On The Move

I promised that after I shared some of the details of our house hunting trip, I'd give you some stories of our move. And so, here I am!

As I mentioned on the day, our movers came to pack us up on Emmi's birthday, the first of June. We were so thankful that we didn't have to do it all ourselves, and I have to say it's pretty amazing how much they get done in just a few days!!! They were out of the house by about 4 in the afternoon, confident that they would finish the next day, and then Mama and Daddy headed out to go pick up supper and dessert, and a little surprise for Emmi, who had been told that we would celebrate her birthday after we got settled (we celebrated it last week, and I'm thinking she got a pretty good deal out of this whole "can I share a birthday with Elise, now it's really my birthday, now we're having our real family party" thing, haha! The little stinker even convinced us to decorate for her a second time, haha!). While they were gone I took some pictures for a photo challenge I had signed up for... which, by the way, I did (fail) pretty well to keep up with. Lol. I blame it on the move (we were without internet for a while, so of course I couldn't upload them!)... but I'm pretty sure it would have happened anyway. Lol! I've thought of doing these things before, and never have because I knew I would get behind and just get discouraged, but since some girls I knew were heading this one, I thought, why not? And then I didn't really do the whole daily picture thing. But, I did TAKE the pictures... eventually... so maybe that counts? Haha :).

After dinner Mama brought out the pie that she had picked up at the store, and place a candle in it. And Daddy grabbed the lighter and went to light it.

Now, the lighter was almost empty, but Mama hadn't wanted to buy a new one since it wasn't allowed to be packed on the truck. So she had decided that we'd just use it one last time and then throw it out.

But when Daddy went to light it, there was a little problem... it wouldn't light. It had less fluid left in it then we had thought! Daddy came up with the brilliant idea to use our gas fireplace to light it. Andrew brought him a stick, and he lit it in the flame (eventually- it took a while), and then lit the candle, haha :). It worked well, and Emmi's mini party was saved ;). She also got an Anna doll to replace one of the ones she lost last year. Where those things went, we can not tell! And where we can find the baby one she had, we also have no idea. It's the strangest thing!

The next day was clear, bright, and hot. I felt bad for the guys loading the truck! One of them asked Daddy, "You must read a lot. How many books do you have?! There must be a hundred and fifty of these boxes!" Lol! It wasn't THAT many... but we do have a lot of books, especially when you consider that any box that HAD books in it was labelled books, even if it had more, say, blankets! Daddy explained that we homeschool, and, yes, do like to read. Later, the driver apparently told Daddy that he knew we were going to have a lot of books- "All the LifeWay managers do," he explained, haha :)! They were really nice, though, they got it all done in record time, and they were really kind to all the little ones, even though they were constantly standing in the way, haha. They especially seemed to like Josiah, all of them; and, while it might have just been his age, Tori took notice of this, because, as she told me, "It's almost like they except him as one of his own." Ever since he could walk, he's been moving furniture around the house, and we've always said we won't be surprised if he becomes a mover when he grows up, so she took this as comical confirmation ;). He was very disturbed when they took the table legs off... it was the only thing that bothered him, but boy did he get into that, haha! It reminded me of when Bethi was terrified when, during our last move, the handles were taken off our fridge. Mama mentioned that it was just as much like Emmi, who, during our move to VA, didn't worry about any of her toys or anything, but "Who took our WASHER?!"

Once they were almost done, we started cleaning... windows, counters, everything. One of Daddy's friends stopped in to say goodbye, and the truck was closed up and headed to SC. Then we headed out for supper and back to the house to finish cleaning it. It was a pretty intense night. Most of us didn't go to bed until 4 a.m., and all of the little ones were obviously getting sick. After I had cleaned the bathrooms, Mama gave me Noah, and I went and sat on the living room floor with him. One by one, all the little ones, Bethi to Noah, fell asleep, flung against the wall, on the floor, across the fireplace. It was pathetic, lol. They would wake up eventually, cold and sore, and most came to me crying and fell back asleep... and eventually I had the five youngest all laying on my lap or shoulder in some way or other. It was kind of humorous, but I felt so bad for them because I knew that if I was uncomfortable not sick, they had to be miserable. I could hear Mama and Tori in the kitchen cleaning the fridge while I sat under all those little people, and it took them a while... but Mama was so proud of it when she was done. I have to admit, I've never seen a even slightly used fridge that looked so brand new clean! Daddy somehow managed to fit all of our cleaning supplies, suitcases, food, and random items that hadn't been packed, into the car, and we went to go get a few hours of sleep.

Nearing the End of the Journey...

We woke up on the third, delighted to hear that our furniture was, indeed, going to be delivered that day! The driver had even called and said that he just needed the last directions to our house before he got there :)! We were so excited to be getting ready to leave and see the house filled up with the stuff that would make it "our" home!!! Unfortunately, several of us had obviously come down with colds, so things went rather slowly getting ready to get to the house, although we were all living in denial for the first couple hours. It is like everybody assumed that if they said something about it, there was no stopping it, because you could tell everybody was miserable (except Daddy, he never gets sick! Okay, well, rarely ever ;).), but nobody said anything until Andrew stated his throat hurt. After that, nobody seemed afraid to complain about anything, haha ;).

Daddy took Tori and the little girls to the house so he could be there so that the unloading process could start, while Mommy took the rest of us to the store to get some breakfast items. Amidst Andrew's falling over in the store, and accidentally supplying a group of ants some banana for breakfast, we were able to get all that we needed, and headed for the house :)! Tori had the little girls already on the swing set :). Andrew and Bethi quickly joined them, while Mommy and I started to try to make breakfast, which couldn't be fixed fast enough for Emmi, who was in a grumpy mood due to needing food, and is slightly possessive over the swing set, haha ;).

We got breakfast plates made, and sat the little ones down on a sheet to have picnic breakfast, inside ;). Daddy worked on making the first pot of coffee in our new house. You know it wouldn't take him long ;). Tori enjoyed some to celebrate being so close to moved in (after being assured that just one cup would not stunt her growth significantly. She has a self-imposed rule that she will not, repeat, will not, drink coffee regularly until she is at least half an inch taller than me ;)...).

After breakfast, we cleaned out the big fifteen passenger van, and Daddy's smaller van. Daddy's van seems really big after his old van, but the fifteen passenger van is still the hands-on winner in size without a shadow of a doubt! We call it "Van-illa", a mix of "Van" and "Godzilla", heeheehee! We ended up replacing the back seat in Van-illa (which we had thought to take out of the car before the moving van left our SC house, thank the Lord! We could never have fit everything in with it!), and piling several boxes of items that became unpacked and never repacked during the trip, in the living room before collapsing on the couch determining  to sort through and put it away later ;). Daddy was able to help a bit with moving boxes into the house from the truck, but the rest of us pretty much just kept babies occupied. Tori finished her Rubik's cube, totally flabbergasting one of the men helping unload the furniture :)! It was so funny :). 

They were done unloading early in the afternoon, and we set to work getting a few small things done. Nothing much happened the rest of the day... we took care of some house stuff, had supper. and flopped at the end of the day ;).

The next morning, Daddy had to get back to work, and the rest of us were making headway to get out of the hotel for the last time! We were so excited :)! I checked Facebook while Mommy and Tori took some of the bags down to the car, and was shocked to find many "Happy Fourth" posts, heeheehee. I got so lost as to what date it was during the move! It was kind of funny :).

We stopped at the grocery store on our way, and we also stopped to see Daddy at his store for the first time since moving :). Then we were on our way home.

We set up the beds and washed loads and loads of clothes, before making the aforementioned beds with freshly washed sheets :). We completed some more cleaning, and some of the little ones accomplished some much needed activities...

 Like sleep...

 ...more sleep...

 ...and helping clean :P.

The house needed such a cleaning before we settled! There was - no kidding- dog hair in the oven door. Just a wee bit disturbing. Haha!

Since then, we have been settling into our new life here in Virginia. We recovered from our colds, got the house cleaned, and got most of the big unpacking projects done. Mommy found out that she was expecting baby blessing number eight, little Seaweed :)!!! Miss Kathy at Daddy's store blessed us with a couple of meals, and all of his employees got together and blessed us with a welcome basket. Tori threw a big tea party that she invited me to (took six hours if you count cooking, cleaning, and enjoying- now that is dedication for you ;)!), that was absolutely beautiful. We took the little ones to Daddy's store for his store's "Kid's Day" one day, and have stopped various other times while out and about, we have greatly enjoyed being able to do that again!!! The neighbor on one side of us helped us get our lawn mower put together, the ones on the other side just moved in like us, and the lady from across the the street blessed us with some fresh corn :). Daddy has been taking us to the church that he has been attending for the past several months, and the people there have really welcomed us :). I was able to make and sell a couple of crocheted kittens, which, although they didn't get to their destination when we had hoped, was a fun experience :). Our family was able to set up a ministry table at Daddy's store's 5th anniversary a couple weeks ago, that was a wonderful blessing! Daddy gets back from his meeting tonight, and we finished unpacking this week. 

I'm going to go help give the house one more thoroughly cleaning, and then we will be done with this moving adventure. It has been a long, sometimes stressful, process. But by tonight, we will be officially settled in "home", and together.

The Lord has richly blessed us.

And I am so thankful!!!

Sunday at Granny's, and Reaching Our New Home State!

We had stayed the night over in upper SC, because we were going to visit Daddy's family that day, since we had a couple days to spare before our furniture and boxes were delivered :)!

We were originally planning on surprising Granny, but after we woke up a little later than planned, we decided to call Granny and let her know we were on our way.

A few pictures from that morning...

 *Love* him!!!

 Traditional picture...

 This seat wasn't discovered until the 

last few minutes, yay! Haha ;).

 

 Pretty Tori :)...

We got there early that afternoon. After some lunch, Mommy and Tori went to the laundry mat to do some clothes (Cousin Mellisa invited us to use her washer and dryer, but with the fact that we had four large loads, we knew that it would be better to do all loads at once if we wanted to fold them before we left ;).), and Daddy and I shifted items in the van so that there would be no "dumpster diving" that night ;).

Gramma, after planning to be there, called us early that morning and told us she couldn't make it... and than showed up that afternoon, haha. I take it that Daddy isn't the only one in the family who likes to pull off surprises- and Aunt Donna knew about this one and said nothing to us, haha! Gramma brought with her some of the biggest stuffed animal pillows you have ever seen. They got good use in the car :). (And since then :)...)

These pillows...

We had a wonderful time visiting :). We shared some watermelon that a friend had blessed us with and we hadn't had time to cut yet, due to the move, and everybody enjoyed talking and playing outside :). We got to hear about the mission trip that Granny had just taken, getting back the day before, coming home just in time for our visit, haha :). We had to leave too soon for our liking, but knowing that we would have to give baths before bed, and be up at a decent time the next morning to get the keys to our new house, with a five+ hour drive ahead of us, we knew we needed to leave earlier than usual. But we did not leave without getting a few promises that, after we got settled, several members of the family would try to make it up here for a visit :).

Aunt Donna gave us each a little some thing 

out of her and Uncle Jerry's collection. 

Emmi loves her Goofy toy :).

Once we were "on the road", the greatest example of what the efficiency is like when you drive in two separate cars came into the story ;). We handed out a few trip treats before we left Granny's, sending Tori back and forth between the vans several times, haha. (Since she had helped Mommy do the shopping for those in Daddy's car, she wanted to see their reaction.) But then we found that we had forgotten to give those in Daddy's car their snacks, haha! We were able to hand those out when we stopped at a gas station so that Daddy could fill up the vans, per plan, although the trip to the restrooms that also occurred at this stop was NOT planned ;). We started again, but then we couldn't for the life of us find "the manila envelope" with "I can't tell you what" in it, which turned out to be in Daddy's car. So, we made yet another stop, just minutes after starting yet again, because Mommy all but refused to go any farther without finding it ;), because "It's Bri's main trip treat, and it's going to be dark before we stop again!", haha. I was thoroughly confused, haha! It turned out to be the book "Will Our Generation Speak?" (a wonderful book, by the way :)!!!). We finally left Blacksburg... A town that takes only five short minutes to drive through. As long as you don't stop to do five thousand "odd jobs" along the way. Haha :)!

But, as we were leaving Blacksburg, we realized that Bethi was also missing one of her trip treats. Thankfully, that was in our car, and quick to find, although not exactly easy with all that it was under ;).

 Mag-na-doodles :)!

 Some *very special friends* sent us a special gift

 to be opened during our trip up here :)...

 Chocolate kisses, to go with the hugs they 

gave us when we said goodbye :)...

And it was so funny... Daddy and Mommy went to go get some supper, and they ran in while I stayed with the little ones in Mommy's car, and Tori stayed with those in Daddy's. While we were sitting there, I heard this beeping... beeping... beeping... and it wouldn't stop! I couldn't figure out who's car it was. It was going off for the longest time! Finally, Daddy and Mommy made it to the car, and it became obvious that it had been Daddy's car! Tori wasn't sure how it had happened, but the car's panic alarm had gone off, and she didn't know how to turn it off! She was so funny, telling us about it later, because she said "And I could see the police car right across the parking lot, and I was just waiting for the police officer to come up and ask me why in the world the car was on panic, and I would have to tell him I didn't even know!"... Haha :)!

Most of the little ones fell asleep fairly quickly, even though they were excited to have some new items to play with. They wore themselves out at Granny's ;). Mommy and Daddy of course were driving, and I tried to read my book, but about every ten minutes, Tori would ask me "Bri, I can't figure this out. Would you figure it out and then teach me?", as she handed me her Rubik's cube, haha. I think her main goal was not to be a quitter, but to get my book, because that is what she did every time I put it down to figure out the next step of the cube ;). Finally it got too dark to read even using my book light, which gets fainter the longer it is on, haha, so I decided to just go to sleep along with the little ones ;). Tori decided that she would have none of it, she was going to stay up the whole way to Virginia! I'm not sure how long I slept before I was hit by a seat. I woke up rather suddenly, and very squished, I will say, haha. After piecing together what bits I could make out between Mommy and Tori's howls of laughter, it turns out that the only light Tori was getting to do her Rubik's cube was behind her, so Mommy told her to lay her seat back so that she wouldn't have to do gymnastics while doing her cube. But Tori but didn't know how to lay the seat down, so when it did finally go, it really went. After I woke up with it on top of me, Tori tried to sit it back up, but that went even worse than laying it down... worse as in, the movement was non-existent ;). I think I only sat that way for about 45 minutes... haha!

We finally got to the hotel in Virginia... and Tori, with very bloodshot eyes, made it awake the whole way, hahaha! Andrew's nap seemed to have given him some good energy for a little bit. We got in the elevator, most of us looking like we were about to fall over asleep, but Andrew felt the elevator start moving and decided to pretend he was scared, or something... He made several gasping, shrieking, yipping noises and started pretending to try to scale the elevator walls. Daddy's face while watching him was priceless. Hahaha! We finished unloading, did bathes, and got everybody generally ready for bed before crashing ;). We were all looking forward to getting to see our new house the next day :)...

And Moving Out!

The movers reached our house at the bright hour of, I believe it was, 7:30 am on Saturday. I could be wrong- I was too tired to look at the clock when they got there ;). There was the truck driver, and then a father/son team the first day. After seeing our upright piano and knowing they would have to load it, the father brought his two younger boys, as well, the second day, haha ;). They were not able to fit the items from our storage building in the truck, so that ended up being brought a couple weeks later. The first thing the truck driver who brought our storage stuff said when he walked into the family room was 'Oh, that is a big upright piano. I'm sure your movers loved that!" Haha ;). 

That morning was spent much like the previous afternoon; music, bubbles, and jump ropes outside, with one new twist and some new little friends- some little frogs :). Abbi loved them to pieces, and became an expert at catching them! Daddy and I were afraid that she would "hug" one of them too hard, and kept telling her "go put that one down, he needs a break". She would agree, put it down, turn around... and pick another one up. Haha! It was a vicious cycle ;). 

 She has a frog :)...

 Poor tiny little frog, haha...

Most of the frogs were small, but the one that was hiding on the steam cleaner that we left sitting on the deck over night so it would be out of the movers way, that Mommy took inside and turned on BEFORE she found the frog, was huge ;)! That was funny ;). Peter loved that one :)...

 I don't think this is the same one, but it was this big :)...

Daddy offered to serve the movers lunch, so Mommy went out to buy picnic/finger food type lunch items, and Bethi and I went to gather the last of the cucumbers we would get. We got another dozen+! Cucumbers are definitely a productive plant to grow! We also got a small, ripe cantaloupe. And the smallest bell pepper you've ever seen... The tomatoes were still green, though :(...

 Just one of many of these pictures, haha :).

Bethi was shocked when the truck driver popped the fridge handles off so that they could load the truck. She told Mommy "Oh, maybe that is why Daddy didn't want us hanging on the fridge...". Yep, maybe ;).

Emmi was very excited about the whole process, and was talking all day long about how "Our books and toys and beds were going to go on a truck and get to our new house". But when she walked into the kitchen and saw the empty laundry room, she was horrified. "WHO stole our WASHER?!!!", she asked.

Mommy told Tori later that day, after the truck had left, "Usually, when somebody is moving something for you, and they ask "What's in here? Rocks?", you get to laugh, and say "Aren't you funny!". But I wish you could have seen the guy's face when Daddy told hm "Actually..."!" Haha :). Tori loves rocks ;).

The movers left at about 4:00, I believe, after making one final sweep through the house. It was funny to see the look of complete disbelief on one of the guy's face as he walked by the library and saw a mountain of items. It took him a minute to realize that it was all the stuff that was going with us, we had move it from the closet ;). I felt kind of bad for him, haha. Then we had to clean! It was amazing how much there was to clean, now that it was empty, after we had been so diligent to keep it "show ready" for the last four months before the move! It was so late by the time we got in the car (the very jam-packed car. I told Mommy, as I tried to find a spot for a box in the already stuffed car, with three more large boxes waiting, "We need Aunt Tessa. Badly." My Aunt is an efficiency packer :). When we stay at Grandma's for the weekend, we get there with the car loaded, and Aunt Tessa packs it again when we leave with all of our stuff in half the space I fit it in, haha ;).). The sunset was gorgeous that night, I thought that was a special blessing from the Lord. It was the kind of sunset that turns our gate rose colored, haha :). I always loved that, so it was fun that there was one of "those sunsets" that evening :).

During the rush to get ready to leave, we played with some balloons, ahem, "conducted a science experiment", sorry. Some of us did, anyway. Those of us who were confident that we had brains to spare if something went wrong, heehee ;). That conveniently left me out ;)... Tori has wanted to breath helium since she first heard the results on one of those Moody Science Films. Tori wasn't able to hold her breath long enough to actually accomplish much talking (I think because it was hard for her to laugh at Daddy and hold her breath at the same time ;)...), but Andrew's shocked look when he first heard Daddy talking on helium instead of oxygen was priceless, haha!

We finally made it out of our yard, for the last time. It was both kind of sad, and a relief, haha. We will miss SC, but we are so happy to be back together up here in VA now :)!!! I did realize an hour down the road that I never got a picture of Tori with her tomato pants :(.

We went to the Chick-fil-a (ten minutes down the road) for supper, planning on just going through the drive through, but finding that the younger ones already needed to use the restroom. Things were not looking good for the rest of the trip ;). Not only were we taking people to the restrooms ten minutes down the road, this was "that" Chick-fil-a, with "those" soap dispensers ;)! It would appear that we are not the only ones to have had trouble, though, because the paper towel dispenser had moved ;). We got a good laugh out of that one. The rest of the trip went fairly smoothly, though, with very few stops (after we were officially started ;).) each time.

I don't know what took place in Daddy's car  (we had to drive split up to get both of our cars up to VA... that was a disappointment :(...), but Mommy and Tori and I ended up talking about the most random memories we have stuck in our heads for unknown reasons... that was entertaining, although apparently Abbi and Emmi and Bethi didn't think so... they went to sleep as soon as they were done eating ;). The drive didn't feel like an hour and a half before we stopped at a hotel, it was rather a shock how quickly it seemed to go! But then, of course, we had to do baths and unload the car. And unloading the car was no joke, let me tell you ;). Okay, to tell you the truth, it was too much of a joke ;). I told Mommy the next day, I felt like I was dumpster diving, hahaha! We decided that we didn't want to have to unload the car that night just to reload it ten hours later, so we just got out the clothes we needed for that night and the clothes were under many other items, and I was practically laying on most of it at one point ;). According to Daddy and Tori, it was hilarious ;)!

We had a special reason for stopping that night instead of just keeping on while all the little ones were asleep already :)...

Packing Up...

Due to the patient hints of both friends and family alike, and the fact that today marks the one month anniversary of our move in date, I think it is high time I started this series ;)...

The week before we moved was spent saying goodbye to many dear friends. Abbi was thrilled, not to say goodbye, but to get to see so many people ;). She is very much a social little creature, and she came to Mommy the night of our last visit, and asked Mommy "Do we have anymore people we can tell goodbye tomorrow?!" Stinker ;). Sunday through Wednesday was full of friends and packing (and picking up bibles that I left at church while trying to make sure that I did everything else I meant to do. For the first time ever, I could not believe it! But a friend gave it to one of the deacons when she heard how worried I was about it, and the deacon was able to hand it right to us when we pulled up to church :).), and, of course, welcoming Daddy home to SC for the last time before we left :)!!!

We got to bed late Thursday, the night before the movers arrived to pack us up. It could have been later though- a sweet lady from church called at supper time and asked if we had eaten yet. When we replied no, she asked if she could bring us some supper she had made  :). That was such a blessing- and Emmi especially was thrilled, because she brought cookies ;). Emmi had been asking all day long "Bri, can we make cookies? Bri, lets go make some cookies now!" :).

 In fact, we didn't have to do much cooking at all those last few days, partly thanks to the several meals worth of food that Miss Mary brought us :). Thank you so much, Miss Mary :)!

Tiny little sleepy baby :)...

We were up by six thirty the next morning (I think Mommy was actually up earlier...), and we finished up as much as possible before the movers arrived. We still had to clean some of the appliances that were going, pack all that the movers could not take in their truck (flammables, liquids, etc.), and gather all the items that we were going to need before we got to VA. And then it was breakfast time ;). We ate outside to stay out of the way, as the kitchen was being packed up by the time we got to breakfast (and the table had no surface area available, anyway, haha!). The little ones thought that was the greatest thing ever, haha :). After that we worked a little more on folding clothes and packing up trip items, and then Tori and I took all the little ones outside while Mommy and Daddy finished up. Daddy sent the CD player outside, and we spent the morning blowing bubbles, skipping rope, and listening to the Piano Guys (namely "Cello Wars", as Andrew knows how to operate the CD player and would listen to only that song if we let him ;). Unfortunately for him, everybody else has a favorite as well, so he has to listen to others. Haha!).

*Love* those eyes :)...

 Bubbles :)!

Dancing, hugging, I'm not sure... but I would 

remember if it was fighting, so it wasn't that ;).

After a little over an hour we went inside... and were horrified to learn how early in the day it still was, hahaha! We bounced between playing outside, playing in the upstairs bedroom (that was mostly empty... and yet, they played longer there than they usually do. I think it was due to the novelty of empty closets and shelves ;).), and using the laptop for the little ones to watch shows while we did other projects. Three o'clock came, and we were ready for bed, haha! Much of the day was spent doing nothing much at all, but that can be exhausting for some reason! We are so glad that we didn't have to move ourselves! I can not even imagine how we would have made it, haha. I was thinking the whole time "How in the world did we do this a few years ago?!!"! It was a wonderful blessing to have, not only others moving us, but also Lifeway paying for it :).

After the men finished packing up everything, they left and we finished up a few little things before heading out to eat one last time at La Fagota. That restaurant has been our go-to when we eat out for years, we all love Mexican food (and Abbi loves chips ;).)! But it was kind of sad, they had remodeled it and we couldn't help but wonder why they couldn't have waited ;). Our favorite park there has been changed, as well, along with a few other smaller things. Mommy said she guessed it was a good time to move, all the changes were just depressing ;).

We had been planning on leaving for a hotel that night, thinking that the bedding was going to be packed, but we were given a choice of leaving the bedding to be packed the next day, which we gladly took :). We wanted neither to have to drive there the next day while the truck was loaded, or to have to load and reload the car of trip necessities an extra time if we didn't have to ;).

We spent that evening fairly quietly, getting ready for bed fairly quickly ;). Well, as quickly as a family of nine can, while all trying to get their clothes out of a small closet with a note saying "Please do not pack :)" on the door, while having to duck into the library to avoid collisions in the hall ;). We were all very excited to know that it was our last night sleeping there :)...

 And, although this isn't related to the trip, I have to mention that there is a Hidden Treasures auction up and running right now :)...