This Home

Happy Birthday to Mom and Auntie Sally!

I am going to miss our house.  This house, with all it's annoying quirks, funky wiring, and stained carpet, has been our home for the past 5 years.  Inside these walls, we have hatched plans, celebrated accomplishments, and conquered fears.  This is where Mollie found comfort after being discharged from the hospital and I slammed doors to vent my anger at her cancer diagnosis. We brought both Liam and Lucy home to this house when they were just one day old.  Mollie learned to read here and lost her first tooth.  Lucy took her first steps and said her first words.   We have experienced so much of the joy, laughter, courage, anger, hurt, healing, and love that makes us a family in this house.  It has been our home base.   

Okay, now the tears are really flowing.  It's not just the house.  It's the community and the connections and memories we have here.  When we bought this house, we didn't intend to stay here forever, but that doesn't make leaving any easier.  I like the townhouse we are renting and I am eager for our family to be together every night, rather than have Matt be away several nights per week.  But I am still sad.

Maybe I would feel differently if we were going to make a profit (or break even) on the sale of this house.  Or maybe not, but the movers are coming either way.  I'm putting on a smile for my kids.  I've let them see me cry too, but they need the reassurance that this is okay.

We're going on vacation at the end of the month (just a week after they deliver all our stuff).  My aunt is coming out to help with the unpacking (I can't thank her enough- she is the best godmother ever!!) and help me with the kids on the airplane because Matt won't be able to join us for a week.  It is really chaotic (our life always is, it seems), but I think the vacation will help us take our minds off the move and relax.  Hopefully we will return rejuvenated and ready for the beginning of first grade!, the end of treatment!, and some more unpacking, organizing, and adjusting to our new home.

Pandemonium

Just a quick update because things are pretty wild around here....

Mollie made it home from camp on Saturday.  She had a great time- even better than last year!  We really appreciate all of the donations of time and money that make this camp possible.  I am amazed at how well it is put together and how much all the kids look forward to it and enjoy their week at camp.

I also enrolled Mollie in the Christmas in July program through The Blanket Fairy.  A wonderful volunteer "adopted" our family and sent a surprise package of goodies, including handmade tutus and hairbows for the girls.  They loved all the goodies and played with them all afternoon yesterday.

The focus for this week is the move- the packers are coming tomorrow!  I am getting more frenzied by the minute.  The kids want to play games and do projects and I simply can't do that while getting ready for the movers.  If I give them specific tasks (take all the magnets off the fridge and put them in this box), they are very good at doing it.  But a lot of the work is simply organizing.  Right now they are watching The Sound of Music, so I better take advantage of the relative quiet!