Are you excited?

This is the question we have been asked frequently in the past couple weeks. The question is referring to our upcoming move.

It's a question that I don't have a good answer for...a question that has a different answer, depending on day...or my mood...or what I've been thinking about that day.

As I pack up our little blue house that we have been living in the past 3 years, 4 months and 11 days, it's hard not to think about all that we are going to miss. Here's the short list:

1. Being a half a block from Nonny & Poppa.
2. Being 2 minutes from our land...for little adventures & to enjoy the peacefulness of it.
3. Having Aaron home at lunch time. This is hard for both of us...well all 5 of us.
4. Small spaces, which force us to be together - I actually like this.
5. Walking to the park...the post office...the bank...the telephone office.
6. Seeing only 2 vehicles when we do this - a.k.a. less worries when walking with 3 children.
7. The retired ladies on our street that are outside a lot...and know my children.
8. Our friends and boys' friends in town.
9. Our chickens. I know - kind of funny - but I do like them...and we haven't completely ruled out taking them :)
10. The quietness & simpleness of really small town living.
11. Our back yard.
12. Our house we brought 2 of our babies home to & the only house that Brecken remembers. Great memories!

I remember doing the same thing when we moved from Manhattan...it's hard not to think about the things one will miss! So, I try to focus on the things that I am excited about to help me as I pack!

1. A bigger refrigerator (we had to buy a 'midget' fridge to fit the space)
2. A built in dishwasher (although I'm thankful I at least had a portable)
3. A separate laundry room, rather than laundry/dining/tv/toy/mudroom combination.
4. 3 bedrooms (my boys will no longer be sleeping in our living room!)
5. A walk in closet (a.k.a. Baby W4's room until it's sleeping well at night)
6. 2 bathrooms - it's amazing how often multiple people have to go at the same time!
7. A basement for toys & riding bikes in the winter!
8. An attached garage.
9. A 5 minute drive to church...to playgroup, etc, etc.
10. Close to friends.
11. Closer to all our Manhattan doctor appointments & KSU games.
12. A little shorter drive to the in-laws...& yes, 20 minutes DOES make a difference.
13. A GROCERY STORE (although my mom was a pretty good substitute for this on most things).

Little blue house, memories & people...we will MISS YOU!!! New house...we are looking forward to new memories to create!

My little secret...

This is how I get things accomplished during the day - my little elves help me ;) I don't think 15 months is too young for laundry, do you?

Interesting Design...

We saw this cute little Buckin' Bull playset this weekend while in KC & thought the boys might enjoy playing with it.

I was a little surprised at the 'ingenious' way that the designers decided to attach the cowboy to the bull....is this the best they could come up with?

My boys believe the cowboys came with all their body parts...

Yea, Zoe!

Zoe is one 'step' closer to walking! Today we discovered that she can stand for long periods of time not holding onto anything. The boys & I cheered her on & she was so pleased with herself :) I don't want to rush her...but I am getting excited about the thought of her walking. She would have so much more fun at the park if she could walk around & chase her brothers! Scooting on the mulch/rocks just doesn't feel too great on her bum.

Rock City

We had a fun trip to Rock City (outside of Minneapolis, KS) after church today.
The boys had so much fun climbing on the rocks - you would have thought they were climbing mountains :) We hit Bogey's in Salina afterward for a yummy milkshake!

This month...and making progress

We are about 1 month away from move time & it's going to fly by! In the next month, we have the following already on the calendar:

*4 KSU games
*4 haircuts
*4 soccer games
*4 praise band practices
*1 night of serving Scramble (meal at church)
*1 picture appointment
*1 dog grooming
*1 weekend trip to KC (drop dog off for boarding)
*1 weekend trip to Nebraska City
*1 Dr appointment & labs for Zoe
*1 Sonogram (yeah!)
*2 PEO meetings (at which I'm President...)
*2 Lion's Club Meetings (at which hubby is President...)
*4 Bible Study meetings (one of which I lead)
*4 playgroups (which I could skip...but my kids need social time...well, or maybe it's for me)
*3 other meetings that hubby or I must attend
*4 Sundays of choosing music for worship & playing piano at church
*12 days of home preschool with the boys (thanking God I didn't send them...since the above mentioned involves at LEAST 26 trips to Clay Center, alone)
*1 Piotique celebration (which I could skip, but hubby has to go...so I may as well take the kids, as I won't be very productive at home) :)
*1 Closing on house
*1 Move

I have been trying to pack up several boxes each day for the past couple weeks ...and I think I'm doing pretty well!! We close on October 5th, but don't have to be out of our house until November 1st, so our move date is flexible, thank goodness!

Not sure, but...

I think there might be a resemblance between these two...