Sunday, September 29, 2013

Settling In.... Kind of

I tried. Really, I did. I even had a really wordy post started, that I pecked out on my cell phone while we drove through Utah and the boys were both asleep for once. But my cell phone was dying a slow death and cell reception was almost non-existent for a good majority of our trip anyway. Add in the stress of traveling with little kids, spotty hotel wi-fi, not having yet closed on our house and well, updating the blog fell to the bottom of the list. Per usual. But we've made it to good ole Texas. It is, as expected, really fucking hot. And muggy. There are a lot of bugs I've discovered for the first time and the biggest fucking spider I've ever seen in my life. But also, family. We're trying to get settled in. But we've yet to get the call from the Uhaul people saying that they've moved our Pods from their big storage facility to the local uhaul facility for us to pick up. So basically, still living out of suitcases. And we haven't closed on our house yet. That's a nightmare, but we might, HOPEFULLY, close in the next couple of days. PLEASE cross your fingers. I'm working on getting a trip highlight post together. But in the meantime, I'm alive.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Wordless(ish) Wednesday

Just wanted to share a few pictures from last weekend of the boys "playing soccer" in grandma & grandpa's big front yard. Shawn played soccer all through out childhood, so you never know- the boys might want to give it a whirl someday too.






Sunday, August 18, 2013

Because it can't be too easy

Some updates shall we?

When we signed paperwork to sell our house we agreed to the closing date, selected by the buyer, of August 15th. It actually worked out perfectly and gave us about 45 days. About a week or two ago we found out the buyer wanted to extend closing, as he'd be out of the country on the 15th. Okaaay. I mean, you picked the date dude. Who does that? We waited to get an official extension to sign. And waited. We eventually got it- the evening of the 16th. To say the process is frustrating, is an understatement. So now we wait up to 2 more weeks, but hopefully before. Everything has been going fairly smoothly with this whole process thus far, so I guess we're due for a few bumps in the road. So that's where we are with that part of this process.

I have about... lemme check...11 more working days. Can't pretend I'm not excited about that. This is closing a chapter on almost 9 years of my life. I don't even know how to process that. HA!

Among all the other upheaval going on, we (IE: Shawn) decided I needed to get my license before we left on the trip. (Yes, I'm 3*COUGH*Something*COUGH* and don't have a license). I get it. It's not fair for him to have to do all the driving on the 1st part of the trip (My girl Racheal will join us halfway through the trip and be able to take over some of the driving.) But to add another stress to my towering list wasn't really my idea of a good time. Anyway, I agreed. Thursday we stopped a licensing office to see about taking the written test and getting a driver permit. Well that's all outsourced now, for the most part, to driving schools. So we go to a driving school not far away. I pop in, pay $25 and take the test. It's like 1994 all over again. I pass (can you imagine if I didn't?!) and we head back over to the licensing office and I pay another $25 for a permit. The kicker? They punch a hole through my enhanced ID and tell me I'll have a new one in the mail in about 20 days. I'm supposed to be in Banff Canada in... oh, about 20 days exactly. We already have our hotel booked for 2 nights. So. Plus I already put a hold on our mail for a couple weeks. I have no idea what's going to happen. Hopefully it will come before then. Of course that means I'll have to go to the post office to get my mail, which will cancel the hold. And then... I don't know. Thinking about it causes my stress headache to return.

We got a new car- a GMC Acadia. We wanted something with 3rd row seating and were leaning towards a Honda Pilot. Then we saw a used Acadia that hit all the marks on our checklist. Plus it was a little newer than what we thought we would be getting (2008). PLUS it's red. And that is Q's favorite color. Like obsessively his favorite. All the change going on has been tough for him. He of course doesn't understand what's happening. He got very upset about the new car. Has been having a hard time understanding why all his things are packed up. It's just tough all around.

Now I have 18 (WHAT?!) days to try and see everyone to say good-bye. And enjoy the PNW summer. And book/plan the majority of our trip to Texas. And... and ....and....

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Wordless(ish) Wednesday: Behold the Pods

How to move your shit to Texas: A tutorial. 
Decide moving stuff via "pods" is the way to go. Call around to find out which place is going to financially drain you the least. Estimates for thousands of dollars later, land on Uhaul. Schedule a drop off and pick up date that will give you over a week to load up an entire household of stuff. On scheduled drop off date wait for Uhaul to call you with a delivery window. Wait. And wait. Mid-Afternoon, get a call that they'll be there at 11:30. PM. Agree because, what option is there? Later on get another call asking if you maybe please wouldn't mind moving the delivery to the following day. Agree because it's already after 8 pm and what the shit choice do you have? They will be there no later than 2pm. Promise. Next day, 2 pm rolls around....nothing. 3pm... Hey, what's that? They're here! Finally. "Mandi" looks tired and frazzled so you just say "no problem" when she apologizes for the delays.

I think the orange adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the curb appeal, don't you?


Now. Who wants to help us move our furniture into these damn things?

Monday, July 29, 2013

Moving

I have an especially good reason for my absence lately. We've had so much going on I don't even know where to start. But basically it goes like this:
Husband left his job
We decided to sell our house
Got and accepted an offer after only ONE WEEK on the market (oh thank you thank you thank you)
Closing on (or around) the 15th of Aug
Working until Sept 3rd (and then leaving my job 1 month short of 9 years)
Leaving a day or two later on an epic road trip ending in our new home.....
AUSTIN Tx.

Say what?! There are a lot of reason for all of these specific decisions, or course. But main things are needing a change and family in Texas. So right now I'm in the middle of a billion things. Packing (which we'd done a lot of before listing and are having trouble with motivation to finish, because we are under the false assumption there isn't much to do. Even though we know there probably is.) Figuring out what we need for the space between packing our stuff up & shipping to Tx and actually getting there over a month later. Road trip plans. Vet appt for the cat before we ship his large butt to the lone star state (look, I already know things about my new home!) Buying a new car. Getting a driver license- WHAT?? And just all kinds of other things that give me sweaty palms. Actually what it give me is non-stop headaches for months and breakouts like a teenager. THANKS STRESS!

I may or may not be updating as we go. I'm thinking I'll be having some time on my hands and possibly a couple new electronic devices to help blog on the go. Technology! I'm sure your fingers are crossed to hear how it goes making a 2 week car trip with 2 toddlers in tow. Basically cross all your crossables for us! And give me any tips you have! Weeeee

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Quinn Turns 3!

Q is officially 3 years old! This year we decided to just do fun stuff he'd like on his birthday, rather than a party. In the past few weeks whenever we'd ask Q what he wanted for his birthday he'd list the following: Balloons, Party hats, decorations, cake with candles, and presents. So I let him pick out a few decorations of his own while we were at Target one day. They were, of course, all Thomas the Train crap. As for cake, he picked out strawberry. I picked up a few things as well and we were all set.

The night before his birthday I hung up streamers, balloons and birthday signs. Shawn made a regular round cake. BUT. He made a bridge with train tracks using graham crackers, and I bought a new Thomas train that we set on top. I re-wrapped a couple presents we held back at Christmas and we were ready to go. (I don't need to disclaimer or apologize for all the crappy cell phone pictures anymore, do I? )
I spy: party hats, balloons, decorations & a present.

Birthday Sign, from his first birthday (made by Sam)
Throw a few balloons on the floor, and you're good.

He woke up on his birthday and Shawn intercepted him before he could go to the living room. Basically to give me a minute to drag my tired ass out of bed.  We walked with him down the hall and as soon as he saw the decorations, he stopped and did this thing he does when he's overly excited/overwhelmed. He smiled, hid his face in his hand and wouldn't go any further. SO cute.
Seeing his birthday sign

Seeing his Thomas Cake

He does this with his arms when he's really happy/excited

 \
Birthday donut!




So after breakfast we got the boys ready to go to WiggleWorks. Shawn had had the idea to take Q to one of those bounce house places. But I knew that Archer wasn't quite big enough to navigate around that kind of place, but would for sure want to play. Anyway, I found WiggleWorks through the Parent Map website and it looked perfect. Geared more towards younger guys with all soft play equipment ANNNND a balloon room.


In the vortex of the balloon room

I just love his face in this one


Chillin

After Wiggleworks we picked up a pizza and headed home for lunch and birthday cake.






After cake we had quite time (no nap for this boy) then played outside for awhile. Then, finally, it was present time.

Clearance Xmas themed Disney match game?!
 And I believe that was it for the day. I think it was good to just focus on him and not deal with a big party (although, I really do love having parties, so I don't know that this will be the deal every year.) He for sure had fun and it was nice to keep it low key and not spend a ton of money, ha! So, Happy Birthday Little guy! I love you so much. Even though I had to just stop writing this post to go change your disgusting diaper, only to discover you'd found a rouge crayon (for like, the 4th time in the last week) and drew all over the floor and wall. Again. And you're now sitting in time out sighing that big sigh that you do, while I try not to laugh. You're funny, silly, & sweet. You give the best hugs and smooches. I love the songs you sing, especially when you make up your own words to other tunes (Quinney the Pooh might be my favorite.) Here's to another fun year with you! (And please, go easy on us. I've heard about age three and I'm scared.)

Thursday, April 25, 2013

"Camping"

Q has been pretty into the idea of camping, campfires, tents, etc. lately (thank you TV). Since we're still a ways off from being able to go camping around here (COME ON WARM WEATHER!!) we haven't been able to accommodate his desire to go. UNTIL Shawn had a bit of a genius/crazy idea. Sunday he decided we'd drive over to the Leavenworth area where we could hopefully find the sun and maybe find a little campsite and have lunch and a campfire. It stopped raining about 5-10 minutes before we hit Leavenworth, and what do you know- it was sunny! Miracle! I even took my jacket off! We decided to pull into a little park with a playground we've been to before, right as you get into town. We let the kids play and run around for awhile.





 Then we packed back in the car to head to a campground. Well, it was all closed. And there were trees down all over the place. Either there was a terrible storm, or they're taking down trees on purpose. It was a mess. And also, did I mention, closed? Well a little thing like that doesn't stop Shawn. We pulled the car over next to a spot by the road and drug our lunch supplies and such over. We spent about and hour & 1/2 having some pb&j sandwiches (Archer ate at least 1 & 1/2 by himself then just held on to one while he walked around) then roasted a couple marshmallows for a sorta smore (no choco). Q loved it, and it made me so excited to take him camping. Archer on the other hand just liked to get up on the picnic bench, then back down. Then up. Then down. Also, keeping him away from the fire (we even had the huge baby gate up around most of it) was a bit exhausting. And doing something like having a fire at a closed campground makes me all nervous and anxious. BUT, I'm glad Shawn made us do it. If it were up to me we'd never do anything fun.





I think I'm ready for camping this summer. It's going to be so much fun with the kids, if not a little stressful. But I really do love camping so I'm very excited. Anyone else love camping?