Back to (New) Reality

Michael:

has two weeks of real life under his belt! Not that everything up to this was fake life. But, it wasn't real life either. Residency... *shudder*. He is feeling really really grateful for where we ended up, who he ended up working with, the neighborhood we ended up in, etc. etc. So many pieces fell into place in such a wonderful way. Getting settled takes time but we're chipping away at it. I'm grateful to be married to such a hard worker. He has an evaluation at work this week, and is still getting used to things, but overall is feeling good about getting in his groove!

Maddie:

paints until midnight most nights still, but I have stopped painting while my boys are awake. That was impossible during kitchen days because we needed to have a functional kitchen, but now I just paint post-bedtime. It's significantly slowing down progress, but significantly less stressful. We put the handles up on our kitchen cabinets this week and it made me really happy. I love seeing something in real life that I've been seeing in my head! I was feeling mom guilt through all these projects so I decided to double down on two goals -- counting for Bennett, and bike riding for Westin. Sometimes I need to choose something measurable in this mom life or you can just get lost in the "what did we even do today" thing. But you're too tired for the answer to be nothing, but you're kind of unsure of what the answer actually is... so. Bike riding. Counting. I also registered both boys for school so soon we'll learn what that means for our weekly routine this fall.

Westin:

is a bike rider! After grandma and grandpa left he decided he wanted to really learn because "when I ride to Sprouts with Grandpa he is FAST so I need to surprise him and keep up when we go get peaches!" So if you read this before your next visit, pretend you didn't :) Because he took off after just a few walks with help down our cul-de-sac. Now he's doing so well! It's so fun! His bike pedal keeps falling off and we need to figure that out. He tipped over once when it happened and it was super sad. He's also sleeping on the top bunk of bunk beds, and once this week he showered by himself instead of taking a bath.. who is this grown up?!? And why isn't he cooking his own dinners yet? Kidding. He'd probably be thrilled by that opportunity, honestly.

Bennett:

is such a sweetheart. I spoke on the phone with a speech language pathologist this week and was describing some of his habits and disposition, and she said "He sounds so sweet," and I just thought, oh if you only knew. He loves to help me feed Camden. When we went out to eat this week he broke off pieces of his kids meal all throughout our lunch and helped me keep Camden happy. It was adorable and honestly super helpful. He loves his bunk beds too and even took a once-in-a-blue-moon nap this week just because he wanted to sleep on the top bunk while Westin was doing his quiet time in a different room. So cute. He's been playing extra rough lately and sometimes it's too much for Westin. This kid is a bruiser. He's working on counting and he likes helping me play Connect Four with Westin. He also loves pushing a chair over to help me cook -- we need to get barstools! But I have decision fatigue with furnishing our rooms. Toooooo many decisions. 

Camden:

is whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiny, I love him. But oh my goodness, the whining. He got used to having full-time caretakers around here when my parents and Michael's parents came back to back. Now that we were back to mom life as usual this week he was NOT happy with me getting anything else done that didn't involve holding him. He also does not sleep in a car at all. We were going stir crazy Sunday so we skipped his second nap and packed dinner and drove up Poudre Canyon. I was sure he'd fall asleep on the drive up. He cried most all of it and most all of the way home, and was happy as a clam while we were there because he was held the whole time by me or by Michael. Stinker. Such a cute stinker though. We put everyone to bed at 6:45 when we got home. Our kids feel a little less independent here than in Fresno. They just don't spend as much time in the backyard as they did there, and they also want to be on the same floor of the house as us, so they don't spend as much time in their room. But also, their room is a disaster because I don't have a dresser for them yet, so, no one wants to spend time in a disaster. We'll figure it out. :)

Westin made himself a phone...

Complete with an Apple on the back.
Creative, cute... and sad. Oh phones.

Camden really wanted to help build the bunk beds.
But what he mostly wanted to do was eat the screwdriver.

And make messes.

And act offended when I didn't move screwdrivers any closer to him.

The longing face of a non-crawling baby.

Woohoo bunk beds!

These boys were so excited!
Bennett even took a nap the next day so he could sleep on the top bunk :)

The painting continues...

This window was meant to be black!
I love it.

On to painting the shelving in the family room.

Bennett wants to hold Camden sometimes these days.

One of these is more content than the other.

Westin left a big grape out in the sun for a while so he could make a raisin.

He ate it. Said it was pretty good.

Another sweet neighbor brought some coloring books for the boys,
and a gift card to a favorite Fort Collins ice cream shop.
People here are SO NICE.

Michael met someone in his office that is from Evansville,
and she brought him a "Welcome to Colorado" basket full of local goodies.
It's been fun to work our way through all the yummy things!

I painted the mirror from my grandma's vanity, and I'm going to hang it in my entryway after I paint the walls.
I love that it's the mirror that she saw herself in every day.
I have super clear memories of her humming while looking in it, and putting in her earrings,
and I would watch her get ready and sometimes look through all of her jewelry.
I love my grandmas so much.

Peanut gallery during Westin's bike practice.

This is big news over here!

Westin is SO excited to surprise his Grandpa Daetwyler next time he visits -- he wants to "show him that I can ride to Sprouts just as fast as him now, when we get peaches!!" So cute.

(And if you're reading this before your next visit, grandma and grandpa... act surprised :))

We went to a fun little restaurant by a pond on Saturday for lunch.
This is the first time we've sat down at a restaurant together in months.

Then afterwards you can fish off their little docks,
pay a $2 fee for them to clean your trout,
and take it home to cook! That's my kind of fishing.

BUT the first fish we came in contact with got our worm, and got away.

And THEN a storm came.
So they gave us a rain check coupon.
I love these afternoon thunderstorms in Colorado!

Fishing observers. We were sad for the fish. And the worm.
But... We also shared fish tacos for lunch.
So it's not like we can act too high and mighty about the whole thing.

A family in our ward invited us for pizza in their backyard on Saturday and we brought some cookies.
It was so fun to meet them! They had two little boys and all four of our boys had fun playing the whole time.
Camden had fun being held and fed bites of pizza. 

Bennett was ready and willing to let daddy pull out some teeth!

We made bread for our neighbor and it came out looking like this...
So we ate it. And she'll get a prettier one tomorrow.