Palouse Falls in February

Last month, we decided to pack up the kids and go exploring at Palouse Falls - a super interesting area where the Palouse river cuts through the scablands and down into the basalt below to create a lovely canyon.

I was hoping it was still early enough in the year to get some cool ice around the waterfall pool, but alas, it's been too warm this winter. You won't hear me complaining, but we will have to try again next year.

We stopped in Colfax to pick up Winston and then Nels and I had a good time getting to know the area better as we took multiple wrong turns shortcuts down muddy roads on the way there. Thank goodness for 4-wheel drive. :)

We checked out the overlooks and talked a lot about erosion, while Hazel told us about all the cool things she's been learning in her Washington history section at school.

Our girls absolutely adore this boy. Winston is Tracy's youngest son and just a year older than Hazel. Winston has always been a cousin favorite, but in the last two years that we've been able to see the Moores on a regular basis he's become more like a brother figure to our little women. They are constantly scheming about the time when they can see him next. Winston has a delightful, free-spirited imagination and our girls never tire of his company. I love his quirky humor and full-throated laugh.

It was nice to get out of the house.

It's been such a weird winter. With two moves in the last six months, I haven't been able to pull off my usual winter hibernation and it's been a bit rough on the psyche. It was therapeutic to take a day to get out of our "hobbit house in the ground" and enjoy the crisp air and some much needed movement.

Clara and Violet digging "snake holes". What a wonderful thing to be able to dig in the dirt in early February!

I love these beautiful faces.

After finishing up at all the paved areas, we spent the rest of the afternoon off the beaten path looking for arrowheads, bones, and paths down into the canyon that wouldn't kill us.

These loud-mouthed kids are so fun. I love them. They were slightly concerned about sitting on the railroad tracks. I assured them that certainly these tracks aren't used very often and all was well. Just smile for Dad and stop worrying. Ten minutes later a train came rumbling by. :)

I really liked this view. :)

Clara is absolutely fearless and does not like to be constrained or hold hands. Sometimes I have to figure out creative, nonchalant ways to keep her from plummeting to certain death as she throws rocks over canyon rims.

I love this man. I love that he indulges me when I want to go exploring and laughs when I get us lost. I love watching him with his camera and I love seeing him play with our crazy Clara.

In my ever-ready fashion, I had neglected to bring water with us and by the time the sun was setting we were all pretty parched. Even then, it was hard to leave such a happy adventure. We'll definitely have to come back.

Repetition

Today was a new day. Thank goodness.

Yesterday went from crappy to worse - all fueled by my own emotion. For a soul that really truly desires stability and simplicity in my life, these last few years really have been a time of streeeeeeetching. Yesterday it was like all my pent-up emotion was being wrung right out of me --- through my eyes. :)

At times like this, all I can think of is that winter before Clara was born, feeling so restless and ready for change. Ready to take on new challenges. Ready for new adventures.

Then things changed.

Silly, stupid, naive Rachel.

Come to think of it, the same thing happened when I was fifteen. I can remember telling my mom when she picked me up from EFY that summer, "We could leave Coalville right now and never look back. I wouldn't be sad one day." Within two months, everything had changed and that move was the hardest thing I'd done in my life up to that point.

There seem to be patterns that continually repeat themselves in my life.

I'm stupid. And too bold for my britches. :)

Today I woke up with a tear-hangover, a plan, and some much needed sunshine.

We met with a mortgage lender today to talk about what we would need to do to be ready to buy a house next year. It felt so good and things didn't look nearly as bleak in that department as I had expected them to after the short sale on our house two years ago.

I even feel about 80% ready to tell our landlord that we will sign her year lease.

Poor Nels. He's really a "path of least resistance" kind of guy and I swear sometimes I think I'm a "path of most resistance" kind of gal. Hopefully together we can form some kind of balanced life.

Pics taken at Palouse Falls a few weeks ago. 

Well, February is gone, and March is here. I don't know how it happened.

Everything feels like such a jumble in my head right now. It could be the lack of sleep last night talking, but it feels like it just keeps on going.

When we chose to move down to Pullman, we settled on a small basement duplex. Our lease goes through the end of June and I figured that would give us plenty of time to figure out what we wanted to do - that it would be easier to find someplace else as spring came. However, being a college town, our landlord wants to know right now - not if we want to stay month to month, but if we will be signing on for another year - and she wants to raise our rent. She wants to know so that she can start advertising to college students before they leave for summer.

We've only been here two months. We've only just unpacked. I just barely hung up pictures on the walls. *Boo hoo. Poor me.* I don't know what to do. I don't want to switch schools on the girls again before we buy a home and I don't know when that will be.

We could find somewhere bigger - somewhere I won't feel quite so antsy, but I can't stomach paying more than a house payment in rent and will it really make me less antsy?

I don't know what to do . . . again.

Unpacking . . .

It'll kind of be like unpacking your house after someone else packed it up. You're never sure what's in the box and all too often you've got a bunch of random things in there that don't belong with the rest and you don't really know what to do with them. Yep. That's what this post is going to be like.

Speaking of unpacking, I've still got about 25 boxes to unpack. I'm not thrilled. I'm tired of unpacking. I feel like I've been unpacking for 2.5 years.

It's been foggy for the past three days. Everything is covered in hoarfrost. The weeping birch trees look like frozen fountains. It's kinda magical.

Hazel, Elsie, and Lilie can think of nothing but going to see their cousin, Winston, who is now a mere 30 minutes away. I don't blame them, those Moores are pretty great.

All three of them are also adjusting to school really, really well. I know I mentioned this in the last post, but seriously, I can't even express what a relief this is for me. I worry so much that we're damaging them by not allowing them to put down roots anywhere, but they are a testament to me that we have all the stability that they need right here within our family. They teach me.

Violet and Clara have watched too much TV the past two months.

Violet and Clara are learning to play really, really well together. It makes my heart happy. Today they are dressed up as a princess and a jack-o-lantern.

Orange is Violet's FAVORITE color. That makes me happy.

Clara doesn't really love clothes. Unless I put her footie pj's on backward (we had to cut all the "footies" off months ago), she wakes up naked, freezing, and in a soggy bed (because she also takes off her diaper) at about 2:30 every morning. Since implementing the "straight-jacket" sleeping method, we've all been much happier.

Violet is getting new glasses sometime this week. I am really hoping that it (again) helps mellow out the melt-downs that are so uncharacteristic of her pleasant, easy-going personality. Winter comes along and she spends lots of time drawing and her eyes get so tired. Her old glasses are too small and hurt her ears, so she doesn't keep them on.

Amid the thousands of wonderful things that I've not recorded in the past year, Violet got her hair cut by her Aunt Genny this last Thanksgiving while we were in Utah. It's adorable and she loves it.

Clara loves to dance. Any music results in a spontaneous dance-party.

Clara is SO SASSY! Many, many unexpected things in her life are met with, "Why you do dat???" One of our last nights in Sandpoint, she was playing chase with Daddy and I scared her as she came flying around a corner. She jumped, squealed, and then immediately said, "Why you scare me, Mom?!!!" We took the girls to see "Frozen" a couple weeks ago and right at the most intense part of the movie, it's silent, and the princess has just turned to ice. Everyone is very sad, of course. Clara yells, "WHY YOU DO DAT, DAD???!!!" It "broke the ice" (haha) and everyone in the theater laughed.

My girls are growing up so much. While I was at our new place with the movers to unpack the truck, Hazel stayed home from school and babysat her three younger sisters for NINE HOURS - and was still smiling when I relieved her at 5:00. I was only a 1/4 mile away and checked on her frequently throughout the day, but she did awesome. I really count on my Hazel. She loves to read, loves to talk, loves to be with other people, and loves learning. She has one of the most pure hearts I've ever known.

Lilie reminds me of myself daily. She loves creating and colors. We had a tour of their new school the Friday before everyone came back from Christmas break and she asked repeatedly about the art class. :) She is an incredible artist. A true introvert, it is so hard to pull information from her about her day and what's on her mind anytime but in the quietest one-on-one moments. She talks plenty and LOUDLY, :) but it's hard to hear what's in her heart without listening. I'm trying to learn how to listen better.

Elsie is such a little people-person. She is loving her new school and LOVES being the "new girl". Her teacher adores her and commented on how wonderfully she's transitioning - as if she's always been part of their class. At her first parent-teacher conference in Sandpoint, her teacher had talked about the possibility of moving her up a grade. She's ready, both intellectually and socially and only misses the cutoff by a month. Nels and I spent a day or two thinking about it and in the end decided that she's right where she needs to be. She is really starting to develop helping others and reaching out to those who may be struggling as a big part of her personal identity. We feel that it's a benefit for her to be older in her class. It thrills my heart to see her take others under her wing so much. She is such a warm person.

This is Elsie with her friend Henry before we left Sandpoint. He was in both her Pre-K class last year and her Kindergarten class this year. To say that he LOVES Elsie would be an understatement.

Nels? He's doing good. He likes his new job and he even gets to come home for lunch on a regular basis. He told me last week that because of security measures, working real late at this job isn't even an option!! Can you believe it?! :) Really, they seem like a great company. And starting today Nels and I are doing another 30 day sugar fast - like we did last January. Gotta get ready for Costa Rica this summer! :)

As for me, I'm really looking forward to the day when I break down the last box. In the meantime, I scheme all day about what I want to do that evening when the kids finally go to bed and I "clock out" for the day . . . so far I haven't been able to actually DO that since we moved in, but I keep hoping.

(my first knitting project - in our temporary apartment - before the boxes and boxes and boxes came)

And most days, since I don't leave the house (and sometimes when I do), I wear something colorfully crazy --- because it makes me happy (and sometimes hides my hair that I haven't washed in three days).

I'll have to remember to pair up that hat with the orange tights, multicolored skirt, and blue slippers I'm wearing today. :)

Time to Move On

Well, hello there.

 . . . . 

So . . . we've had some changes in our lives. 

What's new, right? 

In November of last year, Nels got laid off from Coldwater Creek.     

It was scary. It was hard. It was good.

Nels immediately got to work with emails and phone calls to put the word out there that he was looking for a new job.

Right away side jobs and inquiries started rolling in. Within a month he had several paying projects in the works and two job offers -- one in Pullman, WA and one in Seattle. We decided to sleep and pray on it.

The next morning, I awoke to Nels's telling me that he knew where we needed to be.

So here we are - in Pullman, Washington - set right in the middle of an ocean of rolling wheat fields called the Palouse, seven miles from the Idaho border.

We are settling into a mild, snowless January (what is this place?!). Nels is feeling good about his new job and the team he works with (that's a great thing). The girls are loving their new school (I should have known they would do awesome) and after living like nomads for two weeks, I am slowly getting us unpacked into our new home (a 1400 sqft daylight-basement duplex). We all are finally sleeping in our own beds (WITH SHEETS!) and while we lived in temporary housing, I picked up knitting as a new hobby (always good to have something to spend more money on). 

We are really hoping to love our new home, but one thing I've learned about over the past few years is that I'm a slow transition-er. I feel a little like I'm hibernating as we get used to our new surroundings, 

but I'm praying for a glorious Spring.