Blast from the Past

When we moved into the new house, summer had arrived! All I wanted to do was be OUTSIDE, enjoying our beautiful yard with the kids. Painting and decorating would wait until fall weather moved in. We managed to get the two boy bedrooms painted, then the next day the Toilet Crime of 2016 happened. All plans of decorating came to a screeching halt as we demolished, then rebuilt the lower level of the house, and parts of the upper level. Then it was the holidays, and here we are! February. Its time to get some pictures up on these walls people!

For months I have had a particular project in mind but have had to put it off again and again. Today, finally, I am going through pictures so I can get this going. I found this video I don't remember taking. (It was while I was going through chemo, and I really don't remember much during that time) This video is bittersweet to me. Abel, when he was still trying to talk. He stopped long ago. Audrey, newly home, still not understanding English, instead giving us her fake barbie doll smile. (You'll see it. It was very fake! It was a "survival smile", that she used even in Serbia when she didn't understand what was going on. Look how little they are! Abel is a young man now. His voice has changed, and he's taller than Angela. Audrey, looking pretty lost, has recently gone through a huge developmental leap, is trying hard to say words and just seeming more aware of her surroundings.

Three months and I'm back!

I don't think I've ever taken such a long break from the blog. Is there anyone still checking in????

So much has happened in the last 3 months, I don't even know where to begin. I will say, my hiatus was precipitated by "The Toilet Crime of 2016".

Yes, there was a flood. A flood of very dirty water from a toilet on the upper level of our new house. The last week of August. The week before school started.

I woke up that morning hearing Abel laughing his "oh I did something naughty!" laugh. I was so sleepy and groggy. I opened one eye to find the sun was barely up, and Dean had already gotten up so figured he would deal with whatever Abel was up to. Then I heard Abel laugh again, and an odd thump sound, like somebody had fallen.

I jumped out of bed to investigate, as I approached our bedroom doorway my foot splashed in water.  step splash, step splash splash splash....what the heck? In the hallway I was standing in over an inch of water. Still not awake I hollered.

"DEAN!!!!!! DEAN!!!!!!!"

Where was he? Why was Abel upstairs? What is going ON???"  There were clothes floating out of the toilet, making it clear this was an intentional disaster of the type Abel enjoys. Yes, he likes to plug toilets then keep flushing over and over again as the water runs out the toilet. This one was especially pretty since there was also poop now floating on the bathroom floor.

I threw open the bathroom linen closet to grab towels, only there were none there. There never are. UGH! I splashed my way out of the bathroom to find towels, and realize Abel is dripping this wet - that must have been the thud I heard. He must have fallen in the water - and is laughing as this dirty toilet water is tracked all over the house. GAH!!!!!! I ran to the lower level for towels. When I turned the corner into the lower level hallway there was water coming out of the light fixture. "OH MY GOD!!!! DEAN!!!!! Where ARE YOU????"

I turned into bathroom. Axel was sitting on the toilet looking stunned. Probably because directly over his head was the bathroom vent, with water pouring out of it and onto him!!! "AXEL! Get UP!!!!" I pulled him off the toilet. "DEAN THERE IS WATER COMING OUT OF THE CEILING!!!!" Just then I heard Dean come in the door. "Whats wrong?" he hollered. He had run to the store for milk before the kids got up for breakfast, not realizing Abel was already awake. I went back to the hallway and looked in all the bedrooms. Axel/Abel's room was fine. Audrey's room was fine. Asher/Amos' room was a different story. There was water pouring out of the ceiling and was still running. How could there be so much water???? (we never did figure that out. He probably flushed the toilet 10 times or something)

That dirty water caused major damaged through two levels of the house, which resulted in an SOS call to the insurance company. Within a couple of hours there was a demolition crew at the house, destroying it!!! They had to GUT the upstairs bathroom (floor, sheetrock and vanity)  upper hallway (wood floors) lower level hallway (ceiling, carpet, sheetrock)  bathroom (floor, vanity, ceiling, sheetrock) and one bedroom (that I had just finished decorating the day before, now destroyed carpet, walls and ceiling)  We spent the first week of school living in a hotel room with 6 kids and two dogs.

Once the demolition was complete we had to wait for the other part of the insurance cogs to turn. We had two months of the 8 of us using our small 1/2 bath in the master bedroom. But it could always be worse, right? There were several times over the course of the rebuild that we had to be out of the house for several days at a time. Since the carpet in the lower level was destroyed in the hallway and one bedroom, we ended up having to replace all the carpet in the lower level and main level (because it's all tied together). Money we weren't really intending to spend at this particular point in time!  Because the wood floor in the upper hallway had to be replaced, and you can't just replace one area and think its all going together with the rest of the wood floor, we had to refinish the entire wood floor in the kitchen and dining area too. (thankfully that was covered by insurance!)

Anyway, the last of the project was completed the first week of December. Then we RACED to put the house back together because I had major GI surgery on December 7th. ;-) (All went well, I'm fully recovered and back to normal)

And here we are. February already! Our first Christmas in the house was beautiful. Even with all that was going I feel so much more at peace than I have in years. I'll try to post some pictures from the last few months.