did.  After we toured it with the realtor we took the kids back to Mel's house and Collin and I went to sign papers and make it official.

 

Since the moving truck hadn't arrived yet with our stuff we stayed at Mel and Scott's house for a week. During that time every time we went to our new house there would be some new treat on the porch left by the neighbors. I am not sure that I've ever been welcomed by so many neighbors, unfortunately we missed 90% of them.

 

Last Week in Seattle

Our sweet neighbor directly across from us, Miss Tin, the one who always brought out treats and snacks for the kids, babysat a little girl, Olivia. At first we thought she was her granddaughter, and because Miss Tin didn't speak much English we went uncorrected for a long time. Turns out that she's just the daughter of a family friend. I'm getting sidetracked here, anyway, when Miss Tin would babysit Olivia the girls would always invite her out to play and share their bikes and scooters with her. 

When Olivia's parents found out we were moving they bought cupcakes and juice boxes and just showed up at our front door with them. We were actually heading to our drive by (because of Covid) going away party at the church so we told them thank you and that we'd be back in a couple of hours. So we went to the church and had a blast there and then came home and chatted and ate cupcakes with the neighbors. Miss Tin, true to form brought out large bags full of treats and snacks for the road trip. I honestly can't remember the last time that I felt so loved as I did that afternoon. It's what I imagine it would be like to sit in on your own funeral- but not sad.

This photo is in here because I was the first of the ten kids to sleep in this crib and Timothy was the last of ten kids to sleep in it. It was actually still in really good shape until our kids got to it. Eliza chewed little divots into the wood. I'm pretty sure that Timothy added on the whittled effect of the crib. We weren't planning to take it with us anyway, but then our last week in Seattle one of the sides popped off and we knew that the crib was dead. RIP Cole and Roueche crib, you had a good long run.

The Rices had us over for dinner. Since we were trying to follow Covid rules we had dinner in their garage with the door open for ventilation and put masks on when we weren't eating. Having us over so that we could have a home cooked meal when our stuff was already packed was just another installment in the Rices kindness to our family. They included us as soon as we moved in and always had another fun treasure of a hike or beach to share. They are some of the kindest people anywhere and I would not be sad if 15 years from now one of our girls married one of the Rice boys.

The day that we loaded up the truck was total mayhem. It started out pouring rain. Like, not Seattle rain, but a real downpour. All day I prayed that the rain would stop long enough for us to load the truck so that the wet boxes wouldn't collapse under the weight of stacked box towers, or that all of our stuff would mold during the week long drive to Texas. It did stop and was totally dry by the time we had to load. It felt like a mini-miracle, an "I love you." from Heavenly Father.  

The truck was supposed to be delivered between 12 and 4 pm. At 2pm the movers showed up to move the heaviest stuff down the two flights of stairs. We had hoped that they could load it directly onto the moving truck, but they had to just leave it in the garage. At 3:30 we started calling the moving company, but were just told that the truck was on it's way. At 4 the missionaries and ward members showed up to help load the truck. They moved everything from the top two floors down to the garage and bottom floor. Still no truck. More calls. Long story short- the truck showed up around 7pm. The kind ward members and missionaries came back and we loaded the truck. Eliza and Clara even helped carry boxes. Our neighbors watched the kids out in the court and ate pizza along with us and the movers that Bro. Nelson Sr. had bought since at 91 he couldn't help with the actual loading, although he did carry a few boxes out anyway. Three hours later the truck was loaded, we were exhausted, and once again felt very loved because of all the people who were willing to show up, repeatedly, to help us.

Our last day was just as crazy as the day before. We cleaned all day, with the help of the Ocanas, and got the last of the stuff boxed up. We had Ivar's for dinner. Then while I went to the airport to pick up Scott and my dad Collin left C, L, and T with Cathy and Brianna while he took Eliza to an urgent care place for an infection on her leg. Our last night was in sleeping bags and our house once again felt spacious as the kids ran around through the empty rooms.

 

Creative Leona

Lego Creation and Selfies

 

Random Happenings from Sept. 7-12th

Hanging out with the neighbors from L to R: Andy, Brianna, C, Esther, Buttercup (dog), Leona.

We were excited to be able to stay in Washington through the end of the nice weather but then wild fire season kicked into high gear. It looked like this for a week and you couldn't go outside without getting a headache from breathing the ash in the air. It made us grateful for the ability that we have to go outside during this pandemic, even if it's just to the court. I know that in Spain kids weren't allowed to leave their apartments for months because of the lockdown restrictions. After a couple of days we were going crazy. I don't know how those kids made it through those months.

When we could finally go out again it was all the sweeter. We went to Edmond's Beach with the Koenig family and the kids dug "World Record" sized holes in the beach.

 

1st Day of School- Shoreline Edition

School started without much fanfare since it was still online.  The girls were still enthusiastic about resuming school, and it was a MUCH improved version of online school as compared to the spring. Eliza finally got Olivia in her class this year; Clara got the beloved Ms. Messler, the musician, as her teacher; Leona got some of her kindergarten pals in her class and the teacher she wanted, Ms. Rohrbach. 

Meanwhile Timothy had toddler depression as all of his buddies seemed to prefer sitting around the table, staring at screens for hours a day instead of playing with him. He was very enthusiastic about recess and after school play breaks, when his buddies would return to him.