Friday, June 18, 2010

We've Moved...

Well, it's been a week since we loaded ourselves on an airplane from Seattle bound for the other side of the country... with little plans to return. The week has been a busy one. Last week Wednesday, the packers arrived and packed everything up into boxes. The following day, the moving truck arrived and the movers took all of our belongings away. Friday morning, bright and early, we went to the Seattle airport (with some friends who helped us get our luggage from the curb to the counter) to head to Baltimore. The airport was chaotic, with kids, and bags and dogs and laptops. It took us about 10 minutes just for our family of four to get through security!! We got to the gate just as they were calling our names over the loud speaker (as they'd just boarded everyone else). We carried ourselves, our 4 carryon bags, 2 dogs and 1 baby and 1 toddler all the way to the BACK of a fully seated aircraft where the dogs didn't initially fit under the seats of the plane (as it was a bit of a smaller plane than we thought it would be). But finally, we were all seated, and the door was closed, and the plane proceeded to take off and fly 4hours and 45 minutes to our destination.

Since Friday afternoon, we've been living out of suitcases, in a hotel. And what an adventure this has been in and of itself. Kids with little or no naps, and going to bed WAY too late. Finnegan seems to be growing like a weed, as he wants a snack every time we turn around (or this is his coping mechanism for all the change). And Penelope has developed a horrible enough cold for me to make a call to our old doctor who encouraged me to find a pediatrician here and have her seen before the weekend.

We've been busy preparing for our home goods to arrive as well. We took ownership of house #2 on Tuesday (i know, I own 2 houses, one on each coast of the country -- not my initial idea of what we'd be doing with our money at this stage in the game). We've been visiting it each night to do work and prepare it for our things to arrive. We had originally been told that the house had been cleaned. If it had, I don't want that person near it again! The house IS NOT clean, as the previous owner had a HUGE shedding dog, and there is dog hair EVERYWHERE!! On the walls, on the floor, in the corners... everywhere. And simply disgusting if you ask me! I suppose it's one thing if it's your dog. But if it's someone elses dog, that's where I draw the line! Ken has successfully taken down all of the wall paper boarders in 3 of the rooms and we've started painting. And oh, the amount of work that we CAN'T get done with kids around!! UGH!! I've already begun to figure out the finances to see if we can have someone else paint the rest of the house... these are bigger projects than I imagined! I had this beautiful dream that we'd get the living room/kitchen area painted before the furniture arrived, and that we'd be almost done with the kids rooms... at least one of them at least! And in actuality, we are only half done priming the living room/kitchen area! Oh man, this is really gonna be a long project. But the positive is that once we're in the house permanently, we won't have to leave at the end of the night, and the kids can go to bed and we can get some good work in while they're sleeping.

We're finding out more and more what REAL home ownership is about... This house needs so much more work. There is still a small threat of mice. We'll see if they return once there's food in the house EEWW!! The yard is in shambles, and needs a lot of attention (i think) and obviously, we'd like the painting to be updated. The basement could be finished for some extra living space. It also needs some new exterior doors and sliding glass doors.

I'll try to post some travel photos in a few days once we are in the house and have some internet access.

Move in day is tomorrow and we're pretty excited about that!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Prayer request...

Less an 36 hours left in the state of WA as residents. But with that, I have a prayer request for those of my faithful blog followers.

I have a super concern for the health of my family while we travel. And I'm not just talking about colds, but bad stuff... the stuff you don't want to be stuck on an airplane with. The stuff that is uncontrollable from either end of your body... If I haven't been descriptive enough without grossing you out, let me know. But this is the request that I have...

Would you pray for the health of my family? That God would keep both of our kids safe from a stomach bug during our travel and week interim (not being in our own home). That God would continue to keep us patient, loving and respectful to one another as we live so closely together and help us to adapt to the close quarters, limited activities and all things adventure that come with this kind of move.

Thank you dear friends!!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Let the Countdown Begin...


The countdown has begun. It is late Monday nite, and we have 4 more nights to sleep in Washington before we are official Maryland residents. It's actually pretty surreal. This past weekend was a myriad of get-togethers with our Washington Family. We had our last game nite on Saturday. And on Sunday, I had lunch with Shawnta, my "sister" here in WA. She doesn't have any sisters, and always said that I was the sister she never had. We were pregnant together (she with her second, and me with my first) and we've worked together to gain our bodies back :) She is a great friend and truly family to me! Here are a few photos from the weekend excitement!!

After about 10 days of potty training, Finnegan is finally making some awesome progress. I wasn't going to do anything before we moved, but he kept talking about it and talking about it, so we took the plunge and he's doing great. Part of his training is a reward system that is working out pretty well!! And here is Finn with one of his larger rewards -- Jessie :)


At our game nite... Mulligans. (Finnegan's best friends - Liam and Rylee)

Group photo!!


Nana and Grandfather with all the grandkids!!
Shawnta and I!!


Later this week, I'm having lunch with my other dear friend from WA, so I'm sure the waterworks will flow, as they did when Shawnta and I spent some time together. Now, why didn't I invest in waterproof mascara?

Friday, June 4, 2010

My Beauties!!

Ok, so I know I boast about my own kids, but man, I love how beautiful they are!!

So, before we leave Washington, my friend, Mandy (who took Penny's birth photos), took us out to take a few photos of the kids (and a few of myself with them). She got a sneak peek ready and I can't wait to show it to you!!

So hop on over to her blog and check out the photo that she's posted. If you live in the Seattle area, I totally suggest you call her for a session! She's awesome!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Sunday Craft Hour



As our move gets closer and closer, I've been trying to wrack my brain for ideas to keep our hotel/airplane as uncluttered as I can, but also to take things and prepare so the kids don't get too bored. One idea that I had was for transporting Finn's Cars. As many of you already know, Finn LOVES the movie Cars. Well, he used to love it... now it's been demoted from the top of the list, but he still enjoys to play with cars any chance he gets. So I knew we couldn't be moved out of our home and move across the country without having a few entow. So, I started scouring the internet for toy car keepers. I found several on Etsy, but the more I looked at them, just wasn't willing to pay the price for one that that didn't necessarily meet all my standards. After posting a call to all crafters on FB, a friend of mine mentioned this super great crafty site. She had a great keeper pattern posted, that I modified based on the fabric I could find and what I wanted for my little boy. So here is one of the final projects. I made two, so that he could take 12 cars total, and keep them each in their own bag, and we'd know right away if one was missing.




Thursday, May 27, 2010

An update from the M's!

So, it's been a while since I actually sat down to write a post. I've thought about it several times, but just haven't had the drive to actually do it :)

We've been busy for the most part around the house with growing kids and planning our continental move. The house purchase is mostly on schedule, but we've hit our bumps here and there. We are now simply working to try to make the move from one home to the other seamless for us, and for the family that will be moving into our house after we leave. There are moments that I still can't believe that it is really happening and that is less than 3 weeks, I'll be watching my belongings being packed up and shipped across the country, and then just a few days later, packing my children, 2 dogs, 3 laptops, 2 carseats and a week of belongings on an airplane to only return on occasion during the next few years. And relocating to a new city, new home and new neighborhood. It is mind blowing!!

On other fronts...
- Penny is crawling like crazy. Well, army crawling that is. She gets up on her knees and rocks from time to time. But no movement yet. She uses her legs in her army crawl, so I'm sure it isn't too far off.
- Finn is loving his new swimming class. We switched from a play swim class to one that is more instruction, with little idle time. He goes underwater, jumps in the pool and blows bubbles better than he ever has! What a joy it is to have him finally enjoy it.
- Penny is still having trouble at night since our return from MD. It took her about 2 weeks to adjust back to the time zone from the trip, and after a week or so, she reverted back to getting up in the middle of the night to eat. I've been trying to adjust her meals during the day to get her more to eat during the day so there isn't the need to wake up in the middle of the night. But this week, she's now teething/sick with a cold, and was up most of Tuesday night and now adjusting back to sleeping through the night again. Boy, getting up in the middle of the night more than once is definitely rough on me, especially when your not expecting it (ie. when you don't have a newborn).
- In the last 3 weeks or so, Finnegan has begun blooming as a boy! He jumps, and runs and yells ALL the time. Although I loved my quiet child, I love my little BOY. But I am also getting used to what is normal and accepted, and what is just disrespectful and rude! Oh, another balancing act! :)
- So many of my friends have given birth within the past week. I think there are at least 5 on FB this week alone! Ken's talking about wanting another.... We'll see, but not sure I'm ready to do it again, just yet :)
- I have been working more and more to keep the house clean and tidy as I won't be able to afford my cleaning lady at the new house... I think so far, I'm doing ok. Anyone who has any pointers let me know!!

Well, the kids are just waking up from their naps. I'll try to keep you posted more throughout the next few weeks!

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Swagger Wagon!


Check out this video... super Awesome!!

xoxo