this morning as we were making our daily trek eastward, we pulled off the freeway and drove through the orange groves. we all inhaled. there is a sweet, sweet smell associated with orange blossoms that I have never lived with before. denten says it's like an air freshener was sprayed everywhere. I love it.

there has been significant progress in the form of painting, and cleaning. Cooper and I filled two garbage bags with gross oranges that had fallen off the tree and have probably been there for 6 months. it seriously grossed me out, but that part of the yard looks much better. yes, we were both wearing gloves.

Seneca emerged from the playhouse at one point with her braids undone and her shirt discarded and flew down the slide. she looked like a wild child, one who was having the time of her life.

Beckham keeps losing me in the house. he wanders around calling my name and the painters direct him to me.

My body is physically exhausted, but I'm happy. I'm losing my mind on a regular basis, but mostly it's just provided entertainment for Denten.

The kids and I discussed a name for our new house today on our way out. Cooper's suggestions included, "the big giant," and "echos." It's not that big, but when it's vacant, it does echo and he likes sneaking around in it. I'm leaning toward "the homestead." We are kind of homesteading the area seeing as neither of us have direct family that has ever been there. And I like the idea that it's our landing zone. We'll see if anything better pops in my head tomorrow.

I believe the words, "get off the boxes" have come out of my mouth 57 million times in the last two days. The pile of boxes fills our living room and the top of the pile is evidently the only place to see the princess?? good grief.

The list of stuff to do and people to call keeps growing, but I'm loving that for the most part Denten and I are in sync. This project would be a lot easier if he wasn't working full days and I didn't have three busy little shadows, but those full days make this possible and those little shadows are the reason we're doing this. and they are totally worth it.