Days 274-300 in South Dakota

 Tuesday, December 6th through Sunday, January 1st.
I have definitely had a few firsts while living in South Dakota. I had never heard of freezing fog before, so when Kurt said that the weather man was calling for some I was not looking forward to it. It certainly didn't sound like anything I wanted to experience. But I was surprised to find so much beauty the next morning. The freezing fog had turned everything white. Trees, bushes, fences. . .it was all so pretty. Really the pictures just don't capture the beauty we were fortunate to experience.

 We had a blessed Christmas this year. It was so nice to be able to get together with Kurt's family and spend Christmas day. I ended up getting sick, but I was very happy that the children were all healthy and happy. The children were looking forward to a white Christmas, but we did not get any snow. So no white Christmas for us this year.

 Each of the children got to play "Santa" and hand out the presents they got for each of us. They just love posing for the camera. LOL

 After all the decorations were put away, we needed to put our pictures back up on the wall. I already had the older three children's baby photos but had not gotten one made of A. As I was getting the picture made I thought about how fortunate we are to have these pictures of A. She was 3 1/2 when she came home to us and it is not uncommon for the children to come to their family with nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing. I am so grateful to the Half the Sky Program that worked in A's orphanage for putting together the memory books that hold the precious photos and memories of her first few years while in China.

Days 231-273 in South Dakota

Tuesday, October 25th through Monday, December 5th.
Sickness, sickness, sickness!! That is what we have been dealing with in our home for the past month. Everyone in the house has been sick at least once, some more than once. I will be so happy when everyone is feeling better and healthy again.

We have had some snow, some really cold days, and some really nasty wind the last few weeks. The boys got to shovel snow for the first time in their lives. They will be pro's before long. We have also had some days with temps in the 50's. Let me tell you, those are wonderful days. Today it is 9 degrees outside. Not much fun to get out in. We are trying to get used to dressing in layers. It is going to be a long winter. But we will survive. :)

Thanksgiving started out great and went downhill after some family drama that kind of ruined the day. :( I had high hopes that the first holiday dinner hosted in our new house would be a wonderful memory. It just wasn't meant to be. :(


We have all our Christmas decorations up and it is looking quite festive in our home. I went out yesterday and got some shopping done for extended family. I know it is going to be a hard holiday knowing that I am so far away from my family in PA. It will probably be some time before I can get back to see them.

This is kind of a bummer of a post. Reading through it, it feels so negative, but I really don't mean it to be. I am truly thankful for everyone and everything that God puts in my path. Even when things happen that I really don't enjoy.  :)

Days 214 -230 in South Dakota

Saturday, October 8th through Monday, October 24th. We are still settling into a routine. There is always something new to add to the schedule that makes things a little more hectic.
My baby girl turned 8 on the 10th. We scheduled a party at her favorite place right now. . . the gym where she does gymnastics. We invited her gymnastics class and her cousins. They had a blast running around the gym and playing on all the equipment. I think A enjoyed her special day.

K and A were playing in their room one day and heard a strange noise. They went outside and saw about 100 geese flying in multiple V formations. K was amazed by this and came to get me. I tried to get some pictures but the camera would not cooperate. It was a great opportunity to explain to the girls that the geese were flying south for the winter. We have now seen this three different times. That is a lot of geese!!
The weather has gotten a lot cooler. It still is warming up quite a bit in the afternoon but the mornings are down right cold. Kurt keeps telling me that this is not cold, but to me in that moment it IS cold. I finally turned on the heat in the house. I do have it set to what I think is pretty low, but still comfortable at 68. I am curious though to what others set their heat to in the winter. 
I have also been trying to get some crocheting done. I started a new project. Visit my craft blog by clicking the caption on the picture below to find out about it.

Click here to visit my Craft Blog!!!!

Hail Storms

I mentioned in past posts about the hail storms we have experienced since moving to South Dakota, but I never posted the pictures I took during the last one. So here you go. This one was a pretty bad one. We thought for sure that we would have vehicle damage, but surprisingly the vehicles were pretty much unharmed. Thank goodness.

Days 204 -213 in South Dakota

Wednesday, September 28th through Friday, October 7th.
We are finally getting into a pretty good weekly schedule. I am discovering that having four children in three different schools is challenging. There is always something going on. Life is definitely not boring. Just busy.
The weather is getting cooler in the mornings. I have been opening the windows in the morning when it is cooler outside, then close them in the afternoon when it warms up. There has only been one day so far where I have really been tempted to turn on the heat, but I was determined not to do it yet. We had a really bad hail storm last night. That is one thing I have to get used to living here.
Last weekend Kurt, the girls and I went for a drive through Spearfish Canyon. It is really nice to drive through the canyon in the fall when the leaves are changing color. That is one thing that I miss about living in Pennsylvania. Autumn in Pennsylvania is truly beautiful.

Days 196 -203 in South Dakota

Tuesday the 20th started out a pretty normal day. We had an early dinner because Kurt had to leave for a meeting at the church. Just after he left A came into the house crying. She was holding her chin and when she took her hand away I saw that she had split her chin wide open. I got her a rag to put on it and off we went to the ER. This was the second trip to the ER in 8 days. She ended up with 6 stitches across her chin. She was so brave. I am so proud of my sweet little girl.
Wednesday I took the children to youth group at the church and attended a new bible study. Oh boy, is this going to be a good study. I am really looking forward to getting going with this study.
The rest of the week was pretty good. A didn't want to go to gymnastics because she was worried about her stitches. We had a guy come in to work on C's room. All that is left to do is paint, put the ceiling in, and put the carpet in. C will have a finished room soon!!!
Saturday the girls and I went downtown for the Pumpkin Festival. It was a nice day with a warm breeze and we enjoyed walking around. We met my SIL and her girls there. When we first got there A was the only one in costume. She got a lot of compliments. She was representing North Carolina as a southern belle.

 She was happy when her cousins got there and were in costume.

 Then when it was time for the costume parade, there were lots of kids in costume.

Sunday was a nice day. After church we came home and relaxed before Kurt and I left for our Sunday small group.
Monday came and went without much notice. Tuesday after school I took A to have her stitches out. Again, she did amazingly well. She is such a brave little girl.

Some Observations About Living in South Dakota

I am amazed by how much I truly like living here in South Dakota. (Remind me of this statement when we are in the dead of winter.) We decided to settle in South Dakota since Kurt's family is here. When we were first married we were stationed in Georgia, then moved to New Jersey, then Missouri before living 11 years in North Carolina. I adjusted to each new place and we made connections and friendships, but to really say that I enjoyed the area--well I don't know if I can say that. But South Dakota is so beautiful I truly do enjoy it.
That being said there are certainly differences about living here.
About a month after we got here we started seeing these little bugs everywhere. Kurt explained that they were Box Elder bugs and were harmless. But, just because they are harmless does not mean that I want to see them everywhere I look.
During the spring I began to notice this stuff floating around in the air that looked like snow. It was everywhere to the point of affecting visibility when driving around. Kurt told us that it was from the Cottonwood trees. These trees are actually no longer allowed to be planted because of the problem they cause. I don't believe that I have ever seen cotton from a cotton wood tree before moving here.
Summer brought more differences. First I started noticing all these little yellow butterflies. They were everywhere. I love butterflies, but when there are so many of them that you notice them hitting your windshield and leaving little yellow marks it is a bit much.
Then came the grasshoppers and crickets. I don't think I have ever seen so many grasshoppers in my entire life. Everywhere you look, and the crickets. Oh my, they are huge. And yes, they are everywhere too. It just seems so strange to me that these things seem to come in waves. I wonder what the next several months will bring.

Days 188 -195 in South Dakota

Monday started out a very "normal" day. I took the children to school, came home, did some chores, picked the children up after school, and made dinner. After dinner C went with some of his friends to the nearby skate park. A little while later his friends brought him home. He had fallen off his skateboard and hit his head pretty hard. He was dazed and was repeating himself. I took him to the ER and sure enough he had a moderate concussion. It was a pretty scary experience. I am so thankful it was not more serious.
Tuesday through Friday were pretty average days. There were a few days of 40 degree weather. It was pretty chilly. I don't know how we will survive the winter with the complaints about 40 degrees. : )
Saturday was spent just hanging around the house. Kurt has been working on finishing C's room. It is a work in progress and will hopefully be done in the next couple of weeks.
Sunday was a good day. After church we went out for lunch, then back home to get some things done before Kurt and I went to our new small group bible study. There were only 4 of us there so it is definitely a small group. Hopefully we will pick up a few more in the next week or two. The study itself is really quite interesting and I am really looking forward to it.
Monday was another good day. Monday night we had a lot of wind. I mean a lot of wind. I can not get over the wind here. It is another thing I will have to get used to living in South Dakota. : )

Days 182 -187 in South Dakota

Last Tuesday through Thursday were pretty "normal", whatever that is. Just trying to finish up getting the house together. Friday was a bit busy, gymnastics for A after school, then we had Kurt's sister and her girls over for pizza. I also had set aside some things I didn't need anymore from my time of homeschooling for her to look through. It was nice to see how excited she was to get some new things. Some things she had been looking for and had not been able to find so I was glad that I had it for her. We also went over to look at my BIL's new house. They had a house built just up the road from where we now live.
Saturday morning I got up and K and I went to an auction that our moving company was having. I got a few things. A couple of boxes. You are not allowed to open them before you bid so you get what you get if you bid on a box. Some boxes have good stuff, some have trash and that is just what I got. A few good things and some trash. I was not entirely disappointed. I feel like I at least got my moneys worth.
Sunday was a day of remembrance. Church was good as usual. I served in the children's department then was able to attend church. The afternoon was spent hanging pictures. It took Kurt and I all afternoon to get all the "stuff" hung up. In the evening our church was showing a documentary about the anniversary of 9/11/01. It was a very good documentary although it is hard to really sit and think about the devastation that happened that day.

New York City Police Officer Danny Shea, a military vet, salutes at the north pool of the 9/11 Memorial during the 10th anniversary ceremonies of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center site Sept. 11, 2011, in New York City. (David Handschuh-Pool/Getty Images)

Days 174 -181 in South Dakota = Unpacking!

Last week was a crazy week. My schedule from Monday through Friday was to get up in the morning at 6:30 (this was very difficult after not having to get up that early on a regular basis in quiet some time), take the children to school (we are having some adjustment issues, I think there is just too much change going on right now), come home and unpack boxes, wash dishes (by hand and through the dishwasher), wash clothes, try to find a new home for all of our things, go back to pick up the children from school, come back home to get the children started on home work, have dinner, clean up, try to unpack more boxes all before collapsing in bed each night.
Saturday was definitely a work day. Kurt did an amazing job getting lots of boxes unpacked. He is a worker. From the time he got up in the morning until he went to bed he was busy. I moved at a much slower pace than he does.
Sunday was a great day. I was able to attend our Sunday school class after missing for three weeks because I was serving in the children's department. It is so nice to be in class studying the word of God. After church I cleaned out my closet. I had many boxes of stuff to sort through. I was so glad to be done with it. Then I took nap. A wonderful hour of rest. I felt like I deserved it after cleaning the closet. : )
Monday was a bonus day!!! It was so nice to have an extra day off. Guess what we did??? That's right, unpacked more boxes. : )
There are only a few boxes left to be unpacked. I still need to get pictures and things put up, but for the most part the house is really looking good. I will post some pictures soon.

Days 169-173 in South Dakota

Wednesday through Friday were pretty busy days. I would get up in the morning and take the children to school across town since we are still not moved into our new house. Then I would go to the house and drop off a few things that we had loaded into the van the night before. After that I would go back to the temporary house and load up the van again, then drop off that stuff at the new house before picking up the children from school.
We are having some adjustment issues but there is a lot going on right now. Hopefully things will calm down soon.
Friday night and Saturday J and K went camping with the church youth group. They had a nice time.
Saturday we spent the day loading the vehicles with the last of the stuff from our temporary house. We spent 6 months in this house and were very blessed to have the opportunity to stay there. After unloading everything at the new house we then needed to go back and clean and load up the animals. They knew something was going on and they were a bit nervous. But we got them all moved to our new house without any problems.
Sunday was my day to help in the children's department. I ended up getting sick and was not much help. Most of the day I was not feeling well but we were trying to get the house ready for the movers to come with all of our stuff that had been in storage for the past 6 months.

Day 168 in South Dakota = First Day of School!!

Tuesday was the first day of school. I can't believe that they are growing up so fast. My prayer for them is that they make lots of friends, apply themselves to do the best they can and have fun this year.

C is in 11th grade.

J is in 10th grade.

K is in 7th grade.

A is in 2nd grade.

Day 167 in South Dakota

Today was a lot of running around. Running here, running there, running everywhere. So much to do to get ready for the children to start school tomorrow. Trying to get things done so we can get moved into our new house. Busy, busy, busy, does not begin to describe the next two weeks.

Day 166 in South Dakota = Our 18th Anniversary!!!

Sunday was our 18th Anniversary. I look back and really can't believe how time has flown by. I know that everyone says that, but sometimes it really is true. Kurt and I had a small wedding. Mostly just my family and a couple really close friends. Kurt's mom, sister, and two brothers were the only ones there from his side of the family. We were married in my grandma and grandpa Adams' church. It is a small church in the country. Then we had a nice reception at a local hall. Nothing big and fancy, but then again we are not fancy people. It was wonderful just the way it was.

We celebrated our anniversary earlier in the week. Kurt took me to see The Help. What a great movie. We laughed a lot, but it also had such a great message. I would recommend it to everyone. Kurt took the children to the fair after church and I got to stay home and have a relaxing afternoon. I was able to read and it was so peaceful. I would have to say that I got the better end of the deal.
Today is also the anniversary of Kurt's mom's passing. She passed away in 2006 of cancer. There are days when I so wish that she where still with us. She was a really good grandma.

Days 163 - 165 in South Dakota = We bought a house in SD!!!

Thursday was a very busy day. The girls went to spend the night at my SIL's. They love spending time with their cousins. I took the boys shopping for school clothes. We bought the children new mattresses for their beds and had a final walk through at our new house.
Friday I took the girls to their new schools to meet their teacher's. Then we closed on our new house. Boy did I have a hand cramp after signing all those papers. Geesh! But what a good feeling to know that we are no longer connected to our NC house and now have a house here. We will be spending the next week or more getting everything moved from this house to our new one. The army will be delivering all of our stuff from storage on the 29th. School starts Tuesday. Boy are we going to be busy!!!!
Saturday the girls and I took C to work in the morning and then went school shopping. First clothes, then supplies. I am so glad that chore is done. I think the children are all looking forward to school starting. Kurt and I then went to the furniture store to buy the girls new bunk beds since they will be sharing a room. We ran some other errands and finally got home in the evening.

Days 160 - 163 in South Dakota = House in NC is SOLD!!

Sunday was a good day as usual. We went to church and had some quiet time. Monday through Wednesday were busy, frustrating days. We were supposed to close on our house in NC last Friday, then Monday, possibly Tuesday. Well, as it turned out we finally closed Wednesday. It almost didn't happen Wednesday either. Frustrated doesn't begin to cover the emotions I have felt the last 16 months since we first put the house on the market. It has definitely been a crazy time in our lives.

Days 154 - 159 in South Dakota

This week has been a crazy one. The days have blurred into each other so I am not even going to try to separate them at this point.
This is bike week at Sturgis. Bike week is a pretty big deal around here and you will not believe the number of motorcycles there are everywhere you look. For the most part the traffic hasn't been horrible, but there is definitely a difference. The girls were having fun counting the number of bikes they would see when we left the house to go somewhere. They quit after the first few days because they would have counted more than 200 toward the end of the week. That would be more than 200 motorcycles seen on a 20 minute or so drive. That is a lot of bikes. It is kind of neat to see all the different styles of bikes, but I must say that I will be happy when they are gone.
Also we have been dealing with trying to close on our house in NC this week. We were supposed to close yesterday (Friday) but now we will be lucky to close on Tuesday. I pray that we do and that no other unexpected things come up. It has been quite a stressful time the last couple of weeks and the next couple look to be same. We are due to close on our house here on Wednesday. Please pray that nothing happens to cause a delay.

Days 148 - 153 in South Dakota = School Registration

Tuesday was a busy day. I took the boys to visit the high school that they will be attending this year. Kurt met us there. Since it is the school he graduated from he was very much enjoying taking a tour. I think the boys are looking forward to going back to school. Then I picked up my nieces for the night.

Wednesday I took J to hang out at the mall with some friends. Then I took my nieces home and went to the school to register the children. I was told by all three schools that all I needed to register them was a purchase agreement for our new house since we have not closed on it yet. Well, when I got to the school they told me that I could not register them without a mortgage statement. I was not a very happy camper. They told me to stop by the school board and see if they would make an exception. No was the answer I got at the school board. I called Kurt and told him about how aggravated I was by all the this and I came home. About a half hour after I got home Kurt called me to tell me that they would let me register so off I went, back to the school to fill out mounds of paperwork, but it was done. The children are now registered for school thanks to my wonderful husband who would not take no for an answer.

Thursday was not such a good day. I was not feeling well so A missed gymnastics.

Friday I started getting either a horrible head cold or allergies. I am really not sure which it was, but I was not feeling well at all.

Saturday I took K, A and 5 of their cousins to see The Smurfs as part of K's birthday. It was a really good movie. We all laughed a lot. Then we came back to the house for cake and ice cream.

Sunday was a good day at church. I do enjoy our new church even though I am not really connecting with anyone there yet. Everyone is very nice, but with me being busy with the children it is hard to take time to get together with people.

Days 144 - 147 in South Dakota = A Wedding!!!

Friday we had my SIL's wedding rehearsal. The wedding is taking place in a nearby park. During the rehearsal there was lots of sunshine and it was warm, but at least there was a very nice breeze.
Saturday was the big day. I went over to my SIL's house at 11:00. My one job for the day was to get her to the wedding on time. I was able to accomplish this task with minimal teeth baring and foot stomping. Really, I only had to be mean once. The day was very busy, but it was a beautiful wedding and I was so glad that we were all able to be here for it.

My SIL, Beth, her husband Patrick, and the girls.

Kurt, his sister, and brother.

A loves spending time with her cousin.

K loves to hold her baby cousin.

Sunday is always a good day, but it was also busy running around.
Monday I took the girls to visit the schools each of them would attend if they decide to go back to school this year. K will be in 7th grade. She is more apprehensive about going to school. She really does not like the drama of school. A is really wanting to go to school. She loves to learn and be around other kids. I know that she will do fine in 2nd grade. I will take the boys to the high school tomorrow. We will have to see how they like it.