Moving

Spring was quite busy and eventful for our family!!!  We got our house ready to sell (lots of repairs, sprucing up, and decorating), listed our house for sale, sold it right away, and moved out, all in a matter of a few weeks.  It was quite the whirlwind, especially while homeschooling and busy with work and travel (the Mr. attended 2 out-of-state conferences during it all), but somehow, we survived.

The children were such good sports and troopers through all of the craziness, transitions, giving up their toys de-cluttering, chaos and stress.  They gracefully selected toys to donate to 'kids that don't have any money', (often being more generous than I was feeling!), and were willing to let a lot of their creations and treasures go.  They were wonderful at keeping themselves entertained for hours on end while I ignored and neglected them fixed things, decorated, cleaned, packed, scrubbed and moved boxes around.  They did a fabulous job getting the house spiffed up for showings (18 showings in the first 2 days - fortunately the house sold after that!!!)  They even helped with some of the packing!!

After I had completely emptied and cleaned the upstairs, I instructed the kids to stay downstairs.  Since they no longer had bedrooms, they created little "Club Cubbies" as they named them, behind the bar.  It was adorable!  I was so grateful that they were creative enough to keep themselves busy while I worked the days away for several weeks!

Angel was a big help at our GIGANTIC yard sale! 

Then came the fun part - packing the truck!  The Mr. and I did it all by ourselves, which really means The Mr. did it all on his own!  I wish I had a picture of him maneuvering our king sized bed up the ramp!!!  We moved out to Maine with a 26 foot truck packed to the brim.  This move we got everything to fit in 7 feet!  Maybe I got a little over-zealous in the downsizing, but I've really been working on de-cluttering, simplifying, and losing my attachments to 'things'.

This was us on the cold, rainy day on which we sold our house.  The last moment that "Brownie" was our house. :(  It was so hard for me to say goodbye to a beautiful home that has held so many wonderful memories for our family these past 4 years!  But I keep telling myself, we're taking the best parts of our home with us - the people!!! :)

After selling the house, we decided to celebrate by eating out (a rare treat for us!) at a restaurant we've been wanting to try for years!  It is named "Duckfat", after the type of fat used in most of it's cooking.  I know...sounds appetizing, doesn't it? :)

This was Wiggles' face when we told her what "Duckfat" meant.  She refused to eat anything after that...even dessert!

We shared some poutine, a French dish of fries topped with gravy and cheese.  It didn't last long with these 3! :)

Wiggles didn't approve of the poutine, so she passed the time with her toys...

Of course, everyone was a fan of the burnt honey milkshake we shared!  (Wiggles did try some, since I told her I didn't think it contained duck fat.)

Yum!  We feel so blessed to have made it through the grueling process of selling a home and moving out!  Next stop: moving across the country.  Wish us luck! :)