Friday, June 29, 2012

Just so I can remember

Well, I need to write this down just so I will remember the chaos that was this move!!!
It started in the previous post the week before closing when our deal almost fell through. This was devastating news as we had no contingency clause on the house in SC. Miraculously that all worked out and the movers arrive. Everything goes great on the first day of packing. The kids are in school all week and stayed in after care scheduled for Tuesday-Friday. Mike is already here so we don't have to worry about that. I have made many lists of the items that are to go with us to corporate housing the items that are to stay with the move. We have gathered up extremely fragile items, we are selling things on Craigslist right and left as the week moves on - our washer/dryer, 2 rugs, couch, loveseat, bench, chair, etc. It is busy, busy. 
On Wednesday, packing is crazy again and Mike and I unload the attic so the movers will pack it up. We find them sitting around alot, but they assure us that we will be ready to go by closing time on Friday. Wednesday night (or after summer school rather) we discover that Doggie is MISSING! Doggie is an integral part of our life and has been something that Ryan has slept with and carried around with him since he was 5 months old. This is truly a DISASTER!! We search through all the boxes that we thought had been packed that day. (imagine 3 children in a house that is totally filled with boxes. By this point every item in our kitchen/bathroom/loft/bedroom has been packed save for our beds and our summer clothes.) It was a zoo!! We had explained to the movers that doggie shouldn't be packed...along with Lovey, but they didn't listen so well. We gave Ryan a "fill in" Doggie in the form of Bunny, and thankfully he went along with it in the hopes of finding Doggie before the boxes were loaded on the truck the next day. (we were unsuccessful -- Doggie was gone for over a MONTH)
We went to the pool on Wednesday night to get out of the house...
Thursday dawns bright and early and I am taking the children to preschool and getting home to find some small corner of our house that Colin can nap in. He is NOT napping...he is CRYING....on and on and on...
I am trying to do last minute things like turning off our utilities and turning in cable boxes/remotes when I log on to my bank information and see lots of RED ZEROES!! Something is not right....I am on the  phone and seeing this bank statement and getting a call breaking in all in the same 3 minutes...
I get off of the phone, switch over lines and realize that the preschool is calling. Kaitlyn is running a 100+ fever. I have to go get her. In the meantime, Colin is crying and Mike is trying desperately to get our loan set up for our other house in SC as we have only 30 days till it's closing and we are trying to get all of our closing documents secured through the relocation company that we had to use for the AL house. It is not going well and he has been on the phone by hours and it is only about 11:45 am. 
I switch car seats from my car to mike's because my car has a uhaul attached that we are going to load tonight (thursday) with any big items that we need to take to corp housing for a month. (In hindsight, thank goodness I switched that car seat). I am calling my bank as I am going to get Kaitlyn trying desperately to find out what has happened to our account. Well, come to find out, I messed up on the online banking. Instead of paying $2000 for a bill, I paid $20000 for a bill. What a mess an extra ZERO makes in your life. The mess of it was --- I couldn't get the $20000 back and issue the real amount. They kept taking the money out of our account (which didn't hold that much) and trying to pay the bill. The bill kept rejecting for insufficient funds and round and round that merry-go-round we went.  We had to ask our parents to spot us some cash because we had to pay realtor fees the very next day at closing and couldn't get our money back until the following Monday. WHAT A DEBACLE that was. Thank goodness we had money deposited into our account to cover the payment until we could get our cash back. Now, I am on my way to get our sick daughter. Then I spend 2 hours at the doctor to be told that she has a virus. i bring her home and put her to bed and then think...what in the world am I going to do with a sick daughter tomorrow when I have to go to closing and get my house sold?!?!
We went to a going away party Thursday night - which was a lot of fun. We are REALLY going to miss our neighbors. We packed what we could in the uhaul. 
Friday and we are up early -- we break down cribs, we pack suitcases, we deal with movers who have left JUNK all over our house that they haven't packed yet that need to be packed. They are supposed to be out of Bham by 11am....they are still at our storage unit at 3pm. Not good. I dropped the 1 child off at preschool, got the closing money, went and signed my paperwork early, went back to the house and THANK THE GOOD LORD had sweet Ms. Leigh show up to keep Kait and Colin. (she is Kaitlyn's teacher at preschool and was Ryan's also) We have her setup with an ipad as this is the only thing left in our house. there are no beds, there is no couch, there is no TV, there are no toys. EVERYTHING is being packed...it was AWFUL!!!! The kids are only supposed to be there until noon and then we are on our way....well, these POOR, POOR children were in our house until 5pm. It was the HOTTEST day on record for AL -- around 108 degrees and we have a child with a 100+ fever and neither have naps. Leigh had to leave at 1pm. We are still trying to get out of there. Our sweet realtor stays to help me get finished once the movers finally leave and sweet Norma is there cleaning as fast as she can. She finally heads out at 5pm to go to another job and we get everything that movers have just LEFT in our garage. INSANE! they were not supposed to take our cribs, but they took our crib mattress. Remember that carseat I switched over on THursday...thank goodness, because they PACKED our infant carrier that Colin needs to be in the car. They BROKE our green egg along with so many other things. They put a hole in our outside door, they got drinks and dirt ALL OVER our stairs, they dropped a sharpie and made a HUGE spot on the master carpet, they left our baby swing that we now have to haul, they left tile and bricks and so many other things....I just can't say enough. We had a feeling at this point that things were not going to go well. Mike and I said goodbye to Ross Bridge at 6pm on Friday night. This is 7pm EST. A VERY LATE START TO OUR ADVENTURE!!
We arrived in Chapin, SC at 1:30am EST and I don't think we have ever been so tired. We have gotten NO sleep ever since that call last Thursday and my sweet parents let us sleep in Saturday morning. Do you know what time I rolled over -- 11am!!!
This was the first leg of our move home to SOUTH CAROLINA.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

old house/new house


Before we knew it, preschool was out, our other playdate buddies had moved and we were looking at our last month in Alabama. June was a little bit of a blur. I was still living by myself (as I had been since March) We did have summer preschool on MWF and went to the pool almost every T/Th. Let me tell you, dragging THREE little kiddos to the pool everyday between nap schedules in not an easy feat, but it was worth it. They LOVED it and it got them out of the house(and helped me keep it clean!)
We tried to play with some buddies from school and just soak in life while we could before all the transitions happened. The last 2 weeks were full. The 3rd week in June, on a Thursday, (1 week before our closing) we found out that our buyers lost their financing. We were devestated. If this didn't work out, we were back to drawing board and had missed 2 months of prime summer selling time. Mike was in South Carolina in Charleston doing a meeting when the call came through...he jumped in his car and was in Bham by that evening. We just knew that we needed to be together during this crisis. Well, our AMAZING realtors, Sherri & Deana, went way overtime for us!!! They pulled out all the stops and found a local bank who not only took the loan, but took it and still got us to our closing on June 29th as scheduled!!! UNREAL!!! We owe them so much for being the BEST realtors ever!!
So, Mike was home with us from that Thursday until the following Friday for closing. We visited with our good friends: Matt, Lisa, and Julia twice, had a going away party the Saturday before and again the night before we moved, we spent time just hanging with neighbors, and went to a little night swimming as we had no furniture. 
The movers came on Tuesday to start packing us and packed through Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday they loaded the truck and were supposed to only be there until noon on Friday to pack beds and bedding...of course, as we would find out about this move...nothing seemed to go as planned or on schedule. 

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Fort Anyone?



Just loved this...the kids needed a fort....I found a way to build them one. This stayed like this for almost a week...and then we had more showings. The kids LOVED IT!! I really need to do this "fort" again. 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

How old are you??


Seriously...My kids are OBSESSED with Driving!!
I walked away for 30 seconds and this is how I found Kaitlyn. Not only sitting in the drivers seat, but strapped in and trying to steer. Slow down, children. Slow down!!



Sunday, June 17, 2012

Father's Day




i decided to get crafty for Father's Day this year. Mike is traveling back and forth, back and forth from AL to SC, so I wanted to get him something to remember his sweet children. I found this idea on Pinterest and decided to "go for it". I think it turned out really cute. Very proud!!!
Each child got to decide what they wanted to say about their daddy and I wrote it on these chalkboard look-alike word bubbles. Truly, so cute!!
Happy Father's Day Mike/Daddy!! 
We love you!!!!

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Botanical Gardens, Mtn Brook, AL



 Love their little shoes...



 Loving the Botanical Gardens

We were trying to go to the zoo for one last time and the zoo had no power from a storm the night before. (have to say I am not going to miss not being in direct line of fire for these severe storms and tornadoes)
So, we decided to go check out the Gardens. We haven't ever "done" these before. Right when we walked in the gate, the kids ran to this water feature. We stayed here most of the morning. It was really quite fun! Once we left the fountain, we had a good time just wandering and meandering down paths, finding ponds, jumping over rocks and bridges, feeding fish, crawling onto walls. A very fun morning!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Pool time!




Enjoying a beautiful day at the pool!!

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Luke and Amy visit




                               Amy and Luke came to visit last week. We went home to see them (and host a shower for a dear friend, Emily). It was so fun seeing them and getting to hang out a bit at the lake. We haven't seen Luke and Amy since this time last year. So, this was a treat. I think Luke had a good time too. But man, he sure is laid back. :) My children run wild in circles while he just quietly stands and observes all the craziness!! 

                                      
Mimi, Amy, & Colin     

                               

Luke






what Ryan thought we had to have just to go to SC for 3 days...seriously?



We went to SC to see Mike's sister, Amy. Ryan thought he needed his whole room...SERIOUSLY.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

2nd birthday party - June 2



 Blowing out the candles - yay!!!


 Adam 
 Ryan and "the other" Katelyn
Rylee

We didn't do a huge party like we did for Ryan. We dcided tokeep it simple and just invite our sweet neighbors over - last minute!
They all came for a cookout: The Grants, The Bantas, The Halls, The Vandivers, & The Walter's. They even all brought Kaitlyn gifts. So Unexpected...and So Sweet!! We, unfortunately, starting hanging out with all ofthes neighbors way too late in our Alabama life. They were wonderful people that we only got to know this past 6 months. Wish we could have hung out throughout our Alabama duration. Anyway, everyone came over with all of the children (10 in all)! We all jumped, grilled out, and stuffed ourselves with cake and icecream. it was really fun and a continuance of the get togethers from earlier in May and also a foreshadowing of get-togethers throughout June. 
Really special night!!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Colin is 7 MONTHS



Time is FLYING by!!
June 1, 2012
This marks 3 months that Mike has been traveling back and forth between SC and AL. The weeks are long and the weekends are short. Can't wait to get back together as a family full-time.