Monday, June 16, 2008

Saying Goodbye- Rolling on


I love this house. I have always loved this house. When we first had it built, we picked out the floor plan, the paint colors, the color of the rugs, the floors, the counters, the siding, the shutters... then as our Family grew we were able to expand the house, adding on a huge addition. Again we designed it and picked out the colors. All of the landscaping was done by our hands. Iris' from our Neighbors house growing up on Stoddard St. that went from Northampton to Gaithersburg with my Oma when she came to visit, then made their way back up here after we went to visit her one Easter. We now call them Oma Iris' and they have taken over every place that they have been planted. (If you knew my Oma, you would understand.)



10 years is a long time to live somewhere. A lot has happened here. We were building it when our first child was born, she spent her first Christmas here. The rest of our kids were all brought home to this house. They learned to walk on these floors, they learned to ride bikes in the driveway and catch frogs in the yard. I know every little creak that this house makes, I can tell you who is running around upstairs based on their footsteps. All of the stories, the parties, the birthdays, holidays and the firsts for our kids took place here.

How can you say good-bye to someplace that has been so good to you and your family? Every crayon mark on the wall and every stain on the carpet tells a story about my kids. How can we say goodbye especially knowing that once we leave, it will be empty. Its almost like we are abandoning it, no new owners, no new memories. It will sit here until the company can sell it, and who knows when that will be.


I am sad to leave this place. My house, our home. I think its finally started to sink in that we really are moving. The movers came today with their huge truck to scope the place out. They will be here bright and early tomorrow morning.

I told myself that I am not going to cry, but who am I kidding? I'll cry like I did the time I put Alex on the school bus for her first day of Kindergarten. And once I am done crying, then maybe after crying some more, I will finally be 100% ready to start the new chapter in our lives. New house, new home, new memories, new stories, new friends, new parties.... I think I am ready. As Jim says. This is what we do, we blaze trails. First to get married, first to have babies, first to buy a house, and now first to move their family away. And as he puts it... "this is how we roll.' Roll on and on. Rolling on.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Change of Plans

The movers have finally gotten back to us, and it will only take them 4 days to get everything down there. Initially we thought that it would take 5 or 6 allowing us to take our time driving down. Not any more!

Here is the new itinerary:
17: Movers here
20: Movers take off, we head out. Arrive in DC late.
21: Spend the day in DC visiting my Family.
22: Drive from DC to Chattanooga TN (halfway between DC and Sulphur) 604 miles.
23: Drive from Chattanooga to the new house! 687 miles.
24: Be at the house bright and early to let the Movers in!


It will be a couple of really long days. We are talking at least 12 hours in the car for the last 2 legs. But the kids are pretty good travelers when it comes to car trips. I think we will be pushing the limit when it comes to time spent traveling. So wish us luck! We are going to need it!

Friday, June 6, 2008

Science Rules!

Its Saturday afternoon, Daddy is in Louisiana, and I have heard "Mooooooom I'm soooooo bored!" about a zillion times. But, before they start in on their favorite last resort pastime of taking turns seeing who can make me scream first, I slip quietly into the bathroom and dawn my Crafty Mom cape and apron: they are pink and I made them with a shower curtain, the hot glue gun and enough sequence and glitter glue to make me visible from space. (okay not really but I have actually made whole Halloween outfits with some fabric and the hot glue gun, more on my love affair with my glue gun later, we are talking Science here!)

Alex had been reading her Kitchen Science book, it has some pretty neat experiments in it. She picks one that she likes, hmmm baking soda and vinegar?, that will last about what 5 minutes, with a clean up time of what 20? Not good enough. I always try to judge my kids crafts in the ratio of time spent doing vs. time spent cleaning up after it. If the spent doing is less than the spent cleaning up, its just not worth it here.


With the Baking Soda/ Vinegar experiment in mind, I decided we would also make a volcano. (click link to see the experiment)


3 Days of Crafty Science Fun! Wouldn't Bill Nye be proud? Say it with me! "Science Rules!"
Saturday: Alex and I made the base, and paper mached the outside.
Sunday: after drying overnight, all 4 kids helped to paint and decorate it.
Monday: After school with their friends over, we let 'er rip. It was pretty darn cool.


Here are some pictures.



Getting ready for the main event:



Its ALIVE!!!


(I really don't have a Crafty Mom Cape and Apron, but isnt that a good idea? Maybe next craft time we can make one!)

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Its official! Its ours!



As of Friday we now own the house in Louisiana! Jim borrowed an emergency roll a way bed from work, went to Walmart and got himself some necessities and is now living in this huge house all by himself! Never fear though, the honey-do list has followed him down there. He is setting up to paint the rooms before we get down there and have to move all of the furniture in. (Katie Graces room is sports themed, and the boys room is yellow with a wisteria stenciled border) I know, just switch them around right? Nope, Katie Graces room is downstairs near us, and the boys room is upstairs and the biggest for sharing.




We have Lemon, Grapefruit, Orange and Lime trees!


Don't you just want to jump in?



One of the necessities he got at Walmart was a basketball.