Officially Official and Celebrating

One week ago today, we packed up our life on Plainfield Way and moved into a new home on Roseberry Circle in Sutherland Farms.  I would love to report that it was a totally smooth Friday with no hiccups or arguments, but that would be a lie -  hah!  Moving is the top 10 most stressful events in life, and I would totally agree with that.  I guess that's why we put off moving for the last 13 years.  Matt and I both knew we'd outgrown our sweet little house, but both of us intentionally didn't want to entertain moving.  It's a big! fat! hassle!  Our realtor and friend Christian Griffin had been off and on showing us houses over the course of the last year.  Nothing really stood out or made us feel like moving was "worth it" until this house came along.  The house literally had EVERYTHING we were looking for and was in our price range.  It was time.  I'm pretty sure we put in the offer the day the place went up for sale.  We listed our house the next day, and it sold in two days.  In the words of Bebe Rexha...if it's meant to be, it'll be...I started swiping boxes left and right at work anticipating the big move this month.  I packed up rooms and things that we weren't using all the time.  We decided to sell most of our living room furniture because we wanted all new stuff - we're not materialistic.  We've owned all of our furniture the last 19 years we've been married only updating our bedroom suit and getting the boys bunk beds.

It's been more fun than I thought trying to pick out new stuff and decorate the house.  Both Karson and Isaac got new bedroom furniture.  We picked out some fun, functional, kid-friendly furniture for our upstairs bonus room.  We got some custom furniture for our great room and are still working on our dining areas and figuring out what we want to do in those spaces.  My mom and sister worked hard painting the kids rooms. Steve, who we call Pappy and is my sister's father-in-law, feels like second dad to us - he came over and did all kinds of work to the house - putting up flashing around the garage, installed a ceiling fan for Karson, fixed some loose faucets, and took on a big project of doing some drywall in our living room so we could hang a TV over our fireplace.  Matt's brothers, my parents, sister and brother-in-law helped get all our moved in a giant UHaul.  It was a whirlwind of crazy, but we are quickly adjusting to our new neighborhood.

August is also a month full of events and a lot of birthdays!  We celebrated both of our nieces birthdays.  Zella celebrated her 1st birthday this month along with Mae Kathryn's 3rd birthday.  They are both just ADORABLE and special!

 Matt and Andrew were able to go out to lunch for his birthday this month.  We met Seth at China Buffet for his birthday this month.  I got to have lunch with my sister and a friend at Panera on her birthday as well as celebrating at Mellow Mushroom.

The Spartans Volleyball team is keeping us busy and running a lot (pics below courtesy of Michael McSween).  We have a tournament tomorrow in Owensboro. 

We got to spend some quality time with family and friends the weekend before last at my brother-in-law's uncles place out in Richardsville.  It was nice relaxing and letting the kids run around and have fun.

Three Days Down

POOF...our kids are back in school with three days down already.  Summer came to a roaring end this week.  Our baby is now a 6th grader, and it's hard to even process that our time at Plano is coming to a close.  I was thinking I'd be a pro at the juggling the three schools (Plano, SWMS and SWHS) after last year, but I'm not.  There is a lot to keep up with - paperwork, updating shot records, remind apps, google calendars, google sheets, PTO's, fundraiser stuff - and to top it off, we're moving this month.  Life feels chaotic and  upside down right now, and our house looks like a war path of boxes and paperwork.  We've been selling lots of our stuff on Facebook marketplace to try to eliminate furniture and pieces we don't want at the new house.  New house, new stuff.

I know we're making the right move into the right place, and let's be honest, there's never a "great time to move" when you've lived somewhere for 13 years and built your life there.  I'm tired.  I know in the end, everything will be okay - just a lot of mental and physical energy for this worn out Mom.

Let's focus on the start of school!  Miles went to Open House on Monday night at Plano.  We had three that night, but Miles was the only one who wanted to go.  Karson had volleyball until 6 PM and wanted to come home after.  I told her Miles and I were going to Open House and that I'd drive over to get her afterwards.  She was fine with that.

The 6th grade team at Plano is fantastic, and Miles got Ms. Smith.  He's got lots of good friends in his class too which makes it even sweeter!  We did all his school supply shopping that night with a quick run to Dollar General.  They had everything we needed and is right up the road.

Little buddy had his first golf lesson last weekend with Adam Gary.  He's quite the golfer, and with Adam's help, he's improved already (minus the good attitude but golf is frustrating).

Wednesday morning went smoothly.  I got up and made some breakfast for everyone - cinnamon rolls and breakfast biscuit quiches.  Karson rode to school with friends - she'll be driving herself next year.

 Isaac rode the early train with Matt - the big 8th grader.  Hard to believe he'll be a freshman next year!?!  Such a doll!

Miles last first day at Plano!

Plano's first day is like Black Friday at Walmart - cars and people everywhere.  By now, I've learned all the first day tricks there are and that is to AVOID car rider line morning drop off.  We pulled up to the dead end towards the back of our subdivision and walked our way to the front door.  I did the same thing yesterday but not today which was a mistake - guess I haven't learned.  Miles had an interesting ride home from school the first day by getting on the wrong bus.  He and our neighbor (above) Laila have been on the same bus every year.  This year her bus changed, but Miles's didn't.  He's been on PINK bus the last couple of years (BROWN before that).  Our bus driver wasn't at open house when we were, but we were told he was PINK and put that on his transportation forms.  Laila was switched to YELLOW but her house faces another road (her driveway is in our subdivision though).  Anywho, Miles landed on her bus mistakenly and didn't get home until 5:15 PM.  He was all smiles but tired, hot and hungry.  

Looking forward to a fun and NEW year - fingers and toes crossed that we'll all survive the BIG move to Sutherland Farms.

Church Camp and Other Shenanigans

Here we are folks - the end of July and time for me to blog.  Summer, as usual, is busy - nothing new or interesting there.  Matt and I are both working parents during the summer months but both thankful to have relatively flexible positions.  Hard to believe that we will be adding another driver to the family in a few short months.  That will definitely help with the angst I feel about the kids sometimes being trapped at the house with nowhere to go.  However they might actually enjoy being home next summer because we are officially MOVING.  We bought a house this month.  It's about 5 years overdue, but to be blunt, we love our house and the idea of moving simply seemed overwhelming and unimportant.  With our youngest rounding out his last year at Plano Elementary and browsing at different houses for a little over a year, we found THE ONE.  It's about 5 minutes from South Warren, 2 minutes from my parents, in Plano's district (win-win because we rely on the bus), and in a perfect neighborhood where we have loads of friends.

I am fairly resistant to change.  Actually, I don't like it one bit.  We've lived at 110 Plainfield Way since 2005.  It's home.  It's where all my babies have grown up.  It's a special place.  I cried when we sold our minivan years ago and know I will be an absolute mess when we leave next month.  I know we'll make new memories and everything will eventually seem "back to normal," but it's hard.  Our house sold in TWO days. Matt became a realtor for a split second - taking photos, shooting video. and listing it on Zillow. Three couples looked at it, and the third couple bought it.

I've been collecting lots of boxes from SKyPAC and gradually packing up different rooms to prepare.  Those who know me, know I am a minimalist.  We do not have a lot of stuff, and our new house is LARGE - lots of spaces to fill.  I've already been furniture shopping and trying to figure out how to acquire more things on a budget.  Most of things we own, we've had our entire marriage so it'll be fun to get new things and decorate a new home.

 July = church camp for the kids.  It's literally the highlight of their summer and has always been the first week of July.  Miles was able to go for the first time last year but by Tuesday, he'd had enough.  We didn't bother to sign him up this year.  However, the eldest TWO were pumped.

 Camp Theme:: The Greatest Show

 Cellphones aren't allowed at camp, but fortunately, there are lots of wonderful counselors and staff there taking pictures and sharing them on social media for us to enjoy.

 And a good time was had by ALL!!!

 When we collected the smelly teens on Friday, I brought them their phones.  Isaac went from HIGH to LOW immediately when he learned that Lebron left the Cavs for the Lakers.  Bumsicles.  Speaking of BUMsicles, Isaac has had a "rough" month.  He's made some poor judgments that we're hopeful will be lessons for him.  Matt and I have been making him come to work with us and pay off some of the debt owed by those decisions.  Fingers and toes crossed that he'll have a wonderful 8th grade year and make mature choices.

 He's an awful cute employee - working for our CFO Becky filing and organizing the storage cabinets, counting tickets at Magic Camp and pulling weeds and picking up trash in the landscape at South Warren.

  

I know I'm biased but Miles is not the CUTEST?!?  He's always been an "along for the ride" sort of kid and generally goes with the flow and is easy to please.  He does have his competitive moments where he thinks he needs to be the absolute BEST at everything he does - especially where sports and video games are involved.  Just having fun sometimes doesn't apply.... 

He and Isaac are currently obsessed with Wii Tennis.

 Karson officially has some college credit hours under her belt - scoring a '3' on her first AP Exam in Human Geography.  It wasn't a class she looked forward to but her teacher-now-Asst. Principal Dad said - you're taking it.  He knew she would like Mr. Polson.  She did and seemed to enjoy the class.  We went ahead with the AP costs/tests, but K said it was hard and wasn't sure how she did.  We got the results earlier this month.  Up next for the ol' Sophomore Year is AP World History...to be continued.  PS - don't let her and Isaac loose in the Parent/Teacher Store - they get a little obsessed in the play therapy and sensory toys area.

Just a couple of studs enjoying Snow Cones and movies - Ant Man was on the agenda on this particular night.

I've lost count of how many times Isaac has been to Holiday World this summer, but I'm thinking three times.  Karson and Miles got to join him, Pap, Nana and Mae Kathryn yesterday. 

It's always fun when friends get to tagalong too!

Karson doesn't get a lot of free time these days since volleyball started back up. Glad she got to do at least two fun things this week to round out the summer.

Niall Horan and Maron Morris concert at Ascend.