Moved. UGH.

So we are finally moved. Lets see. The details include the following.

Friday night I got off work and actually left a little early, I was soo excited but once I got home I was soo looking forward to a nice relaxing night in Maricopa, figured I would spend one last night the Landers (the Troj fam had plans already) and so I got home, got the kids ready, looked around the house, saw it had some last minute stuff to do but I PUT IT OFF. I know I know. GASP. So not like me to NOT just do something when I see it. Anywho, I called my dad, to make sure he had gotten on the road and he had, safe and sound so off I went to the Copa.

Get out there around I dunno 6 or so and that is when the chaos began. My dad called around 7 and told me that he was going to just pick up my grandpa at 1 or 2 am and then head down and be at the house at 6 or 7! WHAT! Goodness, there went my relaxing night. I got all the kids back in the car, said our goodbyes and headed back home. UGH. I got home, packed up the last of the stuff (well that I could manage staying awake for and then I went to bed, around midnight.

WOke up at 4 am to finish the last stuff, and get the kids up, dad showed up around 630 and we packed and packed and packed and at around 1030 we were done, and finally got the cleaning part. It was sort of a funny experience. The kids were great, all things considered, but no matter how prepared I thought I was it seemed there was stuff popping up all over the place. I also waited to do the last vacuum job and mop till we were all out of the house. Apparently my GPA thought this was just to much and reminded me how I wasn't as "done" as I had said. UH. HELLO, who cleans BEFORE a ton of people walk all through the house. NOT ME. As far as the stuff popping up, I am only one person. GIVE ME A BREAK!

ANywho, we headed back to CA (Palm Springs) to cut the drive a bit short so we werent soo tired when we made the final stretch. It worked out really well actually. Got to see my GMA (she will be back down on Thursday night in Napa, and then after some grub (pizza and soda) we all called it an early night. THe first drive to Palm Springs my gpa drove with me and Rian thinking that breaking up the kids would be easiest. Yeah not so much. The girls TOTALLY save me with Rian in the back seat. 3 kids FTW. So the next day we took Carina and Dad and Gpa took Neya. Worked out REALLY well. THey said Neya was a dream and Carina helped out a ton so seems it worked out perfectly. Now if only I could get all the kids to work together nicely with no arguing every other day! Ugh, still a work in progress.

We only had to stop twice and the biggest heart attack was when we stopped to get gas in LA and paid 52 bucks to fill our tank. UGH. Talk about culture shock! I am soo used to NEVER paying more than 36. Luckily its about 60 - 70 cents cheaper here in Napa than it was there, but still, to expensive for my blood. Then again I have been here since Sunday afternoon and still am good on the quarter tank we ended the long trip on so I guess its all relative.

Now as far as adjusting. Rians room looks the most normal. I will have to post pics soon, the girls got their bunk beds up and RC and I have a super comfy bed, compared to our rock hard bed we had in AZ. I had a bit of a meltdown last night and this AM because I am a bit homesick. Odd especially since this is HOME, by all counts. I mean I grew up here and lived here for hte first 21 years of my life! Haha. AZ will always have a sepcial place in my heart though, I feel like I was able to grow up there, establish a career, become a better parent and more grounded wife and GAWD I made some REALLY good friends.

Still have yet to see friends, they all have their lives here and the friends I thought I would be excited to (by sheer fact that we used to hang all the time) I haven't really wanted to call since they have their own 'stuff' going on. I just don't want to get in the middle of it all. So, that leaves me here at home, this next month is going to be long one. Perhaps when I get back to work it won't be so bad.

Well that is it, in a shortened non dramatic way. I will post more as I am not just sitting here at the computer. THe days are full, with three kids and chores and errands and unpacking and organizing and all that jazz its been hectic! REALLY hectic! So, like always, even when I work, its a full day every day. HOwever, I am going ot make the best of this next month. BY THE WAY, I cannot get a library card until I get some mail sent here (don't have my CA license yet)...they said I can even send myself a letter. Haha, so official. Apparently it just has to have my name on it, a napa address and a postmark. Nice.

Well thats it, gotta run, the kids are hungry hungry hippos ;)

Friends. Farewell. Fathers Day.

Well, our last full weekend has come and gone. We seemed to have done a ton that we wouldn't normally do, so it made it a GREAT weekend.

Friday night was chill, not much going on, and Saturday morning we started it with donuts and a trip to the IMAX to go see Toy Story 3 in 3d. I have been to a lot of 3d movies and Sequels and NONE were as good as the Toy Story 3 one. It was GREAT. I may be biast as I love Toy Story in general but it even had me tearing up (I think I'm getting old cause I have lost control of my tear ducts...I cry at everything). The rest of the afternoon was chill, we headed home and at 530 we took the kids to the neighbors and Alison Dave and I got ready for a grown up night out!

We headed out to Hooters around 7 and grubbed out with friends, had good laughs and oddly, bonded with a friends wife that I have only met a couple times but feel OOBER close to. They are struggling with having a baby and we got on the subject. It makes my heart hurt when I have friends so close that have such a hard time having a baby but are SOOO deserving. I don't want to put them out on blast on my Blog to much but I do want to say that I absolutely adore them and wish only the best. I will do whatever they need, even if its just sends words of encouragement, throughout their entire journey. I love you guys...you know who you are!

Sorry, kinda got off the track there, after Hooters wings and FRIED Pickles (Nom Nom Nom) we headed over to Fox and Hound to play some pool, play some darts and chat it up. The turnout was small and intimate and I realized it was PERFECT. The folks I could have expected to show up did and I even had a little surprise by one gentleman who to be honest, I am soo proud of. I saw him grow from an Intern to where he is now and am proud to say he "grew up" on my team. Anywho, we all caught up, stayed out till 130 (well some of us did) and then headed home where we discovered McDonalds closes out their shake and ice cream machines at 12! LAME. Really McDonalds. Why be 24 hours if I can't even get a shake!

Sunday was Fathers Day, we were fatherless (in presence) so instead we got Dave (Jacks dad and mine and Alisons DD from the night before) Coffee and Donuts. We also had a carpet cleaner come and clean up the carpets. Which to be honest was kinda gross, it brought up animal pee smell and I KNOW our dogs and cat did not do that (minus a couple accidents) so the previous renters little tiny Chihuahuas had to be the culprits. I mean if that ate and scratched at all the door frames I can only imagine how much they peed on the carpets. Anywho, as the carpets were cleaned and I have now grossed you out in a major way, you will be glad to know that Alison and Dave took Neya and Rian to Maricopa with them and I kept Carina as we had to sit for some friends at 330. While Neya and Rian most likely got spoiled I decided to do the same for Carina, it has been a while since I had a day or even afternoon alone with just her. So we went to see Karate Kid, ate lunch, went to Best Buy, Target and Old Navy (she had a gift card). She got some jammies and a backpack and to be honest, it was a much needed daughter/mommy day. Also note, Karate Kid was SOO good.

After the movie we watched our neighbors kids for about an hour, and took them to get ice cream McFlurrys (it was the next day so they NOW had the stupid machine open) and they enjoyed a fun time. I enjoyed seeing them together and it also made me kind of sad, mostly because these are friends Carina and Neya have known for 6 years so to say goodbye is going to be hard. They ate, had fun, were silly and even had a photo shoot in the middle of McDonalds. Haha. In fact an older couple said to me "it is nice to see a parent letting the kids enjoy themselves, these days people are in such a rush!" So kudos to me I suppose.

JUST After such a great time my landlord decided to call and tell us she needed partial rent for July and wanted us to repaint a couple walls. SERIOUSLY, she is telling me this 6 days before I leave. I seriously flew off the handle. My relaxing night I had planned was now thrown into a whirlwind. I went and grabbed Rian and Neya from Maricopa (there went TWO hours of my life) I went to Target and grabbed some cheap paint crap (we already had the actual paint color at the house) and went home. I decided not to paint that night as it put me in a horrid mood so instead we covered the FRESHLY cleaned and somewhat moist carpets in towels and blankets. Blocked off every area but our sleeping area and the bathrooms and had a night at home. We skyped with RC and well, that was it. Why COMPLETELY ruin the kids good night just because we had a little bit of rushed and somewhat crappy news. So this week, my goal is to paint those walls and then be good. She comes by on Wednesday so hopefully we get the stamp of approval. UGH.

Well that sums up our weekend. I also bought a book to read, as it will help me destress. I am going to take the TV down this week and patch the holes from our wall anchor and then SERIOUSLY we will be good to go. Kinda crazy that this is the last week. Makes me sad and emotional but hopefully it will all be okay. I have kept in touch with my CA friends since being here and I hope to do the same with my AZ friends. I do NOT want to lose touch.

Anywho, now we have the pictures. ENJOY!

Quick Pics

So I am not normally a mom that can let go of control in her household but since we have taken up new living habits (sleeping on air mattresses) we have decided to have fun with it. So the first night I totally let the kids have at it and they were jumping back and forth. It was HILARIOUS. About 30 minutes in I decided, "hey I should take some pics!" so that is exactly what I did and this is what we got! Kinda cute.




Also. I have never been the person to fall into trends, or see something cute on TV and HAVE to have it or even care what an outfit looks like on me for that matter. I have a horrible sense of fashion, however I was watching Kate Plus 8 (yes you can laugh for my choice of shows...but I LOVE IT) and I saw her wearing this shirt. I avoided buying it for a couple days, but could not stop thinking about how CUTE it was. SO I caved. I figured. I have been moving, being a single mom and all the while not really done anything for myself so here it is. A shirt that I LOVE. Now I bought it in a medium and uh...lets just say its form fitting. GAWD I need to lose some weight. Anywho, here are some pics of the MUST HAVE Shirt that I saw...GASP...on a reality show :)




Now, last post I told you about our living situation. I told you about our 12x6 square in our garage and well, here are some pics to prove that we are down to bare bones. CRAZY when you really look at it this way.






And to end this, a funny pic of Rian in a bag...Note the name of the restaurant ;)

9 days

That is how long we have until we are officially going to be IN Napa. Crazy. I have to stop and think about how much has gone on. We have sold nearly EVERYTHING in our house, we have packed it all up into a neat little 12x6 rectangle in our garage and the extra stuff that is left by the time my dad and grandpa shows up is going to the dumps!

I spent last night with our friends the Troj's and we all had a good time, they made the girls' favorite dinner...breakfast for dinner. We had pancakes, hashbrowns, bacon, eggs and for DESSERT (yes we had dessert to) we had fondue. The boys played like crazy, the girls were being girls and listening to music and all around it was a great time.

The stress level on my end is going up. I have a few things left to tie up...

1. What are we going to do with our cat, we have to stay overnight in Palm Springs and my grandparents house is not a place I want her tearing up
2. We have to get a storage unit ready for when we get there, so we can unload right into from the trailer (most things but clothes/beds and toys are going in there)
3. We have to turn off all the utilities, the Dish service is already cancelled.
4. We have to get our car registered AS SOON as I get there, as it is already expired.
5. We have to get the girls enrolled in school, this might have to wait till mid July
6. We have to find a daycare for Rian, good thing I have a month off to get this done, we are picky!

As you can tell we have TONS of stuff to do and that list is JUST what I am thinking of right now, but the other longer more stressful list goes like this...and mostly consists of details for Rian...

1. We have to transfer all his heart doctor stuff to San Fran docs (we need a cardio specialist)
2. We have to find a good pediatrician...when it comes to Rian I NEED that doctor to pay attention to details
3. We have to make sure the daycare we take him to doesn't have crappy teachers and hygiene because I DO NOT want to have him sick and back in the hospital again.
4. We have to make sure we are good on our finances because the month I am off is unpaid. LAME!

Those are what are really stressing me out but again, those are the bigger detail type of things. The reality that we are moving is here, we are sleeping on air mattresses and living out of boxes, guiltily we out more than I would but I am NOT doing dishes after a night of cleaning and packing. In fact, I will post some pics tonight after we get the cleaning done. We have carpet shampooers coming this weekend and we are probably going to be spending a good chunk of the week with friends, spending the night so that we can stay out of our SUPER empty house.

I can't wait for next Friday to get here (that is when my dad shows up) I am READY READY READY to head out on this new venture. MOSTLY because my patience and sanity is wearing thin and I am trying to not explode with other way minor frustrations...those being...

1. RC owes me roughly 300 diaper changes (mostly poopy) without any complaining
2. RC owes me many nights of dinner that he cooks as I have been the sole contributor, no hunny this does not include take out
3. The kids owe me a whole month of no arguing if they plan on the remainder of their summer to be spent OUTSIDE of their rooms.
4. I owe myself a day of pampering because most days, I can barely remember to put on deodorant and brush my teeth, but not to fret the kids are well dressed and THEIR hygiene is top notch.

As you can see these last couple months have wore me out. It probably wouldn't have been so bad but due to my urgency to save money I opted out of movers to pack up everything and I chose to have a garage sale which meant lots of stuff being thrown out, sorted and priced, which was its own stress.

THis weekend the friends from out here are going to have a farewell thing for me, Hooters for dinner (LOVE IT) and Fox and Hound for fun and drinks that night. They have pool tables and drinks and darts and TV's for our enjoyment. Should be a good time, chill to say the least.

I will post pics of the house soon and when I do you will feel my pain. Empty house, three kids. BOO, don't try this on your own :)

Sleep Over!

The kids stayed at Alisons house last night as we had some babysitter dilemmas and she got some cute pics and a quick vid (it's sideways but listen to what Rian says...he loves me!)

Pic-cha

Pic-Cha. That is how Rian says picture. And when we are alone, downstairs sitting on the couch, he grabs my phone and he says "I take pic-cha". Haha. So on my camera phone we have silly pics but none of those I will post because they are dark, scary and blurry. Haha.

With that being said, we are going to miss a lot of things about Arizona and at the top of that list is friends, carefree and loving friends. We have made a lot of friends out here and not friends that are "the kids friends" or friends that our "grown up friends" but friends that are truly "FAMILY friends". We have so much in common, we share our problems, our joys and our tears and growing and changing moments. We realize we parent similarly with some, different with others but at the end of the day we all love our kids just the same. Now don't get me wrong, I still have my moments where I feel like I don't parent as good as other folks, or that I am not the mom that "she may be" but I know that they don't judge me for that and I think that is what I am going to miss. I know that in CA we go back to having family and folks around that might turn around, and talk about how "odd" our family is, how "different" we do things, where here, in AZ, they would tell us to our face what they see us doing different, oddly or even "poorly" and we would explain why it works for us and all would be well in the world. Haha. We would move on and love eachother for the friends we are, not the friends we pretended to be.

Ugh. Even just writing it out makes me feel like I am going to miss them but while I have time left I am going to take advantage of being able to spend time with them, take "pic-chas" so we never forget them and make our bond even stronger so that before we leave we know we will always have eachothers backs.

Now.

I know I have friends in CA (you know who you are) that we can 100% be ourselves around and for that I am greatful. HOWEVER, friends that think we are on the same page, will quickly see we aren't and I hope they don't feel offended and mostly just realize we have changed in this time away and that they accept us for who they are. Will they? I doubt it, but hey, you can only smile and go on with your day! To those that are our REAL friends, to our face as they are when we leave, I am SOO grateful and excited to get back to where we are close as well, not only in friendships but in location ;)

The other things I am EXCITED about...are in this order...

**This first one doesn't even get a number but it is...***
***Excited to see how RC's company grows and expands. I am so proud of my hubby***

1. Marys Pizza Shack...MMM...YUMMY...I feel the pounds hitting my waist already!
2. Taqueria Rosita...OMG...soo glad you are close to my hair lady...I have an appt the Wed I return!

YES Food is REALLY something I am THAT excited about...DON'T JUDGE ME...if you know me, you appreciate my excitement!

3. Family (this include friends)...yes I am excited to be back, however, I have liked being able to pick and choose when we are around ya...DON'T get offended, I am sure you feel the same about having our crazy family around
4. GRASS...I am so excited to be able to have Rian LIKE grass, currently he is kind of afraid of it.
5. NO ALLERGIES...I am REALLY hoping that my allergies go away like they used to be, when we visit they leave so I am hoping when we move they leave to!
6. Country...I am excited to raise the kids back in the country. It grounded me in general I think and I hope it does the same for them
7. Bike Rides...It won't be crazy hot so I look forward to getting back to riding bikes and such through the summer :)
8. CLOSENESS...we have really been away a long time so I am glad that we will be back to gettting close!

So with all the good comes some bad but mostly good as usual :) I am excited to have RC have his business take off, see what the next chapter of my job holds in store for me and to see where we end up in the long run. Wish us luck guys...not to much longer now! Less than 3 weeks!

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As a quick MENTION, we have also met a new baby, and her name is Charlotte Paige Neal! She is ADORABLE. I didn't get to take as many pics as I wanted, or get to hold her as long as I had desired HOWEVER here are the few that are cute. Congrats Mommy and Daddy Neal, you are some lucky parents!