Just two good old boys

The other day, Mike and the boys were playing Grand Turismo, a racing game on Playstation,and one of them was racing a car like the General Lee on Dukes of Hazzard. Mike introduced them to the show, and they are hooked. The three of them have been watching it together twice a day for the past two days. Mike is reliving a good memory from childhood, and the boys are enjoying a fun new show with adventure and car chases. When they're not watching it, they're playing it, with four little lego people standing in for Bo, Luke, and Daisy.

We have been spending a little more time at home, started to find some rhythm to our days again. Yesterday our one outing was a fun one, a trip to get a new Christmas tree. We got a nice artificial one - already pre-strung with white lights - and let the boys each choose one new decoration apiece. Some new red and gold balls and candy canes and we were good to go. After dinner and baths and haircuts, we were too tired to do it last night... so it's our first project on tap for this weekend.

A place to sit

We picked up our new dining room chairs yesterday, and Mike and Spencer had them assembled quickly. They are nice chairs, but after a week of eating either off the floor or standing at the table, it wouldn't take much to impress me. We found a final home for our table, and lazily sat, drinking coffee, and eating Krispy Kreme donuts this morning. It was a little bit like heaven.

The beds have been set up. Spencer and Paxton had their rooms all picked out, and decided on the second night here that they'd rather share. So they're happily sleeping in the same room, and sleeping well. Dressers are in, boxes are in the process of being unpacked. Satellite is installed, cable internet is installed, and our furnace problem is fixed. We found the local post office, the library, and the church I want to try on Sunday. I ordered a magazine subscription from a college kid raising money for a trip to the Bahamas. I started my online shopping. Mike updated his posted resume with our local information, and promptly got 3 phone calls from recruiters. It is 66 degrees out, and the boys are playing in the backyard. It's 66 degrees out, and it's almost Christmas.

IKEA, icecream, and new fish

I love our new house; it is quickly feeling like a home, even though we seem to be never here. Yesterday it was back to Walmart for towels and trashcans and accessories. Spencer and I went alone together, and it was my first foray driving by myself. I am a wimp when it comes to city driving, but it really couldn't have been easier. All the streets are all gridded out and organized - not like NH cities at all. We had a good time together, and decided we'd make a Spencer & Mommy outing a regular occurence. When we got home, we got all three bathrooms set up, and the boys were very excited about their Finding Nemo/fish/dolphin decor.

We finally got our furniture paid for today, and took our first trip to IKEA. The woman greeting us noted our looks of confusion, and gave us a road map. Neat place! The boys, first excited just by the sight of an escalator, had a blast looking through the showroom with us. We picked several things, and decided to come back another day to get them. Tonight was a long awaited visit to Cold Stone, the best icecream place ever. Mike and I made a mental note that the next time the small size would be more than sufficient.

The day Paxton's fish died, we told him that whenever he was ready, we'd get him a new one. This morning he announced that he was ready, so that was our last stop of the day. Spencer wanted to get a fish too, but because two bettas can't live in the same tank, they had to pick two different kinds. They browsed through all the fish, we talked to sales lady at length.... but they both wanted bettas. So we went in for one new fish, and came out with two new fish, another little betta tank, and a tiny frog that can live with bettas. Paxton named his fish Nick, Spencer's is Morgan, and I named the frog Jerry, after the greatest tv show of all time.

Furniture, IHOP & our first visitors

We did something crazy, something that we never ever do. We went shopping the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't go Christmas shopping, but because it was the day for it, we we were faced with the typical throngs of people. We went to the mall (our new, big, super close mall) of all places, to price washers and dryers. It was an adventure, to say the least, and we didn't even buy anything. I promised the kids we'd come back sometime after the holidays though, because they saw a spectacular game room that they couldn't wait to check out.

After the mall we headed to a discount furniture store, and after a looooong time browsing, chose two new couches, love seat, 3 chairs, coffee table and end tables. We started the ordering process but couldn't complete it because our checking account has a limit on the amount of money put on the debit card each day. We've paid off and cut up our credit cards, so we couldn't use those; and they wouldn't accept an out of state check. Because it was after 3 AZ time, the bank was closed and we couldn't even call to get it raised for the day. Bummer.

Today Mike called the bank bright and early to get our limit lifted so we could buy our big items. The catch was that we only had till 10 AM, because our bank closed at noon eastern time. Fun fun fun. It felt like we were on a reality show, rushing to get through a shopping spree. First up was Best Buy for washer, dryer, and TV. Then hurry to the furniture store only to find it didn't open till 10. We tried, but got declined again, and decided to console ourself with a nice breakfast at IHOP (another something I'd been greatly looking forward to having close by) We made the mistake of adding Walmart to our trip, and were rewarded with another meltdown and hasty exit.

Sandi, Mike and the kids came by in the afternoon, both to visit and to loan their muscles for moving in some of the big stuff. The kids had a good time playing, and we all ate Thanksgiving leftovers - while standing, since we still haven't gotten kitchen chairs.

A (mostly) Happy Thanksgiving

In the past, Thanksgiving has always meant baking a brocolli casserole, wearing a new cozy sweater, and spending the day feasting and visiting with family.

I didn't make a casserole, and it was way too warm to wear a sweater... but we did spend the day feasting and visiting with family. Our second full day as Arizona residents was spent traveling up to Anthem to share Thanksgiving with Sandi, Mike and the kids. They invited some friends as well, who had three kids of their own, so it was a full and busy house. It was a wonderful meal, and the kids had a blast playing together. Instead of bundling up and taking a walk after dinner - our usual after-turkey activity - we stood outside in our short sleeves while the kids rode bikes and played in the street. We were about to round everyone up and walk to the park when two of the boys came running outside to tell us that Paxton (who had been happily playing with them on the computer) had just gotten sick. Sad for him, and disappointed about calling it a day, we packed up and said our goodbyes and thank yous and nice-to-meet-yous before heading back home. It was a rough ride home, but we made it with just one stop. The poor kid fell asleep at 6, and slept the entire night. Today he is his normal Paxton self, no worse for the wear.

Setting up & Settling In - Our first full day

Still on NH time, we woke early to the sound of birds singing. We'd all slept on our mattresses on the floor, about as far as we got unpacking. Our goal for the first day was to find and unpack our coffee maker. It took a few hours to do so, and when we did we realized we had no filters. Our first cups of coffee in our new house were brew with paper towels for filters, and stirred with steak knives. The kids were feeling lousy with colds, so we spent most of the morning hanging around the house. We walked to the mailbox and checked out the pool and park. Lunch was at Quiznos, which was a nice change from Subway, and we ate outside, commenting how strange it felt to be so warm the day before Thanksgiving.

We poured through the local phonebooks, wildly excited about how very close we are to, well, EVERYTHING. It's a far cry from Andover, where even a simple trip to the grocery store required an hour's round trip driving. We all took a trip to Linens N Things to get started on our massive list of things we needed for the house. It was a bit too ambitious for our first day, as there was a meltdown by the time we were done. The rest of the day was at home... the boys played, Mike made all the phone calls for getting phone and satellite and internet hooked up, and I worked on getting the kitchen in order.

We wanted to pick up some groceries, but didn't think being in a grocery store the evening before Thanksgiving would be too fun, so we hit the town again for some dinner. 5 minutes down the street we found a drive-through Wendy's, and ate sitting on the floor, our food on the coffee table.

The Trip - From NH to AZ

Day 1 - Departure

We planned to leave NH at 8:00 AM, and ended up leaving at 8:45. Not bad considering that it was a cold, rainy, dreary day. The first leg of the trip went incredibly smoothly. The boys slept off and on, and we rarely heard a peep from the animals. We had lunch in New York, and it was also somewhere in New York that I first noticed that our trailer swayed like crazy everytime a tractor trailer passed us. I vowed I wouldn't look back anymore, because it freaked me out, but of course it just made me look EVERY time. The drizzly sky finally completely opened up and poured on us as we entered Pennsylvania, and we all laughed as we ran through the rain into to PA Welcome Center. First overnight stop: Mifflinville, Pennsylvania. We got some sandwiches from Arby's, then spent the evening playing the bingo game that Paxton got in his kid's meal at lunch.

Day 2

We woke to freezing temperatures and snow. It snowed on and off all day, but thankfully never enough to delay our trip. We entered Ohio, and had lunch in Akron. There were tears in Akron too - lots of them - over where we were going to eat. A scene was made, and I think there's a distinct possibility that we won't be welcome at that Subway ever again. Ah, traveling with kids. Everyone felt a lot better after we ate, and we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset coming through Columbus. The boys broke out their gameboys after lunch, and I ate my way through a box of Junior Caramels while I read two more magazines and caught up on all my pop-culture news. We noticed a strange thump in the trailer, and couldn't figure out what it was. We were excited to see gas prices drop below $2.00, a very good thing since our 4Runner was barely making 11 MPG with the weight of the trailer. Second overnight stop: Dayton, Ohio. There was a Perkins right next to our hotel, so that fit the bill for dinner. We'd never eaten there before, but the boys and I were able to get pancakes, and Mike got some sort of meat, so we were happy. The hotel was NOT a four-star establishment, and I had to laugh each time I found something wrong.... a lamp that didn't work, a missing clock, a shower drain that didn't drain, and not even a single spare roll of toilet paper.

Day 3

This time we woke to the first casualty of the trip. My Christmas cactus, lovingly grown from a shoot from a plant that was originally my Grandmothers, was frozen dead in the truck. Our luck continued through the morning into Missouri. It was a boring stretch of highway, and a rough stretch of highway, so much so that I was starting to feel carsick. Everett was starting to get grumpy and bored, so I picked up a little chalkboard for him to play with. It kept him happily drawing for 20 minutes or so, until he found more creative uses for it, like bopping his big brothers in the head. It revived me a little bit to come into St Louis, and I took several pictures of the arch. It finally started to warm up a bit too, something that made us all happy. We played the alphabet game in the afternoon, and we got to "Z" just as we passed a Lake of the Ozarks sign. Third overnight stop: Lebanon, Missouri (at a much nicer hotel than the night before.) We rolled into the parking lot with less than a half a gallon of gas, checked in, and ordered a pizza. While we waited for dinner to arrive, the boys ran around the courtyard for a good half hour, waving their arms over their heads, shouting "We're freeeeeeeee!!"

Day 4

We had a rough, windy ride first thing in the morning, but it cleared up as the morning wore on. The boys played their gameboys, and I finished the second of the 4 books I brought with me. We crossed into Oklahoma, and had lunch in Tulsa. We saw our first official cowboy in Wendy's, complete with Wrangler jeans, cowboy boots, hat and silver belt buckle. The boys were excited at lunch because they got new prizes in their kids' meals (we'd already eaten fast food enough times that they'd gotten some repeats) The day was going smoothly, if long, and we booked our hotel for the night. We were about 60 miles away from our destination, and I turned to Mike to tell him what good time we were making, how happy I was that we were ahead of schedule. BOOM. Or bang or pop or whatever words conjure up a dreadfully loud and sudden explosion sound. In the ten seconds it took me to realize we weren't in fact being shot at, but had blown a tire out on our trailer, Mike already had the truck under control and was maneuvering it onto the shoulder. Unfortunately it happened on the one of the worst possible places on the highway... a barely-there shoulder, a tight curve, and a 75 mph speed limit. We just sat in the truck for a minute, looking at each other, while tractor trailers zoomed by fast enough to make our teeth rattle. We did have a spare, but neither of us were comfortable with Mike changing a tire by himself on that section of road. We wanted a professional, preferably with flashing lights. We called AAA, who sent someone out, and it took about 20 minutes for him to arrive. It was dark by this time, and 2 of the 3 boys were crying, exhausted and freaked out. It was a quick fix once he got there; and ten minutes (and $120) later, we were on our again, stopping at a closer hotel than planned. Fourth overnight stop: Elk City, Oklahoma. We were exceedingly thankful to get there safe and sound, and the hotel room - complete with its hot pink sheets - was very inviting. I stayed with the baby, while Mike and the older boys ran out to pick something up for dinner. I found Racing Stripes on HBO, and thought they'd be excited about that when they got back. They were.

Day 5

Everett woke up hot with a fever, but with no other symptoms. I felt bad making him get in the car for another day of driving, but knew that he'd get the sleep he needed to fight whatever it was off. And sleep he did. We drove around most of the morning looking for someplace to buy another spare tire for the trailer, but it was a difficult feat being a Sunday when everything was closed. Walmart's tire center was open but did not have the right size. We took the chance while we were there to grab a few things we needed... snacks, baby tylenol, another magazine, new magnadoodles for the kids. The guy at Walmart sent us to a truck stop, also open, also wrong size. We finally found a service station that appeared to be open. The guy who worked there, called in on an emergency repair for somebody else, was gracious enough to help us. We were back on the road by 10:30 AM, and finally crossed into Texas. Lunch was at McDonalds in Amarillo. The boys wanted an icecream after lunch, and were bummed to find out that their icecream machine was broken. After lunch we crossed the border into New Mexico, and it was just as beautiful as I remembered it from the first trip. There's just something about the miles and miles of wide open spaces, mountains, and red rock buttes that's good for the soul. I love the southwest; I always have. The difference between this time and our trip in June is that in June it felt like a vacation, and this time it feels like going home. Fifth overnight stop: Albuquerque, New Mexico. The kids made me smile when they walked into our rather typical $60 a night hotel room and said, with all sincerity "Wow, what a great room!" We had dinner at an interesting cafeteria-style family restaurant in a not-very-nice part of town. We'd promised the boys icecream.... and the icecream machine was broken there too. We headed back to our hotel, and to the McDonald's sharing its parking lot, for icecream and another night of much needed rest. We pulled out the US map as we had every night so far, and marveled at how far we'd come.

Day 6

Everett's fever was thankfully of the 36 hour variety, and he woke up cool and happy and his usual stinker self. The older boys however woke up with their own unique versions of impending colds... Paxton a hacking cough, and Spencer a flurry of sneezes. We'd set the alarm for 7, but not being used to the time change we woke up at 5:45, ready to get going. We had our first really good cup of coffee of the trip when I spotted a nearby Starbucks. Mike ran in for them, and came back swearing that he was never going to Starbucks again.... too many complicated choices for a simple cup of coffee. We enjoyed a relaxing drive through the rest of New Mexico, and I finished my 3rd book of the trip in between drinking in all the scenery. We crossed into Arizona before noon, and began the long stretch of desert highway. Exits were few and far between, so when we stopped for a bathroom break, Mike decided to fill up the gas tank just in case. He was already up to $40 before he realized that the gas was almost FOUR DOLLARS a gallon. We shed our jackets sometime around lunchtime, and enjoyed the warm air. Lunch was at Denny's in Holbrook, and we decided to call it a nice early day. Last overnight stop: Flagstaff, AZ. We stayed at a nicer hotel than the previous ones, in a two-room suite, which was fitting for our last night of the trip. We got their at 4:00, enjoyed a complimentary cocktail social hour, gave the kids baths, ordered room service, and vegged out in front of the TV.

Day 7: Arrival day

We woke up early again, and were lounging around in bed watching the local news. Mike got a weird look on his face when he heard that it had dipped below 20 degrees overnight. I just stared at him until he said "Paxton's fish." It had been so warm in the evening, we hadn't thought about the fact that we were in the mountains and that it might get cold at night. Paxton's fish - who'd made it completely across the country just fine - had been left in the truck in the cold, and didn't make it. We'd brought him into the hotel with us the nights we knew it was going to get cold, but were fooled by the warm Arizona evening. We felt HORRIBLE. Paxton was of course sad, but handled it better than either one of us would have expected. He seemed as excited as the rest of us that it was our last day of driving, and that we were only 3 hours away from our new home. We fueled up at a nice breakfast buffet, complete with belgian waffles, and let Everett run up and down the corridors while Mike loaded up the truck. We took it easy on the 2 hour drive down to Anthem, both because we didn't want to blow another tire and plummet off the side of the mountain, and because our overloaded trailer didn't let us do otherwise. The views coming down into Phoenix were, as we remembered, spectacular.

We got to my sister's house at noon, and it was like no time had passed between us.. certainly not 4 months. We chatted and visited, and the kids wasted no time getting down to the business of playing with their cousins. It was warm and sunny and happy, and it felt good just to be there. We called our realtor and set up a time to meet her at our house. As we drove down to Tempe, I was literally so excited that I thought I was going to hyperventilate. I had to keep telling myself, and the kids (who were nearly bouncing off the ceiling) to calm down. We underestimated how much time it would take to get there, and we were 15 minutes late meeting the realtor. The house was very easy to find off the highway, and the area was just as she'd promised - a nice, clean, beautiful family neighborhood. She promised we wouldn't be disappointed, and we were not. One misconception I think people have about Arizona in general is that everything is drab and brown, and it's just not. As we drove into the development there was green grass and palm trees, petunias and marigolds, and a whole bunch of gorgeous blooming bushes that I've yet to learn the name of. It was everything we'd hoped for... and if it hadn't been for the occasional crying, the fever, the blown-out tire, and the dead fish, the trip would've been too perfect. We made it safely across the country together, and it's all good.

The Closing

It was a test of patience to be sure, but after weeks of waiting and wondering and postponing and praying, we closed on the sale of our house. The boys kept asking us what "a closing" was, and we told them it was basically us signing a whole bunch of papers, handing over our keys, and officially selling the house to the buyers. It was that... and it was so much more. Practically, it went very very smoothly. It was quick and simple, and there was a lot of chatting and joking as we signed. For a transaction that had so many snags along the way, it wound up very neat and tidy in the end. To Mike and I (and by extension, the kids) this house sale was the key to a new life, a new adventure, new possibilities, something we've been waiting a long time for. We were ready. Whoever said timing is everything wasn't kidding. Had we done it a year earlier, I would have been sad to leave the house that we'd put so much blood, sweat and tears into.. but today I wasn't. That house had been a stepping stone, and a blessing to be sure, but it was just a stopping off place for us. Today we were ready to leave it, to let someone else enjoy it. And everything from our buyers to the job market to the homeschool groups to the rental house that just happened to become available when we needed it, fell into place to tell us that the time was now. We're ready. And we're excited. And we're so very very thankful.

Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

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.

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.

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.

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.

Goodbyes

Sunday was the last time we'll be seeing the McGrail side of the family for a long time. There were goodbyes and hugs and tears from almost everyone, but the boys took it remarkably in stride. They gave their hugs and kisses, happily waved at the door, and went back to the business of playing. Mike thinks that maybe they don't really understand that this was a real goodbye, for several months, but I tend to think the opposite is true. I think they understand better than we give them credit for, better than we as adults can understand.

A friend and I recently had a discussion about children and how they dealt with death. She recently lost a cousin to a car accident, and was telling me how her children were handling it. Her 8 year old (who is a lot like Spencer in many ways) accepted it in a way that many adults just can't. She told me that she just KNEW her cousin was in a better place, and that she WOULD see her again. There was no question in her mind.

Moving away from family is obviously different than death, but it is still a life-changing transition. And Spencer and Paxton seem to understand better than anybody that while, yes, it's a big deal, it's not something to be sad about. That relationships that are worth having are not going to dissipate just because of a few (or a few thousand) miles. That they will continue to see and share and talk with the people that love them. That this is a good, and positive, and exciting move for our family, and that it's where we need to be right now. Their hearts are pure and open and trusting, and not all clogged up with the negative garbage that us adults have accumulated.

They understand.

Sonic Heroes, math and the USA

Yesterday Paxton asked me what 3 x 5 was. I answered his question, and he asked another. I showed him what a multiplication table was, and his excitement drew Spencer over to see what we were doing. They both found it very very cool. Spencer wanted to check my answers, so I got him a calculator, and he spent most of the afternoon plugging in problems, amazed that I had them all right (or possibly amazed that the calculator got them all right) It was the last thing he did before he went to bed, and the first thing he did when he woke up.

Paxton spent a long portion of the past two days playing Sonic Heroes, both with and without me. It is one of five new PS2 games he got for his birthday, and it is pretty fun. He learns how to play new games almost instantly and I do not, so it took me awhile before I could even give him some honest competition.

This afternoon, I looked up a United States map on the internet. The one we had hanging on our wall is packed someplace, and I wanted to know what surrounded Utah. I stumbled across a really neat geography site, with games for learning and quizzing yourself on the states, capitals, rivers and lakes. We all played with it for quite awhile - and I do know where Utah is now - and the boys had me bookmark it for later.

Right now they are watching Cyberchase on TV, the baby is sleeping, and I can almost hear the house sighing as the day starts to wind down.

Moving

On August 10th, our house officially hit the market. 13 days later we received (and accepted) an offer. Barring any problems, we will close on October 14th, hitch up our trailer and start our new adventure in AZ. As the buyers have a home sale contingency on the contract, we are continuing to do showings, and our life very much feels like it is revolving around cleaning and getting out of the house for walk-throughs. Surprisingly, though it's not entirely pleasant scrubbing the house for strangers to critique it - whether we're in the mood for cleaning or not - everyone has been adjusting rather well. The boys have been very helpful in packing and keeping the house picked up; and have only complained minimally about leaving at a moments' notice when they'd much rather be home playing Playstation.

There are actually many upsides to having to be out of the house all the time. We've been going out to eat a lot, which while certainly pricey, has been really nice. We've also been spending a lot of time in the car together, which we always enjoy. If it weren't for the price of gas, we would likely be driving around even more. We explored miles of back roads the other day, when we came home after an hour and the people still hadn't left, and it was a lovely little detour.

We're all excited about moving, and are starting to shift our focus to Arizona. I've signed up with homeschool groups, researched churches, and searched for a gym. It's a strange state of limbo we're in right now, but in a way it's forcing us to live in the moment even more fully. The boys and I are appreciative of days like today, when we're home, together, and don't have any showings or plans.

Paxton started his day with Playstation today, and Spencer started by writing words on the chalkboard and quizzing me. He asked why his friend Becca (one year older than him) knew how to spell longer words than he did. I told him that it was probably because she went to school, and had to learn words for spelling tests... and that he could practice longer words any time he wanted to. He then got out a map of the world, taped it next to the chalkboard, and started copying the names of countries.

The mail distracted us, as it always does, and now the boys are pouring through a toy catalog, adding to their growing Christmas wish list. Very strange to think about our first Christmas without any snow.

Yard Sales, Roofers, and $80 Icecream

Saturday was our first foray into yard saling. We've been to yard sales before, but until this weekend had never held our own. Despite some pretty ominous looking clouds, the weather held out, and it was by and large a success. The boys were very excited about it, Spencer so much so that he had Mike wake him up at 6:30 in the morning to help set up. He was a great help, greeting everyone as they walked up, and trying his hardest to promote one of the old lawnmowers we were getting rid of. We'd promised the boys that they could keep all the money from their own items that sold, and they both happily deposited 5.50 into their banks at the end of the day. They helped us load all the leftovers into the garage, poised to be taken out again for try #2 next weekend.

Sunday I wanted to take the family out for icecream. We had to go grocery shopping, but didn't feel like driving all the way to Concord - ha - so we went to New London and planned on stopping at the TCBY on the way out. We'd forgotten that everything in New London closes insanely early on Sundays. We got there at 2:15, and they'd closed at 2:00. I had promised my boys icecream, so we weren't going home without icecream. We headed out to Newport, since we were out that way and it was only another 15 minutes. No icecream places. We couldn't turn around at that point, so we drove the next 10 miles to Claremont. Surely they would have a Friendly's. Couldn't find one. Hopped on the highway, and ended up driving into Vermont. We were on a mission. I thought of Lebanon, and was positive that they'd have icecream. The exit we wanted was several miles away, but we were having a grand time. I was slightly worried about the fact that the truck's gas gauge had said empty for awhile - we hadn't been planning a big outing - but we made it to the exit and the gas station on fumes. We were so empty, it cost over $40 to fill it, something that I think has happened only one other time since we've had it. And right down the street from the station was.....a Friendly's! By that time, it was after 5:00, so we were all hungry for dinner too. We had a nice dinner, followed by our long awaited icecream sundaes. They were worth it. The boys were happy and sticky when we headed home an hour later.

Yesterday, the men arrived to start working on our new roof. Days like that I am especially glad that we homeschool. The boys spent nearly all day outside... watching, asking questions, listening patiently and maturely to where they could and could not stand, taking pictures of the progress. Something you just can't get in public school.

Therapy

I have some pretty terrific kids.

There have been stresses lately - big ones - too big for even chocolate to fix. I was sitting and sipping my 3rd cup of coffee at the computer, trying to focus long enough to get something done. I turned on the computer's dvd player, loaded up with one of my mixes, and "Drift Away" started playing. I only halfway heard it, and it did nothing to raise my spirits.

Paxton, sweet sweet Paxton, came into the room without saying a word, took the mouse and selected track 16 - the theme song to Friends. Within minutes, all four of us were laughing and dancing around the living room. He played it again and again, and we danced and we danced. As far as I'm concerned, no matter what else we do today or this week, it'll all be secondary to that moment we spent together, just forgetting about everything and having fun together.

I love these kids so much. I'll never know what I ever did to deserve them.

Happy first birthday Everett!!!! We can't believe you are one already!!!

Road Trips

Yesterday the mailman brought our AAA triptik for our vacation to Phoenix. He also brought 2 money orders for some DVD's I sold, and a rebate check for our Tivo. Cool mail day! The boys ripped open the package for me, and weren't too excited about it until I explained what it was. The word "map" got them hooked! We looked through the triptik, then pulled down their dry-erase map of the United States. We just love that thing. We put it on the floor, carefully plotted out our route to Arizona, then drove it over and over again with Matchbox cars. Paxton decided it would be fun to take detours, so our little imaginery trip to the Southwest also took us to places like Canada, Alaska, and Africa (but we had to flip the map over for that.) We noticed that a lot of the state names and capitals were wearing off, so we fixed those, and added little notes along the way.... who lives where, we've been been, and where we want to go. We also had to freshen up our picture of the armadillo on Texas. We'd read that they live there awhile back, and for some reason the boys really enjoy that fact. I'm not 100% certain, but I'm really pretty sure that I didn't know that at their age.

Derbies and Birthday Parties

It's funny to me how our weekends seem to be one extreme or the other lately... either very lazy without any plans at all, or insanely busy. This past weekend was of the insanely busy variety, but I think I can speak for everyone when I say that it was a great one. Saturday was Spencer's pinewood derby finals. We had a good time, and were unbelievably proud of our little scout. He had a great attitude, and wonderful sportsmanship, and wasn't upset in the least that his car ended up 34th out of 34! All the boys took home special badges, medals, and t-shirts. It was neat to just be there, especially knowing that so many of the boys in his troop did not qualify. After the race we went out to lunch with Maba and Pop (who were kind enough to come up for the day to support Spencer in his race), then came back home for root beer floats. Sunday was lunch at Aunt Didi and Uncle Mich's, then play time for the boys while the girls all went out to enjoy a live showing of "The Full Monty" - just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. After the show I met the guys at Spencer's friend's birthday party. It was a space theme, and they happily played with frisbees, threw a hover craft around, and shot marshmellow "asteroids" out of homemade shooters. I love watching the boys run around with other kids.... it always makes me laugh inside, as I hear other people's inane concerns about "socialization" running around in my head. There were actually a lot of other homeschooled kids there, and amazingly enough, they too knew how to socialize appropriately. Even Everett joined in the fun, crawling around on the grass, waving at everyone, and pulling himself up on everything he could find. The only thing marring the otherwise perfect day was the ignorant, and somewhat insulting, comments I received from another mother about homeschooling. I just nodded and smiled a lot, and went home secure in the knowledge that I am doing what is absolutely and 100% right for us and our kids.

Happy days are here again

This has been a very long winter. We've been sick more often than not, and after this last bout of sicknesses, we were all left in a funk of epic proportions. This week, the cloud finally lifted. Our days have some rhythym to them again, we're all feeling connected, and the boys are happy and active. Today we spent most of the morning playing card games, and then headed out to the grocery store to get the ingredients for a frozen dessert they wanted to make. Everyone's been sick so often that even getting out to the grocery store was a big deal! We got our strawberries, watermelon, and yogurt, and Spencer chatted up one of the employees about the number codes that she was putting on the apples. We were in such a great mood that no one even stressed about the half a bottle of orange soda that spilled all over the back of the 4Runner. After we got home and had lunch, it was a time for a whirlwind cleaning of the house, because we had someone coming to give us an estimate on replacement windows. After he left, we all went outside to fetch the dog from the neighbor's house (we think something happened to her fence when part of the driveway washed away) and found CROCUSES BLOOMING!!! My favorite, no-question-about-it, official sign of spring. We decided we had to celebrate, so the whole family walked to the corner store - going by way of the old covered bridge where we stopped and threw rocks in the river - and got icecream sandwiches for after dinner. Paxton got tired on the way home, so I gave him a piggy-back ride while he caught his breath, and he hopped down in time to collect pine cones before we made it back to the house. Happy, happy Spring!!!