Moving Day part 1 and 2

Over the past two weeks I have packed our entire 3 bedroom house into sections. Keep, give away, sell. We successfully had the movers come on Monday which was crazy! There was an 18 wheeler in front our our little house, then the school called to let me know our son was sick. Richard was at work but Alyssa took the girls for the day which helped tremendously. Total the move took 4 hours and 2 mattress, a drum, and some laundry baskets less than I planned we had moved out of phase 1 and into phase 2. Our cleaning continued, now in an empty house you'd assume it made things easier to clean... well it did. But finding the time to clean when all your kids books and toys are traveling around the country doesn't help your "distraction plan" But I was determined to get our security deposit back.

 

Waffles from the oven + Spongebob on the laptop = distraction number 1

 

We sold the mattresses, gave the washer and dryer to a friend and emptied my beloved compost. Richard has agreed to make me a new one, I wanted to bring it on the freight which he swiftly told me how gross that was. Haha, I tried! We were able to go out to dinner to VG Bistro in Roswell, amazing! Our camera died so I will upload those pictures later. Then I went to dinner with Caroline and it was at one of our favorite Inc. street food, delish, never to disappoint with company, atmosphere and cuisine.

Friday night we moved in with Alyssa and mom in Vinings, which we will call home for the next month. The kids love to have all the dogs around and Nana and Syssa too. We are looking forward to a fun next month playing in the pool and having some downtime before phase 3 of the move. Phase 3 is the biggest part of our families transition. It is the ACTUAL move into our home in Pupukea, which yes is still undetermined. That is something I am learning to accept that what will be will be and we didn't get this far for nothing. I am learning and happily embracing that God's plan is better than my plan any day, it is proven over and over again in my life. I am so grateful for my loving Father loving my more than I can imagine. I will leave with this, I am in a beautiful stage in my marriage, a beautiful stage in motherhood, a beautiful stage in my identity and life IS good!

Our date with Little

We got to go out this Wednesday " Date night" to Nagoya. I am going to do some research to see if they put some sort of addictive ingredient in soy sauce because by Monday I can taste sushi. We will miss coming here and sitting at the bar, we love to watch them make the sushi, these guys are artists. If you've never watched a chef make sushi rolls it's a must and if you are going to sushi, go to Nagoya in Roswell by the Mill!

 

The older two went to grandpas so we got to spend the evening with Littles. Then woke up and went to Thumbs up with our gift card for breakfast. It was so nice to spend some time with just her, she's much more silly when the older ones aren't here. I believe she relaxes more and doesn't feel a constantly has to observe and learn.  It's like when they are around she just absorbs all that they can do.  love to give her attention without her feeling like it's divided. It reminds me of when it was just , then when it was just  was at preschool a couple days a week. Soon Big Girl will be in preschool and it we will have just her and I time and I'm very much looking forward to it. We try to make time for each other them, especially Richard. He knows because he's away from them all day they miss that special time. I love that we do this because every child is different and has different needs but they all want to feel special and that starts at home.

LItlle had a great milestone this week, she has successfully had 3 naps in the twin bed... with no rails!!! I'm so proud and excited for them to sleep in their daybed next month together. : ) Off to figure out how I want to paint or remove the paint from their daybed now!

The dining room chairs are cool... literally!

Cool Aqua by the Natura line from Benjamin Moore. It's an awesome line of paint that is NO VOC, no smell at all!  If you don'y know what VOC is check this website out! http://www.epa.gov/iaq/voc.html . We decided on an aqua because our farm table is a red finish and the chair seats have yellow rye roping. Blue was the other primary color... just kidding. It all came together when Richard started distressing them, we just loved this color! The trip to distressing is you paint your "distressed coat" first which was already there, phew! After painting( we did two)  use  steel wool and sand paper medium grain. We also found that going one way rather than back and worth looked much better, going back and forth motion on the chair just looked like scratches. Make sure you have the same KIND of paint when paint over a painted piece.

Th blue chair still has the tape on it above.

Finished product!!! 

Party on Saturday & the Arts Festival on Sunday

We wanted to have our friends over before the moving got too crazy, i.e Monday. What can I say I hate to procrastinate, so we had a small group of people that we love come hang out in the yard. Then we were surprised to received this beautifully detailed card and amazing hand carved wooden necklaces for each person in our family. Ben had made the necklaces each different, these amazing crosses. Richard and I later that night talked about how awesome it was for them to put so much effort into giving us this gift, such a treasure they will be to us.  I had asked ( Richard says I was being an Art Director) for everyone to make a symbol of saying goodbye. We just took some linen/cotton blend fabric cut them into squares and marked them up with love. Not that I have a favorite but Toms was so nice because it was lovely and he put a lot of effort into it. We appreciate effort!  I will string some yarn in them eventually and hang them in the kids rooms! A great way to remember our friends from Atlanta!

The Roswell Arts Festival was going on for the last day on Sunday. So we had nothing to do and everyone was in a good mood, so we went! It was fun and not too hot.  I am used to dishing out water&snacks or calming down the kids because they wanted some treat that we won't let them have. But this time I had my friend with me, we could look at things and discuss, we had the guys to help with the kids and Grandma Leigh who helped with anyone who lagged behind. It was nice to discuss art of which ones we liked and which ones were for a different crowd. It was a great end to Mothers Day 2011!

Worldless Mothers Day

Because somedays there are just no words to express my contentment with them...

Come together

I find myself wanting to have a motivational song playing during my blogs so it  goes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0l_6Zw1828

I have had the pleasure of being around some wonderful new moms recently and hearing their stories on the transition into motherhood. Having three children myself who are all so different, so astonishingly beautiful and intelligent has me changed in ways I can only give credit to God for. We all have choices of how we choose to be mothers and how we choose to be leaders to those following us. I also have some amazing friends who are moms my friends Deena and Abbey are two women I have known for over 3 years and I feel like I could talk to them about almost anything I go through asa mom because we all have children the same ages. I also have my sister Alyssa and my dear friend Caroline who are not moms but have been by my side since my son was born and can give me great insight on how to handle moments when I feel overwhelmed or just have a funny story to share.

Its a wonderful thing when you can find other women who are moms and can share life with them. It's also wonderful when you have women in your life who are your friends whether they are in the same stage of life with you or not. Friendship is give and take. When you find someone who wants to give you what you give them than it's an amazing friendship that can surpass age, background and for me right now, continents. I am encouraged for our move and my hope to start a playgroup with new moms in the area for our girls. Because I stay home during the day with our daughters, I want them to still have social time with other children. You never know when you're being used to encourage others so be aware that when you share and love someone without holding back it comes back around.  Keep giving people!