This Week at Our House # 41

1. We closed on the house on Friday.  John was quite unhappy with some of the terms of the loan, but struggled for a good ten minutes and then signed. Our last house payment was over $1500 a month and our current house payment will be well under $500. This at least is pleasing to John, but we do not know how we are going to like living in such a small home.
2. I had my 42nd Birthday! I had been thinking that I was 42 already, so when I was processing my age, I almost thought I would be turning 43. I think this might be an old person trait. I have to thank my parents who have offered to pay for new flooring in the house. The kitchen and dining and laundry have decent hardwood, but the rest is animal lived on 17 year old carpeting.This is a new thing for us. In essence we are trying out the tiny home life. The house has 1400 squ ft and is on a 3 acre lot. We moved from a 2400 squ ft home in Utah that many people told us was too small for our family. But we ended up in a 1650 squ ft rental and have done just fine. The upside of the tiny home, is that we will have 4 bedrooms instead of 3 and there is a very large 2 car garage that will be a very convenient for storage and crafts and running around on very hot or very cold days. I am excited to try out big gardening things and learning skills like soap making and maybe quilting.
3. I only hear from Ruth on Mondays and I write this blog, upload the pictures, and then download them again so that the files will be small enough to send to Ruth on Sundays. She has made me more scheduled with my blog writing. I had a nightmare that I forgot to email her on Sunday and when her p-day started she was really sad not to have an email. Monday morning is now a happy morning because I get to hear from Ruth. 
4. Kate saw the house for the first time. She thought the house itself was better than she imagined, but the yard worse. It is mainly fields with a small amount of woods and Kate would like more woods. But, as she said, she will be going on a mission in a year and then she'll get married and her husband can buy her a better house.
5. Johnny always forgets the one live seminary class he has each week, so he has to keep making up the class by watching it later.
6. We're trying to teach Adam that when he has some work to do, he needs to do a good and thorough job. He always tends to do a very sloppy job or just do part of the job. He used to do this with the dishes until he had to redo them several times and now he has been doing it with mowing the lawn. But now, he has to go back and redo. Hopefully, he will get less sloppy about work as he grows and learns.
7. Poor Rachel, she was excited for the primary program because she loves to sing. Well, she was given a very large speaking part and no extra singing part. She is taking it like a champ, but I feel for her. All Rachel has ever wanted is to sing. She will be 12 in 6 months, so this is her final primary program.
8. Anya has become a very dependable girl. I can ask her to do just about anything and she will do a good job and not complain about it.
9. Joseph loves, loves, loves riding his bike. When we move, I am going to have Joseph make a bike path around the property that will be good for biking and jogging. The house also has a good basketball hoop and I am very glad to get that to shoot some baskets with the kid. I think Adam and Joseph will be the most interested.
10. Joshua cares if he is doing well and learning in school. He is always asking me if he is doing a good job each day.
11. Josh turned to me a few days ago and said, "Do you know Arwen." "well actually, yes, I do. What do you want to tell me about her?" "She ate an ant."  Arwen, sitting next to Jsohua started laughing and said, "it was only one." So it is true. Arwen ate an ant. She said she ate it for Susan. Upon questioning, Arwen said that Susan screamed, ant, so she just grabbed it and ate it.
12. We found a gecko sitting on the hdmi cord in the house (that was a big surprise for Johnny who almost grabbed it). We caught it and put it in a jar for the kids to play with before letting it go. Susan really liked it, and whenever anyone took the jar out of her hand, she would yell, "Give me my echo." That was too cute, so we named it Echo the Gecko for the 18 hours that we kept it.
13. Sam is 11 months old. The year of his babyhood has sadly gone by fast, but I have enjoyed nearly every minute and every cuddle. He's such a sweet and fun baby.

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