A House and Things

 Over the past few months, I've had a strange (or not strange) awareness about our home and possessions.  Since we had such a quick turnaround from deciding to put it up for sale and then selling it, and then a quick realization that we would not be moving our things to another home, but getting rid of many of them, I've been mourning it a little but.  I feel a little like we had just recently gotten most everything the way we liked it, and a collection of things that were our favorites, and now we have to start fresh again.   

 Things like our storage ottoman that hides away toys, with no sharp edges for a child to cut their head on if they slip, and reversible tray tops that serve as cushions for kid sitting, or trays for living room dining.

A comfy, overstuffed, rocker/recliner.  Great for a fussy newborn, sleepy dad and nursing mom.

Turning our red rampage bathroom into a calm happy gray.  (You know I love my gray.) 

I had just figured out how to turn our "dark" living room into a bright living room.  

It was a multi-stage process of experimenting and discovery.  Lighter-colored and thinner blinds that could be pulled back to completely uncover the windows, and removing the section of the couch that sat in front of the window.  Suddenly that room has the best light in the house.

Painting and re-painting.  Yellow kitchen into blue kitchen.   

A junk room, into an office, into craft room, into a nursery. (2nd and 4th are the only ones pictured.)

An infrequently used guest room into a frequently used craft/work room that also houses our guests. 

A blank slate back porch into a warm weather hang out and play area.

I know it might sound grumpy or trivial, but there is a part of me that is really sad to be getting rid of this house and our stuff.  We have been gradually making this house our home over the past 4 years, and I'm sad that many of the things that we feel like we finally got just right will be left behind.

I am excited about what lies ahead.  It will be fun to buy new things and set up a new home for our new life under new circumstances.  My tastes and ideas seem to be constantly evolving and I often finish a project thinking that if I had to do it all over again I would have gone in a completely different direction, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

But with all of the new going on, I am sad about the end of the old.  An old that I loved, was comfortable, made me happy, and felt like home.

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Our Last Week

The last full week in July was our last week in Lincoln.

Our last month was, overall, a good one.  Peppered with some setbacks, like having our passports lost and the visa applications stunted while we applied for brand new passports.  But it was also full of company, help, friends and family.

It was a month full of "lasts."   Last guys nights and girls nights, last play dates with various friends of both Jayce and Hannah.  (Unfortunately in my spaced-out state, I neglected to be as camera wielding as I typically am.)

We had our last church visit.  Our last week with those Sunday afternoon traditions: nap, backyard sprinklers and swings, sidewalk chalk in this driveway, walks around the block, dinner at our favorite local restaurant and out for ice cream.

Our last nights watching movies on our couch (which is sold), on our tv (sold), in our living room (sold).

It was the last days rocking my baby girl in the rocker in her nursery.  Her last nights in a room that I put a lot of thought into, last nights in a crib that allowed both her and her brother to sleep safely and soundly, and will now be used by their new cousin.

Jayce's last night in his big boy room, complete with big boy bed.  His bed is now a big girl bed for his cousin Hadley.

Lots of lasts.  Now I'm ready for some firsts. 

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Month of Moving

Well, the moving is in full force.

We will be moving out of our house in the latter part of the week.  The specific day is still to be determined by a few different factors, but more on that later. 

I spent the end of May and most of June in a slight (or not so slight) panic, because there was so much to be done.  We were swamped with the paperwork and to do's of starting our life in London, while still living our life here, and completely physically and mentally exhausted.  So around the house, we were getting NOTHING done.  

We had energy explosion from this one,

and the constant cleanup from this one.

By the end of the day, Chris and I were both completely spent.

There was a week where we had been looking at houses in London, and every single day I said to Chris, "After the kids go to bed, we need to sit down and make a list to help us in this housing search, of non-negotiables, niceties, areas, etc."  Every night, neither one of us could do it.

Then July came, and the help that we had been waiting for descended upon us.

In 21 out of the last 23 days, 7 different people came to help us.  Lovely, wonderful, helpful helpers.

Justin drove 10 hours, was only here for 1 full day, but helped me haul tons of things from the basement, talked me down about if I wanted/how to sell them, staged them for me to get pictures, and moved them into the garage.  Then he and Chris took a full truck load to Goodwill and another full truckload to a dumpster.

Patsy came and played tirelessly with one or both kids while Chris tried to finished up work at the office and I sorted through and packed up the kitchen.  She took Jayce for a few outings, made dinner, and even let Chris and I get away for a movie, the first in forever, and it didn't even matter that it was an incredibly stupid one.

Chandra came while Chris and Jayce were away, and helped me sort through my craft room, one of the trickiest to pack up, took down and packed up the decor, the kids' rooms, cooked yummy goodies, loved and played with Hannah, and basically gave me 4 days of free therapy over sweet coffee. :)

Jody and Christine came, brought us a big check, and took our car.  I was sad to give up a car that I loved so much, but selling it to some good friends seemed to cushion the blow.

Christine also made me so happy by offering to take some family pictures of us, something that I have wanted her to do for about 5 years since I first saw her in action, but we have never been able to pull off.  She helped me go through the basement as well, making me pull the trigger on a few things that I had been putting off, and this time Jody rode with Chris for a run to the thrift store and to drop off another load of trash.  And our babies, Charles and Hannah, played.  Their due dates were only 1 day apart, but their birthdays are 2 weeks apart, and we couldn't stop comparing them to one another despite ourselves.  

Then Mom and Chelsea came for a week and helped us finish up the packing.  

We cleaned the basement all the way out, cleaned out tubs and refilled them, labeling the contents and then added ship or store in large black marker.  

We packed clothes and vacuumed out the air, removed everything from closets and drawers, removed nails from walls and curtains from rods.  We emptied every cupboard, basket and drawer, and then did it again at the end of the week with those large piles of random things.

We also had some fun.  The mall, the museum, sprinklers and water guns, we built a bear and got serenaded by Jayce.

Now it is the last week of the month, the week that we move.  

I'm hoping that it goes as smoothly as possible as we attempt to tie up the loose ends, keep the kids happy and under control, and nurse our sentimental souls.

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The Pumpkin Patch

The past few years we have taken Jayce to this great fall festival that is nearby. I've been really looking forward to it this year because this is the first year where Jayce will be able to really enjoy all of the different activities and play the different games that they have set up.

Unfortunately, this year on the day of the festival it absolutely rained cats and dogs all morning. It takes place at a nature center, so if we still tried to go it would have resulted in the muddiest day of our lives, so we didn't try. However the next day was gorgeous, so I talked Chris into taking Jayce to a local pumpkin patch with me.

It turned out to be perfect. Just what I had been hoping for.

It was a cute little place, low key, with various kids activities that Jayce loved. There weren't tons of people there either, so Jayce could just run from one activity to the next with little "management" from us.

We got to pick our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch, which was a first for us.

Jayce was a little stressed by this. He would point out a pumpkin that he liked, but when we got over to it, he would say, "No Mom, yucky pumpkin!" because some of them had started to rot a bit, or some were a bit discolored, or some had dirt on them. (You know, from growing in the ground.)

Luckily we still found a few keepers.

Jayce was in heaven. There was lots of room to run around, pumpkins everywhere (which he gets really excited about anyway), and do you see those tractors in the distance? What could a little boy like more?

Standing in the tire of a big tractor, of course!

It was a fun and sweet afternoon, and I was so happy to spend it with my boys!

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Illinois Farms

We spent a few different weekends at farms of friends around town.  One had apple picking, cider making, horses, chicken, the whole deal.

The second had corn fields, bean fields, gator rides, a tree house, and ride in the combine.

It is a good place to have a little boy, especially one who can't get enough of any of it.

 

 

 

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