Moving Day

***sorry for the lack of pictures--the computer with internet access and the camera cord aren't in the same residence at the moment***

I feel like I just did this. Maybe because I did, here and here (and two more times in the year just before I started blogging.)

The move went pretty well, despite the ominous start. It was raining all day Friday and there were still a few sprinkles Saturday morning, but it didn't actually rain at all once we started loading stuff. And then, when we loaded up the car with the kids and all the cold food, the car wouldn't start. We weren't sure how we were going to get the moving truck or get everything up to the house, but we said a quick prayer and 30 seconds later, we heard someone's key's jingling in the parking garage (which is usually pretty empty at 8:30 on a Saturday) and we were able to chase down a couple who thankfully took the time to jump start our car before going on their way.

Then there was the gas situation. I'm not sure how much news coverage this has been getting, but Charlotte has a major gas shortage right now because of the hurricanes in the gulf. So the lines are long, the stations run out often, and everyone is a bit panicky. At the truck rental shop, someone told Daddy-o that someone had come in overnight and siphoned off the gas from all the vehicles. Luckily, the one we had reserved still had 3/8 of a tank which was enough to get us moved. Our gas light came on Saturday morning, but I knew we'd make it to the house and still have enough to get to church Sunday. And luckily the independent station just down the road from the church had gas for us on the way home. It's pretty surreal to watch the lines and see all the stations closed down most of the day.

So we officially began living in our house this weekend. I'm so glad the going back and forth is over. I do not know how women work full-time while having small children at home and manage to maintain any sense of sanity in their work or home life. I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed being gone from the apartment from 8:30-4:30 or 5:30 every day. I usually can't get the laundry or cleaning done in the morning before we leave, yet I'm so wiped out by the time we get through dinner, baths, and bedtime rituals that I just sit on the couch for the next couple hours. (Thanks goodness for the new season of TV shows! At least I've been entertained with Prison Break, House, and The Office.)

We have our things (well, most of them--we still have a few items that need to be brought up from the apartment this week), the kitchen is even mostly unpacked (but Daddy-o won't let me post pictures of that until all the cabinet doors are painted and put back on, so it will be a couple weeks still.), we will have TV this afternoon and internet and phone on Wednesday and then we will truly be moved in.

And then I'll have time for funny kid posts. And pictures.

Renovations, Kid's View

Just a little sneak-peek of the house so far, taken by the kids (who hijacked my camera while I was finishing off some painting).

"I'm an Artist"

(These pictures are for you, Stacy. Notice the fully-clothed painting going on here).Bean has REALLY enjoyed painting with me. Well, except for the time she fell off the ladder.

And when I make her paint over her creations.

She came up this jolly good time on her own. Today she did pictures saying "No crocodiles" and "No snakes." Just in case there was any confusion as to who is allowed in the master bedroom.

Weekend Away

This weekend I took a total of 5 flights, 21 or so hours in airports or on planes, to spend a couple days at home. But it was so worth it. Largely because those flights were kid-free (there weren't even any kids I could hear on the planes!). It makes a big difference when you can walk on carrying only a small backpack(and that was all my luggage), instead of my normal 6 bags full of toys, snacks, diapers, blankets, and emergency clothing, and I was able to read two books in the course of those flights. It makes the travel part almost fun.



One of my friends from high school got married this last week (and the pictures I took of the happy couple didn't turn out very well, but they are the ones in the top right corner) and since everyone else was making the trip back, I couldn't be the only one to not show up. And I am so glad I went. It was such a great day spent with old friends. It started with a wedding party,


and ended with an impromptu post-dinner gathering so we could all see our very pregnant friend who should have two new babies in the family any day now.


These girls were my friends in high school. And junior high. Actually, a couple of them go back a lot farther than that. I love that we can get together, 15 years later, and still have a great time. It's like things never changed. Except there are husbands now. And a few babies. And we live all over the country.



I also got to go back to my old church. Every time I walk into that chapel, I look around and feel like I don't know anyone anymore. But then, I keep finding more and more people I want to say hi to and end up chatting in the hallways for much of the last 2 hours of church. Most of my mom's friends are still there and I look around at these women who probably don't even realize what an influence they have had on my life and am just so grateful to know them (and I'm so glad that my mom has such an awesome group of friends as well.) There is just something special about people you have known your whole life.



I was able to stay with my brother and his wife (no pictures, but they still look a lot like this)and we had a very lazy Sunday afternoon and a delicious tri-tip dinner.

I LOVE This Run!

Gotta love that one-armed swing.

More posts coming. . .

Weird Sighting of the Day

I think that the police must have been doing a training exercise on their Segways--it was a little scary watching them descend on the park in their neat little line. There were at least 20 of them. I guess it goes along with the new police towers that are popping up around the city. I need to get a picture of one of them--they look like invaders from another planet or something. I'm glad that they are cracking down on crime around here, but it actually makes me more nervous when I see cops everywhere.

Speaking of police, yesterday Bean saw one of those towers and read off the letters on the side of it spelling police. Then, about 1/2 a block later, she repeated the letters, saying, "Look, I can read it without seeing it!" So now, she can add the word "police" to her short list that she can spell. I'm not sure how I feel that she's got that one down before her own name.

A Walk in the Park

The weather was so gorgeous today--nice and cool and sunny--probably the nicest day we've had since we moved here.


And then we finished the morning off with some brownie batter. When I was a kid, my grandma

used to say that we were the the doughiest-eating family she'd ever seen. It wasn't just the cookie dough and cake or brownie batter, but we all loved bread dough. Well, these two didn't fall far from that tree. In fact, they take it a step farther and try to eat all the raw ingredients--flour, sugar (of course!), butter. They did discover that cocoa doesn't taste so good raw.

More Painting

Sorry no pictures of the kitchen yet.

Progress is slow in that room--we've had to put 3 coats of paint on the cabinets and have only barely begun the sanding on the doors and drawers so its going to be awhile before we have the finished product to show off. I'm very anxious to see it all done--even though I love painting, which makes the process pretty enjoyable (well, once we get past the sanding--I don't love sanding, even with our new, and very awesome, random orbital sander), I'm still at the point where I just want to be done and see how the whole thing is going to look.

And because it doesn't look very impressive in its continuing messy state, you are all going to have to wait until that point to see it too. But you do get the above sneak peak into the kids' bedroom.

Bean helped me with the painting today and kept saying, "This is really exciting painting my room!" over and over. I think it was worth the extra mess here and there. She was much more careful than Bugaboo, who was "helping" me yesterday. In about 1 hour's time, he managed to lean against a freshly primed drawer and sat on the paint can that was covered in blue paint, pretty much ruining both his shirt and his shorts. I got wiser and made Bean paint shirtless today.

The kids have also been excited about their other new house. Our refrigerator was delivered on Friday, which meant we got a REALLY big box. I remember playing in the boxes from a washer and dryer at a friend's house when I was about 8--it was so fun to create our little homes. We even made old fashioned ice boxes to keep our snacks cool. So now my kiddos get their big box. And at this point, we have plenty of room for it!

More Kid Funnies and Things I Just Don't Understand

In our discussion of future home improvements we'd like to make,

Daddy-o: We could put some rocket engines under our house because its not on a slab and then it can just take off!


Lots of laughing


Bean: Daddy, that's really not going to happen.

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Bean, Bugaboo and I were driving and saw a row of about 10 yellow trucks (something to do with the highway department). As we passed the first one, Bugaboo yells, "Yehyo! (Yellow)"

Then we pass the next one, "More yehyo!"

And then the third, in a voice of complete disbelief and awe, "MORE yehyo!!!!"

He loves yellow.

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Bean: I know how to work the TV and the computer--I'm ready to be a mama!

(For the record, I do not watch that much TV. I have no comment regarding the computer use.)

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We have a book called, "Where is the Green Sheep" that Bugaboo loves. What I don't understand is why, every time we get to the sheep who is laying out on a beach towel, he tells me its me. I'm not really big on "laying out" and can't remember the last time I got to hold still while at the beach since I'm usually preoccupied keeping him and his little cohort from drowning.

But I Didn't Finish Playing!

I've been thinking about Bean now compared to a couple of years ago and one thing that has hit me is how intense her need to play is these days. I think we may have hit the peak (at least, I hope it doesn't get worse!) in the important play years. It is seriously ALL she wants to do (I know, she's a kid, what else is she supposed to want to do?)When Bean was a toddler, she loved to go for walks with me, run errands, go to the zoo or beach. It was only a minor struggle to get her dressed and she voluntarily went to the door--actually, she usually would put on her hat and pull me towards the door because she was ready to go. Now, even when we're getting ready for somewhere fun, she still is trying to play up until the point I drag her out the door. She has to build one last tower, or wake up one more baby, or throw one more birthday party for Hugs. She breaks into tears on a regular basis because I tell her its time for the next thing (after several "only _ more minutes" announcements), telling me, "But we didn't go to the beach yet!" or "But doggy didn't get his shots yet!" or my personal favorite, "But I'm still packing to move!!!" (Me too, Bean, me too.) If I tell her its time for a bath, she cries because she was still pretending to be a kitty. But then, when its time to get out of the bath, she's usually in the middle of some elaborate make-believe and cries then, too.
I know how important it is for child development and learning and all, but it is so hard to get anything else done most days because she is never done playing. She just can't seem to turn off the "play" demand in her brain. I had a friend who just recently emailed me about her kids' first day of preschool and how much easier it was to get them ready that morning because they were excited to go to school. Bean may be excited about school, but that doesn't mean I don't have to hear, "But I didn't get to finish playing!!!!" about 20 times in that hour we're trying to get ready.
I just wish that I had that much passion about something. I guess I do go through spurts where I really can't stop doing something. But usually it means I'll spend an entire day reading to get through whatever book I'm absorbed in at the moment and then its over for a few weeks. I think the idea that kids have short attention spans really isn't so true!

It's a Miracle!!!

Both our kids woke up at 7:30 this morning! Woo hoo! I know that's not really late by many people's standards, but considering that Bugaboo has been waking up around 5:30 for the last month, we were very excited with this progress. It's the second morning in a row that he's made it past 6 so maybe this is a new trend.

Too bad that he cried out at 5:30 and then the trains and the garbage truck started up for the next 20 minutes so I still had an early morning. But I got back from the gym before 7 for once--and good thing. Daddy-o was still asleep. We haven't set too many alarms since having kids, which is normally fine, but on the rare occasion that they sleep, it has caused some problems.

Not much other news going on here. Still working on the house. I rescheduled the refrigerator delivery for tomorrow since we were behind, but I've got the first coat of color on the cabinets and I'm excited for how they are going to look. Oh, and Bean is loving preschool and having fun with the kids, although she always comes home with some story about the "big boys" in her class. I finally got her to tell me why they are big (I've seen the kids in her class and they aren't really any bigger than her)--they're "mean". I guess as active as she is, she isn't used to playing with rough boys who have unfortunately introduced guns into her play and have turned pirates from people who are funny and go on adventures to mean guys who fight all the time. There's only one other girl in her class(who Bean seems to get along with really well, luckily), which I didn't realize until the first week of school--I just hope she isn't sick very often! Even though some of the boys are willing to play tea party, I'm not sure that Bean will love school so much if its just the boys.

Progress Update

It's slow, but it is happening. We actually had a very successful Saturday this weekend, thanks to our very cooperative kids (and the fact that they are always asleep before 8 p.m.). Lots of sanding and cleanup and priming. We're almost ready to paint which is a very exciting thought--I can't wait to get a feel for how the kitchen is going to look with our new cabinet color.

And this is a glimpse into our "camping" situation.

It's pretty simple, but its working. Luckily we had a lot of books and toys in our storage container so they are like new for the kids which makes the whole experience pertty exciting.Our makeshift kitchen.
And as far as how the kids are sleeping--not so well. Friday night they were each awake twice and then Bugaboo woke up at 5:40. He did fall back asleep, finally, in our bed after over an hour of crying and fighting with us. We were just glad that Bean slept in until 8 that morning so we all got another hour of sleep. And all I can say is that the quietness at the new house is at least a nice change. No train or garbage truck or noisy cars or upstairs neighbors. So its only our kids waking us up.
And here we are coming back to our city home. Kind of crazy that we currently have two homes. The kids seem pretty happy at both.

First Day of School

Bean started preschool today. And she was happier about it than the picture indicates--we just had a hard time getting a smile for the picture right before we went in. I thought I should try again tomorrow, but then you'd miss the whole first-day-of-school outfit she put together. For some reason, she loves wearing that red tank top with her green checked skirt.

It wasn't as emotional as I thought it would be. But maybe that is because I never actually left the building. They only go for an hour the first two days, so Bugaboo and I just hung out across the hall in the room they'd set up for the parents. I think the first time I drop her off at the playground and leave will be different. For me--she couldn't care less. When I tell her I'm a little sad that she's going to be in school now, she just asks, "Why? I'm coming back. You don't have to be sad about it." I'm glad she's so excited for this and confident about it. I just feel like its one step closer to the day that she leaves home and doesn't come back. I'm going to miss my little sidekick. We've been hanging out together every day for over 4 years now--I don't think there is anyone else I could ever have said that about, except my own mom.

I'm just glad I still have my little Bug around. Now he and I will get some quality time together, and maybe he can teach me more of this language of his.

The Labor Begins

Excuse the disjointedness of this post--I'm pretty tired and not sure that I'm thinking straight, but wanted to do an update about this weekend.
This Labor Day was definitely spent laboring. We bought the house Friday morning, and Friday afternoon, we started the home improvements.
We took this. . .

And turned it into this: So, not so much of an improvement, yet. It is actually a little sad to look at the pictures of the kitchen, which was completely move-in ready, and see what a mess we've made of it now--dust everywhere, cabinets torn up, no light fixtures. And its been a LOT of work making such a mess of it.



But we have gotten quite a bit done already. Daddy-o tore out this boxy light which didn't actually do much to light up the kitchen.


We also tore out the small cabinet over the fridge because our fridge that is coming next week is about half an inch too tall. And the cabinet had actually already been cut into because the previous owners' fridge was also a little too tall.
We removed the popcorn ceiling, which was actually pretty easy. It's putting the ceiling back together that has been hard work.


I spent a lot of the weekend taking cabinet doors off and sanding the finish off the cabinet fronts. We've had to revise our original plan to stain the cabinets because it turned out that the side panels are not solid oak like the rest of the cabinets, so now we'll be painting them, but we're still pretty excited about the project and what we think it will do for the kitchen.
So the pressure is on. Our new fridge is being delivered the 8th and we have to be done with all of the dusty bits of this project before that. And have the cabinets that will be touching it already finished. I'm thinking we have a lot more late nights ahead of us.