ARE WE THERE YET?

HOW MUCH LONGER?
STOP TOUCHING ME!
ARE WE THERE YET?
I HAVE TO GO POTTTTEEEEE!
So these were the most heard phrases Thurs and Fri as we made our way to our new home (though I have to say that the potty stops were more often for me than the kids). Really the trip was uneventful. Long, but thankfully, uneventful. I would like to send a special shout-out to the man or woman who invented the in-vehicle-DVD player! We did look a bit like the Griswald's driving down here. We had so much stuff in the van that you could barely see the kids! Poor Kiera had to do quite a bit of climbing, stretching and contorting her body to get herself into the back seat. We made it here safely Friday, mid-afternoon. It was so sad to leave our NY friends, Thursday morning saying goodbye was definitely really rough for all of us. But we were all happy to get here and be together as a family again. All of the kids are really happy to be with daddy, but especially Michael. There's just something about a dad and his son....Also we are very happy to have cousin Kasey with us for the kids to hang out with. I think it is making the transition easier for them and takes their minds off of missing their friends. We haven't really done any major unpacking this weekend. We have been busy doing other things like going to WalMart (3 times!), running other errands, going to church and doing other things around the house. We definitely have to get serious about unpacking tomorrow! There are certainly a lot of boxes! I did find time this weekend to check out the local nail place to get my toes done! So much more motivated to unpack when I have pretty toes! We have had some yummy family dinners together, which is so nice after not having that for the last couple of months.
So in a nutshell, everything has gone well so far. We are all happy to be here and slowly getting used to our new surroundings. And let me just say that it is really HOT here! Nothing like NY hot! Everyone says that we will get used to the heat. At this point, I am definitely thankful for central air!

Our Life in Bins

It's funny how life can go from one extreme to another in a matter of days. For weeks we have been in high gear, overdrive, craziness, etc. getting ready for the "big move". It culminated with the "big weekend" of the dance recital and birthday party, then 2 days of the movers. Then.......nothing. Quiet. Somewhat bored. Nothing much to do really. We seem to not know what to do with ourselves. The 2 days with the movers were interesting. They sent a team of 4 people here Monday for the packing. They were really fast with the packing, and it was nice to not have to worry about that. But very strange watching other people pack up all of our belongings! Then Tuesday they sent 5 or 6 people here to load everything up on the truck. It was a huge truck! Then once they were gone we were left with a pretty-much-empty house! We have our sectional couch, which the girls are sleeping on. Then our friends let us borrow a mattress, which Michael and I are sleeping on. We also have 2 tray tables and a desk. All of our clothing is in bins. I told the kids it is like a campout (not so much!) We are all having our struggles this week, but we are getting through them. Now that we aren't busy, we have time to think about the fact that we are moving so far away. The kids are each expressing their feelings in very different ways. I think it will be easier for them once we are down there and getting settled.

The girls dance recital was beautiful. They did wonderfully in all of their dances, especially their duet (they are in their duet costume in the picture). The birthday party was great and the weather was gorgeous. It was really nice to spend the day with our friends and family. The kids loved the bounce house!

Oh and our remaining tadpoles didn't make it. They all died within a 2 day time frame. Very strange, but the way that I look at it, that's less that we have to worry about taking with us! The kids don't seem too bothered by it.

So now we are just counting down the days until we leave. It is definitely a time of extremes. Stressed to relaxed. Busy to bored. Happy to sad. But we are definitely looking forward to the adventure that lies ahead! Our next post will be from North Carolina!

The Countdown Begins!

Enjoying my oj and a few minutes of peace before household duties call....
I have known this move was coming for several weeks now but, in typical me fashion, I of course wait until the last possible moments to kick it into high gear! (those who know me well are nodding their heads in agreement.) So this past week has been really intense preparation for the big move. You wouldn't think it would be that difficult. The Army is sending us movers that will actually PACK our house for us before they move everything out. So you would think that I could just relax because they will take care of it all for me. Not that simple, I'm afraid. It seems that our humble little house has turned into a magnet for STUFF. And by stuff I mean a whole bunch of useless crap! Our 2nd (yes 2nd) dumpster is virtually full. They say that as long as they can throw a tarp over it and haul it out of here that we can fill it as high as we think we can. Oh I plan to take full advantage of that. The kids actually fight over whose turn it is to run out to the dumpster to throw something away. It's like it has become part of our family. How sad is that? We have made so many trips to the Salvation Army to donate over the last couple weeks that the kids are starting to think that is their new home. And the volunteers there are asking me what time I start my shift. And God bless my dad, he has been here on and off trying to help me navigate through the black hole that is our basement. And also the other black hole, the garage. So over the next several days we will continue on our mad mission to get this house ready for the movers to pack us up and move us out. I am pretty much hoping to have our belongings "pack ready" by the end of Thursday (This does not count several disaster areas that belong to my husband, those are completely his responsibility. I'm good, but not that good.)
Because after this Thursday starts what I have lovingly started to refer to as "the crazy weekend". Friday evening is the rehearsal for the girls dance recital and after that I need to tend to a Tastefully Simple party. Saturday is hair and makeup appointments for the girls to get ready for their dance recital Saturday night. They are in a total of 4 dances, 1 of them being a duet which is so precious it brings tears to my eyes! They actually look like they like each other when they do the dance, and it is about 3 minutes of them not fighting! Then Sunday is our big combo bday party for the girls. We expect lots of family and friends, and to the kids extreme delight, we have rented a bounce house. Last check of the weather forecast there was a 30% chance of rain that day. Every day I go to check the forecast a vein starts throbbing in my forehead....
Then a week from tomorrow the movers come! After they move everything out on Tuesday, the next week or so should be a breeze while we wait for school to finish. The stress of cleaning will be over. The only posessions we will have to worry about will be a couch, a couple of tray tables, an air mattress and some clothing. We will need to find things to do to keep us occupied like going to the park and out to play with friends. Not so bad! Our belongings are supposed to arrive in NC before we do, so hopefully JM will get a good jump on setting some things up for us. I am hoping by the end of July to be totally unpacked and settled in the new house. I am sure by August and September I am going to be so big and hot (by that I mean sweaty!) that I am not going to want to deal with any more unpacking! We are very excited that our niece Kasey will be spending a good portion of the summer with us. She has found a dance studio where she can take classes and we all love having her around. So we are looking forward to a fun summer! Probably the next time I post will be when we are in a virtually empty house!