I thought the movers who packed us up were great. Unfortunately, they did not pack well. You have to stuff the boxes full so they don't crumple when they get stacked. Let's just say we have a LOT of crumpled boxes. To be fair, we do have a LOT of books! Probably 30+ boxes were books. And we have a million more boxes than that. I have decided that it is all in the attitude. On Monday when the movers were here, I wanted to cry. Then I realized I didn't, because it wouldn't do any good. I decided I was going to be happy and make it work. So no, it isn't all roses, but I'm not going to dwell (too much!) on the stuff that makes me want to cry. I'm going to focus on the positive and make happy memories, not depressing whiny ones. Here it is in summary.
The good:
- The house has lovely high ceilings.
- The house is bright and I love a bright house.
- The house looks nice- wood and tile floors, carpet in the bedrooms. Very nice.
- The dining room is big.
- We have lots of neighbors.
- We are right across from the park.
- We have a garage.
- The master bathroom is nice sized and has 2 sinks.
- I have decent counter space in the kitchen.
- We're the back end of housing so we are in a very quiet area.
- The kids made friends today - 5 and 7 year old girls, 9 year old boy, hooray!
- We have a phone, internet and tv that are now connected and usable (mostly!)
- I have unpacked more boxes than I have left!
The bad:
- We have no yard. One tiny stamp sized fenced in backyard. Too small to actually play in.
- Small living room and no playroom.
- The bedrooms are smaller than I expected, and no one is happy about sharing their room.
- We have zero space for food. Tiny pantry, few places to store anything else. I'll have to get creative...
- It is 84 degrees in my bedroom. (72 degrees downstairs.)
- There might be alligators lurking in the ditches (canals?)
- Its too hot to walk to the school or the library, both which are less then 1/2 mile away.
- Rylee and Delaney do too much screaming and fighting.
- I have too many boxes left to deal with!
- I have no friends..... yet.
The ugly:
- Delaney has already stepped in fire ant mounds twice.
- I have too much stuff and nowhere to put it.
- I have no hardware for my bed frame, or Delaney's bed so we're sleeping on mattresses on the floor.
- Rylee's crib is also missing it's hardware, so she's in the travel crib.
- The mail key doesn't work, so I can't check the mail.
- I can't find the cordless phone and the corded phone won't ring! Aack!
- It took me 3 days to find the tv base and the tv remotes, and 4 days to find my glasses and bowls. (Who on earth would label them under "plasticware"?!)
- I can't do laundry. I finally bought and changed out the 3 prong cord to a 4 prong cord, purchased the dryer vent hose, and got new hoses for the washer. But I cannot tighten the washing machine hoses enough that they won't leak, and I haven't got a wrench big enough to fit around them. Aargh!
- Have I mentioned that I have at least 30 more boxes and the house is already full? We have too much stuff.
- I fear that whatever isn't done in the next week is never going to get done. I'll run out of steam and just won't care anymore. On the plus side, I can just toss the boxes I don't get to!
This is how Joshua spent his time on Monday, waiting for the movers to arrive. Yes, the movers who said they would be here between 9-11am and didn't show up til 1pm. Not a great moving experience. To put it in perspective, it was not horrible- nothing was stolen and nothing invaluable was damaged beyond repair. But I certainly would like to find the screws for the beds! (I actually wonder if the movers swiped them just so they wouldn't have to put the beds together.)
This is what the living room looked like- and they weren't even done! Yes, that is all packed with stacked boxes. Going from about 2300 sq ft to 1650 is rough!
I have unpacked boxes all day long for the last 3 days. This is Delaney, conked out on the floor. I know how she feels! My entire body aches from the bending, lifting, standing, unpacking. It is exhausting!
Marian is thrilled with the wildlife here. She and Callie have chased and caught a number of lizards, frogs and toads already!
PS.... and almost all my family is heading to WA for a family reunion and I am so sad I can't be there too.
We celebrated my Dad's birthday. Delicious chocolate cake. Yummy! and presents. It was a good time for all.
Did i mention the yummy chocolate cake?!!
We went to the fun park with the merry go round. The kids played on it for most of our time there. Even Rylee had a marvelous time on it. Watching her stagger around after getting off was a hoot.
Callie really liked these monkey bars. But she needed help to get up on them.
Marian had her own way of using the monkey bars. That's my girl!
We also went to the end of summer program at the library. Delaney pitched a fit over a Care Bears book that another girl had. She sulked for most of the hour and was finally mollified with this sticker book.
Rylee loved this book. It had sparkelies on it, She sat under the table reading it. so cute!
Joshua's Stonehenge replica won first prize. He made it with Styrofoam that he spray painted gray and tooth-picked together. He did a good job.
The kids found this little turtle trying to snack on the blackberry bush. Brave little turtle.
We also went bowling with our friends. Funny thing- I'm not sure the guy who owns the place likes kids. He was not enthusiastic when we came in and was downright rude when Callie asked for the metal frame to roll the ball down. He didn't want to get it out, so I took Callie to bowl without it. She hucked the ball high in the air and it hit with a mighty thunk. Then it sloooooooowly rolled, ever so slowly, down to the end, where it stopped. The guy had to come out to get it, and he brought out the metal frame. heh heh heh.
Joshua kicked butt and got the highest score out of everyone. A good time was had by all. even those who didn't want to be there.
Looking cute! Yep, coming along nicely. Delaney is thrilled.
Delaney was very patient. She was so good.
I thought this was a cute length. I should have said to stop here. Oops.
More short and more layered than I expected. It makes Rylee look different. A lot different! I'm still not sure I like it.
Grandpa is the best! He distracted the kids with a ride in the truck while I loaded up the van. I managed to squeeze nearly everything in. There was a pile of items that I couldn't fit, but I think I got all the important stuff!
Then it was time to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a great time with them. We are blessed to have family we like to be with (on both sides of the family). Driving away was sad for me. the kids were sad till they remembered we were going to spend time with their cousins.
7 hours of driving with the kids was more fun than than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. I was able to find the world's slowest McDonalds, which worked out well, since they also had a playground. The kids had a good time playing despite the sweltering heat.
It was good to stop and get out of the car.
Yeah, good times.
We got to Andy and Kera's about 3:30 and the kids were delighted to check out the backyard. The trampoline was a great energy-burner.
Marian and Katie made brownies together. I love that the kids get along well with their cousins.
While the batter was tasty, the brownies were even yummier.
They had a lot of fun on the swing set as well. I loved the fenced in backyard. I could just let Rylee out and she'd knock on the door when she wanted back in. Nice!
Today we went to a fun pool. The water was wonderful and the children were so happy. The slide was their favorite thing. Joshua, Marian, and Callie went down it over and over. Rylee really really wanted to go on the slide, but I did not let her.
Joshua experimented with how slowly he could go down the slide. Apparently veeeery slowly.
The kiddie pool was awesome! Rylee loved it. so did the bigger kids, actually.
And Delaney is my funny girl! Hooray for good times with family!
