Raking Leaves

Nick sent McKenzie and Trevor out to our backyard to embark on a new chore they will have to do now that we are in Virginia... the land of seasons. RAKE LEAVES!

This was as far as they got on day one...

 

Day 2.... starting up again... this time, we had a little more motivation, and more progress.  Instead of bagging them all up (Can you imagine???) Nick and the kids just dumped them over the back fence. No worries, the other side of the fence isn't someone's yard... it's just a deep slope that divides us from a condominium down the way.

TA-DA!  The leaves are constantly falling, so it will be a while (if ever) before we have a completely leafless yard. But it sure is pretty!

Moving Day

I know I am posting way out of order, but stay with me here.

Tuesday morning, a semi pulled up to our house with ALL 12 CRATES containing our household items. Man do we have a LOT of stuff!

The crew was lead by James Brown, that's right, James Brown.  They were hilarious, and did a GREAT job! Bless them all for hauling all my stuff to the basement, all through the house, and even upstairs.  To worker man #3: I hope your one fall down the flight of slippery steps didn't effect your next day at work! Thanks for not breaking my items when you fell! (ouch)

We fed them lunch, and by about 3PM, they were done, cleaned up the mountain of paper (which the kids, I'm sure, wished they would have left for them to continue to play on) and we were left all alone, with our hundreds of boxes to unpack..... *sniff sniff*

Jump ahead to today... Mom and I (but mostly my Mom) have the kitchen unpacked about 90%.  The dining room is set up, sitting room set up.... kids beds are up and sleepable, but the clothes are still in piles or suitcases all over the house. I'm telling you, getting dressed in the morning is quite a scavenger hunt.  My washer and dryer are constantly running.... and even though Nick organized the garage yesterday, I am filling it back up with empty boxes and more wrapping paper.

I'll be so glad when we are done, and settled, and can function fully.  If it weren't for my mom being here, I'm pretty sure I'd still be trying to unpack my first kitchen box, and probably crying. 

Thanks mom for flying out here with us and spending an entire week+ trapped in my box filled house! Love you!

Nick & Trevor cuddling on the couch after our first night in the house

Nick's Veteran's Day Speech

I'm really behind on posting... but wanted to post this link of the video of Nick's Veteran's Day speech he did at the Griswold High School. It was his last of 7 speeches in 2 days. The gym was packed with people from all over the community. 

Veteran's Day Speech

The video was edited by our fabulous sister-in-law Julie and also posted on her blog HERE. Enjoy!

Happy 12th Birthday McKenzie!

McKenzie turned 12 today.  After school, she opened her presents, did her homework, and then after unpacking a few more boxes and setting up a room or two, we all cleaned up, climbed over mountains of packing boxes and paper, and headed to Kobe Japanese Steakhouse for a birthday dinner celebration.

McKenzie invited her new BFF Maliah from next door to come with us.

We had fun drinks with cherries and umbrellas:

And yummy onion soup, which Addison surprisingly loved:

Then it was fire time...

Which Addison DIDN'T like so much:

After a delicious meal, the staff came out with a bongo drum of sorts and we all sang happy birthday to a very red faced, embarressed McKenzie... but she got Key Lime Cheesecake out of it!

Then we headed home to our piles of household items and cardboard boxes.... and enjoyed a little cuddle time with Grandma.

Happy Birthday to my little McKenzie...now stop growing!!!!

We Made It!

Well, on our 2nd attempt to fly out, we finally made it to Virginia to join the rest of the Turner bunch!  It was a GORGEOUS 70 degrees when we got off the plane.  We made a quick stop for lunch, and then headed on to our new house in Stafford!  While I gave Mom the grand tour, the kids headed out back to play in our big back yard full of....

LEAVES!!!!!

Today is moving day.... stay tuned for mass chaos!

Leaving On A Jetplane... oh wait... nevermind.

4:45am Awake and getting kids up and dressed to head to the airport
5:45am Drive to Des Moines airport
6:30am Arrive in airport and check in.
7:30am Board plane and leave the gate
7:40am Return to gate... Engine no worky...deplane...wait....
8:45am Still waiting.... and waiting...
10:45am.... waiting (yawn) and chasing Addison
12:30pm Flight cancelled, part wouldn't be in until 3:30pm, got tickets for same flight next day.

We ate at the restaurant with our meal vouchers while we waited for our ride home. (Thank you Melissa!!!) Here is Addison about 2 minutes into our drive back to Colo. It's been a LONG day.... and we can't wait to start over again in the morning. (sarcasm) Hopefully tomorrow will end with a better outcome and an arrival in Virginia!

I'm Slacking...

Forgive me for my lack of posts this past week.  Things have been extremely busy! This week Nick spoke at 7 Veteran's Day programs.

Griswold Middle & High School
Elliott and Lewis Elementary Schools
Red Oak Middle & High School + community.
And finally, the Montgomery County Veteran's Day program in Griswold. Click HERE for a great outline and photos from that evening on my sister-in-law's blog! She did a great job of taking pictures! You'll feel like you were there!  (Had I had just one more arm/hand... I could have taken some pics as well!) Oh well! Thanks Julie for burning all the pics on a disc for me!!!

I hope to post video from that soon as well.

Thursday, he was on the local radio with his dad talking about growing up a small town kid, his experiences in the Marine Corps, and Veteran's Day. I also will have audio of that posted once we get to Virginia.

I am so proud of all that he has done and was very impressed with his speaking abilities.  Even though the kids (mostly Addison) made it impossible for me to listen to half of his speeches, I was glad to have gotten to hear the ones I did.  Once again, he always manages to amaze me with more of his abilities!!!! Who'da thunk!?

He even got asked to sign several autographs (tee hee)

However, after all that, he doesn't have much of a voice. Poor guy!

McKenzie spent 3 nights at Nick's brother's house and helped her Aunt Julie with the horse chores and got to go trailriding (THE HIGHLIGHT OF HER STAY!) Check out Julie's blog HERE for that post! (Julie has stepped in and been the ultimate super blogger this past week!!)


We drove up to Colo for one more night and then Friday morning Nick, McKenzie & Trevor hopped in the truck with a loaded down trailer (thanks Dad) and headed East. They made it to Columbus, Ohio and checked into a hotel for the night.

Today, they are finishing up the 17+ hour trip and should arrive in Stafford, Virginia this evening.  My mother, Addison, Tyler and I are flying out in the morning.... because 2 hours in a plane with a baby and an "Addison" sounds so much easier than 17+ hours in the cab of a truck.

The moving truck will arrive Tuesday morning... be prepared for pics from that fun adventure! We'll be up to our eyeballs (and beyond) in boxes and paper!!!! Let the fun begin!