I suck....

I want to post, but I am just so overwhelmed by everything these days, it seems like just another thing on the "to do" list. I have lots to share and I hope I'll find it in myself to do it tomorrow.

Forgive me, ok?!

And by the way, Happy 2009!!

I, for one, hope it it's a thousand times better than 2008 was to us!

WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING UP!?!?!?!

...why don't you ask my brain that?!

Because I woke up for the second morning before 5:30am and I CANNOT shut my brain off.

ANNOYING!!!!!


I have all these crazy (and not so crazy) thoughts swirling around in my head. My gosh, there is so much to do/remember/think about when you move across the country. I am so petrified I am going to forget something obvious.

So, I know you are thinking, "Hey Roxann...why don't you make a list?!" Well, of course, my friends I have done that. I have 3 pages of notes in a spiral notebook. But, I am worried I have forgotten something. And considering, we aren't "completely moving" at this point, it makes it a little different this time.

You see....after doing this cross-country move 2x before, we decided that this time, we just can't stand to be apart. You see when we moved to Georgia, Ike went first and the kids and I stayed for about 5 weeks with Ike living in Georgia without us. It was HARD. So hard, that we moved after 5 weeks and all of us lived in a 1 room Marriott hotel for 3 weeks. Yep, that's 5 people in a hotel room...including a toddler. Ask me how fun that was?!?!? Ha ha!

When we moved to Kansas, again, Ike moved without us. This time was even harder because we had another child (baby girl) and she was only a week into her 2nd year when daddy left. This time we made it 4 weeks apart and then moved to KS and lived in our house with no furniture or anything for almost a week. (yep, slept on the floor on a blow-up mattress, which was great until on the 3rd night Jensen's cat dug his nails into it and then the mattress was a lost cause!!) At least we had heat!! Because it was freezing in Kansas!

So, this time, we decided that we were all going together.

Period.

So, we were committed to making that happen. So, we are moving into corporate housing. We will be taking only the bare essentials with us. (ya know...clothes, personals, important papers in the safe...that kind of stuff) We just can't take it all right now. There would be no place to put it. We are moving into a 3-bedroom condo and it looks really nice on the internet, but we know that with 6 of us, we know it's still going to be cramped.

So, for me, I know I ABSOLUTELY CAN'T live w/out my scrapbook stuff for up to 4 months (which is how long we could be living in this condo...at least, this is how long Ike's company is paying for it....while we try to sell our house in Kansas.) So, I am trying to pack the BARE ESSENTIALS....meaning my basic supplies....and then some MUST HAVE stuff.
But, if you are a designer like me, the thought of not having access to my beloved supplies is about to give me a fit! But, the reality is, I can only take a SMALL PORTION of my STASH! Which completely sucks!!!! (ha ha ha! poor me!!!) And this is giving my panic!

Many people are asking me....how can you just move and leave you stuff behind. (not just scrapbooking stuff, but all your stuff?!) Well, it's quite simple. We've learned the hard way, that being together is more important than the stuff.

After all, it's just STUFF!!

If someone stole our stuff, would I be upset. Well, of course, I would. But, again, it's just
STUFF!!!!

It can be replaced.

Our family and being together is what it's all about.

And considering Big Daddy starts his job on Monday, Dec. 22nd, the thought of spending Marinne's birthday (the 23rd) and Christmas and New Years apart, was just too much to bare. So, we just AREN'T doing that. We are going...TOGETHER!

Besides, we have two of the nosiest neighbors ever, who as annoying as it's been while we've been here, will come quite in handy now that we are leaving all our stuff! (Seriously, we call one of the ladies, Mrs. Kravitz...ya know, the nosy neighbor on the classic show Bewitched!) So, she will keep an eye on things...and she'll tell my friend Kelly, who will keep me informed and who has a key to the house, so she can keep an eye on things! It will be ok. It has to.

Ok, well, I've chattered on for over 30 minutes and it's 6:30am.

Time to wake up the sometimes moody 7th grader and get him movin'!

Talk to you soon, my lovelies!
I miss you.

NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY........

.....this is my current state of being. NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY!

I absolutely CANNOT believe that we move to OHIO in 4 days!!!!!

It's been a crazy last few weeks! And it's been very hard to keep up everything on my blog updated. (sorry about that!) But, parts of it I couldn't help. For instance, I couldn't let on that Big Daddy was interviewing for new jobs....because that could have jeopardized his job here. So, I had to keep my mouth shut. (which believe me...is VERY hard for me to do!! Just ask my dad....I'm famous for it!)

This morning it's 3.7degrees here in KS. The wind chill is -17 below. And it snowed last night. As a parent, I think that's reason enough to cancel school....but alas, the kids still have school. Ridiculous, in my book! I think if it's single digits, then school should be cancelled! But, that's because I don't want my babies to be chilled to the bone!

The house is on the market for one week tomorrow. We had one showing the first day, but nothing since. (although, the realtor says we've had some hits online that have asked for more info....) I was disappointed we didn't score any showings on Sunday. But, it is a week and 1/2 before Christmas, so I don't know why I am surprised. Hopefully, it will sell w/in a few months!!! PRAY that it will. A house sitting on the market 850 miles away, will be a HUGE stressor again (since we just did this less than 2 years ago....that time, the house in GA was on the market 6 months! OUCH!!) I just want it to sell, so we can get a house in Ohio quickly.

As most days leading up to this move, I have a busy one today. I have a doctors appointment in 52 minutes at 8am. Then, we have the Chem-Dry carpet cleaners coming at 10am, so the fun part of that is keeping Miss Priss out off the way while the give the carpets a once over. Then, at lunchtime, I have a meeting at Logan's school with the school Psychologist to get his "gifted" testing records, so we have them before we go. This should help make his transition a bit easier!

I start packing/loading tomorrow. It's hard to decide what we absolutely need to take NOW and what can wait until our next trip home to officially MOVE. But, bottom line, it doesn't really matter, as long as there is Target and our family is together. Things don't matter, but THAT does.

Alas, due all this crazy, I probably won't get Christmas cards done....and I'm taking some time off from my scrappin' DT's. It's hard on me. Because it's such a huge part of me. But, I am thankful that I work for some super understanding people. (can you believe I haven't scrapped in over a month!!!!!) I miss it so.

And speaking of scrappin'....I owe everybody my final "travel" update from the CKC-Seattle show. I really need to get that on here. I promise to try to do it very soon!!! (as if I don't have other things to do...)

And last but not least....I miss you guys! I hope everyone is doing GREAT!

xoxoxo

~Roxann

O-H-I-O

The time has come when we can finally announce where we are moving......

Columbus, Ohio!!!!!!

Wowza!!
I am excited!!!!!!!

The season for Birthdays!!!

For those keeping track, Jensen just had a birthday in October, Griffin's is in November and Marinne's is in December. It's a very busy time for us!

(and obviously, you can see that Big Daddy and I must be super amorous in the Spring...just like the woodland animals!! Hee hee hee!!)


So, this child had his Sixth Birthday in mid-November.Logan made him this birthday cake...it was a layered cake and it didn't work out so well.
(at least it tasted good!)


Some facts about Griffin at 6 years old....
...He's 75%-ile on weight and height.
...He is funny, always keeping us laughing.
...According to his Kindergarten teacher, he's absolutely perfect!
(exactly where he needs to be in school!)
...He has a crush on Miss Anderson, his Kindergarten teacher.
...He has a wild imagination for story-telling!
(He told me he had a substitute teacher one day because Miss Anderson bazooka barfed in the computer lab and had to go home....that DID NOT happen!
But, believe you me, his story was quite convincing!)
...His favorite color is green. Especially bright green.
...His favorite food is pizza.
...He is a *FANTASTIC* KID!!!!!!!


Make a wish, Big 6 Year Old! The birthday hat came from Miss Anderson at school!



The cake gets the big *thumbs up* from Griffin!!

Max

On the weekend before Griff's birthday, his teacher sent him home with Max and a giant backpack full of fun things for him to do. There was a journal, which we had been instructed to fill out about Max's adventures with Griffin.

There was also books along w/ read-along tapes. And a book of Science experiments to try out. So, we set out making the plans for the weekend w/ Max.

We decided first to try a Science experiment. Griffin picked one with apples.
We were to take an apple and cut it into pieces. We made a chart to place them on. One apple was supposed to be left alone. One was to be sprinkled with water. And the last one, we were to sprinkle with lemon juice. Then, we were to check the apples in 3 hours. And then, in 12 hours. So, we did the first one a dinnertime and checked it at bedtime and there was very little change. Except the apple left alone was just barely brownish.

Then, in the morning, we checked them all again. The apple left alone was completely brown, the one with water was slightly browned and the one in lemon juice was still almost completely perfect. Then, we talked about why it would be this way.
Griffin thought this was so cool!!! On Saturday, Max got to ride in the car so we could go to Chuck-E-Cheese as part of an early birthday celebration.

I think it's safe to say, Max really enjoyed himself!!! When we left CEC, we went to Toys R Us because they had sent him a giftcard for $3.00. So, of course, Griffin picked a giant box of Nerds candy.They gave him a birthday crown and a balloon to wear while doing his shopping.
So, this worked out well for when we were having him look around to make his birthday list of things he wanted. (it was a good thing his real birthday was still a few days away! We had some major shopping to do!!!)

When we got home, we had a tired boy and a tired bunny!! Goodnight Griffin and Goodnight Max!!

Then, on Sunday afternoon, Griffin and Max were going to read/listen to the books on tape...which seemed like a good idea, until the tape player ate the cassette tape.
(Now I remember why CD's and IPod's are AWESOME!!!!)
So, Griffin kinda freaked out, but I told him I'd offer to pay for the tape so Miss Anderson could get a new one and then he was happy.

All in all, I think Griffin and Max had a great weekend!!!!