Moved in Again

We are two weeks into our new home. I realize I didnt post even once this whole summer but it has felt like its been one VERY long day. We got moved in and unpacked and painted at the house. And the doctor called. Nathaniel had a very high lead count. When it became aparant that the landlord was unwilling to fork over the dough to do an abatment, we packed up and moved... AGAIN. We had to stay in mil's house for two weeks while we searched. We are finally settled (hopefuly for good- we have renewed our commitment to not move for two years) Everyone likes the new house- there is lots of room. Oh yeah there was a new job thrown in there. Maybe I should rename this blog crazy house.

New Examiner title

Saint Louis Breastfeeding Examiner

I dont live in Springfield anymore, and STL homeschool examiner was taken

Moving`

The story of this move actually begins last summer. For years Mike had worked from one contract to another, a really bad time would be when it took three weeks to get a new job. Then all of the sudden the economy crashed and he was out of work six months. When he was offered a job in Decatur we couldn't really pass it up. We were tired of moving and went there intending to fully embrace the town. I even started looking for jobs my parents could do there hoping they'd move near us. The only flaw was, we really didn't like it there.
Meanwhile, Michael was trying to work things out with Kelly (Bryan's mom). At first she was fine with modifying visitation, since we were now five hours away and every other weekend wasn't going to work. But then she changed her mind. Barring lots of money (and I mean LOTS) and a friendly judge there really was no forcing her. SO Michael want to his boss and after a few weeks of negotiations got approval to telecommute from the STL area. We had already taken a vacation from both jobs during the second week of May, my parents were also off as we were supposed to visit them. So we went house hunting and found something we liked right away. We packed up, booked a uhaul, and sent my parents a train ticket. Instead of visiting them they would come to us and vacation in STL.
The only problem was... the owner of the house kept postponing meeting to sign a lease. So we came back to look at some other houses on Sat (move in is booked for Monday) and found something, amazingly. Its right near the kid's friends and down the street from a park. Of course the first house was at the bottom of our affordable range and this is at the very top but... we will make it. On Monday afternoon we hit the first glitch, our old landlord who has always been pretty nice decides that he wants to replace all the carpet so he's keeping all of our deposit. Further evidence that while an honest landlord isn't non-existent its rare. But at least hes not trying to get more money out of us so we let it go.
The house hasn't passed inspection so we stay the night with my MIL. All eight of us. We pass two nights which she is asking for payment for (to pay for extra gas and electricity) and in other ways making everyone uncomfortable. So we spend the third night at a hotel (and this is when the uhaul starts racking up fees) We tried doing activities with the kids but even that wasn't that much fun because the car was stuffed with luggage and people and everyone was stressed about how much money we spent. Finally we got to unload the truck on Friday. Saturday we drove my parents back to Kansas City. Sunday, we started cleaning. The last tenants left the place pretty trashed. That's what took so long to get moved in. We are finally getting settled in but, we have gone through all of our savings and we need another vacation!

Head Coverings

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Recital Day!

The kids did a small recital as a result of their classes they've been taken since October. The boys have been taking a piano class that is more like an intro to music. They learned basics of hwo to read music, where notes are on the keyboard, etc. They did a small demonstration of what they learned rather than playing a piece onstage. I just took a couple pictures.

Eliana took ballet. First they got on stage and played a game where they dance till the music stops then freeze, then there was an ensemble piece with all the girls in it. I am still figuring out the new camera so this turned out to be like four video clips. Yes, she is the youngest in her class, three was the youngest allowed and she had just turned three when we signed up.

Nathaniel's Laugh

Nathaniel has the best laugh! He laughs more than I remember any of the other kids doing. I dont know if this is the cause or result of his great laugh, but the older kids have made it there mission to crack him up. They come up with some crazy stuff. Here you see Zach throwing a car into the toy bucket and Nathaniel just cracks up. This went on for about 10 min.

Looong weekend still not over

We went back to STL for the weekend, first got a very pleasent suprise. My MIL house was very clean and waiting to welcome us.We had a pretty good time. Sat we went to service. On Sunday I took the kids to the Science Center with my MIL On Mon morning I was planning on the zoo but it was a bit chilly. Mike says lets go have the transmission checked (it was pulling a bit after the long drive) and eat brkfst then go. So far so good, our extended warrenty just kicked in so we have to make sure we maintian so they dont have an excuse not to pay. The mechanic says it needs a rebuild and a this and that. but he says dont drive home without fixing the thermostat. Well I know a mehanic here who would do it for much less but Mike calls warrenty to see if its covered and mentions the transmission issue. Now we have to fix it. They wont pay if they know we drove another hundred miles after we heard it had a problem. So then, we cant find a stupid rental, the mechanic has a deal with enterprise for $50 bucks for a van but they wont do a one way, we cant afford to rent the whole week so... my MIL ends up driving us home and turning in the van the next day agggh. Now we are waiting to hear from the mechanic, the warrenty co sent an inspector, they want to get out of paying it since our warrenty just kicked in they are trying to prove we did somthing wrong. If they pay its still like a 500 bill. We should be able to pick up the van tomorrow but of course they wont start till they approve the repair soo who knows when we can go get it the whole thing sucks