Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Done in OH, now in IN!

All of our things are now in Macon, GA being stored until we reach the base and set up for our things to be delivered to our new home. Yes... we have a new home! We will be moving to 202 Fort Valley Street on Warner Robins AFB. The home is brand new as are the homes in that area. It will prove to be our most interesting move yet as we have 5 children this time and we will be living on the actual base. We have lived in base housing before... just never ON base. The benefits are very good. We will be close -as in a half a mile- to a gym, a lake, and a running track. Thankfully, we will also be moving up in square footage too! The house is 2500 sq. ft., 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths with a 2 car garage attached and all in a single story! It will hopefully give us some room to breathe! We were in 1580 sq. ft., 4 bedroom, 2.5 baths, with a single car garage in a 2 stories in Dayton. We are hoping to downsize a little with the amount of "stuff" we have too...
While we are in transition, we are staying with Jerry's parents in Whitestown, IN. We will be here until the 20th of June or so. We are hoping to get our house on the 22nd and get delivery of our household goods that week. We will keep everyone posted as to when and what we will be doing.

A funny story from when I brought Jay and Anna and Caleb back to IN:
We stopped at Cracker Barrel in Richmond, IN to eat supper. We went in and got our table. The server came up and asked us all what we wanted to drink and Jay was quick to answer, "I want a diet coke!" I quickly shook my head to the server and said, "No, we still have a long drive ahead of us. We will all take water. Thank you." The server paused for a moment and Jay again quickly responded with, "Well how about a beer?! Can I have a beer?" Wow... really?! See, I know I looked like I had been living a rough life b/c I was in my cut off sweats and a T-shirt, NO make up to speak off, and I am sure my hair was looking a little wild! What that server must have thought... I have no clue! I just laughed and said... "No... we are not having ROOT BEER either!" At least the server got a little giggle out of it... I was mortified! Oh well. What do you do?

On Memorial Day, we went over to see my Grandpa Dragon's new house and visit with the family. It was a lot of fun! We got to see all the cousins -well, the closer ones- and their kids and life was grand. Xavier had to life threatening events... He fell down 3/4 of the basement stairs, from the top of course, and he almost ran behind a car backing out. I love that boy dearly, and I swear one of the days he is going to give me a heart attack! Someone asked me if I ever wished I had stopped at 2... to which I replied, "On days like today... yes!" However, I can't imagine my life without my 5 kids. And I do thank God for them daily.
Despite the rain and the mud, we had a fantastic family gathering. One of my uncles brought an old home video from 12 years ago. That was fun to watch and see us all young. To be honest, I don't remember that day, but it looked like I had a lot of fun. What a joy it must have been for my grandparents to see their kids and their kids' kids all playing on a beautiful afternoon! I look forward to those days with my own children. But I sure don't want to rush to it! I am enjoying this stage a lot right now!

Gotta get the last of the kids to bed!

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Let the chaos begin!

So we are down to our final push this weekend before our movers come on Monday. I have the girls packed for the most part and their small clothes put up in Space Saver bags. Now I just need to finish their laundry and the boys so I can put the girls clothes in bags or a suitcase and begin the boys packing! Whew... A lot left to do and short time to do it... Hopefully it will all go quickly and smoothly.

Our trip to Vegas was a lot of fun. We felt like we were in a whirlwind the whole time, but enjoying ourselves as we went. We didn't get to go down to the strip or do any real gambling. We didn't really want to gamble but we would have liked to have seen the strip. We will see it this fall hopefully! We did get to see some of the hotels downtown. Jerry got to see the inside of the Luxor hotel and we both got to see the inside of the Bellagio as our friends took us to see the "O" show there. It is their Cirque du Soliel show and it was ASTOUNDING! Simply amazing! The tricks and side shows and the water and the stunts... WOW! It is defintely a show anyone going there should see!

While we were there Caleb got sick, which isn't too good since he is a slow weight gainer. Jerry and I talked it over and we are supplementing him with formula. With the stress of the move and how small he is already... we can't really take any chances with him not gaining what he should. I am a little saddened but at the same time I feel a little more free. He is the longest I have nursed any of my boys. Half the time I feel like I fight him to nurse because he wants to see the kids or what is going on around him. This way he can.

Jerry cut Caleb's hair this week as well. He cut off his little mohawk... that makes me sad. He doesn't look like a little baby anymore. He looks like a bigger baby... So many changes in one week are starting to weigh on my emotions here! All sweet babies must get bigger and all military families have to move eventually... this I know, but it doesn't make it any easier when it stares you in the face!

We are hoping to have some good family time before we move down to GA. We still haven't found a house to buy or rent. That is starting to get to Jerry and I but we are just holding on to our faith in that God provides us what we need when we need it and that is that!

My parents are coming over this Friday to drop off furniture and take two of our kiddos back with them. We were going to send the older 4 home but decided that Jay and Anna are old enought that they will probably need closure on this move. So we are keeping them and Caleb with us and sending Xavier and Sydney home to spend the week with g-parents. Hopefully, it will be a lot less stress all around for everyone! Only time will tell though!

I better get off here and fold some clothes and switch the others over so I can finish up the packing of our clothes that we HAVE to have!!

We hope to see all our local friends and ones in IN before we go. Please forgive us if we don't!