Oh, the boxes!

{i couldn't resist a picture of this in front of the new house}

Stress is kickin' in over at our house. Tomorrow marks the one week mark for when we pick up the Uhaul to start loading up for our move. And as much preparing as i have done, i don't feel like i am going to be ready. I have just begun to feel the pressure & to try & counteract it, this morning i treated myself to a cappucino blast from Baskin' Robbins. I have to say, it took the edge off for a few minutes! Ha!
The boxes are closing in around me.....
{the office- this is what i call the packing zone...... where i have been keeping all the supplies, it is looking totally unorganized & hectic in there!}
{I've even got piles of boxes going in the kitchen.....}
Since i took these pictures, piles of boxes have also popped up in the master bedroom, master bathroom, & i have emptied out the master closet. Whew! I didn't take more pictures though... but maybe if i do, i will feel like i have been more productive.

Meanwhile, Randy has been getting the inspection list knocked out. I am so proud of him! He has worked really hard to get it done by this past weekend so that our final weekend here can be devoted to last minute packing. (So basically he complied with my OCD for a few weeks!)
He had to do a "makeshift" job of getting some branches down that were touching the roof, it was a little tricky since he didn't have the right kind of saw & he was balancing on this ladder, plus, he was quickly losing light outside!
This was the only time i took a picture of him working on these things, but he has had to do a lot of handy work! He has had to lay vapor barrier in the crawl space, replace vinyl siding, replace a vent cover outside, get on the roof & replace the plumbing boot stack flashing, replace interior laundry doors, yard work, etc etc! He is tired of all this, i know, but he did a great job!

For now, we are trudging through, though. We are living out of suitcases for the last week & a half, so i am packing up the clothes today (& yesterday). Hopefully once this is done, then the only real big room left is the rest of the kitchen. I will pack that up this coming weekend before taking the white fridge to a friend. We are getting there!!!!!

Mama Love....

I just love the nights when the boys go get their blankies out of their beds & want to snuggle before bedtime. And i love that my lap can still hold the both of them. I know the time is going to come where they won't want to snuggle with me, so i try to get all the late night snuggles that i can!

The Grill.... finally!

Sometime LAST year, a friend (our preacher, actually! Thanks Monte!) gave us a grill that they didn't need anymore. They had broken the lower grill grate & they opted to get a new grill instead of replacing the grill grate. We took it off their hands, gratefully, because we didn't have a grill & wanted one. BUT, since then, it has been sitting on our back patio area unused because we never got around to replacing the grate ourselves. And to be honest, i didn't take a good look at it & i assumed there was no propane tank with it. So a couple of weeks ago, i asked Randy about the grill, asking how much it would cost to get a propane tank filled & he said he thought it had one! So, after inspecting it finally, i realized that it had a tank. I was pretty frustrated with myself because i would have looked into a grate sooner & had my wonderful hubby out there grillin' for me! SO that night i looked into a grate & ordered a replacement one online for $60 including shipping! I was estatic to get it a few days later & the next day Randy grilled hot dogs for us! I was so excited, that i took a picture of course!

We really should have moved it before firing it up because it was RIGHT beside the back steps. Before we really thought about this, it was too late to move it because it was hot! So, i panicked when Eli came out the back door & I literally screamed "HOT!!" when he came down the first step. As a result of my over-reaction, he ended up in the bushes, looking like this.... and crying..... poor baby.....
But don't worry, he recovered quickly & enjoyed the hot dogs. I know you are all surprised!

Peto's Farm (Bay Blossom Farm)

Back in April sometime (i honestly can't remember which weekend) we went to Wilmington for the weekend (I think it was the last time we were there- we are definitely past due for a trip!) While we were there Nanny took us to Peto's farm for a "roping" contest that Little Ed (Mommy's cousin who really isn't so little anymore) was in. While we were there, the kids got to see the horses, calves (that they were roping), & then ventured around & got to see more fun things. They really loved the baby chicks & the sheep. These sheep crack me up, because they are like pets, seriously. They have names that you can tell they are pets (Lucy& Fancy). They were so cute & sweet. Fancy, the white one, is like a big baby. She comes to you to pet her & she loves to be pet behind the ears. She was so patient & gentle with the boys!

{nanny walking the boys to the roping arena}

{checking out the baby chicks in their cage}{Jackson thought it tickled when the baby chick "kissed" (pecked) his cheek}

{Eli thought the chicks were so funny!!}

{Fancy was so calm & laid back!}
{Fancy enjoying her good back rub!}
{Lucy posing for the camera}
{Fancy again... she just looks sweet!}
{They were both interested in that Gatorade bottle he was carrying!}

Easter (in June) ......

As sad as this is, i am just now posting pictures from EASTER! Wow, i missed that one big time, huh? I was looking through my folder on my computer that i throw pics in to upload to blogger & came across these. So i guess i never got around to it with all the preparations for selling the house and all that we were doing in April. Soooooo, here are just a few pictures from dyeing easter eggs at Nanny's. These eggs were beautiful in color too because we had brown eggs from Peto's farm. The colors were deep earthy colors & we loved them! The kids ate boiled eggs every morning for a week. Eli still asks for eggs, in fact some mornings!

Totally Cool!!

The new phrase around here is "totally cool" & where he heard it, i am not sure. But it stuck- tight! He looks for reasons to use it & last night he came to me looking like this & asked if he was "totally cool?" I have to admit, it wasn't that bad, until he turned around...... the belt around the middle with the undies hanging out, with the glasses strap was anything but "totally cool" but i certainly didn't want to diminish his ego, so i played along! Ha!
I look at this picture & can "totally" see him at 17 with the glasses on his head!

Safe Haven....

Yesterday, i went to PetSmart to make a purchase for little Lola. I had been looking on Craigslist for a cat carrier for our move, since she will have to be in it for the larger portion of a day. But after thinking about it, i decided to buy her a new one since she is already stressed easily & having to smell someone else's animal in a used carrier was just going to make it worse. Plus i decided i wanted a soft sided one so she could see out & maybe it wouldn't seem so "clinical" as the one she was transported here in when we got her. I imagine she remembers that well, so i don't want to freak her out. So when i got home, i unzipped one end & snapped it under so that she could go in if she wanted & she went right in! But she didn't get cozy or anything. So last night, i put her cat bed in there that she loves to sleep in & now all day i have seen this......


I am going to leave it out for her over the next few weeks so that it isn't a scary thing when we move (i am sure having to be zipped into it might be a bit scary, but not as scary as the first time ever going into something like this). So i hope that by the time we actually move her, she will think of this as her little safe haven at the new house. I will leave it unzipped & open for her there for a little while until she gets used to her new digs!

Goober!!

So this is just an example of the total circus i live in! I was scanning through my pictures after finding Eli playing with it & this is what i found..... yes, what a shot of that boy!

Give me a long weekend....

And i will give you a partially potty trained kid,


A freezer full of meals,

and a LOT of boxes!!


IT has been a productive long weekend! We decided since there would be 5 days straight of either Randy, myself, or both of us home, it would be a great time to potty train Eli. This was especially a good idea since Jackson is out of preschool, so less running around during the day & because i really don't want to potty train a kid in a brand new house. Let's get that over with here before we move! Although, that is exactly why it was stressful, because i have been packing up to my ears over here this week & so i literally had to set a timer to remind me to remind him to try to go. He has done pretty well with it, although he hasn't been consistent with his efforts. He will always go when you set him on the potty (M&Ms are a great motivator!) but he doesn't tell us he needs to go. So if he needs to go & he isn't near a potty, then well, there is a large splatter across the floor. We will get there though!

I also used this weekend as a time to get some meals frozen. A friend (thanks, Jana!) is letting me store meals in her deep freezer since i don't have a lot of freezer space & because i want to use these meals AFTER the move to help lessen the stress of meal prep when we first are getting settled. So if they are out of my house, then i won't have access to use them between now & then. So far i have frozen up black beans & sausage for black beans & yellow rice night, taco meat for taco night, chicken & rice, homemade spaghetti sauce, vegetable beef soup to eat with grilled cheese, "pasta, cheese & trees", lasagna, tetrazinni, 4 homemade pizza crusts- already rolled out to fit my stones, french bread, italian loaf, & turkey joe. Whew! And as we speak i am "cooking" a roast in my crockpot which will be added to the stock too and have already put together tonight's dinner of chicken enchiladas. So i already have roughtly 10 meals for our move. I am so excited about that. After we get settled i plan to start once a month cooking which is basically setting aside one day a month (saturday) to cook meals like this for the whole month. I can totally see how it lessens the burden of "what will we have tonight?" and hopefully decrease the urge to go out to eat on the nights that i am just exhausted.

THis weekend i also got started on packing up the rest of the house. We have 3 weeks & 3 days left! I didn't finish obviously, but i did make a big dent! I have been using the "office" as a packing area that is a "no kid" zone because they tend to come in & take things out of there & i find them playing with it or they want to get into the tubs where i was initially gathering items to bubble wrap before boxing. I have boxed up all of the interior decor items that need bubble wrap, but i still have the rest of the kitchen which will be a doozie. I plan in the next week or so, to start boxing up plates & glasses & start using paper/plastic for the remainder of our time here. Next weekend i also plan to pack up all the clothes except for a suitcase filled with a weeks worth of clothes for all of us & we can rotate that for 2 weeks. (Although, i may need more for Eli depending on how the pottying is looking next week!) The builder of the home we are buying won't bend AT ALL on using the garage to store our boxes a couple of days beforehand (not even if we paid "rent") so i am still trying to figure out the best way to get everything out of the house in one sweep since we will close on both houses back to back, thus leaving up without a place to put our things from the night before (walkthrough) to closing the next afternoon. It looks like i will be renting a big Uhaul in my future. Quite a waste of money when i am moving about 5 miles down the road.

Congrats lil graduate!

Well, last Thursday was Jackson's preschool graduation and i made a blubbering idiot of myself! I cried incessantly from the first song (literally BEFORE the processional even started!) to well after he had received his "certificate" & even started over with all the crying when saying goodbye to his teachers. I know they must think i am an emotional whack-job, but in my defense there is a LOT of change going on in our world over here & this is just a biggie for me. I am not ready to send my little man into a big school all by himself with 5th graders! Kindergarten is just a few short months away & that is hard for me to digest. But anyway- i got a few shots with my camera before the graduation & Grandad saved the day with his professional zoom lens since we sat in the balcony for the best view of Jackson.

Daddy made it just in time on his "lunch break" at 10:30 am!
(i totally remember my preschool graduation, & i got to hold a flag!!)
He looked so proud & i am totally getting all teary just looking at this picture! ( i need to get a grip!)
Jackson & his teachers after the ceremony!