Fun stuff first

This weekend we moved a LOT of stuff to the blue house, including a lot of the toys. Sunday afternoon we took a couple minutes to sit down and enjoy them :o)

And the view from C's room

And our balcony

So excited for Wednesday!

Little wins

There are days when you create a fantastic dinner. And then there are days where you feed the girls peanut butter and jelly on hot dog buns with a side of frozen veggies for dinner, and then still call it a win because they consumed both protein and veggies in the same meal. I have a feeling the month of October is going to be all about those little wins as we deal with the crazy of yet another move.

But as long as the girls are still happy...

...and unbearably cute...

..we'll take those wins and run :o)

Blue house #2

I have a million wonderful memories of growing up in a blue house with a big back yard.

So we decided to buy the girls a blue house:

with a big back yard:

yes, we know the big back yard is mostly piles of dirt right now but
1) have patience
2) have you met my girls and dog? the piles are dirt are perfect now that I think about it.

After LOTS of back and fort with the seller, we finally got to a signed contract on Saturday. This week has been a flurry of activity lining up inspections, financing, and reading though tons of documents (according to the covenants of the neighborhood we can have up to two horses, but no chickens - good to know). Things are going to continue at crazy speed because we're scheduled to close first week of October. Wheee moving again!

The house itself is super cool. It's new, but definitely not sterile. There are all sorts of very cool touches like the stone wall and barn door that frames the entry way to the office:

and the master bedroom wood accent wall:

And I can not wait to host my first sedar cooking in this kitchen :o)

Plus, we ended up with views after all! This is from the balcony on the front of the house:

All in all we are super excited and can't wait to get settled in. Keep you fingers crossed that things go smoothly over the next month! We walk through the house with the builder tomorrow, so hopefully we can get some more personal pictures. And if anyone loves their washer and dryer let me know - those are the only appliances this place doesn't come with...

Packing up

Day 6 and 7 of the move - packing packing and more packing

Day 6 was a blur of packing, packing, then freaking out that we were never going to be done packing.

Day 7 came after only a couple of hours of sleep and the house looked like this:

Then at 7:30 this showed up

And for the next 5 hours we watched all of our stuff come out of our house and into the truck. The driver inventoried everything - he ended up with 11 pages of inventory, and used 305 inventory tags. Yikes.

See you in Utah stuff!

Back at it

Day 5 of the move - back to Madison and Packing

This morning I got from Caroline's to my car by Metra, and Charlotte was way jealous. 

I then drove through construction on 90 for what was hopefully the last time back to lots and lots of packing. We're at 103 boxes, and definitely not done. Truck comes in 36 hours. Tomorrow will be a big day :o)

Back to the midwest

Day 4 of the move - girls start ranch camp and I head back to the midwest

Yesterday was a tough one. After a fantastic morning of playing

...I had to say goodbye to the girls and head back to Chicago with Caroline. Definitely one of the toughest parts of the process so far, but that goodness for all the technology that makes this whole mess easier to handle. Yes, my data usage on my phone will be higher this month, but totally worth it to be getting updates on the girls before we even made it to the airport :o)

After easy travel I crashed at Caroline's house for the night. Chris was super welcoming. Parker not so much :o)

New House

Day 3 of the move - checking out trailside

Big day here for me and the little ones. We got to see our new house! After an awesome night of sleep by both girls and an excellent morning nap by m, we were finally rested enough to go check out the new digs. There was a little trouble with getting the key, but we got it worked out. And it's going to be fine :o) The house is good, the neighborhood is great, and I'm feeling much more comfortable about the whole ordeal.

And c wanted to give you a tour:

(Warning - the video is long, and involves a lot of unsteady and fast panning camera work.)

Go West!

Day 2 of the move - girls go to Utah!

After a fantastic sleepover where all parties involved actually slept (!?!), we had a lovely morning with Grandma Mary and Sahlty, and got to go back to the park!

We headed to the airport around 1 and met up with my personal hero Caroline who bravely volunteered to help me fly the girls out. Luckily o'hare has a fantastic children's museum right in the airport where we spent a good bit of time before the flight.

Once on board the girls took turns sleeping (we are so lucky).

The only real mishap was when m puked on the car ride home. All and all, a hugely successful travel day.

And... we're off

Day 1 of the move - girls say goodbye and we head to Chicago.

Yesterday Kaitlin came by to do m's 1 year shoot. The weather was TERRIBLE, but we did get this shot.

Which I am beyond thrilled to have because there's a very good chance neither one of them will remember the house, which is very strange to think about. But anyway, this morning c and I walked around the inside and outside of the house and set goodbye. They then went to school for half a day while I continued to pack, and then we did the goodbyes at WHCC. LOTS of crying. Mostly by me.

The girls were reasonably good on the drive from Madison to Chicago, and we got here with enough time before dinner to go play at a park near Alex's grandparents for a bit. We had a lovely dinner with Grandma Mary and Sahlty, and now we're all tucked in for our "sleep over" in the guest apartment. Me and c are sharing a king size bed - there's a lot of room :o)

Tomorrow's the big day as far as travel goes - wish us luck!

Riddle me this

Can we still be the madcity provans once we've moved here?

That's right - we have a house! So our check list is starting to look better:
* Quit jobs: Sarah = Check. Alex = In progress
* Find jobs: Sarah = Check. Alex = In progress
* Sell house: Check (think happy thoughts until we close on the 15th)
* Find house: Check (good job Alex)
* Quit daycare: Check (this has been super sad)
* Find daycare: In progress


We're getting there!

Quick updates

Not much sleeping here last night so just two quick updates tonight.

1) We have a plan for getting the MadCity Provans to Utah! Tickets have been purchased for flying the girls out and dates have been settles for driving the car and the pup. Things are starting to come together. Now to find a place to live once we get out there...

2) M does this now :o)