new city, new adventure...new blog!

I have decided our new start in Seattle is a great time to start a new blog.  Check it out:

http://lifewithkidsinseattle.blogspot.com/

Home is where the heart is...

Jeff and I had been married for about one year when we started house hunting.  We worked together and the company had just announced the new lab location.  Our hunt began for a house in the suburbs.  We chose a house from builder plans when the whole area was just dirt, we drove up north to see our hole in the ground, we would sneak onto the construction site while it was being built and eventually saw a completed home ready for us to move in.  By that time we had a 4 month old and life in the suburbs began.

July 2001

9 months pregnant and on a work site...a great mommy moment for me

visiting our half-built house was a regular outing for us (we are easily entertained) and we even got to see the original backyard pool

almost done, look at all of those white walls

November 2001

finally it was ready for us to move in, dirt and all...it was another 9 months before we had grass

This house has been our home for almost 12 years now.  We grew to a family of 5.  We celebrated birthdays, decorated for Christmas holidays, hunted for Easter eggs, carved pumpkins, walked around the neighbourhood trick or treating and had visits from the tooth fairy.  We became friends with our neighbours, rocked babies for hours on end, painted the walls, hung art work by the kids, put in a pool, baked muffins, built snow forts, planted flowers, hosted parties, marked the kids height on the wall, had sleepovers with giggling girls and game playing boys.  A lot of love and laughter throughout our 12 years in this home.  It is where our family grew up.  I hope it is what my children always remember as their childhood home.

Every year I take pictures on the porch on the first day of school

With the whirlwind of the move to Seattle, I have been so caught up in the logistics of what needs to be done that I'm only now starting to get sentimental.  For a while all I wanted was to sell this house (because we bought a house in Seattle and I don't want to pay two mortgages!).  Now that the sold sign is on the lawn and we are down to our last few days here the tears are starting.  They aren't sad tears, I'm very happy to have this opportunity, and I believe with all my heart this is a wonderful adventure for our family.  I just have so many emotions about this house that became our home and the life we built while living here.  It is very hard to say goodbye to our neighbourhood, our church, our schools, our friends and support structure.

Officially sold!  I have met the family who will be moving in, they seem lovely and friendly, they have a 15 month old daughter and a baby on the way.  It makes me smile to think of another family growing up in this house.

And now it's time to move onto our new home.  Jeff just signed the papers for this house on Friday and it's officially ours.  I'm looking forward to many more happy memories ahead, it doesn't matter which house or city we are in, my home is wherever Jeff, Kyle, Jillian, Leah and I can be together.

yet another busy week

At the end of each day I keep saying to myself "okay, THAT was the busiest day ever, surely tomorrow will be better"...and yet the next ends up being filled up as well.  There will still be large to do lists once we move next week, but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  The kids miss Jeff and are excited to see him soon.  I've been talking to both of the schools for the kids and things are looking good, we have Kyle's schedule and he is excited to start at his new school.

This week I've had a chance to spend some time with my cousin who has just moved here from Northern Ireland.   The kids and I have had some great time with friends in the past week.  I've been overwhelmed with how nice everyone has been about working around my crazy schedule and making so much effort to spend time with the kids and me, we are feeling very loved.

Leah had a great week, her friend Keira slept over (the giggling went on well past bedtime), and she lost her second tooth.

And we ended the week with a run at the zoo. Months ago I signed up for the 5K zoo run, and I did consider using this move as an excuse not to run ("we are moving in a few days" "I haven't had time to train").  But I decided I would just go for it and try my best...goal was to finish in under 40 minutes.  And I did it.  It was rainy the whole time, there were lots of hills and I was passed by countless children, people pushing strollers and a couple who stopped mid-race to pose for pictures with the giraffes (I kid you not).  I finished with a time of 39:05.  I had signed Jillian & Leah up for the 550m cub run, but Leah's legs were tired and she just wasn't up for any running.  Jillian's friend had slept over the night before and had joined us at the zoo so she took Leah's place and the girls ran together.  Jillian did a great job, I loved seeing a big smile on her face as she ran.  I told her the next goal is for her and I to do a 5K together and she is on board!

Go Jillian Go!

Jillian and one of her very best friends, what a great way to end their sleepover with a shared run

Giant Pandas!

It was great having my Mom at the zoo with us, she watched all 5 kids while I ran, they walked around and saw quite a few animals.  After the races we went to see the Panda exhibit.  The pandas like to sleep a lot (that's what we saw them doing), but I love the whole exhibit with lots of fun info about pandas.  After the pandas we were all so wet we decided to just call it a day, a quick stop at mcds to feed my animals and we were on our way home to warm our toes.

I kind of feel like how this guy looks...

Next up is saying goodbye to our church family, a fun gymnastics farewell party for the girls, a quick visit from my sister and yes, still more paperwork to complete.  The packers arrive on Monday to get started, which makes it all seem even more real.  Only 5 days left.

it's a long road to Seattle

I know we are flying when we move to Seattle but it's still a long road.  We are down to less than 2 weeks and the to do list is still long.  Thankfully a big one is now crossed off the list as the kids and I have our visas to live in the US, hooray!  It started out with an early morning drive to Buffalo, included a long wait in the customs office and dealing with a customs agent who told me I had the wrong birth certificate forms for the kids (aarrgh).  After asking Jillian a few questions and talking to the agent who had processed Jeff's visa last week, the agent processed our visas and we were finally done.  Although I did crack up laughing when he had me raise my hand and start reciting the pledge of allegiance, it turns out he was just having a bit of fun with me (nice to know even serious customs agents have a sense of humour!).  A trip to two banks in the US to get some forms notarized, a grocery store stop to grab some snacks for the road, looping around the peace bridge entrance on the highway before finding the right turn and then we were back in Canada and headed home.

Some things we learned on our little road trip are:

* I'm far too dependent on electronics for keeping my kids entertained...no recording devices (i.e. phones/ipads) allowed in the customs waiting room.  Thankfully I found a pen and paper in my purse to play tic tac toe and hangman because that along with I spy, 20 questions and drawing on backs kept the kids entertained...it was kind of fun going old school for a few hours
* when forms list "birth certificate" as a document you will need for your children, they probably mean the long form which I did NOT bring with me
* in the grocery store we saw some cool new snack choices the kids will soon have for lunches (scooby snacks were a hit on the drive home)
* rush hour starts earlier than I thought (by 4 pm the roads were jammed...so glad I don't have to commute every day)

The next big item to cross off my list is selling the house (hopefully soon), and then more paperwork to move the van and our belongings since they will all be shipped separately from us.  But many other things are now done...packers and movers are booked, plane tickets are booked, a friend farewell party for the girls is booked at gymnastics, schools have been informed of last day and first day of school for my kids, house in Seattle will be closing next week which means we will officially own two houses (yikes), Jeff is working away and has a sweet view of the Seattle Space Needle from his office at work:



We are in the home stretch and things are moving along as well as can be...life is good!

friendship

I've been thinking a lot about friendship lately.  We are in the middle this huge life change, and my friends and family have been so supportive and positive (to the point of making me cry).  It has made things much easier to hear their uplifting comments, see their smiles and have them listen to my excitement and fears about this move.  I look at the friendships my children have made, and I know several of them will continue even when we live on the other side of the continent.  Friendship is an amazing gift, I can only hope my children grow up to have a group of lifelong, supportive friends like I do.

In particular I have an amazing group of women who have been by my side for every life event since high school.  I count becoming friends with these women as one of the best things to happen in my life.  Sure things have changed since high school...we have spread out across the GTA, our families have grown and we have all become busy in our day to day lives (and there may be a few grey hairs and laugh lines...).  But still these friendships that have endured high school and beyond are a constant in my life.

Heart Lake girls - I don't know what I would do without each of you in my life.  I am thankful for all the wonderful times we have shared, for the understanding ear at the other end on the telephone, for the hugs and shared stories and most of all for the fun.  Thanks for another great night, I know it will be a while before I get to have another but there will be more, I promise.  I love you all!!

Another first tooth gone

And so it begins...my baby is losing her baby teeth.  What a big milestone for Leah!  I sure hope the tooth fairy makes a stop at our house tonight (um, sometimes she is busy and it takes two nights...)

visiting grandparents, school, horse riding...a busy week

It's been a productive week...visiting my parents so the girls could have some playtime with my parents, doing more paperwork (will it ever end?), meeting with a lawyer (seeing as we are selling a house and buying a house while Jeff and I are living in different countries), booking ped appointments for the kids and making arrangements to get copies of their medical files so I can take those with me (yeah, I know I *should* know all of it but it's probably better if I have it on paper).

Adding some colour to Nana and Granda's driveway

Jillian is back in the saddle, we are back at the farm for a few weeks until we move and she was so happy to be riding again, even got to canter which looks terrifying to me but in her words was "so much FUN!".

And then there's the start of school.  The kids were excited to go back to their schools to see friends, even if only for a few weeks.  They are all having a great first week at school.  But I'm a bit sad to see them go, and also sad because this is our last "first day of school picture" on this porch!  We will be doing first day of school picture take 2 on the new porch in a few weeks when they start at their new schools.

Some stellar mommy moments on my part:

1. Jillian needed $6 for an agenda and I couldn't find any Canadian money, so I had her use her own money to buy it (I did tell her I'd pay it back, maybe the horse riding lessons count?)

2. none of my kids had their indoor shoes ready for the first day of school...but by the end of the week they all did so that's something

3. Kyle complained about the work he is doing now being counted for nothing which makes him frustrated and I had absolutely nothing good in response...seriously, it's true, what can I say?  Other than it's good to try your best no matter what.