moving, check!

operation downsize is in full swing, folks.

i spent most of last week trying to get a good jumpstart on packing. the downside to living in a relatively good-sized house is that you find yourself filling it - with furniture, clothes, decorative items - and stashing stuff in every conceivable storage space. i never realized how much freaking shit we'd managed to accumulate in just over a year. oy.

but it was fun going through the closets and cupboards. i came across pictures and scrapbooks that i hadn't looked at in ages. there were mementos from our wedding, my pregnancy, the teen's promotion ceremony from elementary school. and i found all sorts of shoes and shit that i'd completely forgotten i even had!

i also managed to create an impressive pile of things to donate. MIL happily took it with her, with a lady at her church in mind. apparently, abc is filming an episode of extreme home makeover out in victorville or somewhere out there, and the family will be able to use the clothes, toys, and shoes i'd set aside. i always like knowing that the stuff we've outgrown/gotten tired of is going to be used and appreciated by someone who needs it.

MIL, FIL, and BIL came over on friday afternoon and worked tirelessly and cheerfully along with us all weekend long. the hub's grampa came over too, and gave it his all. we packed, carted, loaded, drove, climbed stairs, and unloaded.

um. we also ate so much freaking fast food, i think we managed to hit 'em all. my arteries are probably pissed off at me for that, but there was no way to get around it. i'm hoping that all the physical exertion and trekking up and down stairs a zillion times will have helped to counteract it all.

i had the teen take down her posters from her walls herself. i didn't want to be responsible for any rips or damage. i can borrow her shoes, her tops, maybe a hairclip or some hairspray, but i know better than to fuck with any of the jonas brothers shrine. heh. she was a little sad to see her walls so unjonasified, but i reminded her that she could rearrange them and create a better look in her new room, which slightly mollified her.

the bean is such a lounger. she found mollydog's bed and decided to take in some playhouse disney.

making progress.

with all of the commotion, the bean had to be wondering what the hell was going on. she wandered from room to room with us, picking up random objects here and there and enjoying the freedom. and then what cracked me up was that that night, of all nights, she decided to conk out in her own room. it was like she knew it was our last one in that house. little stinker.

when the majority of stuff was boxed up and either moved to our new place or tucked away into the ILs' storage trailer, i took a stroll through the house (and down memory lane). as my footsteps echoed off of the bare walls in the empty rooms, i reminisced about how it looked when we first toured it, after spying a cute little "for rent" sign out in front. i thought of how hugely pregnant i was when we were finally given the keys and were able to move in. i remembered how much fun we had as we chose paint colors and started decorating it, making it our home. i thought of the night the bean was born, and that this was where we brought her home from the hospital when she was all of two days old. and i smiled at the memory of the teen's thirteenth birthday party and watching her with all of her friends jumping and laughing in the moon bouncer in the back yard.

my last stop was the nursery. i looked around, remembering the playful bickering over colors, curtains, and decor. i thought of how we were so proud to pull it all together and managed to finish it just in time - the changing table/armoire thingy from ikea was assembled and anchored to the wall the very afternoon before i went into labor. we were leaving it behind, and that made me sad. i looked at the changing pad and thought of the hundreds of diaper changes we'd done there, and how it was the lotioning/pajama-ing spot after baths. i remembered laying her down there after the teen and i'd given her her first bath.

*sigh*

i'm such a sap.

but the next morning, the moodiness was gone - replaced by excitement over the move. i kept thinking of how great it would be to have a smaller space to keep clean. and that our utility bills were sure to drop dramatically. i liked that the teen was going to be closer to us now (which she digs too, because she always thought the house was a little creepy and didn't really love being on the opposite end from us at night). i even looked forward to the extra exercise i'd get from climbing up and down the stairs. and i was excited for the idea of being able to save more money for the house we would eventually buy. not to mention, getting to unpack and get settled in a new place is fun. well, at least, i think so.

a tour (i took these before a tornado hit it and left boxes and shit all over the damn place):

family room, AKA the bean's playroom.

dining room and kitchen.

the bean decided to hang out in the space reserved for the fridge.

the teen's room. she's gonna be stoked to see that we were able to hang the disco ball!

the "closet" is a joke. but it'll force her to go through her extensive wardrobe and weed out the stuff she doesn't wear.

our room:

we totally squeezed our dresser into the closet. ha! and the bean thinks it's funny to run in there and yank stuff off of hangers.

this amuses me. the sink is right outside the closet:

and then our 1.5 bathrooms are separated by a single door. whatever, i'm just happy to have two toilets. i hate waiting to poop.

i like the tub.

after rolling around on the carpet (which she isn't used to, since the house had hardwood and tile throughout), the bean conked out.

saturday was our first night in our new home. the next morning, i woke up and realized it was the bean's monthday - she's 16 months now. or, a year and 4 months, if you prefer. i decided to experiment with her hair, which has grown considerably since her first haircut.

yay for pigtails! but they're gonna have to wait a bit. because like a mullet, it's all business in the front...

party in the back.

she helped me go through a few boxes in the kitchen, where i found some lemon scone mix that only required water. score!

i dumped it out into a bowl, poured in the water, and then realized that i didn't have any utensils unpacked yet. oops. but i'm a resourceful kinda girl - i used one of the bean's spoons to mix the dough and then scooped it out onto the cookie sheet with my hands. as they baked, i even found some lemon glaze mix that also only required a bit of water. voila - our first "meal" in our new home!

they were yummy.

we got a break from our fast food diet with a lovely super bowl bbq at the grandparents'. and now, time for more unpacking. whee!