Crazy Moving

Even though I had time enough to prepare for the move, it still caught me off guard and was crazy. However, the more people I talk to about it, the more I am learning that no matter how prepared you are, moving is still crazy.

For those of you who are wondering, here's a little timeline:

April 1- Lee hears a rumor at work.
April 2- Lee's boss tells him he's a great employee... and he can either be demoted or go back to work at the old Stone's. We later meet with Sgt Smith, Army recruiter.
April 5- Lee quits Stone's, because neither option can actually work.
April 6- Melody notifies her boss that she'll be leaving at the end of the month.
April 7- We pray a LOT and go to the temple. We decide to join the Army.
April 8- We discuss plans with Melody's parents, decide to live with them until Lee gets his first assignment.
April 9- Melody gets a call for a job at St. Mark's Hospital.
April 12- Melody interviews and is offered a job on L&D at St. Mark's. She accepts.
April 13-24 We madly clean, pack, pull off wallpaper, paint, paint, paint, paint, and clean more.
April 26- List the house for sale. Lee takes the ASVAB and does very well.
April 27- Celebrate 8th anniversary by doing nothing at all. Yay!
April 29- Melody officially leaves good old MMH.
May 5- Lee has an Army Officer board review. He scores as high as possible.
May 6- We rent a moving van and fill it up.
May 7- We clean the now-empty house and drive to Salt Lake.
May 8- Unload the van and start unpacking.
May 10- Mel starts her new job.

*whew!* Sister Hinckley said, "There are some years in our lives that we would not want to live again. But even these years will pass away, and the lessons learned will be a future blessing." That's pretty much how I feel about April-May 2010. I'm not sorry I lived them at ALL, but I don't want to live them again! And hopefully the future blessing will be a Melody better prepared for the next time we move.

We will find out tomorrow if the Army accepts Lee's application, and what will happen next. Another Ambien tonight? Oh yes.

And a little photographic Catch-Up:


Wyatt was the first to get his basket on Easter. He seemed pleased. :)



Jana went straight to work on her jelly beans.




Mommy went to bed shortly after this picture was taken.




Putting the new Easter shovel to work!




One afternoon last fall, Wyatt decided to pull some wallpaper off the kitchen wall. He got into BIG trouble. When we were debating how to make the house look better to sell, we decided to paint the kitchen. Wyatt was thrilled to pull off wallpaper without a spanking to follow.

Ever wonder if you might be Moving and just don't know it? Here's a few ways to tell if Moving is happening to you:

Baby has a delicious macaroon cookie... for dinner.



Toddler enjoys a macaroon and a cherry-chocolate Creamie... for dinner (I can't stop laughing at that face he's making).




They have cookies... for dinner... in the front room.



Here's why. Kitchen: KABOOM!



(It turned out nice, though.)



Your 3 year-old goes 4-wheeling alone (unless you count Lovey, Minnie and Mickey).



(He didn't get too far.)



And your dog will find ways to entertain himself while you pack.




And you'll take trailer after trailer full of things to the dump and/or D.I.




And your husband will sell all his tools, only to have car trouble immediately after.



And you'll baby-gate the kids into their room while you pack and clean.



And they'll long to go play outside...



(...and they'll long to be tall enough to look out the window.)


So beware of Moving! It will sneak up on you with no warning!

:)


I would like to say something like "it won't be two months before I post again" but that's a pie-crust promise (thanks, Mary Poppins). However, I will say that I hope you are all well and I am grateful for everyone who helped us during that somewhat traumatic month! In spite of how the circumstance may appear, I am very grateful that things have gone the way they did, because in my heart I feel like we're starting the next chapter of our lives and we'll be blessed for seeking out and following the path the Lord would have us on. And so we will.

Lots and lots of love and banana Creamies,

Melody & Co.

Three years old!

Wyatt turned three on Monday, and I realized it will be October until I have another two year-old. I rejoiced a little.




Wyatt and Jana both love to lick the beaters when I make...anything. This was the frosting for Wyatt's cupcakes.




Like her mother, Jana must have every speck from every surface of the beater.





This made me laugh, because I'm sure he gets this exact look from me on occasion.





Happy Third Birthday, Wyatt!





Trying out his new tricycle.






Everyone had fun with the huge balloons Lee got- especially Jana.





Camille thought Skeeter looked lonely napping by himself, so she gave him an Elmo to keep him company. What a thoughtful girl!





I was napping on the couch and woke up to Wyatt saying, "Mommy, we need to blow out the candles again!" I can't stop laughing at his 'smile' in this picture.






He found the box of candles, loaded them all into the remaining cupcakes, and carried them in to me so we could light and blow them out.






Trying to show us how old he is now. I guess we'll need to work on that.




Notice the candle burning there? That was all he wanted on his birthday- to carry it around, blow it out when he felt the urge, and then have me light it again so he could blow it out again later. He was SO happy!





The kids love this old Proclaimers CD, and almost every day Wyatt asks to listen to "five hundwed miles." Here he is singing along...and I have no doubt 8 or 10 years from now he'll be embarrassed about it. I think it's hilarious. :) He gets totally distracted by his candle at the end.


Nothing else new around here. I am surviving (barely) and SO excited to get out of town for a few days. Work has been insane the last couple of nights (we did 20 deliveries in 48 hours) and I'm in for another round tonight. So I'm going to nap.

Lots of love, Cadbury Cream Eggs, fresh Krispy Kremes, and invigorating runs in the spring sunshine to make up for them,

MLWJS

Trying!

Springtime has been trying to come, but hasn't quite succeeded yet.



I can't quite put my finger on the reason why, but we are desperate for spring this year. We've been sunshine deprived for so long that poor Wyatt will get any little rays he can...even if it's still only 40 degrees outside!




He refused to put his coat and gloves on- at least he had his blanket.


Can't drive the cars on the deck yet, so he drives them on the snow.

This is my favorite. There's barely any sun at all, but he's sitting in the only tiny patch of grass to enjoy it. That's my boy!

A Little of Everything!

I had several funny little things that I have wanted to blog about lately, so I'm mish-mashing them all into one ginormous post. As usual.





News: Lee is wonderful, I love him. I got a Kindle for Valentine's Day, and have yet to put it down. Wyatt is busy. Really, really, busy. Jana has one tooth (and the peasants rejoiced!), and is also thoroughly busy. More on that later.







...





As many of you know, I love Chinese food. LOTS. And my favorite place in Rexburg is a place called New Fong's (not to be confused with plain old Fong's). The other night we placed a carry-out order of all my favorites: sweet and sour chicken, fung wong chicken, pork fried rice...YUM. When we got it home, we found that some of the boxes had been labeled- for example, the sweet and sour chicken had written across the top: SS CK. Then I saw this...





Did you glance twice at that label? I did.






Fung Wong ChicKen
*whew* Here I thought the cook was just having a bad night!

Spring needs to hurry up. I can't make Wyatt stay inside on the grounds of "it's too cold" anymore, he'll just put on his boots and go out anyway!






I very rarely take the camera in the bathroom, so this is, I guess, proof that my children bathe.







Jana got a new car seat, in to which Wyatt promptly and lovingly buckled Mickey, then gave him a hug and kiss. I'm trying to tell myself that the fact that he shows such affection and devotion to his toys is a mirror of how he perceives the way a loving parent should act. ...I hope.

She's just cute. That's all.

Grammy came to visit last weekend, and we love love LOVE when Grammy comes!

The fact that I am blogging now, during lunch, is testament that Jana is really officially feeding herself. YAY!

These little cameos made me laugh. Here's what Jana does during lunch. She eats.

Here's what Wyatt does during lunch. He goofs around.

And here's what Skeeter does during lunch. He lays in wait.

Which, frankly, saves me from picking up quite so many food particles.

Thanks, Skeeter.

And now, for a delightful game of...

Where on earth did it go?!?

Where are all the toys that go in the basket?

On the...ceiling... of the play tent!

(Why he can't play in it right side up is a mystery to me.)

Where are the Craisins that used to fill this huge bag?

Oh, of course. In Lightning McQueen's trunk.

What happened to the bag of Trix I gave you to munch on?

...I might have guessed without even looking.

Seriously? Half of Jana's bows are missing! Where are they?!?

In the bulldozer, silly Mommy.

I had baskets of clean clothes sitting here waiting to be folded! Where are they?!?

GAH!!!

What happened to all the play food that goes in your kitchen?

*sigh*

And my personal (least) favorite: where is all the gum from this pack that was almost full this morning?

Hint: Wyatt will return it to me in about 18 hours. *shudder*

I have heard you need a sense of humor to be able to survive at parenting. I admit I was laughing while I took all these pictures...one after the other, over the course of maybe 5 minutes today. I might not be laughing when I finally have to address all the messes that need to be cleaned up/sorted/folded/put away, but I'll still love being a mommy!

I always take a picture of my Valentine flowers...this year my two favorites, red roses and daisies.

And what's a blog posting without a random picture of The Beast?

We wish you love, a warm rest of February, and plenty of generic non-seasonal candy to last that interminable stretch between the Valentine's conversation hearts and the Cadbury Cream Eggs,

LMWJ&S