the last 7 days in the yellow house

Around here:
A few pictures taken during the last 7 days of our living in the yellow house. 
One week before (basement held all bins and containers other than boxes):

My craft area was one of the last areas to be packed...part of the reason being that I had to wait on some specialty size boxes to pack my 12x12 bricks albums in.

One week prior to the move the craft area looked like this...horrible, I know. In my defense, it usually does not resemble an aftermath of a tornado. Before I started packing boxes, I took EVERYTHING out of the cabinets and drawer space to go through the collections. I did not want to move anything that I was not planning on keeping. Though most of it went with us, some items did find new homes and/or the trash. Also, I did a little organizing with memorabilia. Now would be a good time to note that I am WAY behind on our albums and need a weekend to start catching up. (wonder if hubby is reading this...) :)

Each night that we were able, we got the kids outside for walks around the neighborhood.

A snapshot of Parker's bedroom early one morning.

I pulled out an old-school tape (for those of you unfamiliar with cassette tapes from the 80s, you may google it ;)) that was mine when I was little: "Silly Songs" by Disney. Parker walked in from running an errand with his dad while I was holding Cooper and fixing lunch. Both boys were immediately enthralled with the lively and silly music. Ironically, though I had not heard it in over 10 years, I remembered each jingle word for word. Kinda fun! It was one that we played several times leading up to the day of the move while we were working/packing.

Smiling at and savoring our enchanted yard and walk-thru area...ahhh, how I will miss this! Grass, in other words. Our new place does not have a front or backyard. Nothing. nada. Boo. Oh well, we will adjust. (said more enthusiastically than felt!)

Enjoying our dandelion walks.

Bikes on the front lawn each day.

Sacred moments of relaxation and visits with my precious neighbor, Kat. I will miss you so much, Kat!!! I'll call when I am in the area and maybe we can enjoy some visits and cups of tea!

Parker took this picture of me one morning just after breakfast as I was unloading the dishwasher.

Our little Mr. Mr. is such a stinker! He decided to play in the little bouncy we brought up for our neighbors' daughter during their visits this week. He was quite the happy sort to sit in it backwards, lay in it, and bounce, as he laughed knowing that something was not right with this picture.

Friday: Loading the back of the car with random, fragile cargo that was not going in boxes. Also, first round of bins (12) loaded onto the trailer. I packed the car; Clay packed the trailer. My hubby is a pro at loading and packing this stuff down. One of the many reasons I love this man. ;)

Once or twice throughout the days leading up to the move, Clay and I had to put Cooper in his car seat in Clay's truck to contain the little fellow. We caught him trying to run out into the street where the trailer was parked a few times and decided this would be the safest option. Now, if he had been in his car seat in the SUV, this might not have gone over so well, but thankfully, Cooper and Parker both LOVE getting to ride in Daddy's big truck and are quite happy to sit there for a period of time and make Zoom Zoom noises.

Friday night we went out to the new house to pick up our keys. It was falling right at dinnertime which I knew would spell disaster for our boys, so I decided to pack a picnic basket with our dinner. We enjoyed gobbling down this gourmet meal (please roll your eyes now) on paper plates as we sat in the middle of our new kitchen floor.

Ok, one of the lessons that I learned from this move was that it is a.o.k. if your children eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips for a few days during a move. Here I was so excited that I was successfully feeding our boys healthy meals (thanks to my handy dandy moving meal plan) up until and throughout the move. And then Friday night happened...I think I took it a little overboard by grilling up an assortment of bell peppers and cooking this potato and sausage salad (all because I did not want to carry the sausage over to the new house and I could not waste it...plus, I wanted the kids eating healthy) while I could have been packing on Friday afternoon as the boys were napping. More than 3 hours in the kitchen working on this meal when I could have been packing. Friday afternoon I was so proud of this accomplishment. Later that night, after reviewing this picture on my camera, I literally thought to myself, "I have gone mad. Unbelievable." I called my mom on Saturday during one of the drives back and forth to the new house and told her I have a problem. She laughed and said it was a little much. Seriously though, I think the only thing smart about this meal was the apple...I even brought along our easy peasy apple slicer. :)

Saturday morning at 8:30am our friends started arriving. It promised to be a fabulous day of moving in the RAIN.

Kat came over to help with the boys as we were loading.

The guys with the muscles

Parker was a proud little helper throughout this whole process.

Sweet Susie fixing lunches for everyone on Saturday!!

At the new place on Saturday evening...Susie and Mike came back later in the evening to help us finish the last load and assist with the boys. We ate Sonic off of the kitchen floor on diaper boxes and grocery boxes labeled "Kitchen."

Parker had me cracking up over his tough guy/karate moves. (These last several pictures of us loading were taken on Sunday. The four of us spent the day making trips back and forth with the trailer and such.)

Parker loved showing off his muscles during the move! "Mom, wanna see my muscles?! Errrrr..." (Sunday)

Thanks again so very much to our friends for all the help during the move; we could not have done it without y'all!