I'm Still Waiting for CPS to Show Up at my Door...

I think it was on Sunday as I was doing dishes and Nathaniel was off in our room doing something on the computer when we hear the stomping of feet above our heads. Nathaniel says, "Where are the kids?" I said, "They are just upstairs running around, aren't they?" He said, "That didn't sound like they were upstairs..." And he left to go and check on them. It's a good thing he did too. He brought Nathan back downstairs with him and says, real normal and calm like, "They were running on the roof." I knew he was not calm on the inside, but he hides his emotions well. I on the other hand went flying up the stairs to find the girls and to get an explanations as to why my 3 children we RUNNING AROUND ON THE ROOF OF MY TWO STORY HOUSE!!! Eliza had apparently thought it would be fun to open the locked window (that is only knee height anyway with no screen...oh, the joys of renting) and let the fun begin. I still am in shock as to how all of this played out. They all got out on their own, but Nathaniel went upstairs before they could all get back in. Nathan was still outside and so Daddy helped him back in...which was good, of course, because if he would have slipped, he would have fallen off of the roof and landed on the sidewalk below. If any of you know me, you know that I am a pretty cautious (a.k.a. paranoid) mom. I am big on safety. I am the carseat Nazi. The lady that won't let her kids venture farther than the reach of her arm at any parking lot, store, or gathering. I won't let my kids even go back to the car at the park unless I am with them for fear they will be kidnapped. They can't play in the yard themselves...you get the idea. I am not a lenient mother. I am always worried about their safety. But here they are, running around on the roof of my house all careless and carefree. There's only so much I can do I guess. I prepare, prevent, worry, and watch as much as I can, but as soon as I turn my head...kids will be kids. There were some things that worked in our favor in this horrible scare. The part of the roof that they climbed out onto was flat, then after a few feet in slopes upward, not downward toward the ground, and their deaths. This roofline also hid the incident from onlooking eyes...therefore, the neighbors won't think I am a negligent mother. Nathaniel was home at the time and being where he was rather than where I was tipped him off to the problem. From where I was, it just sounded like they were in their room. I do figure that if I was home alone, the spirit probably would have clued me in. I am just very grateful that everyone was safe. I can just picture angels helping my little Nathan out of the window so that he didn't fall off the roof in the process. I called my Dad and was trying to remain calm as I asked him what to do to ensure the safety of my children as they played in the toy room. He told me to put silicone on the edges of the window and that would keep them shut. I had nightmares all that night about my children falling off of the roof. They are, however, safe and sound and sealed in the house thanks to the silicone. Best $5.49 I ever spent! And, since the roof covered up most of the show, I think we slipped under the radar with CPS. Whew!

Crime scene.
Notice how low the window is and how tempting it must be to a youngster.
Do you see how the roof does not extend all of the way across the window? You can also see how it is flat right outside the window and then fortunately slopes up.

View from outside looking up at the window.

Stake Steak Dinner

Our stake had a steak dinner at the cattle ranch about 45 min. away. It was so delightful. It was beautiful and peaceful. I could have stayed there forever. The kids and I were feeding a horse that had wandered over to the fence and every time we would pick the grass and put our hands up to feed it Nathan would laugh so hard. I think it was because the horses lips were so funny to him. I love children's innocent laughter. We had such a great time there. The church has elderly couples called there on their missions (as far as I could gather) and I think it might be kinda nice to end up that way. So fun.

Quick Summary

This is the park by Eliza's school. It is so nice. This is us there on our first full day in town (Thursday). When we pulled up there were a few ladies there and Nathaniel said he thought it was probably a playgroup of LDS ladies. He was right. As I sat down to make sandwiches for lunch, a lady came up and asked me if I was by chance Tennille Sorenson. To which I replied, "Wow, this is a small town." She turned out to be Lori, a lady I had talked to on the phone when I couldn't get in touch with our bishop and wanted to get help on the Ely end of unloading the truck. Her husband is the 1st counselor in the bishopric. Funny that she was the first person we randomly run into at the park. She has been so good us. She brought us dinner that night. The funny thing is she reminds me of my friend, Lori, from Tucson. It's kind of comfortable and familiar with her because of that.

Just playing around with Tanner while unpacking. Eliza and I thought we should see how well Tanner fit into the doll stroller. Not too bad...and super adorable.

Daddy was reading the kids a story as they laid in our bed. It was so cute. Kate and Nathan both had their blanket/shirt and were sucking on their fingers while Liza played with her fidget string. My kids as they really are.

My little cute in a hoodie. Love it!

Kate wears the most random clothing. I mean snowboots, swimsuit, and the bow I made her for Matthew's wedding. What a combo. She's missing Arizona with the swimsuit, embracing Ely with the snowboots, and has a little bit of fancy with the hair bow. You can see the black eye too.

Eliza on her first day of kindergarten. So beautiful and grown up. I tried hard not to cry the first day. I did cry on the first day she rode the bus (the 3rd day of school). That was hard to send her out into the world. She was nervous about all of the big kids on the bus.

Kate wanted to come with us when I dropped her off at her classroom. Then she wanted to stay. It is so hard for her to see Eliza doing something that she can't be a part of.

Tanner's first swing experience. Kate was on the other side. Eliza and Kate were fighting over who got Tanner on their swing. Size won. Isn't he sooo cute? I love that smile.

Eliza being held up by Daddy at the park.

That's called grass, son. We haven't seen "real" grass as I call it in a long time.

The Nathaniel's having a race. I'm not sure who won. How do you gauge that?

The artist and the masterpiece.
I had turned my head for 10 seconds to help Nathan with the pen he broke and I hear, "Mom, Tanner's wearing purple makeup!" Poor kid, he puts up with so much.

Daddy on his first day of work. Eliza's second week of school. He walks her to the bus and then continues on to the courthouse. It is about half a mile maybe a little more from our house to work. He comes home most days for lunch. I love it. We may not have the white picket fence, but my husband can walk home for lunch. That's pretty perfect.

I love these pictures. Daddy with his briefcase and Liza with her backpack hand in hand. I have looked forward to these pictures for years. I cried a little and watched them walk all the way down the street together.

Matchy matchy green squared (name that movie, Bri). Eliza has color days at school. Today was green day and we picked out Eliza's outfit last night. This morning when Kate got up she picked out an outfit that was identical to Eliza's. I thought it was sooo sweet. She wants to be just like Eliza. I want them to be best friends like I am with my sisters.

I think this picture is so cute of my kids. They are my whole world.

Moving

The exercise room (room to the left off of the entry from the front door, beside the living room)
The story of moving is soooooo long that I'll post pictures of my house and tell the story later.

View of the living room from the entry. I bought this rug for $55 on ebay and I LOVE IT!

This is the view of the living room from the recliner. The door with the backpack (off to the right) is to the entry, the other door (straight ahead) is into the kitchen. Tanner's room is off to the left. His door is between the around-we-go toy and the loveseat.

This is the mini hall that looks into the bathroom. To the left of the bathroom is Nathan's room, to the right of the bathroom is the stairway to the girls room and toy room upstairs.

The kitchen/dining room. Can you see the white buckets at the table? We didn't have room to go around the table when there were chairs on that side of the table.

Looking into the entry from the living room. From this view the exercise room is the door to the right and my bedroom is the door to the left which you can't really see. (You can see the rug doctor off to the side. We've become really good friends since we moved in.)

Storage room. This is in the back of the house opposite of Nathan's room. Same side of the house as the kitchen. I loaded up on food in Tucson. Nathaniel, his Dad, brother Quentin and Kurt (from Ely) all hate me I'm sure for making them move all of this food into the house.

This is the view from the storage room looking down the hall into the kitchen. Off to the right are storage cupboards. One is full of food and the other coats. To the left is the bathroom that we use since the other one only has a tub and a sink that doesn't drain. Eliza is in my bedroom doorway. It is in a really unusual place. It is right off of the entry opposite the exercise room and you can go into my room from the kitchen as well.

Our bathroom/laundry room.

This is the view from the front door of our house. That's our van out front.

This is the front of our house.

This is the front of our neighbor, Ernie's house. Nice, isn't it?

This is off to the other side- Joe's. Both of our neighbors have very nice houses. I don't know how we got right in between them.

Street view looking to Ernie's side (and toward the brothel.)

Street view looking the other direction. Liza's bus stop is right out there kinda by that truck in the middle of the way there.

Liza and Kate's room. Mom and I made these quilts back when Nathan was a baby. I love them.

The toy room with the other rug I bought.

The door from the kitchen into the mud room.