We're Chugging Along

It has been almost three weeks since we pulled into our driveway. A lot has happened in just a few weeks! I did take a few shots of our house for those that are interested. :)

It's a cul-de-sac!

The first five days of moving boxes, our energy was up and we were cranking out the unpacking. We've slowed down a bit. :) The only room that has boxes is the office/guest room and most of those are filled with my teaching stuff.

The plan is to go through it and reorganize so it makes sense and can easily be stored. I've gone through one rolling cart only because I wanted to use it in the playroom. LOL! As I'm writing this I'm thinking this should be a weekend project, but it didn't happen this weekend. :) This is what happens when I'm trying to leave a classroom as fast as possible because the baby girl came early. ;)

For those that are familiar with the moving process, especially with kids, there are a few things that are important once you get to the new home.
* How will I keep the kids occupied?
* Where will the kid(s) be going to school?
* Where are the nearest Target, Costco, grocery store and other necessary shopping places. :)

Occupying the kids is very important otherwise everyone feels the pain! Here are some pics of what we've been doing.

Homemade popsicles!

Tutu Time! She is such a girl!!

We have a safe place to ride bikes or cars. :)

We tried out the local ice rink! This is wear the Washington Capitals practice!

We had to watch from the second floor because Ava loves the ice! She gets upset when she can't join the boys.

We did go down to say hi during a break. Ava threw a fit and we decided we needed to look for double blade skates for her. She is a joiner!

Dylan did such a great job!! He is barely holding Randy's hand while skating now. The boys have decided that they will be going on their own most Saturdays.

Back at the house, Randy put together the swing set this weekend! Yay! Thank you Billie and family! We love it!

Can you tell it's a bit humid? LOL!

 

The kids "helped" Randy put it together. We even formed a search party for the last tool that he needed because Ava stored it in the sandbox. They have so much fun helping, but it doesn't necessarily make the project easier. I thought the whole thing was amusing, but I was the management side of the project not the execution side.

I really like our outdoor space. We can trap the kiddos on the deck and there is a nice shady space.

The grass area is not fenced, but there is enough space that Ava isn't dashing for the street...right now anyway. :) Between tee ball, golf, horseshoes, soccer and the play set, I think I can keep them busy on the grass.

Ava even falls asleep in the swing. Love it!

I have looked into Little Gym, Gymboree and My Gym. We're lucky because we live near many locations. We are doing our free introductory classes this week at Little Gym in Falls Church. I was going to see if I could work out intro classes at My Gym in Alexandria too, but Dylan wants a sports class and My Gym doesn't off that. That means LG it is; as long as we all love it, which I'm sure we will. This way I'll have activities three days a week; one class for each kid and open gym. Maybe I'll even meet some nice mommies.:) Little Gym is where I met my AZ crew!

A huge check mark off the to-do list was finding Dylan a preschool. He will be attending the 3yr old program at Annadale Methodist Chuch preschool.

We were really impressed with their program and Dylan loved the place! He even invited the Asst. Director over to our house to play. LOL! School doesn't start here until after Labor Day so we have a month to keep them occupied.

As for the last important item on the list, we're lucky because I can say that Target, Costco, Joanne's and all other important shopping are less than 10 min. away! We have three Targets within a six mile radius, which is the most important. ;) Even though they all look close on the map, between traffic and all of the crazy roads, not everything is as convenient as it looks.

Look at this crazy thing!

We went to our third Target this evening though and I think we found our home Target. ;)  In AZ in literally took me 5 minutes to get to my home Target; one light where I made a right turn. It was awesome and dangerous at the same time. ;)

The hubs goes back to work tomorrow so I think our "regular" schedule will start to materialize over the next couple of weeks. This is why I was so focused on kiddo activities; I'm on my own during the day. We'll make it...we always do! :)

Our Last Week In Phoenix

I was looking through the pictures on my camera and found so many cute ones from our last week in Arizona. I wanted to share them! :)

Dance Party!!

We spent the 4th with our friends, The Rayburns!

 Everyone in got a bath after swimming!

Randy was the target in Wrestle Mania. LOL!

This was Dylan's last day at school. We had to pull his carseat out of the van so he borrowed Ava's. :)

After school we went for yogurt with our friends. We're already miss everyone!!

 Dylan decided that he needed to mark every box just like the packers did.

We tried to stay busy while the movers loaded the truck. I wanted an empty house picture of the kids, but Ava wanted what Dylan had instead.

I only have video of the first part of the roadtrip. We had a camera incident before leaving. No worries, the good camera is still working. Then, Dylan got so excited about the flip video that he ran the battery down and the charger was buried in the car. Oh well. We are taking plenty of pictures now!

The Fam goes to DC

I posted out of order, but the day before the movers arrived, we took the kids into the city. Dylan has been excited to ride the Metro and see the sights from his DC book. We also needed to just get out!

The closest Metro is about 5 miles away. On Sundays it is free parking so it was perfect. We rode from Falls Church into the Mall.

On the Metro!

 We took one with the Washington Monument then turned around and got the Capital. :)

The plan was to go to the Air & Space Museum. Dylan loved it!!

Ava ran around like a crazy girl! Hey, at least she was happy.

They were able to walk through an old plane. Then I had them pose by it. Dylan's excitement comes out in his poses. LOL!

Ava is taking a break from running around.

 I have four different luggage pictures. He wanted to pose with every suitcase!

He also wanted a picture by every exhibit.

After an hour, Ava was DONE! She was not a fan of the stroller at all! I got looks from strangers while I took this picture. I thought it was funny. :) Lunchtime!!

We had packed a picnic lunch and headed to the Mall to eat. We ended up by a meditation group; we didn't know this when we sat down. Next thing we know, the kiddos have joined in. :)

Look how calm Ava looks now.

We got ice cream for dessert because it is so perfect on a hot day.

After lunch we headed home. The Metro was a bit more challenging on the way home because Ava did not want to be contained.

Before the Metro...

After the Metro...

Her hair says it all! Heehee. We had a fun day and it cost less than $10! First outing was successful and we plan on doing it again.

A Week of Boxes!

We have been buried in boxes since Monday. I have to say though, we have really tore into the boxes. We should be all unpacked by tomorrow, but we will still be organizing...probably for a while. :)

At 8am we heard a knock on the door from our moving truck driver and the madness began. We waited about 20 minutes for the moving crew to show up.

I got the job of marking off the boxes (they are numbered) to make sure everything made it. That meant that I had to sit in a lawn chair in order to not miss anything. This was a pretty good job. :)

As toys started being unloaded, watching the kiddos got easier.

Ava actually spent a lot of time in the car, but decided to take a break while I was taking pics. :)

We had boxes everywhere!! Once we get it all unpacked, I will post pictures of a decorated house.

During the unpacking process, we have been doing SO many stairs!! The movers never put the boxes in the exact space they belong and since we have more space than the last house, we have been walking from the top floor to the basement over and over again. The first part of the week was also ridiculously hot! I know, I came from Arizona so I should be used to it. Ummm...NO! This humidity thing is completely different! The temp was in the 90's with humidity, our A/C needed to be serviced and we have three skylights in the front room just cooking up the house. Along with A/C, other things came up...

* Terminex came out for ants
* We ordered a water cooler and it was delivered on Wed.
* Randy installed smoke detectors all over the house because we only had two detectors for three floors! Virginia law "suggests" one in each room, but doesn't require it. Crazy!
* Safety gates galore
* Changed out all the curtains in the house except the dining room
* Ordered tinting for the skylights. It will be here on Tues.

Is that it? Nope, but a good start.

I tackled the grocery shopping with my helper Dylan. We first tried Giant and they the neatest scanners that we checked out then took with us while we shopped.

I would take the item off the shelf, scan it then bag it in the cart.

This is a stock pic, not my scanner. ;)

When finished, I scanned a barcode at the register and my whole cart uploaded to the screen! We scanned the coupons then paid. Pretty cool! Dylan was my scanner and he loved it! I'll take a pic with my helper next time. :)

Slowly, but surely we are putting the house together. I'll post updated pics by the end of the weekend.