First Trip to Davenport
Aug 10th, 2017 by ECM
With Derek out of town all week, we’ve been trying to keep ourselves busy and distracted. So today we drove an hour east to Davenport to meet up with Leah and her kids for the day! She had met Tommy once or twice as a baby, but we haven’t lived in the same state since Chris was in seminary and Derek was in law school. And we’re pretty sure the last time we even saw each other was at Clare’s wedding, almost seven years ago! I did not get pictures of Mariel and her Derek stopping by on their way through Iowa last week, but how cool is it that I got to see both my college roomies within two weeks of moving back to the Midwest?
Janie and Lydia are almost exactly a year apart, but Lydia is so mature that they were buddies almost at once. William was such a happy baby, considering we dragged him all over the Putnam science museum during both of his main nap times. Afterwards, we spent a couple hours at their church, a beautiful 90 year old building. Chris gave us the grand tour and then went back to work on his sermon while I just snuggled William for a catnap and the rest of the kids played in the nursery for a good hour. Then we went out to dinner together at a fun farm-themed restaurant on the way out of town. Leah and I both got a little teary eyed as we watched our little people play together happily, just like we used to dream about in Olds 104! We’re plotting a way to meet up with Clare and her crew, too, for a true Herd reunion while we’re all fairly close.
It got hot!
Our “School Room”
Aug 9th, 2017 by ECM
I am kicking myself that I didn’t take a before picture of our school area, but just imagine bins, piles of books and art supplies, and an overflowing school table with all the activity stuff from the mixed in. So I finally found a cheap used shelf on Craigslist and spent a couple of hours organizing after the kids went to bed. We brought a ridiculous amount of school stuff here, as you can see! I just got so excited about botany and American history this year that I couldn’t help myself.
Yes, that is a huge, well-stocked liquor cabinet between our school shelves.
Midway, when I thought to take a picture of the chaos and clutter we’ve been dealing with :
After! One shelf for each kid’s school stuff plus a top one for general coloring books and such. Now I just need to take the rest of my evenings while Derek is gone and actually get some lesson planning done. Those are thank you notes in progress on the school table. I am not worried about leaving them out over breakfast because we have two tables!
Getting settled in
Aug 7th, 2017 by ECM
We got it to Iowa City last Monday afternoon and have been settling in since then. Our first surprise was that the condo was being re-roofed all last week and this, so a large cherry picker was parked in our driveway and construction and noise was everywhere. We had to flee the house as much as possible for the first couple of days, as the noise was nigh on unbearable. Our cell service didn’t work in Iowa, so we are now AT&T users. Also, we have seen the mall (site of the AT&T store). There is a children’s museum, an ice rink, and a Chickfila. What more could we want? We spent our anniversary dinner at a local pizza place with mediocre crust. Shakespeare’s this was not!
The kids and I got out to the library the next morning and got our library cards, signed up for the summer reading program, and checked out about 60 books. Then we went back the next day and checked out 50 more. It feels unnatural living here in a house with no bookshelves, so I am stalking craigslist for some good deals. And I pulled one empty shelf up from the basement for our school stuff.
We met some homeschool families at a park day Wednesday and were invited to a picnic after church Sunday. Otherwise, we got Coralville library cards on Friday, picked 60 pounds of apples on Saturday, and have been making applesauce and pies ever since. I’ve been to Aldi multiple times, and the kids are amazed at the great prices!
Grandma came up for a couple days over the weekend because she is just four hours away! For the past six years, I’ve been so jealous of friends whose moms are in driving distance and can just come help out when their husbands are out of town. For the next five months, I get to enjoy that privilege. She took the big kids on a bike ride, we hit up two parks, and we did some nature journaling, processed apples, and of course read a ton of books. She even took the kids to the library while I ran errands so that I could wander Walmart without four bored sidekicks. Bliss.
Yesterday evening, we bought some bikes for the little girls on craigslist, and when we got there to pick them up, discovered that they belonged to a homeschooling family with five kids (ages 10, 8, 6, 5, and 3) who live about a mile away from us. They just moved to Iowa City, too, and they’re likeminded and super nice. We’re already planning on meeting at the park this week to play. This morning, we had a play date with another family with five kids (boys 12, 10, and 3, and girls 8 and 5) who goes to our church. All the ages and stages got along great, and we’re really excited to get to know them better. We’re going to another homeschool park day tomorrow and are driving over to Davenport Thursday to meet up with the Neuendorfs (who we haven’t seen in seven years!). So we already have as much community here in Iowa as it took us 3 years to find in Thousand Oaks. We miss our SoCal friends, but this feels like State College and St Louis, where we made friends so quickly that we never had time to feel lonely.
The internet situation is dicey here, so I’m not sure how often I’ll be writing long blog posts, but I’ll keep trying to document our life in pictures so we don’t forget our time here!
For now, our life these past couple weeks in Instagram shots:
Leaving in the Morning
Jul 27th, 2017 by ECM
We’re heading out to Iowa first thing in the morning! We’ve had lots of fun play dates and goodbyes this past week (thanks to so many sweet friends who have watched my kids while I packed)!
Silly times at Lexi and Theo’s house!
One last playdate-during-PT with the Eason girls!
BFFs! While Janelle was watching the kids, Janie and Judah decided to swim again…in their clothes.
On our last morning, the kids played with Nico and JD. Best neighbors ever!
“Two mediums, one big, one little!” The Daughritys watched the kids all afternoon and fed us dinner so we didn’t have to cook on our last night!
Odds and Ends
Jul 20th, 2017 by ECM
I never managed to post this picture of Derek and Aaron taking 10 kids (Mullers, Whites, and Franciscos) for a hike the night before Susie’s surgery.
Gulo Gulo
Four year olds playing chess.
Geneva leading play practice
rehearsals!
Family worship time.
Mr. Merriman and Felicity
Miss Manderly had to take on the additional role of Elizabeth when an actress declined to go out on stage. Annabelle and Felicity reconfigured lines on the spot to keep the play moving without one of the main characters!
Date night on the pier!
It’s so rare that we get a picture taken together.
And on Saturday, the Whites joined us for the evening…
Jul 18th, 2017 by ECM
After feasting on salmon, Bethany’s quinoa salad, hot dogs, and smores, and playing and talking until dusk, we came home and Aaron and Janelle put their kids down on the couches and played games. Best line of the night 11 pm, after several rounds of Secret Hitler, was from Bethany: “You guys, I don’t think this is the Benedict Option!”
Malibu Reunion 2017
Jul 15th, 2017 by ECM
Susie’s surgery is old news now. We’re in the midst of our second annual ES/E2S Reunion (sadly missing the Talcotts)!
Surgery and Recovery
Jul 14th, 2017 by ECM
Yesterday was a blur, but it all ended well. We left at 4:30 am after a sleepless night for me and a restless night for Susie and Derek. Everything went smoothly at the hospital, the surgery went as planned, and by noon we were back in recovery with our little Q. She threw up at the hospital and in the car on the way home (from the anesthesia), took a 4 hour nap, and was ready to play with her Miller and Francisco friends!
Then today she totally resumed normal activities, going to the beach with the other kids and playing and baking with the rest of the girls. She begged us to take off the big bandage and now is just sporting adhesive gauze. Praise God for one successful surgery down, hopefully just one more to go!
