Good-bye Ferndale...back to Mom and Dads!

Once plans were in place for the girls' school to move from its current location in Bellingham and join the campus of Lynden Christian in Lynden, Kyle and I started tossing around the idea of moving to Lynden. I am not a fan of the drive and the thought of doing it multiple times a day for the next 15 years was not appealing. Plus, it seems like it will be nice to live closer to school when it comes to things like sports, hanging out with friends, and simply being more involved in the community. We started looking at houses and have narrowed down what it is we are looking for but I struggled with the idea of buying a house and simultaneously having to sell our house. It seemed stressful to have to sell within a specific timeframe in order to be able to move ahead with the purchase of a new place. Plus, there are the details of keeping it clean with three kids and a dog, being able to leave anytime anyone wanted to see it, still do school, and work night shift and have to sleep during the day!! 

So it made sense to sell it first and then move ahead with buying something. Once we made that decision, my mom and sisters came over, we packed up all the clutter and staged the house. We moved back into my parent's house and that's where we are living for now! In this time of social distancing, it's been really nice because once we decided to live with Mom and Dad, it became okay to give them hugs, to go inside their house, and to enjoy being together again. 

I thought we did an excellent job getting the house all cleaned up and ready for pictures. We put it on the market on a Friday and within a week we accepted an offer. We are now in the process of packing up everything else and moving out! This process has gone so smoothly; it is clear that God's hand has been orchestrating it all. 

And now, for the past two weeks, we have been adjusting to living with Grandpa and Grandma. 

Kyle's new office

Teaching Grandpa how to play Maki Stack

Painting with Grandma

Annaliese's Artwork

Annaliese likes to keep things. She had several drawers filled with stuff. Papers, pencils, rocks, drawings, and random other treasures filled the space. One day Kim and I went through it all and I came across a few fun pieces of artwork that I didn't necessarily want to keep but also thought would be fun to look back at one day.

This is actually from last summer when we were getting ready to go on a camping trip! It was taped to the back of her door for months!

A self-portrait

Stay Home, Stay Safe

Here we are, over half way through the month of May. Things are pretty much the same as last month- still doing school from home, still avoiding the park, still wearing a mask in the grocery store, and still spending time with cousins out riding bikes in the cul-de-sac. I've been pleasantly surprised at how well the girls are handling things but they are getting old. Just a few days ago, Annaliese looked at me and said, "Mom, I'm tired of doing school by myself. I want to go to school with my friends." Me too.

We fill our time with art projects, playing games, riding bikes, going for walks, and doing school. We have zoom classes and zoom small group. We even tried a zoom dance class. It didn't work very well. 

School!

Such a gorgeous view of the bay!

We had a picnic lunch and the girls used some 'ultra-clean' markers to 'face paint' themselves! 

With Grandma and Grandpa's help, the girls all painted flower pots for Mother's Day!

Fresh orange juice!

I've been waiting for this day for years...I'm back to the single stroller with both Annaliese and Haleigh riding their bikes while I run!

Using the glass table for homework and to practice writing!

Tennant Lake with the girls!