Goodbye House

I don't think that moving will ever be an easy thing. I have moved more times than I care to count and it is still a difficult task. And I'm not talking about the packing and unpacking.

It's emotionally difficult, even if you know it's time to move on.

When we moved from Charlotte, Daniel and I made sure to visit our favorite restaurants one last time. We also did any activities that we could squeeze in that we knew we wouldn't get to do again for some time. It was therapeutic and a good way to say goodbye to the city where we officially became "adults."

This move has been of a different sort. This time we are leaving the house where we became parents and the process has been rushed and crazy. There has been no time to feel like we are "saying goodbye" to this home. We started the goodbye process in June, but that dragged on until we abruptly sold our home over Thanksgiving.

The week of our move (last week), we kicked off the crazy by being in different states. Did I mention it was also our anniversary? Daniel was in a hotel in Chattanooga and was lucky enough to get upgraded to a room with a great view of the Tennessee River. Too bad he was alone. I, on the other hand, was home in Alabama with Jack. We shared Japanese take out. Not exactly romantic.

Tuesday was a flurry of house hunting. We were generally disappointed by the search. We also received a phone call from the realtor selling our home informing us that we had to add a rail to the stairs leading to our front door. As if we didn't have enough on our plates...

I had hoped that we could have a last dinner as a family at our favorite local Mexican restaurant but with everything we had to do, we ate leftovers instead.

To make a long story short, our packers showed up on Wednesday morning. I finished packing the items we will need for the next two months while our belongings are in storage and Daniel worked on the new rail and figured out what he would be responsible for moving aside from the movers.

After the rail was in place, Sophie, Jack and I left town. While the movers packed and loaded our belongings, I hung out at my sister's house. Meanwhile Daniel stayed behind to oversee the move. Hopefully everything will make it to whatever house we end up buying, unscathed.

Daniel and I have barely seen each other in the last couple of weeks. We briefly had time to ride the four wheeler with Jack before Jack and I left. I found myself crying on several occasions during the last day at our house. Leaving is always sad. There is also the emotion of not really feeling like we are experiencing Christmas, basically skipping our anniversary, and not knowing where we will be living in February. 

To say there is a lot on our minds would be an understatement right now. To top it all off I have had the joy of a wisdom tooth making its painful appearance. It's been a rough couple of weeks to say the least.

11 Reasons I'm Thankful to Be Married to Daniel

11. He gets me.

10. He works hard to provide for our family.

9. He lets me vent and doesn't always try to fix everything for me 

(this has taken some learning on both of our parts).

8. He's a great dad.

7. We can laugh together when life gets crazy.

6. We are a good team – whether remodeling a house, collaborating on a project 

or being supportive of each other when life is hard.

5. He lets me sleep in at least one day on the weekend.

4. He's willing to compromise with me.

3. He will follow me up mountains, even if I don't do my research 

and we end up almost stranded or not dressed appropriately...

2. He doesn't mind that I rarely cook the same thing twice.

1. He's my best friend.

Happy 11th Anniversary to the man that is perfect for me!

Previous anniversary posts: 10 years | 9 years | 8 years | 7 years | 6 years | 5 years

Preparing to Say Goodbye to Our House

Today was the last day in our house as a family... 
  

which is feeling more bitter than sweet right now.

Daniel took Jack out for a last ride on the four wheeler on this property. 

We have no idea when we will get to this kind of thing again. Based on the property's we have looked at, it's unlikely there will be ATV rides from our back door...

After a very cold ride, they took a hike into our woods.

When we bought this house, the 3 acres with woods was a big selling point. 

We didn't have kids yet, but we knew that once we grew our family, the woods would be an integral part of their youth. 

We have looked forward to Jack getting to build a tree house in those woods and now those dreams are going to stay dreams (at least at this home).

We really do love our house and are sad that this is period of our lives in coming to a close.

Our Very, un-Merry (so far) Christmas

It is Friday the 13th, just 12 days away from Christmas, and I am a bit appalled that we have done almost nothing related to Christmas. We aren't really gift givers, so shopping isn't what I'm talking about. Just traditions in general. 

No Christmas tree (fake or real). 
No trip to the Christmas tree farm.
No special ornaments unwrapped from years of travels together. 
No special hot chocolate to sip while we hang our ornaments.
No homemade gingerbread cookies ornaments to made to hang on a fresh tree. 
No favorite holiday movies (though we did watch Home Alone at Thanksgiving with my family).
No Christmas picture to go in the yearly Christmas card I designed – which will sadly probably have to wait to be sent out as a Happy New Years card.

I guess that is what happens when your life is in upheaval.

Jack and I did spend an afternoon baking Reeses Chocolate Chip Cookies. And it was special.

Jack has also had the opportunity to see his cousin's tree (at Thanksgiving) and the tree in the hotel lobby where we stay. This week he was set on opening one of the gifts under the hotel tree. 

Every morning at breakfast I had to explain that the present wasn't real. It's hard when you don't have a tree at home for your child to relate to.

It's been a strange year, but we are in the home stretch and should, Lord-willing, be settled in a new home some time in February.

I keep reminding myself that we will have future Christmas's to spend together as a family and it will be even better because Jack will know what is going on.

For now, we march forward toward moving out of our house. The movers will be here Wednesday! Then Jack and I will spend the rest of the year at my sister's house where we can enjoy Christmas to its fullest without having to do any of the hard work.

Just keeping it real... We are so blessed to be able to move out of a house that we sold and to move forward with our lives after 6 long months of being in limbo.

See Jack (late September - early October}

This is an ongoing series of videos that I am sharing so that our extended family can keep up with how Jack is growing and changing in these early years. I keep thinking I will get caught up on sharing these videos, but holidays and life have been keeping me too busy. I hope you enjoy these videos of Jack from late September and early October.

See Jack read his "Quiet Loud" book by Leslie Patricelli. 

He loves this book and will quote it to me when we are riding in the car. 

This was the end of September and his vocabulary and pronunciation 

keep improving with each passing day.

{late September}

See Jack read some more. This kid loves to read. I can't imagine where he gets it :)
His made up words can be pretty comical.

{late September}


 See how Jack slides when he's too short to climb up the stairs at the playland.
{late September} 


See Jack have a good laugh when his Daddy tickles him.
{early October}


See Jack read another book. He loves to scream when he points out a shark.
{early October}

Getting to Celebrate Emily's Birthday

Even though we live much closer to family than we used to, we still don't get many opportunities to celebrate birthdays together.

This year it worked out that Thanksgiving was close enough to Daniel's youngest sister Emily's birthday that we were able to attend the celebration.

We are thankful for every opportunity to visit with family. This was especially nice because Jack has figured out the whole birthday thing (i.e. it means he gets cake) and he has a special place in his heart for his Auntie Em.

Over the past two years I have captured so many great pictures of these two making the sweetest faces at each other. Plus Jack loves tickles from Emily.

Our little guy is one adored boy. We couldn't be more blessed and cherish our time spent with family, no matter how long or short.

The Best Black Friday

I can only think of one time that I have participated in Black Friday shopping and I didn't particularly enjoy it. To be honest, shopping of any kind, but especially shopping with the masses gives me a bit of a panic attack. Daniel will occasionally get up really early to brave the crowds for a good deal on select items then come back home and go to bed, but I am happy to sleep in.

The week before Thanksgiving (after many weeks of cleaning and prepping and decluttering) we finally put our house on the market with a local real estate agent. We got off on a bit of the wrong foot and were feeling frustrated with the process... the realtor listed it on MLS with the wrong square footage (too low) and it took an additional three days for her to put pictures online. We would have preferred that she didn't list it until she had all of her ducks in a row. 

Since it was Thanksgiving I tried to put the frustration with our realtor out of my mind and resign myself to the fact that it was going to take a long time to sell the house. Seriously... who would really want a house in Hollywood, Alabama right before the holidays?

For the first time in over five months (when Daniel was first restationed to Tennessee), I didn't worry about the house. It was so far out of our control, that I just let it all go.

That being said, it was a bit of a shock to receive a call from our realtor (on Tuesday as I was packing up to go to Nashville to celebrate Thanksgiving). She had someone who wanted to come look at the house the next day. I said that was fine and then proceeded to not only pack for my trip but also clean my entire house. I did both of those things with a toddler and a dog underfoot since Daniel was working in Tennessee for the week.

I was nervous, but also starting to feel a glimmer of hope about selling our house.

During the time of the showing, I busied myself to keep from staring at the clock or my phone. Halfway through the showing, our realtor texted me a couple of questions and I tried not to get too anxious. After the showing, she texted to say that the buyer was interested and that she would be in touch.

After that last text, I waited for Daniel to arrive at my sister's so that we could fully enjoy celebrating Thanksgiving. We both tried not to get our hopes up too much.

On Black Friday, I offered to help watch my sister's kids so she and her husband could go shopping. We were busy playing when our realtor called. My mom kept watching the kids while I raced upstairs so that Daniel could be there to hear whatever we were going to hear.

The first thing our realtor said was, "Happy Black Friday" and I questioned if it was going to be a good Black Friday for us. Indeed it was.

The buyer had placed an offer (before his wife even saw the property!). They would be returning that afternoon together to look at the house. Additionally, they wanted to close in 3 weeks.

What!?!??! Less than a week on the market (and without pictures for part of the time) and we already had a good offer! We are still in shock.

This past Monday we countered the offer and proceeded with signing papers and getting this process started. We are scrambling to find temporary housing until we can find a house to buy. We are moving out on the 18th of the month. I'm a bit sad that we don't really have time to make the effort with our Christmas decorations, but it is such good news that it doesn't matter. 

For the first time in five months, God answered our prayers in less than a week, without me worrying about it. It was the best Black Friday deal ever. Though now we are homeless until we can find a new house...