The move!!

Well, we have officially moved.  The weeks leading up to it were quite busy and somewhat crazy, but every bit of it was worth it!!  WE LOVE OUR NEW HOME!!  We pushed the closing of our new house up (it was supposed to be 2/1, but we moved it up to 1/12) so we closed simultaneously with our other home.  Try packing a house with a 3 and a 1 year old.  For every 3 boxes we packed, they were unpacking 1.  Holy buckets was that a task.  But we did it.  And it's amazing what you come across when you move.  Man, I found juicy love letters from ex boyfriends, Madonna cassette tapes, elementary school year books, 3rd grade art projects, a photo of John with a PERMED MULLET (not even kidding... so glad he didn't tell me prior to me marrying him that he ever had one of those because I don't think Adrey and Charlie would exist, nor would I be a Ritchey), a 1980 Playboy belonging to John (long story behind why he saved it but it was for an "article") and about a ton of cockroach poop (attic).  We donated and purged so much... it was a very cleansing process, both clutter wise and mentally!

We scheduled the day of the move for a Friday so that the boys could be at school.  As much help as they could have been (ha ha ha), we thought it would make the process a little smoother!  We woke up bright and early... I took the boys to school and headed straight to the new house.  I cleaned all morning there while John stayed at the other house and "directed" the movers.  Then the movers came to the new house and I "directed" them while John stayed at the old house and cleaned there.  My mom was the biggest help... couldn't have done it without her.  She feverishly unpacked one box at a time.  Dad helped too... the pool gate company was supposed to come and install the baby gate around the pool (that was the ONLY thing I cared that was done prior to moving in) and there was a mix up so the fence couldn't be installed until the following Wednesday.  So Dad headed to Home Depot and put high locks on all the doors leading to the pool.  Such a huge relief.

Mom went and picked the boys up from school so that I could have a few extra minutes to continue unpacking.  Mom said that when she picked them up all Adrey kept saying was, "We have a new house?   We are going to our new house?" and he would pass people and say, "We have a new house.".  So cute!  I can only imagine what all the disorganization, clutter, boxes, mess the weeks leading up to the move must have made him feel.  You never know what goes on in the minds of our little ones.  He seemed to be fine about the whole thing but ya never know, I guess.

Our garage was the "drop off" place for all the boxes we weren't quite sure what to do with.  The garage now, though, is about 85% cleared out.  Our new community has a community garage sale every March so one side of the garage is stacked with garage sale stuff.

Terrible pictures.  All taken with my cell phone.

My mom was a machine.  Not. Even. Kidding.  That woman was a rockstar.  She dug into those boxes like there was candy corn and Cheetos (some of her favorites) at the bottom of each of them and found the perfect "home" for everything.  She's so organized (I'm pretty darn organized but SHE is incredibly organized) and she really got us off to an amazing start.

Our new kitchen looked like this for two days.  By the end of day two everything was in its own proper place and you could see all the counters!

The Shucarts and the Jen stopped by that evening and dropped off housewarming gift baskets... the visits only lasted a few minutes because they were so respectful of how tired we were, but we appreciated it so much!  To touch on just how efficient my mom is, she held up a basket and said, "I just unpacked this basket where would you like it?" and I told her that that was a gift and that I hadn't even had a chance to see what was in it!  We got laughing so hard!  She had to kind of walk through the kitchen and remember what she unpacked so that I could see it to know what to thank my friends for!! 

A couple weeks prior to moving in we purchased 3 new TV's, a washer and dryer (the previous owner wanted hers) and another fridge for the garage.  The guys delivering it didn't arrive until close to 7:00pm (they were scheduled to come at 4:00, so that's how behind they were).  When they arrived, Adrey was stuck to their tails the entire time.  This is basically how the conversation went:

Adrey:  Hi.  What's your name?

Guy:  Sean.

Adrey:  Sean?

Guy:  Yes.

Adrey:  What's your other name (meaning his last name)?

Guy:  Smith

Adrey:  Smith?

Guy:  Yes.

Adrey:  What are you doing?

Guy:  Installing your washer.

Adrey:  Installing our washer?

Guy:  Yes.

Adrey:  What's your name?
Guy:  Sean.

Adrey:  Sean?
Guy:  Yes.

Adrey: What's your other name?

Guy: Smith

Adrey: Smith?

Guy: Yes.

Adrey: What are you doing?

Guy: Still installing your washer.

Adrey: Still installing our washer?

Guy: Yes. 

And this went on the ENTIRE hour the guys were here.  I kid you not Adrey must have asked these guys their names and what they were doing 25 times!   To see with your own two eyes, click HERE.  This kid is a crack up!  And since we've moved in we've had painters, pool fence people, furniture delivery people, locksmiths, etc. here and it's the same routine with every single one of him.  Adrey likes details... just like his mama.

Saturday night the Waynes came over and we ordered take out and the kids christened the new tub.  To watch, click HERE.

Our new neighborhood has a playground within the gates and it's literally about 1/5 of a mile from our front door to the slide! We've been riding our bikes and playing on the playground almost daily.  It's so nice having something so close.  The boys love it.  And there's a little hill by the playground that the boys like to run down.  To watch them, click HERE.

I will post pictures of the house "put together" soon.  I want to wait until we have some pictures hanging.  That's the only thing left we really have to do but it'll  make a big difference!!