Life as we know it

Well, we are moved and settled in to our new place. The boys love having their upstairs room and new bunkbeds (which I put together, by the way, and as Anthony would say, "she said dang it a lot"). But, I did it and they love their new beds. I am just loving having more space, not just for me, but for the kids too. They can literally run laps inside the house! There is a lake a bout a mile away and you can fish there. There is also a 5 mile trail around the lake for walking or biking. When it isn't too hot that is one of our new favorite places to go. Anthony will start school in Sept. and while we are so excited for him to start kindergarten, it is still hard to believe that we have a child old enough to start kindergarten, and another one not that far away!!!! At least I have Nico who, I am afraid, is a bit of a momma's boy. I am not fighting it, I am enjoying having him cling to me i new situations and cry when I leave him at the church nursery. My other two have always been so independent, which I love, but seeing as how Nico is my last I am kind of enjoying him being a baby for a little longer.

I have included a few more pics of the new house as well as some new ones of the kids. They are definitely becoming brothers more and more, sharing toys, helping each other. Anthony makes sure that every day daddy doesn't forget to give Nico a big hug and kiss when he leaves. It is so sweet to see them love each other.

New House

Hi all. Some people have ben asking for pics of the new house, so here they are. So far things are going well. There have been a few issues with the house, but since we are renting, the landlord has to take care of them. Still a pain, but not nearly as annoying as when it is your house. Our renters are all moved in to our old house and so far so good there. Luckily we have had no issues with our house, so keep that in your prayers.

OK, here are the pics.

New house, new rules, new life

Well, we are essentially moved in. I mean, the furniture is here, the kids' toys are in their rooms right where they want them, the pots and pans are in their respective cabinets, most of the boxes are unpacked. I won't talk about the garage and the pile of stuff that has accumulated for one reason or another.

So, we have a new home, and so far so good. I won't say things have gone without incident, I don't think they ever do, and with three young children it would be a virtual miracle! The actual move went great, we moved all the boxes, well, Joe moved all the boxes and misc small items we were worried might get broken, the movers moved the furniture, and we have basically unpacked all the important stuff.

Now, on to the "virtually without indident" stuff. The kids have been in a bit of turmoil for about a month. That is when we started packing and getting it in their heads that we were going to live in a new house. They were excited and helped pack and are still excited, but I think all the changes have finally caught up with them. They haven't slept much, eaten well, or seen friends for about a week now. We are all paying the price. Nicolas is showing the most signs of beign upset, however. I didn't expect it, but I think he is really confused about the new house, he can't express it in words, so instead he constantly clings to me, cries at the drop of a hat, and has broken out in a rash. I think part of all of this is teething, which doesn't help, but at any rate, he is out of sorts and not dealing well with all the upheaval. Anthony isn't far behind Nicolas in his behavior and it is hard, I will admit, to know who to deal with him. I know he is upset about certain things, but at the same time, it doesn't give him the right to act out in some of the ways he has been.

Dominic has actually handled things pretty well, but he is our go with the flow guy most of the time anyway. I am hoping that after a few weeks here, settling into our new routine, they will all feel like this is home.

Joe and I are truly enjoying the new place, even with all its little oddities. It wasn't designed well, but, it is bigger, has more than one bathroom, and a two car garage, so we are happy.

June 5th!!!

That is the day we get the keys to our new house! We can't wait. We thought it might be another week, so we are really excited! It will be so nice to be able to bring stuff over there before the movers come to take the furniture, that way we can clean and touch up paint without all the boxes and stuff around. It has come to a point where #1, we don't have any more boxes, and #2, even if we did we have no place to put them once they are filled so it doesn't really matter anyway! We are bursting at every seam and need to get some of this stuff moved. The kids are in a state of confusion and almost constant meltdowns, and understandably so, their lives are turned upside down at the moment. They can't find their toys, their clothes, they only have 1 pair of shoes the wear at the moment, and all their movies have been packed along with the DVD player, so, Thurs. can't come quick enough! We think we will sleep their Friday night, camp out with our inflatable bleds and pack n plays and see how the new house feels to us. Then Sat we can have both places which will be SOOOO nice! We can clean and fix up the old place and have the kids at the new place. I figure we will bring most of their toys and stuff over a long with their toy shelf and they can start putting things away in their room and getting it the way they want it. I also figure I may have to unpack and send boxes BACK with Joe if we can't find any more free or cheap boxes.

So, I just wanted to update you all on where we are in the process. I will post pics of the moving insanity as well as the new place once I have some.

Em

Dentists and garage sales

The boys had their first dentist visits on Friday. I will admit I was a bit nervous. I wasn't sure how either of them would react to someone rooting around in their mouths, all the scraping and buzzing of the tools, the x-rays, all of it. Joe accompanied us as we needed an extra pair of hands anyway to keep Nicolas from destroying the place. He actually went back with them when they were called and everything went great! They were so grown up, didn't fuss a bit, and couldn't wait to come home and brush their teeth while watching their new hour glasses (to make sure they brushed long enough). So, all my mommy fears were quelled and I am happy to report that the dentist is not a scary place for my kids, however, the balloons at the end put Anthony into a fit like no other. But aside from that all went well.

Garage sales. You either love them or hate them. I love shopping, don't love putting one on myself. So, on our way to church today we ran across what seemed like your average Sunday garage sale. But then on closer inspection (while driving by at 30 miles an hour) we noticed a lot of nice furniture, I mean, ALOT. Like, were these people being run out of town? Did they owe someone large sums of money? What could possible be the reason to sell so much lovely furniture? So Joe hopped out of the car to ask how much a beautiful cherry armoire was and a desk he liked. Turns out these people are movers and usually move wealthy people from place to place and inevitably these wealthy people just give away some of their wealthy people furniture. This couple said they usually keep it but didn't have room for most of these pieces as they were very large. So, for a steal we now have a new, gorgeous armoire for our new entry room, a solid oak bookshelf, and a custom English antique desk. I won't tell you the amount we paid, but let's just say we got a great deal, and the price included delivery! It pays to buy from a mover. I will post pics of the stuff once it is delivered later today.

I better get back to packing and cleaning.

Our new home

Hi all. Ok, I know I posted pics of another home in my last post, but this time it is for real, I promise!!! I actually don't have pics yet, I will get some when I have a chance, in between all the packing, keeping the kids out of the boxes, making sure I don't pack anything too important yet like diapers, wipes, or matchbox cars. But, we do have a place to live, so our packing is not in vain. There was about a week there where we weren't sure, we had a renter for this place but we hadn't found a place yet. So, we can breathe a sigh of relief in that regard, but now we have to pack like little Christmas elves in order to get things ready in time. Ok, I exaggerate a bit, we aren't moving until the 8th, but still, having lived in this house 8 years, you can imagine the accumulation of "stuff" we having going on. Not to mention having three kids and all their stuff!! But, it is definitely a great way to weed out the things you don't want or need. Somehow realizing that if you choose to keep that picture frame that has been in a dusty closet for 5 years you will have to wrap it in paper, find space in a box, and then unpack it and find another empty space in a closet helps you decide. I am not keeping that particular frame, in case you all were wondering. But then there are things like the kids' clothes, which Nico might be able to wear eventually, or maybe not seeing as how he can already wear some of Dom's clothes right now!!! The kid is a bruiser. But I think God knows what he is doing seeing as how he already gets pushed around by his older brothers. The retribution will come when he is 5 inches taller than them and 50 pounds heavier!! But I also see him being kind of a teddy bear. He usually walks away from conflict and just finds something else to do.

Anyway, back to moving. So, I don't know if you remember the photos I posted of the kitchen when we redid the cabinets? Well, imagine that, only the ENTIRE HOUSE! There are boxes and stuff everywhere as we decide what stays, what goes, and what will remain packed until we actually find a house to buy. Oh, did I mention that we are renting the house we are moving into so we can save some money and wait for prices to drop a little more? Well, we are, so yes, I am a glutton and have actually agreed to moving TWICE in what could end up being 6 months!!! I will be sure to write from the loony bin. I currently have a goosebump on the top of my head from slamming into an opened cabinet door, I haven't eaten anything but coffee today, and I am not sure if I packed the rest of the toilet paper or not and the roll is almost gone. So, I guess you could say I am a bit scattered at the moment, and on a bit of a caffeine high. The two do not mix all that well. Did anyone watch Saturday Night Live with Steve Carrell this week? You know his opening monologue where he said he drank a bunch of Red Bulls and ate candy before coming out? Well, at one point he said he could only see the color yellow and could feel all his internal organs. That is a little how I feel right now.

Ok, I better get back to work before Joe and the boys get home and things really get ugly, I mean, busy. But we will keep you up to date on our progress and I will post pics in a bit of the house as we pack and move, and the new place.

Love to you all!!

Moving at the speed of light

At least that is what it feels like. I know it has been a while since I updated everyone on our housing situation. So, here goes. We found a renter, got all the paperwork signed today, deposit check in hand. So, that is finalized. Now it comes down to the fact that we need to be out of this house by June15th which means we either need to find a rental of our own for a few months or we need to find a house in this next week!!! AT any rate, it is all very exciting and scary all at the same time, but most things like this are, so we are just going with the flow. Ideally, if we rent something, we would like to rent in the area we plan to buy in so Anthony can start school and not have to transfer, etc. WE have found several buying options and several rental options we like, so it all looks good. Here are a couple pics of a house we REALLY like. We put in a low-ball offer, but you never know. Just to give you an idea of what we like and what we are looking for.