I am in L.O.V.E!!!

Oh HomeGoods, you sneaky little store! You've been sitting at the corner of MacArthur & 635 for some time now! I have driven past you on numerous occasions! I have never allowed myself to enter! UNTIL, TODAY!!!

And I would just like to say O.M.G!!!! You were filled with all kinds of wonderful finds! And the very best part...CHEAP!!! WHAAAA HOOOOO!!! I just bought a huge, beautiful, glass hurricane, can you guess how much it was??? $12!!! Can you say SCORE!!!! I realize it is silly to be this excited about a store! But seriously!

Now everyone run off to their website to find the closest location to you and go immediately!!

Oh Sweet Husband

This post is in honor of my sweet husband! (Who BTW does not read this blog!!)

Packing:
Jeremy- "Honey, I will help you pack today! I'll go pull the rest of the pictures from the wall and put them on our bed."
Anna - "How about you put them on the kitchen table, it's easier to wrap/pack them from there."
Jeremy - "Ok sure!"
Goes around the house pulling pictures off the wall, pulling out the nails and putting them in a cup, placing everything on the kitchen table. Takes the stuff from the top of the china hutch that I couldn't reach. All the while I am in Madison's room...the black hole of all the world! I manage to wreck shop in there! I pack the remaining things on her shelves. I clean up the "bucket shelf" and reorganize her toys so they will be easier to pack/move at the last minute. I go through her closet and pull out items that are too small to give to the women's shelter. Rockin out to my IPOD and cleaning away!

So someone tell me why said items are STILL sitting on our dining table? The ONLY "table" in the house to which we must be able to EAT!

Anna - "Honey, why did you not wrap and pack that stuff?"

Jeremy - "I'm not good at that part."

SERIOUSLY!

Change, is it good or bad?

For some people, they LOVE change! Change it all! I am NOT one of those people. I do not like change. For whatever reason. And as I sit everything is changing!

Yesterday it hit me like a ton of bricks! I went and visited our new day care yesterday. Now don't take this the wrong way, it was a nice school, and I being the over protective parent that I am would never send my children someplace I wasn't comfortable with, not for ANY reason. But I am so focused on what I am losing by leaving the Peanut Gallery, that I cannot see all of the good in the new place. The new director probably thinks I am completely C.R.A.Z.Y! We toured the school, all decorated in their latest theme of "Comic Book Characters", straight with Bugs Bunny's Rabbit Hole, and a full size Incredible Hulk on the wall that Austin will LOVE! We went to her office to talk about their policies and so on, and what did I do, I sat there and CRIED! My 1st meeting with this woman and I am CRYING! WTH is wrong with ME! Am I completely NUTS? I'm in a perfectly normal day care, with excellent teaching philosophy, with highlights on theatrics and performing, PERFECT for Madison! And I am CRYING! Again, I do not like change. The Peanut Gallery has been a HUGE part of my life for the better part of the last 15 years. I worked there myself, many years ago, but from that I still knew most of the teachers when we started Madison there about 5 years ago. I trust them COMPLETELY, with the most important people I know! I trust that they love my children, they protect them, they educate them, and most of all they genuinely CARE about their well-being. I KNOW THAT, without a doubt 100%! I know that because I know THEM so WELL! And no matter what I do, I don't have that at a new school. You can't recreate that level of trust. So I tell myself, I know this change will cause some emotional discomfort to my kids, but in the long run I think they will like it, but is it worth it? Is it worth the financial savings, is it worth the convenience, is it worth it?

In all my craziness I am sending in Biddy for her review of the new school too! Just to be sure that it is just my own fear of change that is driving my current opinions and observations. We are talking about the 2 most important people in my universe after all! I want to be 100% sure this is the right place for us! This day care that "accidentally got into show business" as they call themselves. They are loosely montessori based, they have "performance" class daily, they are active in The Colony city events, our beloved Ms Cheri the traveling dance instructor teaches there as well. My boss's grandson has gone there his whole 6yrs of life, and she loves it! I'm pumping myself up here people! :-) And they do offer cameras that I can watch from my desk all day if I so chose!

Packing.

Where do you begin with a house you've been in for the last 5.5 years. The house where you lived through 2 pregnancies, 2 new babies, 2 toddlers, and TONS of other life changing moments. This house is some what of a constant for me. I lived there myself when I was 4 years old, same as Madison. That was a time of change for me, since that was my mom's 1st house post my dad. It was just me & her. That house was always so cute & small and I always wanted to live there some day. Then almost 5 years ago, I got pregnant. It was an obvious move for us, our soon to be family of 3. My parents had maintained the house as a rental, and at the time my grandfather was living there. So we moved. And now more than 5 years later we will leave. This house has it's faults. But at the same time holds a very special place in my heart for all the special moments we've had there. It's time to move on, to move up, to move bigger. Our family is bigger, the new larger space much more condusive for our family! And so we pack. and pack. and pack.

I started with the linen closet, only leaving out a change of sheets for everyone, and towels for the kids baths. Then I started taking all my precious pictures off the walls. Then I unloaded the "fluff" from the tops of my kitchen cabinets & fridge. I unloaded my china hutch with the assistance of my mother, for hopes that none of my mom & dad's beautiful china would get broken in the move. Jeremy was out of town last weekend while I began the packing process. It gave me time for reflection. And time to remember no matter how exciting the move, I still HATE to pack! Madison however, is THRILLED with the idea of "packing"! But still thinks she should open the boxes back up and take her things OUT! We packed most of the stuff under her cabinets in her room. Of course we couldn't have picked a busier time of year for our family to move. Our September & October are always ACTION PACKED!

This weekend's packing project - finish the walls, Madison shelves, declutter the desk.

I would like to thank Stacie & my step-dad for all of the wonderful BOXES and packing materials that are making this move so much easier!!

Because McKMama Did It...

So must I...here are some of the things I've said around the house in the last few days...

You cannot BODYSLAM your sister.

Did you hit a friend today? Hitting is not nice. Timeout is not fun. It's not nice to hit your friends.

Punching is only for Daddy NOT school!

Why are you watching TV at 4AM?

If you pack all of your toys what will you play with? If you take them back out of the box thats not really "packing" sweetie.

No someone will not just move into our new house because it's empty. It has our name on it so they can't do that.

Daddy is very strong but he cannot just pick up the house and move it. We will pack our things and then move the boxes.

That was fun! Now who else has some?

Future Country Star

Introducing Madison as Taylor Swift!

Future Pop Star

Introducing Madison as Jordin Sparks...it's a Battlefield people! And note the little backup singer!! LOL!!

Please pay no attention to the mess in the background!

MOVIN' ON UP!!!

IT HAS FINALLY HAPPENED!! A few posts ago, in my pity party, I was complaining about these people and their ridiculous idea of what their house was worth. Well we took a step back. We made a few moves to get us in a better financial situation (I got a new car!) Anne - your advice was GREAT and just what I needed! I let it go that maybe that wasn't the right house for us, we could just keep looking, but not until we both felt comfortable with the financial aspect. And then WHAM! It's like all things aligned exactly as they needed to be, the interest rates started dropping, we got an appraiser to come back with a little better picture of this house that we loved, we traded in my gas-guzzling 4Runner for a more economical Civic, and then we made an offer and held our breath...

AND THEY ACCEPTED IT!!!!!

So if anybody has any boxes, the Hoffman's are moving to Little Elm!!!! WHOOOOO HOOOO!!! We're hoping to take the kids to see the new house this weekend, and surprise them with the ALREADY EXISTING swing set in the backyard! (I mean how perfect can a house be!!) I feel like things are finally looking up for us! We're hopeful to close by the end of the month!