Summer Rut

I know it is summer and all and we should be relishing in the sunshine, but I just feel bleah. Maybe it is because of Grace's casts. Maybe it is because we no longer have a swimming pool - I feel the absence of the pool more than I ever thought I would. Maybe it's the fact that I've been unpacking boxes for two solid weeks, stopping my 'work' every 15 minutes to make a snack, referee a fight, hold the chickens or whatever else the girls can scrounge up for an idea to interrupt me.

They are bored. I need a change of pace. But what? Where? I want to get this house 'finished' in the sense that I want all boxes unpacked and everything put away. I want some organization. I keep telling myself that it will get there - and it is - but just not fast enough. Not without interruption, angst, irritation and a few curse words under my breath.

Grace, bless her heart for being such a trooper, has to be sick of the casts. I'm sick of those casts and they aren't even on my feet! She has been a bit more emotional and a bit more needy. I feel like my reserves are nearing empty on ability to give emotionally. I swear if a child of mine cries one more time when they don't get the blue cup or that the pancake I so artistically and loving sculpted into the shape of a bunny doesn't resemble her own stuffed animal, I might come unglued.

While everyone else is camping and splashing in the pool, my girls and I are barely holding on. I think things will turn for the better once Grace and Charlotte can return to normal activities. I hope. In the meantime, 10 sleeps until the casts come off. So close, yet so freaking far!

We Interrupt Unpacking...

It's been busy and the girls have done a pretty tremendous job of entertaining themselves.

(Truth be told, Stranger and Hiccup have earned their keep a thousand times over.)

So we broke things up yesterday morning and while Court went to work, I took the girls to the Cherry Festival at Bill's Berry Farm to blow off some steam...and get some donuts! It almost didn't happen because a huge thunderstorm rolled through that morning, but the sun broke through and thus we were on our way!

First stop, donuts!

Homemade cherry donuts hot off the press. 

Grace loves theses suckers and had the skies opened up and she missed out on all the other fun activities, she wouldn't have minded as long as she left with a tummy full of these!

Mission accomplished. 

Next stop? 

The train!

The girls displayed obvious signs of cabin fever. They were go, go, go!!

Off to the tree fort...stopping only for a quick drink and another donut! 

I was a bit worried about Grace out on the farm in her casts. It just had rained really hard and I feared mud and dirt. She still has 3.5 weeks to go and that is a long time when you are itchy and uncomfortable. So I concocted a little foot protection with our grocery bags. It did the trick!

In the middle of picking cherries, Court called and our Uhaul truck that we had rented for the afternoon hadn't been returned and thus, we were out a truck. They did have a truck NOW but it was available only for three hours!

So I hightailed it out of Bill's farm and back to the old house to meet Court. 

We moved and hauled all the remaining 'big stuff' and got it on the truck. We ran back to the new house for an unload and at that point the girls just lost it. It was HOT!! And they were worn out. 

Court - the amazing trooper that he is - returned to the old house for one more run before we ran out of time with the truck. While he was able to pack and clear out a lot, he wasn't able to get it all!

Yes, we'll be going back. In fact, this week is going to be all about making little trips back and forth.

UGH!

It feels like it will never be over!

But when I stop to take a breath, and I look around - I really look around all the world is right. 

We Made It

The calm before the storm...

strike that...

the eye of the storm.

Our last Saturday at Home Place. 

We decided to sleep in and have a bit of a lazy morning.

Family breakfast followed by a walk outside before Court headed off to work and I took the girls to a My Little Pony movie (Charlotte's first show at a theater!).

As we headed out for our jaunt in the backyard, we ran into trouble.

BIG trouble. 

The kind of trouble that breaks your heart.

The kind of trouble that makes you do crazy things...

...like feed two stray dogs that randomly show up at your house two days before you move.

*sigh*

What other option did we have? 

So we fed them and gave them some water and vowed to find them a home after the move.

The girls were {not} helpful in the packing process.

They were good at entertaining themselves a bit - although that involved getting a lot of stuff out that I was trying to stash away in a moving box. 

My sister was a total rock star and came over to entertain the girls for me on the day of the move.

She took them to a movie and to lunch and kept them busy while I ran around with my head cut off.

(Huge thank you to Molly. Couldn't have done it without her!)

Move day was not fun.

The movers were late and because of a torrential down pour that morning, they were unable to park their truck in the driveway. Instead, they had to park down the street and shuttle 

every. single. item

down the steps of our porch, 

down the driveway,

through the gate,

out onto the street (where they blocked an entire lane of traffic)

and then up the ramp into the truck.

When I say it took forever, I mean it took forever.

It didn't help that two little puppies were running around under foot. I had boarded Lindey and Lucky.

I locked the puppies in the girls' playhouse but they escaped. All the doors to the house were open for obvious reasons and I knew they would claw and scratch any room they were locked in...

so I did what any person with a heart would do.

I piled them in the car and took them to the new house.

Luckily, the new house came with a dog run.

It didn't take long for the girls to fall in love.

At six that night, the movers were still loading the truck at the old house and because I was worried about where we eat and sleep that night and when!!!, we told them to leave everything else!

{Guess who gets to rent a UHaul tomorrow and finish our move?!!?}

The movers finally finished at 11:30 that night. The last items off their truck were our beds - of course.

{Sigh}

It was a long night.

The next morning we woke up and our new baby chicks were delivered! yay!!

They are so small and so cute and the girls love them!!

Unfortunately, two of our eight didn't make it but the rest seem to be thriving!

It's amazing how quickly they've grown in just a few days.

I'll share more pictures soon but my goodness things have been busy and I'm tired.

The good news is we are moved.

Still living in boxes but each day things get a little bit better and little more organized.

And the puppies you ask?

We kept them, of course.

Meet Stranger and Hiccup (formerly known as Danger)...Charlotte was wishy washy on her dog's  name (yes her dog) when we went to the vet yesterday for their first round of shots, but as of today, she is firm. The name is Hiccup.

Welcome to the family...and your our new home!

Packing Up Trips Down memory Lane

Packing started today. 

While we still don't have an official move-in date, I figure there's no time like the present to get crackin'.

It's going to be a loooong process.

I started tackling rogue Christmas decor and a mountain - four years high - of baby and toddler clothes. As I picked through onesies and bibs, most were easily deposited in the giveaway pile. Afterall, the majority had been through two childhoods. But then I hit the mother load - the newborn and infant box. I'd come across the hat they wore in the hospital or some other little outfit and I'd stop dead in my tracks. Were they ever that small?! Were they?!

I mean I know they were. I lived it. I have pictures. I have baby books documenting every precious milestone but the clothes...the clothes are my only tangible memories. The only thing I can feel in my hands and instantly be reminded of how tiny they once were. 

In conclusion, those little gems will be coming with us to the new house even though they probably won't see the light of day until either Grace and Charlotte are all grown up - they are too precious to ever part with...and this packing thing? With all these trips down memory lane? It's gonna take forever!! 

Look Hoo's Back!

You may recall our run in with an owl - in our living room - last year. You might also recall how that same owl raised a nest of baby owls in a tree right outside our living room window. Read about it here and here. It was amazing. I enjoyed every second of watching them peak out of their hole and cautiously and clumsily take to flight.

Then, just like that, they were gone. Grown up and gone and we were empty nesters. Literally.

My evening owl entertainment left a void in my evening repertoire. Even knowing that the owls wouldn't be there, I'd check every once in a while just in case.

So imagine my surprise when I posted up on the couch Tuesday night to fold heaps of laundry and relax in front of the 'boob tube'. Court was at a dinner meeting, the girls were asleep so I was settling in for some me time. Just me, the laundry and the ...and just like last time, I could feel the eyes upon me. I swear I knew she was there even before I looked up. She met my stare with confidence - unblinking - and for the second time in just days, I cried.

The owl - other than bringing the girls home and watching them grow - has been one of my most cherished memories of this house and I wanted to see her one more time before we moved.

Yes, you are reading that correctly. We are moving - soon - though I don't know exactly when. There are still a lot of unknowns and variables. The good news is we know where! More on all that when the time is right...and I actually know something.

The move is bittersweet. The main thing the move does for us is that it gets the girls in a better school district. It also puts us closer to Court's office thus shortening his commute. The down side is we are leaving the house that was our first home. We lived in a house prior to this one but it wasn't a home. There's a difference ya know. This is where the girls came home from the hospital, where we endured sleepless nights and 18 months of all-day pregnancy sickness. It's where we hosted family gatherings and where I cooked my first Thanksgiving meal. It's where we lit off firecrackers three weeks post 4th of July and where we roasted marshmallows with friends in the driveway. It's where the girls learned to crawl, walk, swim and ride bikes. It's the only home Grace and Charlotte have ever known.

While this is the only house Grace and Charlotte have ever known, they aren't the only children to be raised in this house. Court's father, uncle and aunt all grew up here. This house has been inhabited by a family member for 63 years and upon our departure, the tenure ends. *Sigh.* Like I said, bittersweet.

But life is ever changing and change, whether difficult or waited for with baited breath, is good. I look forward to our new house and the process of making that place our home. (The girls and I have been listening to Phillip Phillips a lot lately! 😜)

So seeing the owl flooded me with a lot of emotions. We quietly sat and watched each other for quite sometime - although I wonder if she wasn't watching the muted tv screen glowing behind me. She couldn't have been that transfixed on me.

Then again, perhaps she came to say goodbye. To give a nod of thanks for rescuing her from the chimney and in turn saving the lives of her owlets. (I checked. The proper term for a baby owl.) For she has not returned since Tuesday. Every night, I check and wait. I'm content that even if I don't see her again before our transplant we had one final moment. One final goodbye. Truth be told, I'll be looking for her every night even after we move.