Moving is...

 

Eating in bed because we don't have any other furniture set up.

Unlimited TV time.

45 trips to the hardware store.

An explosion in the toy room.

More cleaning than I've done cumulatively in the last 35 years.

Begging your mommy to come help!!!

On Tuesday night we spent the first night in our new home. We've been working non-stop since then. The kids are adjusting pretty well, although Evy has been having a very difficult time getting to sleep. I'm so exhausted that I fall asleep the second my head hits the pillow!

Tiny Dancer, Big Dialogue

We're living at Scott's parents house which is a 32 minute drive from daycare and a 42 minute drive from my office so our routines have been shifted a bit. On Wednesday nights Evy has dance class so after picking her up from school we grab something to eat, then change into dance clothes in the locker room at the rec center. After class we have a 30 minute drive, just the two of us. Evy has been using this time for some BIG conversations. Last week the conversation was about Jesus, God, souls, spirits and angels. I attended church regularly until about age 15 but have not been a regular attender since then. I question my own beliefs so trying to answer the questions of a four year old is quite challenging! Her questions are very specific and it's hard for her to grasp conceptual ideas at this point but I'm doing my best! Last night the conversation was about having babies. Evy wanted to know if she would have to have her baby cut out of her tummy or if she could have a baby come out of her v*gina. She doesn't want to have a baby if it has to be cut out. My new niece Camryn was recently "cut out" so I think that's why this topic is currently top of mind. She asked if Aunt Morgan was asleep when they cut her tummy. She asked if I was asleep when I had her and Charlie. She laughed when I told her that I didn't have medicine with her and it HURT! By 7:30 p.m. I'm pretty much spent so I'm doing my best to answer these questions honestly and openly. I wish I had something to record the questions with. Evy's questions truly are priceless!

The Deal from H*LL

WOW! We've had a rough week. We've officially moved out of our old house, moved our belongings into the new house, closed on the old house, closed on the new house, and temporarily moved in to my in-laws house. But none of that was the hard part. The hard part was dealing with the seller of our new home. Since we put an offer on the home in January the seller has missed every deadline and basically ignored every contract we've signed. It has seemed like they did not actually want to sell the house. We asked ourselves several times, "should we just walk away?" but decided to move forward. On Friday, we were to have possession of the new home and a list of items were to be fixed. When we arrived at the home the seller still had their belongings in the home and the majority of the items were not fixed. At this point our choices were 1) walk away 2) sue them or 3) figure out a way to get it done. Obviously we were irate, but rationally choices 1 and 2 are not good choices since by the way we have to be out of our house!!! so we moved forward with plan 3. In order to get that done Scott and his friends moved the sellers belongings out of the house and into a moving van secured by the Realtor. Seriously ridiculous. At the closing both our Realtor and the seller's Realtor admitted that this was in their top two worst transactions ever. So glad we could be included in this fiasco! So, now we officially own the home and are looking forward to moving in later this month after we've had some work done. We're still experiencing a few bumps in the road, but at least we are in control now. I hope we can look back on this in a year and have it all be a distant memory.

First Haircut

Charlie's bangs were starting to get in her eyes. She needed about three snips to remedy the situation. I tried to take care of it myself and poked her in the cheek with the scissors. Ugh! Sometimes I really fail! Decided I'd leave it to the professionals...

Very sober. Didn't make a sound.

Seriously, it was three snips.

"What is happening?"

Decided to maximize my time and get Evy a trim at the same time. She's a pro at this by now. We really prefer to go to Miss Katie for haircuts but her shop is about 25 minutes away so sometimes we just opt for Cost-Cutters. Evy is sporting cat whiskers today. No reason, just a normal Tuesday at our house. Applied by mom with the eyeliner that I haven't worn since having kids...

Almost Forgot!

We are moving all of our belongings into the new house on Friday and Saturday. However, we won't be moving along with our belongings---we will be living at Scott's parents house for a few weeks. I remembered to set Easter baskets and eggs aside in preparation for an egg hunt on Sunday but forgot about coloring eggs! Quickly took care of that last night. Luckily we have a few cups left in the cupboard so we had something to soak the eggs in. Evy loved it and we strategically planned it during Charlie's bath time so we didn't have any extra "help"!

Packpack!

Evy carries a backpack to school each day. It's mostly for my benefit because I need something to hold all of the papers and art projects that both girls accumulate by the end of the day. Charlie has backpack envy and has been screaming "Packpack! Me!" at us when we are heading out the door in the morning and when I pick the girls up at school. I cannot find the drawstring backpack that I know we have somewhere so this morning I improvised with one of Evy's purses. Looks hilarious, but Charlie thought she had a backpack so all was good in the world.

Just Keeping Swimming

In Finding Nemo, the theme at the end is "Just Keeping Swimming," I'm feeling a little like Nemo these days. Except he's a fish. He has fins. He can breathe underwater. He won't actually drown. Man, I wish I was a fish. This blog has been ignored as I attempt to keep my head above water. I thought it would be fun to see what random photos are on my phone and use those to give you a little update.

I will hate to leave our current neighborhood. Last week Evy played with Sam in the front yard for about 30 minutes. Sam is awesome with Evy. After Sam got cold and went back home Evy played with some other buddies for 45 more minutes. I was inside the entire time. It was awesome. I'm going to miss these neighbors! 

I've been dropping the ball a lot lately. In addition to forgetting about pajama day at school I also totally forgot about Evy's dance pictures, missing the entire thing this year. I also forgot to deliver some items to one of my major clients at work. I don't normally drop the ball. Right now I have a huge sign on the door to our garage that says "FRIDAY. EVY BANANAS. CHARLIE JUICE." Hopefully this will keep me from forgetting our contribution to St. Patrick's Day parties at school. I snapped this picture the other day because I think the amount of junk that I (and most other parents) lug in and out of the house is kind of unbelievable. This is what I unloaded from my car at the end of a 10 hour work/school day. And this pictures doesn't even include the two kids who also got unloaded!

And this. These wood floors are the reason that my face is full of acne and why I have eaten a half of pan of brownies in the last two days. These are the wood floors at the new house. They are in really bad shape and we negotiated a repair cost with the sellers two months ago as part of our purchase agreement. We just learned that the original repair cannot be done. Great. The work was supposed to start in two weeks. We close April 1. We've met with two more contractors who have given us bids and it seems as though it's all going to come together now without going back to the drawing board on negotiations. But things were not looking good on Monday.