Oh yes, we did!

I can't think of a better and more relaxing way to spend my Christmas break then moving.

Oh yes, on the 26th we got our key to our new (rental) home here!

We didn't have to be out of our old home until the 1st though......I planned it like that on purpose!

You see, Brooks and I have been through 8 moves together and about to take on our 9th. (If anyone wonders why we are such "minimalists" then you can understand why we look at everything with an is-that-item-worth-moving mentality!) I knew he was working everyday during the break as well. I decided it was time to do this move MY way, since I would be handling the bulk of it. (and I insisted on moving NOW rather then later when Brooks' work schedule eased up)

Let me explain the difference btw men and women............or maybe it's just Brooks and myself. I like to call him a "wrecking ball" when it comes to moving. He does it fast, furious and in a timely manner.....he's good at it too. At the END of it however, I'm left with 40 boxes staring at me in each room because I want to be the one to organize them and put them away. I HATE the disorganization of those first few days!!!!! (week?) 

THIS move I was going to take it slow. I would pack up stuff in the Yeti with my 10 boxes, take it over to the house (that is probably 2 miles from where we used to live), put them away and organize them and THEN bring back empty boxes to do it all over again. That way, I would never feel super overwhelmed with boxes and everything finds a place faster.

The kids loved it when I brought home the empty boxes......

 Emerson blasting Bronson in the fort across the room.

Brooks said, "Why don't you just rent a U-haul and take over one big trip of boxes?" BESIDES the fact that I have 7 children that need......ya know, SEATS to sit in since they were with me all break, he completely missed the point.......I don't WANT rooms fulls of boxes.

Another difference with the mom taking over the move is that.....well......you're still MOM!!!!! I would get in the middle of a good groove and the kids would come and say it was time to eat. I wanted to say, "WHAT?!?! You want to eat AGAIN?!?!? Didn't I JUST FEED YOU 12 HOURS AGO?!?!?"

The first few days I had the key I didn't take TOO many things over since I spent most of it cleaning the new place. It was "clean" but still had a cigarette smell BARELY in the air so I wanted to wash the walls super bien and floors. I'm glad I did because apparently the people before us had a VERY hairy cat. It was good as new after I was done and no smell remained.

On the Monday that Brooks was starting nights we set aside that day for the U-haul trip with all the furniture and big things I couldn't carry.

I found it ironic that a little slug friend would be in my bedroom on my last night sleeping in our old home.

You see slugs just LOVED my side of our bedroom and the wall above my head.

( They stopped going up the wall after I surrounded my bed and walls with salt though). I was just always grateful that slugs ruled MY side of the room whereas Brooks' side of the room (and bed!!!) attracted the cockroaches. To say I am excited to leave that house is a HUGE understatement.

 We crammed the living room full of our "big stuff" on Monday morning......I'm just so grateful for all the MUSCLES we have in the family to help out. ;)

Okay, okay, so Iris and Royce weren't much help but the 4 seventeen year old young men (Brooks works with them at church) that came over were!!! I looked out the window and saw this scene.....it made me laugh because they sat there wondering how to get the basketball hoop in when it CLEARLY wasn't going to fit that time.

 Brooks even left 2 of the young men at the new house to assemble all the beds when he came back for the next load. I will have to say, those young men did a great job on those bunkbeds!!! And I loved that we could move into the house with most of the closets already put away, bathroom/toiletries in place and everything. The kids went over to a friends' house so by the time I got them home I realized the table wasn't set up. We threw rags on the floor so they could eat their hotdogs. Classy huh.

The WORST part is the kitchen.........am I right?!?! It was the LAST thing that was packed up because I was avoiding it like the plague. (Apparently I tend to lean towards the NOT so updated kitchens. haha)

 There has got to be a strategy!!! I mean cooking foods need to be in a good place to cook and bowls need to make sense where they are put and all the things put in the drawers on the bottom need to be Kellyn/Royce proof. The only answer is really just to sit and stare at the boxes and empty cupboards for a hour before you even move......and take a picture.

I'll have to say, Brooks was a stinkin work horse!!!! He would go into work at 6pm and come home at 9a.m. and help finish/fix things around the new house and clean in the old one.....and then repeat. It was ALSO the first time since maybe ever(?) that he stayed up all night New Year's Eve. He's such a party animal.

The New Year started with me hearing Royce in my room at 6:30. I told him it was too early and to go back to his room. He now shares a room with Kellyn (and the new baby soon) so he took it upon himself to wake HER up. Which was fine because they were playing in there while I dozed off. Then Royce's face was in mine again saying, 

"Ba-bay....my room......door won't work".

 "Did you lock the door?!?!" 

(Kellyn crying in the background)

"Yea-ah"

So I jumped out of bed to rescue Kellyn....(she was NOT happy)...but at least she has transitioned perfectly into her new big bed.

I always move our babies into a big bed around 15 months (young enough to be gullible to not try to get out and before our next baby came......since there has always been one coming), but we really didn't have SPACE to keep the little toddler bed so Royce is on the top bunk and Kellyn on the bottom. The changing table is moved UP against the bed in such a classy/stylish way that I'm sure will come in style one day......or not. I'm telling you, it's the PERFECT no-child-falling-out-of-bed method though. She doesn't even try to get out of her bed either. She waits until I get her out. (Iris did the same thing, haha)

Then the New Year continued with my dryer breaking........but don't worry, it's nothing Brooks can't handle by the time he got home at 9 a.m.

 Actually........he couldn't  handle it, but he sure loves pulling EVERY piece out of the dryer to look at it. Still looking for a dryer part but he is "hopeful".

Regardless of how stressful and not fun a move is, I just really am glad to be here. It feels like a home to me and there is something very VERY comforting to me in that.