Moving Schmoving

This is the song that never ends.

I thought moving a few miles down the road would be easy. "No problem!" I said. "I can take all the little stuff in my car as we need it!" I said.

What a dummy. The problem with the little stuff is that it multiplies. No matter how many trips I make back and forth to the condo, there's still crap to gather up.

Why do we have all this crap?!

I suppose I do appreciate that I didn't have to box everything up all at once but sheesh. I'm not convinced that piecemeal is any better. Here's the real problem: moving sucks.

And here's the worst part - our dadgum washer and dryer didn't fit in the new house. Those machines were the cause of much contention with the movers. They banged up my walls and outside steps getting them onto the truck, they dented the back of the washer, and they banged the walls trying to get them into the new house.

And then they didn't fit. (Insert swear word here. Or a couple. Or a lot. Dealer's choice)

Guess who has to purchase a new set of slimmer appliances? I do. 

And guess who has to wait 2 weeks for it to arrive? I do.

And guess who had to go to the laundromat with her toddler to wash clothes? I did.

Baby thought it was a grand adventure. 

I had to make small talk with a man who claimed to be an origami master. He declared that he can do folds that only 3 other people in the world can do. Hmmm. But he did give Baby a dollar so that was nice. (I bogarted it for myself)

I had to make small talk with a woman with an impressive goatee. She was suspicious of all the other laundromat patrons and counseled me to make sure no one ran off with my towels. Or my daughter. Hmmm.

I had to fold my underwear in public. Hmmm.

It was a tense morning and the escapade cost me nearly 50 bones. To wash clothes!

To recap: measure the opening for your washer and dryer before you move. 

And moving sucks.

Awards

I received a message from one of Sissy's teachers that she was receiving an award at the year-end ceremony and we were invited to attend. I was also told it was James Bond kind of stuff and not to tell Sissy. 

It's exhilarating to keep a fun secret.

Sissy knew about the ceremony but was told that it was just for awards that the students were voting on. You know - things like most likely to be an author, etc. 

I played along and did very well with my secret mission. I'm good at this spy stuff.

We arrived at the auditorium and after some pomp and circumstance, Sissy's name was called for her award. And then she was called again. And again. And again. I beamed with pride. I made that kid! (Well, my sister helped but we won't go into that now.) Hmm...creepy.

Anyway, there I was admiring this kid that I made with my husband and my sister.

Sissy took home 4 awards and was voted most creative by her peers.

I was a super proud mama.

And then at swim practice that night, she was given her ribbons from Saturday's swim meet.

This girl is on fire!

Congratulations to Sissy.

Bizzy!

As we barrel toward the end of the school year, the events for Sissy begin to accumulate.

We began with the band's Spring concert. Sissy was thrilled with the music selection and told us every night how much we would love the music. They were playing Abide with Me, which is one of my favorite hymns. Sissy was certain I would be impressed with it. She was right. It was a fun concert and I loved hearing the improvement the band has made since winter. 

The only downside was that I had the terrible idea to bring chocolate chips for Baby to snack on. What a dope! Do you know how quickly chocolate chips melt in the sweaty hands of a toddler? I do now. 

Despite my blunder, it was a wonderful evening indeed!

Hooray for Sissy!

Mama's Day

I sure love Mother's Day. It's an opportunity for me to ponder the many blessings that motherhood brings. Incredibly wonderful blessings like

Candy

Hands off, Buster. It's mine. There's no sharing on Mother's Day. 

I kid, I kid.

I'll let you smell my breath when I'm done eating.

It was a truly delightful weekend. It began with Sissy's swim meet on Saturday. I always love watching her in the water. Mykey stayed home with Baby so I was able to sit leisurely by the pool and enjoy the meet. It was divine. 

On Sunday, the gifts poured in. Sissy made me a Lego structure and wrote some heartfelt notes. I was relieved that she signed her full name so I would know it was from her.

We ate chicken pot pie because that's what you do on Mother's day.

We played Scrabble. I didn't win. Apparently there's no mercy even on Mother's Day.

I sat outside in my pajamas enjoying the weather and a cold Diet Pepsi.

It was lovely. I didn't have to do the dishes, I didn't change any diapers - not even Michael's - everyone was kind and told me they loved me, it was everything Mother's Day should be.

And then the next morning, Baby shattered my Lego sign.

Well...it was fun while it lasted.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

Fun Everywhere

These are games that Baby likes to play:

Name that Tune

Stick hunting

Hide and Seek

Find the Library's Giant Owl

And when she's tuckered out from playing games (all sorts), Baby prepares a little snack.

Delicious!

It's all fun and games until Booney has to scoop up the Goldfish carnage. I could lose an eye!

4 to the 9

You know what you should do 2 days after you move into your new house?

Invite people over for a birthday dinner for your husband. Not stressful at all.

We had my cousin and Mykey's good friend come over. He and his buddy share a birthday! Mykey always wants chocolate cream pie for his birthday dessert but this year he was waffling between that and cheesecake. The poor guy just couldn't decide.

I asked his buddy what he wanted for his birthday dessert. Without hesitation he said, "Cheesecake."

Mykey wins! Chocolate cream pie AND cheesecake. Best 49th birthday ever.

Since we aren't completely moved in yet, I cooked everything at the condo and then hauled it over to the new house. It was a bit of a chore but way better than trying to cook in upheaval. We ended up having a lovely time.

On Mykey's actual birthday, he spent part of the day doing this:

And then he was tired and wanted Wendy's for lunch. He thought it was a birthday miracle when this car was in front of him in the drive thru.

But then the guy turned out to be a jackal and held up the line so long our food was cold.

And then walking into the house, the bag of food ripped.

Happy birthday to no one!

But he did get a few nice gifts from me and Sissy. He had to wait until the day after his birthday for Sissy's poster because of shipping delays. But it was worth the wait. 

And we wandered around our favorite wholesale store. You never know what treasures you're going to find. The birthday boy found some project boards for cheap! The birthday magic was restored.

It was a fun day indeed. We sure love our Mykey. Happy birthday!

Moving Day!

We did it! We moved into the new house! Michael still has a lot of little projects to complete, but the place is now livable so we're gonna live in it.

Here's what you need to know about that day:

Baby found a marvelous stick. 

My hand collected the largest splinter of my life.

The guys we hired to move us were terrible. I cannot over exaggerate how terrible. We hired 3 guys and all day long they fought with each other and complained about how many heavy things we had. You know - like a couch and a washing machine. Apparently they usually move clouds and not actual furniture. They were supposed to be finished by 2:00. At 5:00 they weren't even close so Michael fired them and told them to leave. Then they had the nerve to ask for extra money. Guess how that went over.

And there we were, all by ourselves with furniture still left to move. 

Sissy and Baby set up camp at the condo watching Phineas and Ferb while Michael and I loaded and hauled furniture. By 8 that evening, Baby was losing it. 

At 9 she was really losing it. And Sissy was too.

Michael was frantically trying to set up the crib. I was frantically trying to calm my children down.

By 10:00 we finally had Baby down to sleep and the truck fully unloaded. It started to sprinkle rain as we were hauling the last of our belongings from the truck. As we rolled the door down in completion, the sky unleashed and rain poured from the clouds. I'm glad the rain waited for us. 

After a late-night run to Wendy's for some grub, we dropped off the moving truck and crawled into our bed in exhaustion.

We still have a lot of little things to move but all of the big stuff is done. I'll just take loads in my car until it's finished. Moving is THE WORST.  But we're incredibly excited to finally be in the house!