The last several days have been a whirlwind of a activity, a final sprint in this leg of the journey. Thursday the boys and I went to Concord for errands, and it was with a very strange sense of finality that we went to Walmart, the grocery store, and to Friendly's. It's starting to sink in to all of us that this is the last time we'll eat at a Friendly's; the last time we'll go to this Walmart; the last time we'll shop at this grocery store. God-willing, in just a couple of weeks, our whole sense of "normal" will be completely different. Friday someone came from Mike's work to pick up some furniture. She bought our remaining couch, two chairs, and three dressers. Our house feels big and strange and empty... and it echoes. Yesterday was packing, packing, and more packing. The boys are saying temporary goodbyes to many of their toys now. Mike took the bed frames apart - because they'll go in the trailer next - so we all camped out on the living room floor. We'll stay there for the next 8 nights (possibly up to 26 nights if the closing date gets extended again) but it is part of the adventure. Last night we all snuggled up, found The Parent Trap on tv, and stayed up way too late. This morning is pancakes - which is very normal for a Sunday morning - but this morning, my 8 year old is making them. He's helped before, but never done it on his own. At my last glance, they were round, fluffy, and perfectly golden.
Changes.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
Monday, October 10, 2005
Rain
All this house-showing and rushing around is starting to take its toll on the kids. Yesterday, Paxton burst into tears when it was time to put the Playstation away to get ready to get out of the house. It didn't help that the realtor and prospective buyers were over 20 minutes early, and we had to rush even more than usual to get the last final things picked up. The mood was already somber for most of the weekend, because of the relentless rain. The rain is doing its fair share of damage too, with streets and roads and dams flooded and breached. Alstead got hit even harder... businesses and homes have been completely washed away. We watched the destruction on the news yesterday afternoon, and the boys found it awe-inspiring, after being reassured that everyone they loved was safe. Saturday was Mike's 31st birthday, so we all went out for breakfast (and then drove around in the rain during another showing) The rest of the weekend, and storm, was waited out at home, playing Playstation, computer games, and packing. The boys were asking about fractions when they went to bed last night, and made me promise we'd talk about them this morning.. And we will, as soon as they wake up.
Thursday, October 06, 2005
The best laid plans...
We were supposed to be closing - and moving - 8 days from today. We will possibly be closing in a month, maybe with these buyers, perhaps with new buyers.
Possibly... maybe... perhaps.
We are in limbo more than ever right now, and our main concern at the moment is keeping things as normal as possible for the kids. This is difficult, as we only have one car, and have to shuffle our lives around the continually showings on the house. Still, even with the occasional tantrum (the kids also have tantrums sometimes), we are managing to keep our heads above water. The older boys had their physicals this week, and they are both healthy, strong, and good to go. On Tuesday, we all had to get up early to drive Mike to work so we could have the truck. We had two showings scheduled, and we spent the first one wandering around Walmart for nearly 2 hours. We came home and worked on the latest workbook from the kids' Top Secret Adventures, this time about Kenya. Luckily, the second showing was at 5, and we were already going to be out picking Mike up, so we didn't have to do anything differently. Yesterday the excavator came to do the digging for the neighbor's addition. This meant that Spencer spent most of the day camped at window, keeping me updated on the progress. We capped off the day by playing ball in the driveway. And "ball" by the way, means three different things to the three boys..... for Everett it means walking around carrying, and occasionally throwing, his big playground ball, all the while yelling "Ba! Ba!" with a big grin on his face.... for Paxton, it's a jumping, sliding, rolling, kicking, throwing combination of soccer, baseball and volleyball... and for Spencer, it's occasional pausing from his excited bouncing to either catch or throw the ball. We did a lot of packing yesterday too, which was put on hold for the moment, at least until we get a better idea of what's happening with our house and move. Today was cookie-making. And tomorrow? I couldn't even hazard a guess about what tomorrow will bring. I know it'll be interesting.
Possibly... maybe... perhaps.
We are in limbo more than ever right now, and our main concern at the moment is keeping things as normal as possible for the kids. This is difficult, as we only have one car, and have to shuffle our lives around the continually showings on the house. Still, even with the occasional tantrum (the kids also have tantrums sometimes), we are managing to keep our heads above water. The older boys had their physicals this week, and they are both healthy, strong, and good to go. On Tuesday, we all had to get up early to drive Mike to work so we could have the truck. We had two showings scheduled, and we spent the first one wandering around Walmart for nearly 2 hours. We came home and worked on the latest workbook from the kids' Top Secret Adventures, this time about Kenya. Luckily, the second showing was at 5, and we were already going to be out picking Mike up, so we didn't have to do anything differently. Yesterday the excavator came to do the digging for the neighbor's addition. This meant that Spencer spent most of the day camped at window, keeping me updated on the progress. We capped off the day by playing ball in the driveway. And "ball" by the way, means three different things to the three boys..... for Everett it means walking around carrying, and occasionally throwing, his big playground ball, all the while yelling "Ba! Ba!" with a big grin on his face.... for Paxton, it's a jumping, sliding, rolling, kicking, throwing combination of soccer, baseball and volleyball... and for Spencer, it's occasional pausing from his excited bouncing to either catch or throw the ball. We did a lot of packing yesterday too, which was put on hold for the moment, at least until we get a better idea of what's happening with our house and move. Today was cookie-making. And tomorrow? I couldn't even hazard a guess about what tomorrow will bring. I know it'll be interesting.
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Doggie tea and other toddler adventures
Last night we got back from spending a few days at Maba and Pop's. We went up on Thursday night, both for the visit & the getaway, and also because we had yet another showing of the house on Friday.
Friday proved to be rewarding, yet incredibly exhausting. We started the day by watching The Sound of Music. The boys had never seen it, and it had been several years for me, so we all enjoyed it. We also played MadGab and got out some cards and poker chips, though we never got around to playing poker. Everett found the chips to be great fun, and spread them all over the living room. He also discovered Mom's shelf of teas, and before I could stop him he'd brewed himself a nice batch of tea in the dog's water bowl. While I was cleaning that up he returned to the living room to add the deck of cards and the MadGab game to the poker chips that were all over the floor. Deciding that the house would be safer if we weren't actually in it, we started picking up the messes and getting ready to head outside. Paxton wanted a snack, so they he went to look in the pantry for something to eat. Everett followed, and came out with a can of soup and some salad dressing. That wasn't working. I took him in the bathroom with me to get ready, where he flung open doors and drawers and at some point, relocated the bottle of salad dressing to a drawer in the vanity. We fared better outside, and had a nice day picking blueberries, swinging, and sliding. That night we played a two hour long game of Monopoly Jr while Everett napped in Pop's lap. Mike and I went to a late movie, which was a nice (and incredibly rare) treat, but it left us tired for yesterday - another day of hard playing outside.
Today is haircuts and packing and resting, and praying that this week we'll finally get an answer about when we'll actually be moving.
Friday proved to be rewarding, yet incredibly exhausting. We started the day by watching The Sound of Music. The boys had never seen it, and it had been several years for me, so we all enjoyed it. We also played MadGab and got out some cards and poker chips, though we never got around to playing poker. Everett found the chips to be great fun, and spread them all over the living room. He also discovered Mom's shelf of teas, and before I could stop him he'd brewed himself a nice batch of tea in the dog's water bowl. While I was cleaning that up he returned to the living room to add the deck of cards and the MadGab game to the poker chips that were all over the floor. Deciding that the house would be safer if we weren't actually in it, we started picking up the messes and getting ready to head outside. Paxton wanted a snack, so they he went to look in the pantry for something to eat. Everett followed, and came out with a can of soup and some salad dressing. That wasn't working. I took him in the bathroom with me to get ready, where he flung open doors and drawers and at some point, relocated the bottle of salad dressing to a drawer in the vanity. We fared better outside, and had a nice day picking blueberries, swinging, and sliding. That night we played a two hour long game of Monopoly Jr while Everett napped in Pop's lap. Mike and I went to a late movie, which was a nice (and incredibly rare) treat, but it left us tired for yesterday - another day of hard playing outside.
Today is haircuts and packing and resting, and praying that this week we'll finally get an answer about when we'll actually be moving.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
