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!