Moving day!

We finally made it to moving day! What a feat that was...movers were suppose to be at the house at 10am Thursday, then we were pushed to 3-4pm, then they finally showed up at 6:45pm....we had a 26' truck to fill and a house full of furniture and a final walk through at 3:45pm the next day! Can we say stressed?

At 9pm, I went to put the kids to bed at my parents house. When I got back there wasn't much room left in the truck and still lots of items that needed to get back. I had to face the facts....it wasn't all going to fit. More upsetting, what wasn't going to fit were most of the outside toys including the newly built swingset. This really bummed me out, but what could I do?

Not a whole hell of a lot at 11pm when the movers finished. The next morning dad and I headed over to u-haul to see about renting a small trailer to attach to the truck...the space was not worth the price. We headed down the road to a storage unit, reserved one and headed home to start making loads! We took Gus and mom and Mabel got busy finishing the touch ups inside.

Dad hit the road at 3:30 and mom and Mabel went home for baths while Gus and I did the walk through and one more load to storage. We got to moms got showered and ha some supper them we hit the road long about 7:30pm. We made it to the east side of Knoxville and called it a night. The time change had caught up to us as well as everything else! We got up and had breakfast at the hotel then hit the road to Asheville for gas and lunch! We missed a turn and got set back a bit, but it was beautiful and it gave Jake and dad and some of Jake's awesome friends from work time to unload the moving truck without kids under their feet!

We finally drove up to our new home at 9:43pm. It was surreal! Gus immediately jumped in Jake's arms. Mabel was a little unsure, but she warmed up by the next day! It felt good to be home, together, under the same roof!

Mom and dad, thank y'all so much for everything, from cooking, cleaning, sanding ABC's off the back deck, chasing kids, bathing kids, having us invade y'all house for 5-6 weeks, washing our cloths and the list goes on! I am so grateful for all of it and I am not really sure that I can ever re-pay y'all, but I will try like hell!! I love y'all!

Nanny, Judi and Krista, thank y'all do much for arranging and attending the packing parties!! Great times and lots of memories! I really appreciate all of y'all help during those last few weeks!! It means a lot when you don't have to ask and people just show up to help you because they know what a task moving can be. Especially having just moved 4 months prior! Thank you!

Swimming lessons - week 2

We survived swimming!! By the end of the lessons Gus was jumping in, holding his breath and swimming a short distance to the teacher without floaties!! Lots of progress! Now that we are leaving so close to the beach, i think we will enroll him in another set of lessons just to make sure!

Holiday World ~ 2012

The Saturday before we moved a good friend and I took Gus and her daughter to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN! We all had a blast! What is not to love about FREE Pepsi products all day long? And watersides? And glorified amusement park rides? Not to much, my friends, not to much!!

The kids were troopers and we went all day with no meltdowns!! Lots of smiles!

This year Gus was tall enough for a few more rides and slides...42" to be exact! He rode his very first water coaster! When we got off he told me it was just a little bit scary! I am so proud of him for even trying it out! Here are a few pics of our day!

Swimming Lessons - day 4

At the end of class, Gus exclaimed, "I did every fing!". And that he did! He cupped his hands and pulled the water away from him, he kicked his feet really hard and he went under several times! I really can't wait to see what next week will bring! Until then, we will be at the pool practicing what we learned!

Swimming Lessons ~ days 1-3

Monday Gus started swimming lessons! He was a little apprehensive and brought his floatie, bit his instructor had him out of it in no time!!

Day one was getting acclimated to the water without floaties and just showing the teacher what he knew. It is just he and a little girl in the class so it is perfect! After class we asked him if he was glad he went and. He told mom and I that he was very proud of himself and very happy that he decided to go!!

Day two Ms. Lindsey had them go under by the end of class!! Little mister came up smiling and said how fun swimming lessons were! They also learned to cup their hands like "mogillas" (gorillas) and kick their feet in a "splish splash" pattern!

Day three Mabel came to the lesson and she got antsy so we had to walk away and did not get to see everything, but Ms. Lindsey assured us that he did great again today and went under again!!

Swimming lessons are very important to me and even more so now with our upcoming move to the beach! Looking forward to what the remaining 5 days of lessons will bring!!

Love is pure and simple!

Treehouses

These were amazing! More pictures to come from my point and shoot.....as soon as I can fine my USB cable! There were 7 total and we liked all of them and have big plans for daddy to build us one with lots of perks. We love you, daddy and know that you would happily make just about whatever we want!!

Rainbow Fish

What a fantastic day we had! This was incredible...a rainbow fish treehouse! Gus was amazed and could have spent most of his day and all night in here just hanging out enjoying the great outdoors!!

Packing progress {part 2}

Here is what we have been up to.....

Friday fun

Today the temperature was waaaay below normal....like never got over 65 degrees below normal! It was splendid! We went to dollar tree to get a kite and got some bubbles and glow sticks as well!! Those things always make Friday fun!!

Mabel is starting to take more than one step at a time! I am hoping that she will hold out on full blown walking until we move and Jake can see her wobbling!

Gus has been giving some pretty funny excuses as to why he should stay at Pinki's! The other day it was that it was just too dusty here at the house with all that packing and stuff! where he comes up with this I will never know!

Tomorrow is our yard sale! Hoping to make a few extra bucks and get rid of some extra junk!!