Update

Tuesday, Mike and I spent the day at the old house packing up the remaining odds and ends which were of course scattered throughout the basement and children's bedrooms. It took us a lot longer than we had planned. Mike stayed until around 11:00pm completing the job. What a great guy!

We managed to move a second moving truck full of stuff last Wednesday. While pushing a cast-iron wood burning stove (that had previously been in our garage) up the ramp with Mike and the boys, I turned my ankle and hobbled around for the remainder of the day. We were still unloading the moving truck at 6:00 pm. Mike sent me off to purchase take-out pizza for our supper, while they finished unloading. I was gone for 1-1/2 hours. The pizza place was so busy that it was necessary to drive around the parking lot twice to find a place to park. When I returned to the starving people at our house, I discovered that they were so tired the final boxes were simply placed in the dining room. Then the storage units and armoires were shoved in front of the boxes. A 18" aisle was left to get to the bathroom, upstairs, and Madelyn's bedroom.

We had planned for the storage units to go to the basement. But, the family bailed out that night and I can't move the units downstairs by myself. No one had time to assist me in moving the units the remainder of the week. Out of frustration, I placed the storage units on one wall in the dining room and began unloading boxes in the units on Saturday. By 10:30 Sunday night, we were able to see the table top and actually eat at the table again. There are still some boxes shoved against the walls, but the room is usable. I'm hoping to be able to complete the unpacking in the living spaces this week.

Amy and Kaitlyn worked on Paige and Allie's bedroom on Saturday. They got a lot of the boxes unpacked and all the toys placed back on shelves and in the closet. The two youngest girls have way too much stuff for their bedroom. I may make some large ottomans for the living room and family room with storage under the cushion for the remaining toys. The ottomans would also bring some of the girls toys into the main living areas, so the girls wouldn't be bringing down plastic tubs from upstairs. Allie doesn't need another fall down a flight of stairs this month.

We managed to do a get in a good school day today. I'm working with most of the kids in a group instead of doing individual lessons. The assignments are a lot more fun for everyone and take so much less time. We're focusing on geography for social science for the next two months. We'll be cooking many new ethnic meals and listening to folk music. I love geography.