Beating the boxes back, one by one

It’s been a busy, tiring week, and we’ve all been working our butts off with no time to while away on the computer. But TubaDad says I’d better jot down at least a few words to let everyone know we made it. So here’s a quickie move post with some pics.

The move was great! For the first time ever, we paid movers to do our packing. And although we went back and forth on this decision (my cheapskate tendencies are only rivaled by my ability to worry about stuff I’m not in control of), this ended up being a wonderful choice for us. They actually packed and moved the entire house in one veryveryvery long day. Wow.

Ro and Ree were champs during the move. Quite excited to have “move pens” on ribbons around their necks just like the grownups, and also pretty ecstatic that they got to watch as many movies as they wanted. They played, made up games, amused themselves, and were honestly no trouble at all.

We had an art and crafts table set up for Ro and Ree in the new house, and that occupied them for HOURS. Actually had to pry them away to do a Target run. Yes, my friend Maggie and I got to dash to Target in mid-move. Now that’s a good day. (We were getting contact paper and last-minute move supplies, but still, any trip to Target is a good one.):

We got everything we own into the house by about 9pm on Saturday, then sat down among the towering piles of boxes and just breathed. (I might have had a glass of wine or three.) All of the furniture was here, the stuff in the downstairs was even in the right rooms, and we had enough emergency supplies and clothes in our Move Kits to last for a few days while we figured out where the heck specific things were. TubaDad had already hooked up the tv, and his next task was wrestling with the computer and internet. Thank god we have an amazing tech guy living with us. I tried to take a pic of him in the office that night, and forgot to pop the flash. But then, the eerie feel of this pic just amused me. Doesn’t it look like the desk and pile of boxes and computer equipment are threatening to swallow him whole?:

The girls squealed with glee to find the hidden shoe closet downstairs, and immediately claimed it and organized all their shoes. There was a heated debate for some time about whether to organize the shoes by color (Ree’s preference) or type (Ro’s preference), and they eventually came to a compromise. All of the boots are on the bottom shelf, and then the shoes above are sorted by color. Funny little girls.

Anyhow, we’ve made huge progress in the last week. Maggie came over three days in a row to help sort things out and even tackle the kitchen (which previously looked like this):

Thank you Maggie!!! So now all of the essentials are unpacked, and we can eat, bathe, and get dressed without problems (well at least without any more problems than we used to have, heh). The rest of the boxes have been dragged out of the way and we’ll get to them with time (or after the construction).

And in the meantime, the boxes apparently make perfect kid furniture. Who knew?!:

It’s all good.

PS: Do I need to say who’s who now that the cast is gone? Move day: Ro blue shirt, Ree brown shirt. Jammies: Ro pink, Ree blue. Boot outfits: Ree brown shirt, Ro red shirt. Sitting on boxes: Ree white shirt, Ro pink shirt.

I was planning to be asleep by now

But my mind is racing too fast to even consider sleeping... Gah! The movers are showing up at 8:30 tomorrow morning to start our two-day move, and I guess we’re as ready as we’re going to get. I think no matter what we do it’s going to be complete chaos. Oh well. Thank you for all the great moving advice, by the way. We’ve packed up emergency suitcases for each of us (toiletries, clothes, prescriptions, pajamas, nightlights, etc.) that can get us through at least a few days of “where the hell is ...?!” I’ve put together a move kit that is going to be strapped to my body until end of day Sunday (it’s got Sharpies, painter’s tape, packing tape, tape measure, paper, pens, cleaning gloves, cleaning supplies, cell phone, box cutter, screwdrivers, and I don’t even know what else), we’re moving and setting up the beds first, I labeled each room in the old house and in the new house, and a whole bunch of other things you guys suggested.

My folks can’t get here until dinnertime, so we’re on our own with the twinados during the move, but we’ve already set up their playroom, the tv with all their fave movies, and given them specific jobs to do during the move (helping thrills them). And, if all else fails, two friends said we would be dead meat if we got in a bind and didn’t call them to watch the girls.

Oh, and I’ve stocked the new fridge with some wine. I also took a few cute pics of the girls today on their way to school. Couldn’t resist, they were so adorable, plus I’m not sure how long it will take me to find the camera after tonight. (Ro is on the left in all the pics)

 

Think good thoughts for tomorrow! Now I might as well go watch Grey’s Anatomy, since I’m clearly not going to sleep anytime soon...

One last post, just for the cute of it

I’m supposed to be packing right now, but had to sneak over to the computer and post these pics taken yesterday of our little ballerinas. They tested out a dance class and liked it, so now they’ll be taking beginning ballet once a week. I was looking for a Hip Hop class, but couldn’t find anything that worked with our schedule. So ballet it is, for now. (Actually maybe for a long time since they look so damn cute in those little outfits.)

 

They were allowed to choose their colors for this beginning class, so we went shopping and Ro and Ree picked out their outfits and shoes. And it’s hilarious to see little blue Ree flitting around in a sea of tiny pink ballerinas. Seriously, every other girl in the class chose pink. She always marches to the beat of her own drummer, that one. She also has quite a flair for the dramatic. Ro is deadly serious and precise about doing each move correctly, and just beams when the teacher says she is very elegant. Little Ree is rocking out to the music, leaping and swirling and throwing her arms in the air with complete abandon. It’s like they’re taking two different classes. But they’re both happy, so that’s what matters.

Alrighty, enough procrastinating. My feet feel much better after sitting down for a minute, so it’s back to the packing. Keep those moving suggestions coming, we’re reading every one!

PS: We don’t have any experience with ballet over here, so I already have a whole bunch of questions. How the heck are you supposed to tie those ballet shoes so they don’t come untied??!! I swear they come undone after three steps -- what am I doing wrong? The girls’ tights are hopelessly snagged and mangy after one class. We got them in the ballet section at Payless Shoe Source. Is there some brand that lasts longer or some secret to getting more use out of these things? And are the kids supposed to wear undergarments under their tights and leotards? Ok, I guess that’ll hold me until the second class.

Any advice for moving with kiddos?

Well it seems that we’re moving in 3 days. !!! I think I’m kind of paralyzed and can’t seem to do anything other than stare at the To Do list. Seriously. The movers just called and they had a cancellation for this weekend. We were first on the waiting list, and jumped at the chance to move on a weekend instead of the mid-week spot we had. Alrighty then... I’m guessing we’ll be computerless (and toothbrushless and sanityless) throughout the move and until we dig out from under the rubble, so here are a few cute pics that will have to last for a little while:

Had to laugh when we tried to move the playhouse and realized the roof wouldn’t fit in my dad’s car trailer. Oops. His friend came driving up in a glass truck and said “Shoot, I’ve got some rope, let’s just strap it to the outside.” And it worked. These guys are mavericks, I tell you:

We moved the backyard stuff early so we could get it all out of our garage and have someplace for the girls to play (everything has been packed up since we had to stage the house and they’ve been going a little stir crazy). Anyhow, the backyard, playhouse, and pink car have been getting a workout with all the neighbors and school friends coming by to check out the new digs and lend a helping hand: 

Yeah, this kid-friendly backyard alone means it’s going to be a great place to live. And the inside will be great too -- in about a month, after the construction, electrical work, and painting are done and we actually get to move our furniture into the right bedrooms. In the meantime, we’ll be sleeping in the bonus room. It’s going to be chaos for at least a month. (Breathing, breathing, breathing...)

Enough rambling and stressing about things that are out of our control. The real point of this post is that TubaDad and I have moved lots of times, but never with kiddos. Does anyone have any good tips or advice to help things go smoothly during the move? The advice we got in comments to pack up all of the kids’ toys except for a few favorite items was invaluable while our house was staged!

Yikes! See you on the other side!

It will all be worth it, it will all be worth it, it will…

I think the housing-related stress levels might have actually peaked this weekend. I’m not going to lie, it was hellish. But hey since it was the worst it can possibly get, doesn’t that at least indicate a gradual deceleration of angst going forward?

Whatever… We signed a rental contract on the new house and moved just a few backyard items over (while waiting for all the financing to be finalized), and when I see the girls blissfully enjoying their new backyard, with its built-in twinado racetrack, well then I breathe a little easier and think this will all be worth it someday.

And if the backyard frolicking doesn’t calm me down, the singing does. They learn these cute songs in Kindergarten that just slay me. See if you can listen to this one without cracking at least one little grin.

Ree is wearing her ballet costume because they just enrolled in a little ballet class. Ree picked out a light blue outfit with white shoes, and Ro picked a pink one with pink shoes.

Alrighty, off to pour a(nother) glass of wine and think how nice it will be when the issues around money, banks, brokers, buyers, houses, moving, and construction are finally done -- UGH, just typing this list is started to stress me out. Better plan: I’m going to curl up on the couch with a nice glass of wine and think really hard about bunny rabbits. Sweet, fluffy, bunny rabbits.

I can’t even remember why I took these pictures

But you know what? It doesn’t matter. They make me laugh, and I haven’t been laughing much lately. Or blogging (obviously). Frankly, the stress of trying to simultaneously buy one house and sell the other is huge. Nothing seems to go as planned, and it feels like everything is a house of cards. It could all come tumbling down at any minute. Actually I think I snarled that at TubaDad just today. Picture me in wrinkled jammies and reading glasses, hair unwashed, waving my claw hands in the air and yelling slightly hysterically “It’s all a house of cards!!!!”

Anyhow, Ree and Ro aren’t worried about anything. They’re still having fun, loving kindergarten, and learning new things every day. These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago (before Ree got her yellow cast off):

Speaking of that cast, Ro just cracked me up at the doctor’s office. She HATES loud noises, but also can’t stand to miss anything. Oh the dilemma... So during the sawing, she stood right next to her sister, scrunched up her whole face and plugged her ears, and never took her eyes off that saw. Heh.

Later that day, Ree drew this picture as part of her homework using a sight word. (It says “We can play.”) Did she nail those outfits or what?!: 

Alrighty, I’ll try to pull out of this funk and post a little more often, so we’ve got at least some record of the funny things our spunky five year olds did. In the meantime, while I’m working to manage my raging stress levels (a herculean task on even the best of days for a stress puppy like me), any good, soothing, calming, everything-is-going-to-work-out thoughts would be appreciated. Mwah!

“We are big girls now, mama”

Well the much-anticipated bday has finally arrived. Ree and Ro are now five. Wow. Ree quite seriously just told me “We are big girls now mama -- the next time we go to Gilroy Gardens, can you tell the rollercoaster guy that we’re FIVE now?!” Ah yes, my little babe, I will.

That rollercoaster dude with the measuring stick has been the bane of their existence for the last year. Sometimes he says they’re tall enough to ride the thrilling Rattler Coaster, sometimes he says they’re both too short to ride, and sometimes (oh the ultimate indignity) he holds up that measuring stick and says one girl is tall enough to ride and one isn’t. Ro and Ree quickly learned to see who had the taller shoes on and swap around so each girl had one of the “good” shoes before getting in line. Then they stood up as tall as they could on the good shoe so they’d both measure up. Not even kidding. And no, I didn’t teach them that trick.

Not sure how we got to five-years-old so quickly. Man. The girls have had a pretty good time with the bday thing so far. They got to open a present each morning starting on Oct 1, because we like to celebrate good and long over here. And this morning they got up, brushed their teeth and made their beds (I know, it shocks me too), then waited until the clock said 7 before running screaming down the hall on their way downstairs. In holidays past, I would get there before them and snap a picture as they rounded the corner and caught a first glimpse of whatever goodness was waiting for them. Ha! Not this year. Or anymore, I’m guessing. They are too damn fast now.  

They ripped into the pile of presents with glee. Loved everything, even the tiny flashlights TubaDad got them. And luckily, we were able to find the two things they asked for over and over again. The same pink and purple doll strollers they had back when they were little. The original strollers were subjected to all manner of twinbuse, and turned into little piles of duct-taped shredded material and bent metal before we tossed them out. And they’ve been wanting replacements ever since. Funniest moment was when we plopped the new strollers on the ground and both girls looked puzzled. Ree finally said “Why they so small? These aren’t the ones we wanted. The other ones were a lot bigger.”  It was kind of bittersweet to explain that the strollers hadn’t shrunk, the girls had just grown. ALOT.

Hilarious, vivacious, sweet, charming, whip-smart little babes. Your daddy and I love you to pieces and wish you the very happiest birthday. Enjoy your party at school today, and we can’t wait to take you out for the fancy birthday dinner that you requested (Chuck E Cheese).

Am I crazy, or is the purple hair just darling?

As mentioned before, Ree and Ro are going to be fairies for Halloween. They picked out their costumes a looooong time ago, so I thought we were just going to coast lazily into the holiday, not even having to think about costumes this month. I should have known we weren’t done. Since they got the outfits early, they just keep finding new squeal-worthy accessories each week. The latest additions are these purple and pink wigs, which are actually super cute. (I’m particularly partial to the purple one, and just grin like a fool when she wears it.)

Oh well, they’ve got dresses, wings, wands, fairy treat buckets, and flower crowns. There’s nothing else they could possibly add, right?

If you’re wondering what happened to Ree’s neon yellow cast, it was removed last week, and now she just wears the black splint day and night for one week, then daytime only for the second week, and then “anytime you’re expecting rough play” for the third week. The splint is nice because we can take it off to wash her hand, take a bath, or go swimming. So (at least for now) it doesn’t REEK like the casts did.

They’re wearing the ubercute Halloween capri pants our friend Dawn made last year. I didn’t think the girls looked very different than the last time they wore them, but then I went back at found last year’s pic:

Oh. Yeah. :-)

Update on the house(s): The big news is that we’re closing escrow on the new house in about a week and have a buyer and are in contract to sell our current house (can I get a woooohoooooo?!). We’ll be doing some painting and construction (we’re changing the small kids’ room into “the twin palace” by making it bigger and adding a walk-in closet – more details and pics later) and plan to move into the new house the week of October 25. Close-of-escrow on our current house is slated for Halloween.