Mama On The Move

Moving into a new house always requires a LOT of work.   I fool myself on every move thinking about how we've purged so much stuff and unpacking will be a breeze this time. It never is.  We always get rid of just as much stuff when we are unpacking and we wonder why we didn't get rid of all of it before we moved.   There's also the issue of curtains.  I have curtains that I haven't used in years but I can't get rid of them because you never know how many windows you will have in the next house.  I've bought curtains for houses all around the country only to find they won't work in the next house we move to. Fortunately on this move, I didn't need to buy new curtains, I already had a set that will work.  But we did need to buy several curtain rods.  Kerry had already installed a couple of them before Ben got here but we still needed one in the living room. I suggested that he get Ben to help since Ben will be a husband soon and will

Emily's first day as a freshman in college (well, this college anyway) got off to a rollicking start! They were divided into "teams" and had to play games and get to know the other freshmen. At one point they had to write down answers to questions and a boy, (young man, guy, man-cub) asked to borrow a pen.  Emily usually has about twenty different pens on her at any given time and they are all different colors and serve different purposes. Saying that she is very attached to her pens is putting it mildly. "Don't be surprised if I forget to give this back to you," the man-cub told her as she handed it to him. "Well, I could just stab you and take it back," Emily responded to him (she's good at interpersonal communication). She said she apparently terrified him and she got the pen back, pronto. Lunch was a giant pizza buffet with salad off to one side.  Since Emily is allergic to dairy, she bypassed the pizza and headed for the salad.

We took Emily to college. We never did this with Ben.  He flew straight to his college from his summer mission trip.  That hadn't actually been the plan when he left for the summer, so I didn't even know when we said goodbye that he wouldn't be back before he moved to the dorms. So this was my first time taking a kid to college. We left early that morning because Emily could hardly wait to get there. Thirty minutes into the drive Emily suddenly remembered that she had left all her new dorm bedding at home..... We turned around, drove thirty minutes back home, then drove the first thirty minutes again.  Then drove the rest of the trip. We watched Emily get her student ID. We got her checked into her dorm - it's actually like an apartment.  It has a living room with a sofa and three desks. There is a separate bedroom with three beds. She wisely chose the bottom bunk.  And a FULL kitchen.  This is great because Emily loves to b

I ran all of our videos together into one rather than put a dozen individual videos on here.  They are completely out of order but I'm sick and I don't feel like going back and doing it all over again!

Yes, I know this is a ton of photos.  This isn't even all of them! It was just so much fun I can't find many pictures that I don't want on here! Ben got here last night.  Emily leaves for college tomorrow. Today is our last day with all five of us for who knows how long? So we decided to make sure it was a memorable day and we went to a zip line/tree top adventure!  This is us getting ready to start the course.  The first course and zip line are very low.  You learn how to hook yourself up to the lines while you aren't worried about falling.  We had to walk across a tightrope in this area but because it was low, it didn't feel scary.  The instructors hook you up in your harness, teach you the safety rules and then leave you after the first level.  We were all hooked to the cables by two separate lines on our harnesses.  So even if one failed, the other would hold you.