Our set up was sweet.  We upgraded a few things to make life easier (a smaller, more user-friendly storage tent, a new food cabinet to avoid going in and out of the camper, and a new shelter for over our picnic table).  We were beach-front, thanks to early reservations and careful scouting last year.  It was ideal.  Of course, Todd and I started checking out future trailers for us, as we know at some point we will upgrade to something that takes a little less time to set up

The girls did wonderfully.  Mackenzie is a natural.  I can see the glimmer in her eyes when we talk about camping and going up north (I wonder if my parents saw the same glimmer in my eyes as a child).  Delaney missed home about 5 days in (thankfully, talked about home as our new house and NOT the old one for a change).  Days were filled with wagon rides, beach trips, playing in the sand around our site, ice cream trips, a parade, fireworks, Farmers Market, Kooky Golf, and a road trip to Caseville.  All in all, a successful trip that is one for the memory books.

With the girls getting older, this years trip was much easier.  I know each year, it will get even better (they can help set up camp!!!).  I look around and think back on my experiences as a kid (thank you SO much Mom and Dad), and I know Todd and I are doing something great for our kids.  Hopefully, it will be something they want to carry on with their kids when they grow up.

With a great trip comes great photos…

Our carefully scouted campsite.

The girls explore the campsite.

A special sisterly moment.

On the shores of Lake Huron.

At the Port Austin parade.

Waiting for the fireworks.

Delaney Jo...we love you!

Mackenzie Rae...loving the parade.

We began moving on Friday.  Within an hour of receiving our keys, our new carpet went in.  Boxes piled up as Todd, Ryan and Dennis worked hard to move things in.   I began unpacking our kitchen, taking walking tours of the house as I tried to take it all in.  This has really happened, we have really moved.

Saturday was even more exhausting, as the furniture came in (thanks to additional help from Todd’s football players).  Our new living furniture arrived and cable went in.  It was all coming together.

Sunday morning, with the coffee brewing, we scrambled to pick up the kitchen and put the finishing touches on the girls’ rooms, as we wanted them to feel welcome right away. They came in and loved it, and we began our life here.

Things were a little stressful this past week, as Todd and I were finishing up our school year.  Our plumber, who was installing our sump pump back-up system, scared us a bit when he noticed an old leak in the bathroom (which was, thankfully, remedied long ago).  But, it was enough to make our hearts race.  Then, we were worried the carpet guys may have hit our radiant heat lines under our sunroom floor (they did not).

Finally, on Friday morning, I slept in and actually sat and had a cup of coffee.  And, for the first time in weeks, my stomach didn’t hurt as much (oh, until my realtor called all pissed off because our buyers were miffed because we took our electric fireplace with us and thought they should have it, whatever).

So, I am finally ready to post some pictures.  I hadn’t done so earlier, because of the mess.  I skipped the den, bathrooms, master bedroom and closets because, well, they are still in disarray.  But, here is the photo tour so far…

Our new home.

View from front foyer. Living room looking into sunroom.

View of kitchen. I love my island!

Our beautiful sunroom (with heated floors!).

Fonzie's area (Todd did this right away).

Our patio. Love the trees in the back.

Kenzie's new bedroom.

Part of Laney's room.

Living room going into kitchen (LOVE the floors!).

TV area of basement.

Bar area of basement.

Middle area of our huge basement.

Girls' playroom in basement.

Todd's (much larger) Rock-Out Room.

View of fireplace and sunroom.

View of dining area (and lovely pears).

• Delaney and Mackenzie’s swaddling blankets (tucked carefully in the back of a closet).  Oh, how those saved us!
• Proof that Mackenzie has stock in Leap Frog (her certificate showing her share).  Ah, how many Leap Frog toys have we been through here?
• Clothes with tags still on them, some of which Kohls actually took back after two years.  Hey, I knocked $50 off my charge…sweet!
• A photo of my dad and my uncle driving around in a toy car when they were just little boys.  Boy, do his grandsons take after him!
• Love notes from my college boyfriends.  Yep, I still have ‘em.  Why?  I dunno…but I finally did throw them out, but not before reading each one before doing so.  Too funny…
• The first project Mackenzie made for me at Ms. Denese’s house (red, yellow and green hand and foot prints).  Delaney’s first picture was in there too…their hands were so tiny!
• My positive pregnancy tests for both girls.  Uh, yeah…I had them saved in a plastic bag.  I remember how happy I felt when I saw each one developed that second pink line. 
• New programmable thermostat which will immediately replace the one in our new home (which is not adjustable).
• The walls of our storeroom…haven’t seen those in years!

There is just thing we hope to find as we pick up each and every thing and box it up…Todd’s wedding ring.  We are holding out hope that it is tucked behind something we overlooked two years ago when it went missing. 

Packing is a tedious process.  Endless trips up and down stairs…and looking around and realizing that it doesn’t look like much progress has been made (with the exception of the mountain of boxes in the garage to prove our efforts).  There is just stuff everywhere…

Well, we are holding out hope that we will be able to move forward with our move on Saturday.  We are crossing our fingers that our sellers’ house has no more delays and we can begin to empty out this house and fill our new one with new memories…and boxes of old ones.

I love this house.  I love my neighbors.  I love the memories I have here.  From the first time I brought my babies home, to Halloweens, Fourth of July parties, and bonfires with our friends, it has been a very special place.

We were on the “five year plan.”  Like everyone else, we thought we would buy in cheap and sell for more.  We would move just as Kenzie started school.  But the economy tanked, and so did our hopes of moving. 

Then, out of the blue, we get a call.  A friend, who is a realtor wanted to bring some clients by.  Long story short…sold.

It has been a hectic month and a half.  I know in my heart it is time to move on.  However, as I moved my pen across the closing papers, I felt the tears.  I will miss this place.

Yes, we lost money on this house.  However, we made up for it with a wealth of loving memories and nearly six years of life changes.  I will never regret spending these years in New Haven.  I will never forget my house on West Brampton. 

Thank you for the memories.

She found her throw (finally), and even got on base all three times.  And, get this, she got the GAME BALL!  I am having so much fun watching her play.  She is having a blast.  Our little White Sox player…AWESOME!

It hit me square in the face two days ago as I was on my third night without my husband home.  Tired, I went into night #3 a little more short-tempered.  I literally lost it when we could not locate the remote control.  I threatened to not watch the TV until it was found.  We tore apart the house and even called Grandma to see if she had seen it.  I kept going on and on about how upset I was that we couldn’t find it.  Then, there it was…on the floor under the couch.  Nice.

Mackenzie sat me down and looked right at me.  She said, “Momma, I can’t take your yelling.  It is killing me.”  Dramatic?  Yes.  Yelling?  No, but certainly a voice with an edge.  To a four year old, it is screaming.  I get that.

I immediately stopped, took her face in my hands and looked into her beautiful eyes.  I apologized.  In my entire life, I do not ever remember saying “I am sorry” with such sincerity.  From the depth of my soul, I was sorry.  She was right, and you could see it in her eyes that she knew I meant it.  I was forgiven by her, buy I was not so easy on myself.

My patience is shot.  Between news of a less than desirable contract next year, news that legislation will likely pass costing us about $300 more a month (retirement stuff for teachers), and some potentially life-changing events on the horizon (so big, I dare not speak of it because I find myself growing more and more worried if it doesn’t happen, my family will be devastated), I am at my wits end. 

Did I mention that I have a neighbor child who has treated my car as his personal scratching-post lately?  Or that I am so far behind at school that I have cut corners on my beloved writing program?  Or that I have projects all over the house I can’t get to?  Or that I have been finding hard to even find the time to read a book to my kids before bed? 

I can feel the tension.  I have self-induced ADHD.  I cannot focus.  I cannot relax.  I cannot find peace.  I find myself stopping and praying for change.  Asking for lots of favors and seeking out friends for guidance.  Trying to find my center.

I don’t see it letting up soon.  I hope, beyond all hope, all the pieces fall into place so things will improve. 

In the meantime, I want my patience back.  I want to stop snapping at my kids.  I want to sleep well and not worry about our future (as much), and I want to move forward.  I just want to get moving, period.

Todd bought a new aquarium yesterday.  A gorgeous biOrb kit which is just what we need to spruce up an area of our living room…not to menion Laney loved the aquariums in Florida.  We thought she would really love it. 

However, I have a pretty bad record with fish.  For whatever reason, they don’t fare well when they are in my care.  Today, however, was the worst moment with fish…one that solidifies the fact that I should not be allowed to own them.

It was my job to go to Petco to pick out fish for the girls.  We each picked out one fish, and then we agreed on one for Dad.  Laney chose a red Molly.  Kenzie, she loved the blue/red neon tetra (even though it is TINY).  I chose the sunset Platy, and we went with a Serpae Tetra for Dad.  The catfish is our bottom feeder.  We bagged up our beauties and headed home.

That is when tragedy struck.  Since I couldn’t find the net, I decided to drain most of the water from the bags before transferring the fish into the aquarium.  I decided to drain what I thought was the catfish bag.  I went to dump the fish into the tank when I realized it was the Serpae Tetra.  This meant the neon was supposed to be in the bag with it.  Shit.  I slowly walked over to the kitchen sink with the hope that the little bastard was flopping in my sink.  Nope.  It was clearly apparent he went down the drain.

After carefully transferring all the other fish, Mackenzie wondered about her fish.  Since he is so small, it is easy to say he is hiding.  And that is how it stands right now because an emergency call has been made to Todd to buy a replacement on his way home tonight.  The neon will “emerge from hiding” a little later.

What is not so easy to cover up is the fact that the red Molly went belly up.  Yep…dead.  Now, the one thing in this world that totally creeps me out is a dead fish (must be the eyes).  So, I had to skillfully scoop it out without the girls noticing.  Somehow, the girls have managed to overlook that a bright red fish is missing.  That too is being “replaced.”  Honestly, that cannot be my fault.  He just went belly up in 20 minutes.  Must have been shock.

However, I do have history.  I once bought a 10 gallon tank and filled it with colorful Mollies and Platy fish.  Within a week, my black Molly was darting around the tank (apparently in pain).  Then, it died a creepy death at the bottom of the tank.  A victim of the dreaded “ick.”  Which, by the way, swiftly wiped out my entire population of fish in a week or so.  That was it for me.  At the moment.

Then, when I left my classroom for administration, my teaching partner bought me one of those clever vases with a plant on top and a beta swimming gleefully along the bottom.  I named it Liz.  Liz quickly died.  So, as a nice gesture, my office staff bought a look alike.  But, as the weather turned colder, I forgot the office got icy over the weekend.  Apparently Liz #2 did not like cold water and died too.  So, my staff, enjoying my issues with fish, thought it would be funny to buy me electric fish.  Eventually the batteries died, and you guessed it, they stopped swimming too.  Do you see a pattern yet?

When I bought my condo, I put two lovely koi in my newly built pond.  My neighbor, who was spraying wasps above my pond, got some of the residue in the water.  This promptly killed my koi. That isn’t technically my fault, even though I asked him to spray, right?

When Kenzie was one, we went to a summer fair.  We accidentally won a goldfish.  We ended up keeping it for three years.  My personal best (probably because Todd was responsible for cleaning the tank).  Then, one day, when my daugher was entertaining a neighbor friend in her room, I went upstairs to find fish food spread throughout her room.  Apparently, it ate most of the evidence in the tank because he was belly up the next day.  That one is okay because his tank was GROSS, and I was waiting for him to die.

So, there you have it.  I honestly try, but those damn things keep dying on me.  My only worry now is that tiny neon didn’t make it down the drain tonight. I will freak out if I find him all dried out on my floor when I go to clean it this weekend.

Glub!  Glub!