Sunday, April 29, 2012

Beth's Minions

One February afternoon when Beth came to visit, she and Xandra were very busy. 


They built many minions


and then they snapped their photos.



Xandra informed me that the tall cylinder sandwiched between the two shorter cylinders is the mama


and the shorter cylinders are the babies.


I can offer no explanation for the picture below.


One other item the girls reminded me of as they saw me typing this post:


  We miss Beth!

Photo Credit for all pictures in this post:  Beth Aman.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Tight Squeeze





When Tikvah's readyfor bathtime, maybe we can suspend her from the shower head.

Friday, April 27, 2012

History

About two seconds after proudly announcing to Xandra that I had finally finished blogging about Maryland fun and I was going to start blogging about the week Tikvah was born, I noticed a folder of pictires on the desktop.  So excuse me while we back up and remember a few almost forgotten moments from February.

History has a way of repeating itself.


Moria & Clancy (Tikvah)


Moria & Wally (Xandra)

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Moving Vehicles

A few highlights from our three day trip from Maryland to North Dakota:

Despite spending two nights in hotels with beautiful swimming pools, this was the closest we got to the hotel swimming pool.


We spent the first night just inside the Indiana border.  

There was no room for us in the breakfast room at the first hotel, so we ate our breakfast at the coffee table in the lobby.  We had muffins.  That was a mistake.  I picked up as many of the crumbs as I could, but I'm afraid we didn't leave that spot cleaner than we found it.  We did, however, with six eaters, get our money's worth at the continental breakfast.

Our cat, Moria, made the trip.

Can you find her?


It's possible that we could have crammed more things in the van, we just would have had to glue them to the ceiling.  We had so much stuff inside the van that when we stopped somewhere and needed to get the kids out, we had to move no less than five things to the passenger seat to get to the kids.  We also had a luggage carrier stuffed full attached to the back of the van.

It's not so different from when we moved to Maryland four years ago.

  
When getting Xandra out of this packed car, we had to bring her out between the two front seats because we had both sides next to her carseat packed nearly to the ceiling.

We were expecting a pretty rough trip with four young kids and many, many hours in the car.  The truth is that the kids did very well on the trip.  There was a minimum of crying and whining and they were generally happy to just color, read books, and play together.  Joe and I even enjoyed it as it was much nicer than all the crazy activity of the days just before travelling.  It was refreshing in an odd sort of way.


We stayed in Wisconsin on our second night.  It was really cold out   The cold killed almost all of a special plant we were trying to transport to North Dakota.  The jury is still out if the plant will make it.
When we got to the hotel room, I was having steady, painful contractions.  I crawled into bed and hoped they would stop.  They did.

We arrived in North Dakota on Monday, February 27th at around 3:00PM, 48 hours after we left Maryland, with four kids, a cat, a pregnant lady still pregnant, a car load of stuff to unpack, and a strong desire to stay out of moving vehicles for awhile.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Sticks & Stones

After the exhaustion and activity of the day before, we were slow to move from bed the following morning.  The kids echoed our sentiments as they crawled into bed once we crawled out.



Our good neighbor, Carol, came to our rescue one last time and popped by mid morning to see how our departure was progressing.  She hung around the rest of the morning and through our departure in the mid afternoon.  We were glad to have her around.  She fed the kids lunch, entertained them and kept me company while I packed up the last of things and tidied up just a bit.  She also didn't mind when I had a complete meltdown around 1:30PM.


Our original plan had been to leave bright and early Saturday morning.  Instead, we left around 3:00PM.  Close enough. 

It was sad to walk through the house one last time, thinking about how each one of my children had slept in the nursery and how it was shrouded in a horrible mustard paint and leaf wallpaper when we moved in.  It was hard work removing that eyesore, but well worth the effort.




I spent some time wondering if I'd ever have another "great red wall of China" as Joe liked to call it,


and thinking about the many times our family and friends gathered around this counter to enjoy a meal together for a birthday, holiday, an invented cause like celebrating green or on a lazy Sunday evening to play games with friends. 

It was sad knowing this was our last family picture on the front porch,


and more sad, the possibility that this was our last picture with Ms. Carol, a woman who has come to mean so much to all of us.



We still call her every few days, but we miss sharing our home and our life with her like we did at Floral Court.  Who else would insist that Moria be in the picture, even if she's already in the cat cage?

Shortly after we had a contract on our home, but before we removed the "For Sale By Owner" sign from the yard, a realtor stopped by while in the neighborhood on other business.  He couldn't believe we had sold our house, especially above asking price.  Neither can we most days (More evidence of God's mighty hand at work in this season of our lives.).  During our conversation he said, "Every house is the same.  It's all just sticks and stones"  Then he added that some just have more TLC than others.

I've thought of this man's comment on many occasions since leaving Maryland.  It is just sticks and stones.  We loved the way the sticks and stones of this house were laid out from the moment we saw it, but the reason we loved living at 3313 Floral Court was what happened within its walls:  laughing, family, friends, crying, game playing, arts and crafts, growing, cooking, mess making, sharing, floor refinishing (oy!), talking, sleeping (always less than needed), playing, gardening, learning, arguing, hosting, eating, gathering, lego building, cuddling and snuggling (some of the best moments), mouse hunting, kissing and hugging, out of town guests, ant destruction, and the whole of all that has made up our life these last four plus years. 

  As we pulled away from the house that day, Joe handed me a deep purple crocus and bright yellow daffodil he'd just snipped from the blooms in the yard.   One last gift from Floral Court.  One more reminder of what we loved so much about this home and also what we'd miss as we ventured far away from what was so familiar and comfortable.  We spent some time reminiscing in the car as we exited Maryland and headed into Pennsylvania.  There were lots of tears, great sadness, some laughter and much gratitude as we made our way west. 

The best parts of Floral Court, we took with us.  The rest really is just sticks and stones.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Mirror Images

Warning:  LONG post ahead.  Not for the faint of heart.

On Friday, February 24th, Joe and I woke up bright and early, just as planned, to prepare for the day ahead:  moving day. 

The early hours of the morning went smoothly.  My hours passed quickly with packing up the remainder of the kitchen.  Joe spent those first hours (and many more) tying up loose ends on house maintenance to satisfy the conditions of our recent home inspection, not exactly moving tasks, but essential for the sale of our home. 

The kids woke up around 7AM and within minutes the smooth, productive course of the morning changed.  Xandra had pink eyes and complaints of a very sore throat.  By 8AM we had decided that I would take her to the walk-in clinic and on our way to the clinic, we would drop Joe off so he could pick up the moving truck and associated supplies.  After the doctor and truck pick up we would all reconvene back at the house and carry on with the day as planned.

On the way to the doctor and while waiting to see the doctor, I made several phone calls to those planning to come help us for the day.  With strep throat and pink eye in the house, it seemed unlikely that all of our friends would be bringing their kids over to play while they worked.

The doctor confirmed that Xandra had pink eye and strep throat.  We waited for our prescription to be filled and then set off for home. 

Once we arrived back home, Joe informed me that the truck company didn't have the car dolly when he got there.  They told him that when they found one for us, we would have to come back to that store, fill out the paper work and then drive approximately a half hour to another store and pick up the dolly. I met this idea with a fair amount of resistance and immediately called the people at the truck rental store.  After some haggling we had it arranged for them to pick up the dolly at the other store and bring it to their store for us to pick up.  Just minutes after hanging up the phone with the rental company, they called me to inform me that the car dolly was now at the store.  We decided it would be best for me to run and pick up the car dolly, as Joe was still working on home inspection items and I hadn't started with packing duties again.  With this behind us, we could get back to the many tasks at hand.

After driving the 24 foot moving truck across town (it was kind of fun!), I arrived at the rental store only to find that the car dolly was, in fact, NOT at the store.  It was on its way, but not there yet, and I have no idea why they told me otherwise.  After waiting over 30 minutes for the dolly to arrive, they finally provided the promised car dolly, hooked it up and sent me on my way.  I stopped at the store to pick up a few lunch items, for the crew that had arrived at our home in my absence and was already busily at work.  While checking out I was overcharged by $16 for two cakes I bought for dessert.  After lots of waiting and two trips through the line, everything was set right and I headed home, all the while working to keep my attitude in check.

After two failed attempts to park the moving truck on our narrow cul de sac lined with cars, I abandoned the truck, let someone else park it, and headed inside to finally get down to business.

When I arrived back at the house, friends were cleaning kitchen cabinets and drawers, wrapping pictures, tearing apart furniture, feeding kids, and otherwise doing all the things I should and would have been taking care if the day thus far had looked differently.

Among the friends and helpers, Beth, was there watching the girls and entertaining them.  I have no idea what they did all day, as I didn't see much of the kids (aside from a small episode of coaxing a dramatic and unwilling Xandra to take her medicine), but we did snap this one moving day photo amidst all the chaos.  They were watching a Veggie Tales video on the computer propped up on a moving box.


One favorite memory of the day, aside from the above photo, was sitting in our girls' bedroom for a few brief moments, with four other ladies organizing clothes and items that would travel in our van.  It was a sweet time working beside them of relative quiet and fun.  There were not many of these types of moments throughout the day.   

In the mid afternoon it started raining, just as some men began loading items from a back storage shed on the truck.  The rain was coming down forcefully and the walk through the yard to the truck became muddy very quickly.  This put a temporary halt on loading duties.

At some point in the chaos of the afternoon, it was reported to us that my dad's flight was delayed and later cancelled.  When we got a hold of the kind individual sent to pick up my dad at the airport, he was already almost to the airport.  At this point, we decided I would retrieve my dad from the airport, a different airport than the first, when his plane actually arrived.

Before leaving to retrieve my dad we said several goodbyes, gave away the remnants of our stockpile of groceries, cleaning supplies, and personal care products, stuffed random items from around the house into boxes and bins that had extra room (these are always the best boxes to unpack!), sent friends to run random last minute errands, and ordered pizza for the troops for dinner.

Around 6PM I left to retrieve my dad from the airport.  Our friend and neighbor Ms. Carol accompanied Xandra and Theia and I to the airport, which as another favorite time of the day.  As I was pulling into the passenger retrieval lanes to get my dad, Joe called to report that we weren't going to be able to get hardly any of our furniture onto the moving truck.  It was almost full already and they'd only just begun to load furniture.  After a brief moment to take that information in, I told him to do what he could and that would be fine. 

After returning home successfully with my dad in tow, I quickly put the kids to bed and then set to work going through the house and choosing the items I most wanted on the moving truck.  There are many times in one's life when having furniture that was purchased primarily at thrift stores comes in handy.  This is one of them.  It makes it easier to part with one's possessions, as you know replacing them will not be difficult.
We said goodbye to the last of our friends around 11PM, closed up the truck, loaded the jammed packed Civic on the car dolly, and sent my dad off with all our worldly possessions around midnight.  He wanted to get a few hours under his belt before sleeping and assured us that he would stop when he got tired.

After my dad left, we sat on the sofa in our front room too exhausted to move for a long time.  We knew we should sleep, but the events of the day had been so crazy that we just needed some time to decompress.  After awhile, Joe had a burst of energy and tidied up the room while I just sat and talked.

It's an odd feeling knowing that you've just said goodbye to so many loved ones you won't see again for along time, that you've just packed up the moving truck with your possessions and sent them across the country, that you have much to do before you can actually pack your van and drive away yourself the following day, that in one day, your cell phone made/received 91 phone calls (how is that humanly possible?), and that you're about to spend your last night in a place you've called home for nearly four and a half years. 

We also spent sometime reflecting on God's grace to us.  We were so humbled by those who, once again, came to our rescue.  They cleaned, packed, loaded, smiled, chatted, and kept us going.  At then end of the day we felt confident of two things:  1.  We never would have managed without them.  2.  They had to have been glad to see us go.  Surely no one has ever pushed the bounds of friendship so strongly upon their departure as we did on that day.

The smooth productive hours of our early morning long forgot, we blew up our air mattress, crawled into bed, and spent our last night in Maryland as a mirror image of our first night:  sleeping, exhausted, on an air mattress in the middle of a very messy room.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Painting the Town

On President's Day morning, we took one last opportunity to visit the city.  We wanted to get a few pictures of the kids with DC monuments before we left town the following Saturday. 

We started at the World War II Memorial.


There is a pillar for each state.  We found North Dakota's first.


and then Nebraska (my home state),


We made a stop at Maryland, of course,


and then we stopped at all the states Clancy might be born.


We were moving from Maryland to North Dakota when I was 38.5 weeks pregnant.  We knew that there was a chance that he/she could come as we plodded along through Ohio, Indiana,


Illinois or Wisconsin.


After our tour of Clancy's potential birth sites, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial,


where we got a great and distant view of the Washington Monument



and took a few pics with good ole Abe.



The girls bounded down the steps with Joe,


took a rest


and we finished out the tour at the Tidal Basin with the Jefferson Memorial in the background.

A few other items of note about our tour:

1.  It was chilly and there was LOTS of whining about being cold.
2.  Theia skinned her knees just outside the Lincoln Memorial and was crying and howling and carrying on so much that a Park Ranger stopped us and asked if she could help.  We explained the situation and she pointed us to a First Aid station.  Later we saw her again and she had thoughtfully gone out of her way to find to bandaids for Theia.  Theia, of course, then refused to put the bandaids on.
3.  I put Joey down at the WWII Memorial on a sloped concrete path and he immediately took two steps, lost control and fell over, smacking his forehead hard on the pavement.
4.  When we got to the Lincoln Memorial, I took Joey to the bathroom to change him.  After changing his diaper I put him on the floor to walk while I washed my hands and he immediately took two steps, fell over and smacked his forehead, in the same location as before, hard on the tile floor.
5.  No one fell down the steps at the Lincoln Memorial.  This felt like a real accomplishment for us.


Our last stop was Joe's office.  We ate lunch, packed up the remainder of his things,


and said goodbye to his office


and four and a half years at Ropes & Gray.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Attic Rats


They're pretty cute.  Maybe I should let them stay.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Bonbons

After a recent stint in Germany with the Army, our friend David, as he is oft prone to do after he's travelled the world, sent us a package in the mail.  This package, which arrived between my birthday and Valentine's Day (perfect timing), was stuffed FULL of German candy.


It seems before he left Germany, he robbed a local candy store (he really didn't, it just seemed like that to us), and then sent us half of the loot garnered from the shelves of said store.


The girls were VERY excited about the arrival of David's box, almost as excited as the adults in the house.


They were even more excited about eating these tasty hippos after dinner.


Before they gobbled them up, they made their best hippo faces


and then happily set to work trying to put a dent in the mountainous pile of candy.