Week 2 on our micro-farm

Memorial Day, and time for a break. Busy week this week full of lots of projects and organization. Key tasks accomplished included:

• Hooking up the dryer (which required a propane conversion kit to run; HF was up to this task but it required three separate trips to various stores to get all the parts). Hooray for a working dryer!
• Running a water line to the fridge so that we can use the filtration system and ice machine. The line was set-up for the fridge to be on the opposite side of the kitchen, but HF strongly wanted the fridge next to the stove (a good call).
• Hanging the artwork on the walls (I did this all myself this time; a feat about which I felt quite proud)
• Configuring the watering system for our garden
• Beginning work on the pizza oven. How long could HF really wait on that one? This photo of him with his two-year old "helper" dressed in a tutu is a favorite.

 The Dibiase family stopped by for a spontaneous cookout dinner last night; here you see our three girls and their eldest playing Lego duplo in the back yard. Shot of the pizza oven in current formation, too.

 The Dibiases car needed to be jumped just as they were leaving. Check.

 A shot of our living room!

We're getting there. And we do love this place. HF has said, "this is the best weekend we've had since we lived in California" for both of the past two weekends.

One week after the move...

 Still catching up on sleep and energy after an exhausting week last week, but it was a lovely weekend overall and we are greatly enjoying the new house. It is a great fit for us in so many ways... A few thoughts and details here on the other blog.

We eat at our outdoor table every evening and watch the birds. The kids play outdoors for hours each day. We gardened together this weekend. HF has begun expanding the chicken coop and rebuilding the pizza oven.

A few pictures of the move process and activities here over the past few days...

Cottage sweet cottage...

We've slept 5 nights in the new house now, and this is the first opportunity I've had to get onto the good ol' PCW blog and post pics. The move went as well as we could have hoped, with HF's friend Joe from work manning the 24 foot Uhaul with him for two loads from old to new house. A total of three fabulous friends watched the kids during the day so we could facilitate the move, and our friends here (the Jamisons, who live in the farmhouse) rounded it out by feeding us dinner. Thank you Lord! We were so blessed.

Mother's Day consisted of breakfast at a nearby McDonald's (our fridge wasn't hooked up yet and we had no gas in the stove) and dinner at In-N-Out. Every mother's dream, right?! But it was nice - certainly memorable. Sun, Mon, Tues, and Wed included at least one trip to the old house to get outlying stuff, clean, etc. It's a 17-min drive, so not super easy to accomplish with four young kids to account for as well.

We're about 70% unpacked/settled at this point. We had our first non-takeout meal in the house last night, eating at our outdoor table listening to the birds. It was lovely. We are all very glad to be here (though we do miss the old street and neighbors!) Our friends and neighbors here are lovely. One made us dinner last night.

The front of our sweet cottage:

The back:

The "driveway":

View of the "street" (we are the second house on the left):

Our "shed" across the "street" (in which the majority of our extraneous stuff is stored):

 The backyard tree house:

Our side yard (with garden):

 The big kids' new bunkbed (a highlight):

More pictures of the interior to follow when everything has been put away...!

Moving toward moving

Lots of boxes! Move is slated for this Saturday. Busy days; clearing things out in a big way. Feels good (and long overdue). We're getting there!

 The mouse is climbing everywhere. I give her till the end of June before she's walking... We'll see if I'm right.

 Modeling clay has been a big hit around here of late. A few creations...

Thursday afternoon and Friday last week I attended the Christian Alliance for Orphans' big annual conference last week, Summit VIII, which was held at Saddleback church. Very worth going... Some thoughts here.

Grampy and Grrrr...

Grampy was here for the weekend! He stopped for a couple days after several days in San Fran for work last week. Everyone was delighted to see him. He joined us on a beach outing (where Monkey walked a full 3 miles with him); took HF and me out to a delicious steak dinner on Sat night; and took the two biggest kids out to a now-standing McDonald's lunch. As well as read Winnie the Pooh, oohed and aahed over kids' artwork, and participated in general household life. On Sunday night we did up a brick-oven pizza dinner with him for the whole gang.

Yesterday was Monkey's last day of "school" at Artios Academy in Santa Barbara, the end of a fantastic year and experience. They put together school plays by class; his class created one called "The Animal Race." Our resident 6-year-old chose the role of tiger, and we managed to piece together a fantastic costume using items from several generous friends. The play was held at noon and 6 pm; I was in attendance for both, and HF and Roo got to see the second rendition. He did great! Here he is with the announcer, the cheetah, and the dog taking their final bow.

We are moving into a little house on a farm compound next door to our friends the Jamisons, a location about 15 miles west of our current house on May 12. So it is a busy time of sorting, packing, and organizing. It will be a grand adventure, and we are excited about it - especially the fantastic outdoor setting and farm-style life!