Six months in Idaho

In a few days, we will hit our 6 month mark of living in Idaho. I still can't say I like it here honestly, but I've come to accept it. God has given us a good group of friends that we know we can count on in an emergency, and are incredibly dear to us, and of course, we'd be there in an instant for them as well. I do love our house, and what we've done and are doing with it. Most of upstairs is painted, and pictures are all hung. Jon has replaced 4 out of 5 basement windows. Now we're working on the outside projects. We've cleaned up the yard and are about to lay seed in the backyard. We bought the kids a basketball hoop for Easter, and we bought a picnic table as well. The kids have made friends in the neighborhood and are enjoying being able to ride their bikes and scooters a lot more than they ever did in Germany. But all in all, we all really, really miss Germany and know a large part of our hearts are still there.

Aside from that, in less than a month, we will be welcoming a little boy in to our family. I realized I never posted on my blog that I'm pregnant with baby number 5. Thankfully this pregnancy has been a very smooth one thus far, and I'm praying it stays that way. My biggest prayer is for a 'normal' delivery, unlike all the rest I've had. And even though we're only a month out, we do not have a name for him yet.

In December, we also welcomed a kitten in to our home. She arrived on the Feast of Guadalupe, and therefore, the kids chose the name Guadalupe, or Lupe, for her. Today, she is at the vet getting surgery, and well, the kids have asked about 50 times when we can pick her up. They clearly miss her.

During the winter, DH was gone to Arizona for 2 months. During that time, the older 3 were involved in the parks and rec homeschool PE day. Once a week, they'd meet at the gym and do some sort of sport, and they loved it. We have also signed the 3 of them up for soccer. The season basically goes all of April (practice in March). Crazy mama due with a baby in April said yes haha. Thankfully they all practice the same nights, totaling only an hour and a half each night, 2-3 times a week. They'd been begging to play for about a year and a half, but we moved during the last season, so I felt that I needed to. They are loving it.

Hubby and kid 1 and 2 have joined the choir and love that as well. Kid 1 is also serving at Mass again, and you can tell he loves being back at serving. Our little homeschool group (4 families) are leading the Station of the Cross this week, and the kids are excited about that opportunity.

Kid 3 has been working hard on learning to read and understand math this year. She wasn't as fast to pick up on reading as the first two, and within the past two months, you can see the lightbulb has clicked for both reading and math, and she is just reading everything. You know your kid is ready to read when they ask you what everything spells or tries to sound it out. Their sweet wheels are turning trying to decipher everything they see. That is where she is and my mama heart is so proud and beaming, especially when I caught her reading to kid 4 the other day. Kid 4 is keeping busy during school with Alex Toys crafts. They are awesome, because the whole craft is prepared and ready, and she just pulls one out and does it while we do school. Strongly recommend them for toddlers!! I feel like we're doing pretty good with school. Don't ask me when we'll be done though, because I have no idea. We're just trekking along, and when the books for each grade are done, I guess we'll be done. ;-) I sat down last night though and wrote out my list of what we need for next year, so at least I sort of feel prepared to purchase the things we need.

As for me, I've just been growing a baby, teaching, and cleaning. I recently caved in to the rave of Norwex clothes, and have become a bit obsessed. DH was skeptical, but seeing how much I'm staying on top of cleaning now, he's cool with it haha. I keep thinking I'm going to make sheets for our new son, and our godchildren, but I never get around to it. DH went shopping with the kids recently and went ahead and bought him some sheets haha (I guess he didn't feel the hot pink and black zebra print sheets were going to cut it haha) I have been working on doing shutterfly photo books as well, trying to finally have photo books for our family. That's kept me a bit busy.

That's an update on how life has panned out in the 6 months we've been in Idaho. While we don't love it here, we know God has us here for a reason, and has a plan for us. Until we know exactly what that is, we just take each day at a time, and do the best to enjoy life in the simplicity and mundane life we now live, and focused on each other and Christ.