Summer Fun!! - Hunting Wabbits

So now that we are "back home"...

what are we doing?

 

Well,

I do believe,

that we have seen at least 1 member

of my family

(mostly my mom)

every. single. weekend.

since we have been home.

 

It dawned on me this past Saturday,

as we made a trip to Fuquay

(to deal with the house up there)

that this was going to be the

first weekend,

that I hadn't seen my mom...

since we'd been home.

That was ok,

it was just a realization...

then

when we got out of church on Sunday,

the hubs got a text from my mom

asking us what we were doing for lunch...

by the time we called her back,

she and my dad were already on their way down!

SURPRISE!!

 

So quick review:

 

We arrived on Friday, April 26th,

movers were here Saturday, April 27th.

My mom & sis & niece spent the night April 27th.

Loads of unpacking occurred.

 

Hubs started his job Tuesday, April 30th

(less than a week after his final day in Texas)

 

The first "official" weekend here,

we unpacked Saturday,

then Sunday

we had gotten tickets to a

Cinderella play

being put on at the local theater.

When we got there,

we discovered it was a ballet

and it was all kids!!

It was adorable!

A few days later,
my guys got this wild hair...
they wanted to attempt to catch a
wait for it...
wild hare.
Oh, my...
yep,
I did just do that.

Anyhoo...
we have this great back yard.
With a wonderful string of bird feeders
hung between two trees.
We LOVE watching the birds out of our window.
We also seem to get quite a few bunnies
hopping through our yard.
And let me just tell you.
All of the kids
(young and old)
get SO excited when we see a bunny!

So my oldest,
asked my husband...
Dad, if we catch a bunny,
can we keep it?

My husband,
not totally realizing what he was saying...
said YES!

I looked at him like he had just told
our child the sun was purple!

What did you just agree to?!?!?!

So,
the plotting
and
figuring
and
engineering
and
designing
began.

These two boys,
9 & 7
talked the entire rest of dinner about
how they were going to build a trap.

I sat and listened
to their ideas and logic
and offered
NO assistance,
cause what,
pray tell,
were we going to do if they
actually caught one of these
silly things?!?!?

Amazingly,
my 7 yo,
came up with a logical idea
and plan!
I looked at him
and said,
"where'd you get that idea from?"
...
TV!
ah, yes...
of course.

As their plan was coming more
and more into focus...
the hubs quickly starts back pedaling.
Hahah!
And he decided that if they,
somehow,
managed to catch a wabbit.
That we would keep it for a couple of days,
and then set it free again.
Because it was a wild creature after all,
and it would miss its mommy & daddy
or its wife/husband and kids.
Phew!
Thank you sweetie!

So after dinner,
they ran outside and got to work on
implementing their plan.

 Rico reassembled a moving box...

 

Then they got to work...

 

This was their first attempt:

 

Then once the realized that there was no way for the

box to fall on the bunny once it was in there...

 

They tried this:

 

 

They had two strings attached to the

sticks holding the box up.

Then they were going to sit out there

til the bunny showed up

and

then pull the sticks out.

 

Then when mom & dad told them that

the bunny wasn't going to show up with them sitting right there...

they had to come up with another way to make the box fall.

 

On their own,

the figured that they needed to tie the string to the carrot.

 

So daddy & I helped with that part.

 

Later that evening...

the box was down!

 

Daddy and I just looked at each other...

luckily...

the box was empty!

 

The next day it fell a couple more times

and thankfully...

each time it was empty!

 

But they gave it a GREAT try...

thankfully...

 

 

Random Pictures from the Move

I didn't realize I had so many pictures

on the "good" camera

as I did!

 

 

So sit back,

and enjoy the pictures.

 

Nana playing with Lex.

 

 

Yep,

Nana was in there!

 

Hanging out on the front porch,

 

They were chilling watching

the show...

 

 

And apparently

its pretty exhausting work,

watching him climb that tree!

 

This is how Mr. T broke his foot.

Apparently he had gotten up on the table,

he was trying to get down

and managed to turn the bench over...

 

They are all huddled in the "safe area"

in the house.

 

Side view of the progress...

 

Opposite view

 

The movers set up a slide down the stairs,

to slide boxes down,

unfortunately,

I was too busy running up and down the stairs

pretty much non-stop,

so they had to remove the slide

and do it the hard way.

 

This is what it looks like as they are tetris-ing the boxes

into the truck!

I was impressed!!

 

This is looking in from the side door.

 

This is from the very end...

the kids were allowed to walk into the

truck

and look around a bit.

(can you find them in the chaos?)



 

Then our driver,

actually let the boys jump in the driver's seat!

 

Still haven't made it to the side doors...

 

 

And we learned the hard way,

that the truck is FILTHY!

Mercy -

look at those feet!!

 

A few hours later,

they finally filled it up past the side doors,

and were loading the last few pieces.

We had a friendly debate going on

with the movers/loaders,

debating whether or not they

were going to be able to fit everything in there.

 

 

If you look REALLY closely,

on the far left,

you can see the back of the little

U-Haul trailer we towed back.

Well, the hubs did.

If it hadn't been for the little trailer,

it would not have fit!

But in the end,

we didn't have to leave anything this time,

and

that alone

was worth going with a moving company!

 

Papa Grande's was the final stop before we

officially hit the road.

 

So we snapped a couple of pictures before we

hopped in the car.



The Move Back - Part 2

In an effort to keep our 

ONLY income

coming in,

the hubs kept working up until literally the DAY we left!

 

Which means what?

Which means that the majority of the packing was either

done by me

or after he got home from working 8+ hours a day!

But we did it...
BARELY!! 

 

This is what our kitchen looked like

the night before the movers arrived...

 

 

I am pretty sure we stayed up until 2am

packing

and yes,

the hubs went off to work a few hours later...

 

The best thing in the world

was seeing the moving truck pull to a stop in front of our house.

We didn't have to do it this time!

Hahah!

 

 

 

My mom flew down to help...

she arrived the weekend before we left.



She commented at one point,
that she really didn't feel like she was being a whole lot of help...
mainly because she was taking the kids to the park,
and being a grandma!

I told her SO many times,
that spending time with them
was the BIGGEST help she could be.
Cause they had really been fending for themselves
except for food & baths & bed
for the last few weeks!
 

She arrived on a Saturday,

movers arrived on Tuesday,

we cleaned as they were loading...

Ms. Priss even helped!
 

Then on Wednesday afternoon at 2pm CST,
literally an hour after the hubs left work,
we bid adios to papa & mama grande,
and pointed both cars EAST.

 

Daddy driving his car towing a small uHaul trailer

with some personal effects.

Me and mom and the 4 kids piled in the suburban...
I love that car!
It has made this 1500 mile trip (one way!)
a total of 5 times in the last 4 years!
This was #6!
Good gracious!

We did have a little bit of drama
on Tuesday,
the day the movers were there.
We had 4 kids in the house
while movers were QUICKLY scurring about
hauling HEAVY items down the stairs.
In an effort not to have
kids get squished,
we attempted
to quarantine the kids
into certain areas of the home.

We set the kids up at the kitchen table
with my laptop and movies.



Then slowly moved them around the house
to different rooms as necessary.

While in the kitchen,
Mr. T was laying on the table.
As he was trying to get down,
he managed to topple the solid wood bench over,
with his little baby 2 1/2 yo foot underneath!
I was upstairs
and
heard the scream
and
honestly don't remember HOW I got down the stairs!

We figured it was broken
but after consulting a couple of our favorite nurses
and
the doctor via phone
and urgent care via phone...
we determined that there really wasn't a whole lot they
would do for him but possibly put him in a boot.
We knew we were going to be on the road for 3 days
and that he would be off of it,
so that was that.

Here is it is Thursday morning.
The foot on the left is the broken one,
with all its swollenness and pretty colors!
the foot on the right has a birthmark on it...not broken,
yet still different colors.

 

We made it about half way through Louisiana the first night,

then through the rest of Louisiana,

all of Mississippi,

all of Alabama

and to just the other side of Atlanta

the next day,

before stopping for the night.

 

Then up and at 'em the next day on

to a quick stop at our new home in Goldsboro...

 

And finally arriving in Cary at my parents'

house Friday evening,

where my dad had

steaks,

cold beer (for the hubs)

cold wine (for me)

and hot coffee (for my mom)

waiting for us!

Then my dad did something I have never seen him do before,
he asked my hubs
(whom I have been married to for almost 13 years)
if he needed another beer (not that part)
then my dad asked the hubs to join him outside...
he then put his hand on my husband's shoulder,
and they had a man to man chat.
It was a pretty amazing site for me.

 

I am not 100% sure what was said,
but I am sure it has something to do with my dad
thanking my husband,
in his own way,
for bringing us back.

 

After a good night's sleep, we were up with the birds and
headed back to the new house to meet the movers. 
We left the suburban and the kids with my folks

and they were going to follow later in the day.
We didn't need kids running around
getting under foot of these movers, too,
when we had another option!

That afternoon
my little sister
and
my even littler niece
blessed us with their presence!



She was passed out when she got there,
and being a mom of 4,
I let her sleep...
but as SOON as she started to stir,
I zipped her out of that carseat so fast!!!



I'm sorry,
I can't unpack right now...
my hands are full! 
Tee hee!

We had a sleepover our first night in our new home
including a celebratory beverage!

  

 

What a wonderful welcome home!

 

 

 

So now you ask...

 

* Do we regret moving to Texas?

Absolutely NOT!  What an adventure that was!

 

*Would we do it again?

Yes, I would do it all over again (going back in time,

I am not doing it again in the future though - haha!)

 

*Why would we do it again?

Because we truly learned so much!

We reprioritized our lives, we were reminded what was important.

I started homeschooling out there - which the kids and I LOVE!

We became a closer knit family unit!

We got to explore and learn about an area

on a completely different level than had we just visited!

We got to live near my father-in-law for a bit.

 

*Will we ever move away from NC again?

I don't know...I am not opposed to it,

so long as we know its short term

and that we will be back!  ;)

 

The Move Back - Part 1

Within a week,

we received the offer...

we actually received the offer on Good Friday

a holiday!

A day off!

What a blessing.

We were saying that Good Friday had been GREAT for us!
It was a wonderful opportunity for growth

for my husband

AND

took me back to not only the East Coast,

not only back to my beloved Carolinas,

but back to NORTH Carolina!

My home state!

One hour from where we were from.

It wasn't "home"

but that was ok,

we had been there,

done that,

and were still up for an adventure, of sorts.

 

This past weekend,

my sister shared with me

a journal posting that she had written after her visit...
dated March 28th..
the day before we got the offer.

 

She sent this to me with the caption...

"Answered Prayer".

 

And my mom had been praying,

since the day we left,

that we would move back

and

move back close enough to be a day trip...

Be careful what you ask Him for...

 

 Luckily,
his new employer was flexible with his start time
AND

 helped us move back!

Things QUICKLY fell into place.

We spread the news to the families!

Booked a moving company

and started packing!
 

 

We paused homeschooling for a couple of weeks

and

the chaos began!

Everything was going into boxes

and I was fitting as much in each box as I could...

which means

leaving boxes open so I could put stuff in them

that would fit in that ONE empty spot!


 

But doing this...

leaving them lying around open...

was an invitation for my 2 1/2 yo to run around

behind me

UNPACKING

the boxes!!!!

I started by packing the kids each their own
bookbag for the trip.



This allowed me keep a few toys out
and pack the rest away!

One of the first things I packed was
our games and crafts,
to clear out a spot in the pantry.

That is where I put all things that
would need to go in the car with us
and not on the moving truck.
This included previously mentioned book bags...
the littles found these bookbags
and would disappear into the pantry!



But luckily they kept the stuff in there!

The kids were busy entertaining themselves

empty egg carton tower:

 

 

Helping to pack:

 

Ms. Priss packed a couple of boxes all by herself!

 

Finding and playing with long lost toys

that have been out in the open for

months,

but all of a sudden they are getting packed away

and they are the coolest thing on the block!

(even though they haven't touched them in months!)

 

 

Doing laundry:

 

 

 

 

 

Using tools!

 

 

And finding new things to climb on!