Hurdles

The past few weeks have been so busy.  We decided to have the movers come before Christmas so it would be easier to get the house in move out condition.  Buddy had wanted sooner and I wanted later so the week before Christmas was a good compromise.  Once that was settled we needed to move Christmas up because it was important to the kids to have a tree.  The tree is too big and bulky to take up precious cargo space in our personal vehicles.  Once the decision was made I had a bit over a week to pull Christmas together quickly.  That wasn't the only thing we did.

On Tuesday we saw M- and W- for the last time to say goodbye.  The kids had a lot of fun at their house.  Those boys are so wonderful.  Tuesday evening Grandpa stopped by for the night.  We went to dinner where Bohdin talked to Santa for the first time ever.  I thought of him scared at the sight of Santa as a little kid and how far he had come when he actually requested to see Santa.  Nyla was all over Santa and asked for a Tangled dress which she later regretted.  Luckily Santa didn't bring the Tangled dress.  Cora is less scared of Santa than Bohdin at that age but she still kept a healthy distance.  After dinner Bohdin played his new game courtesy of M- and W-.



On Wednesday, the M- family came to visit.  I thought it would be a farewell visit but they want to see us one last time.  Hopefully that works out.  Again the kids had a great time and it was hard to break up their fun when it was time to go.

The next few days were spent on Christmas prep and moving prep.  I had a list of things I wanted to make the kids for Christmas but couldn't complete the list.  I made Nyla pants from Tangled fabric but haven't made a matching hair band or shirt yet.  I did complete two stick horses for the girls and a dress up stand to organize their clothes.  I wanted to make a few additional costumes but ran out of time.  I had started building a bed for Bohdin in October with Buddy's help and that needed finishing. It was never meant as a Christmas present but since it was done on the day we celebrated I told him Merry Christmas when I set it up in his room.















Cora received a lot of Mickey and Minnie things which pleased her enormously.  Bohdin received a lot of books which he enjoyed and Nyla received a mix of items.  I don't think I could choose a favorite.  They liked everything quite well.

It was a huge relief to have Christmas done.  I felt like I had three hurdles in front of me and Christmas was the first one.  The next one would be the packers that came three days later.  Once Christmas was over all of my attention needed to focus on getting the house ready.  We did a lot of decluttering and organizing.  I also painted Bohdin's dresser, a shelf, a small table, and two small chairs.  Bohdin is sad that he will be losing his colorful room.  His new room will have white walls.  Part of the reason I made the bed is so that it would be colorful.  I also wanted him to have a lot of book storage since he enjoys reading so much.  I painted his dresser in 10 different colors per his request so he could have color in his room when we move.  Nyla is sad that she will be losing her pink room but I didn't start soon enough to remedy her problem.







The movers arrived Wednesday morning and worked hard.  I don't even remember what time they left.  That night was the first night I could go to bed at a reasonable time because nothing needed another coat of paint or a bit more cleaning.  They arrived Thursday morning at 8am and left close to 9pm.  It was a long day.  Now we have a mostly empty house that we can paint and finish cleaning.  We will have plenty of time to get this work done and if we work hard we may be able to take a short vacation before driving to Kansas.  Buddy is exhausted and still has one day left at work.  After working so hard these past few days I'm not sure I'm willing to do a brutal schedule in order to have a few vacation days at the end.  Perhaps after a short rest we will both feel energized to tackle this last hurdle.