O Christmas Tree

On Black Friday we went shopping. Not for electronics, toys, clothes, or other doorbusters, but for a CHRISTMAS TREE :)

For the last six years, we have had a beautiful artificial tree that I got with my Mom the first Christmas we were married {while David was in Iraq}. But since I have fond memories of going and cutting down a Christmas tree each year when I was growing up, getting a real tree once I had kids {that were old enough} has always been my plan {and luckily, David was on board :)}. Thus, we decided last year, that 2011 was the year, the year to start creating similar memories for Ryan and our family :)

The Kinsey Family Farm was beautiful and had tons of trees to choose from -- live, pre-cut or cut your own. It was a super nice day {although it was so warm, it felt like spring rather than the start of the holiday season}. We looked around and then went on a wagon ride out to the fields to see the cut your own trees, and take our 2011 Christmas card picture.

After lots of shots and many different backgrounds {it was so sunny, the lighting/shading was funky in a lot of the pictures}, we finally got a picture that we were happy with. It's not my favorite family picture ever, but it will do for this year. And I do love the setting and the fact that every time I look at this picture hanging on the wall, I will be reminded of our first family Christmas tree outing :)

Coming soon to a mailbox near you :)

Then we headed back to the barn, and got some popcorn, drinks, and a s'more kit. After enjoying our snacks and roasting marshmallows over the fire, we set out to pick out the perfect Christmas tree from the barn {although it turned out that David primarily picked out our tree while Ryan and I ran around the barn playing hide-and-seek amongst the trees :)}

While David paid for our tree and got it loaded on the roof of the car, Ryan and I ventured over to the petting barn to see the goats before we headed home. Ryan is a sucker for animals!

Once home, we got the tree {some type of fir tree} into the stand {which I bought on sale at the end of the season last year ... score!} and put 600 white lights on it. Then it was time to add our ornaments, which I love because they all have a special memory or meaning :)

Ryan had so much fun putting ornaments on the tree this year!

And we now have a "Kinsey Family Farm 2011" pewter ornament in our collection to look back at for Christmases to come. What a neat idea, to give a yearly ornament with your Christmas tree purchase!

It was a fun day, and a great start to our new family tradition!! And we are now enjoying our beautiful tree {David picked a good one!} and all of our Christmas decorations :)

A recap of this month of Thanksgiving

In order to recap the last few weeks {it has been awhile since my last post ... oops!}, here are some of the things for which I have been AND am thankful, in no particular order:

• We are officially settled into our new living arrangements, whether it be at David's office in Kentucky or at my Dad's house in Georgia :)


• Our playgroup that gets together every Monday morning.

• The time we have spent together as a family, despite living in different states :) David has been able to come home for two LONG weekends (Veterans Day and Thanksgiving), which has been awesome!
  


• Safe travels for our immediate and extended families -- back and forth to Kentucky, flights to San Antonio, and car trips from Florida and Augusta, to name a few.
  


• David/Daddy, our hero and veteran. We love him dearly and appreciate all he does for us everyday!!
  


• The time and ability to help others ... whether it be putting up a bulletin board for Laura one afternoon when she needed help at school and had no assistant, or taking dinner to a friend who just had a baby.
  


• New cars :) We traded in my 2005 Honda Accord for a 2010 Honda Odyssey {on Veteran's Day actually}. It is nice, certainly the nicest car I have ever had! David has wanted a van for some time, and it will certainly make our road trips back and forth from Kentucky much easier and roomier.

• A family trip to the zoo on a non-crowded and beautiful Monday afternoon.

• A fun Thanksgiving Day spent with some of those that we love and our new Italian friends {my sister's in-laws-to-be}, as well as a yummy turkey dinner prepared by my Dad.

• The Veggie Tales: Madame Blueberry movie, which reminded us that a thankful heart is a happy heart.
  


• Double Stuf Oreos and the time to transform them into cute little turkeys :) I used these to decorate our tables on Thanksgiving. They were a hit!

• The Charlie Brown Thanksgiving Special that we enjoyed watching together on Thanksgiving night :)

• A pile of leaves, and the opportunity for Ryan to play in them {for the first time ever!}

• A happy couple and their recent engagement. My mom had an engagement party for Laura and Daniel on Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was great to be able to visit with more loved ones as well as some longtime family friends, and to celebrate Laura and Daniel.

• Atlanta Falcons games at the Georgia Dome. This has become a fun Sunday tradition for us and my Dad, over the last few years.

• The fact that the local Tax Commissioners office was closed the Friday after Thanksgiving, which resulted in David staying in town until Monday morning rather than leaving on Sunday afternoon ... we had to get a new tag on the van before he gets home again for Christmas.
  


• Ryan's excitement every time Daddy gets home. It brings tears to my eyes!


• The arrival of the holiday season {and birthday season at our house}. I truely LOVE this time of year. And on that note, we had lots of fun putting up Christmas decorations at Dad's house over Thanksgiving! A whole separate post is coming on this topic soon :)


• Starbucks Eggnog Lattes ... need I say more? I have enjoyed one almost every day since their arrival earlier this month :) Yum!
  


• Operation Christmas Child. We packed a shoebox gift for a needy child overseas {we started this tradition last year}, and I also had the opportunity to volunteer at the OCC warehouse with my MOPS group for an evening. This is an awesome organization and a great way to share God's love with those less fortunate than us. The night I volunteered, we were inspecting shoeboxes for a special mission ... to a Muslim country. It was a fun and rewarding night!

Not to mention ... my sweet little boy, his wonderful preschool {he asks to go to school and has learned so much}, his speech therapy sessions {he is talking so well and will be discharged on December 21st}, his fun SporTykes class {it ended the week before Thanksgiving, but he is going to have a SporTykes birthday party so we are excited about that}, MOPS, our families, spending time with great friends, the US Army, our health and happiness, God's many blessings, and each of YOU!

Moving: Phase 2

Good things come to those who wait! :) This is my new motto as our patience on the house selling front paid off ...

Our house is finally sold!! Closing was a week ago today -- Friday, October 28th at 10:00 AM. I am really thankful to have this process done and over with! And for our AWESOME buyers, who stuck it out for 120 something days and agreed to pay more for the house and in closing costs then they originally offered! God is SO good!

I do miss the house now, and living next door to our awesome neighbors and friends, but since we had to sell it, I am glad that everything worked out ... even if it did take months! :) And I am SO glad that last week is over!!!

I scheduled the movers to come on Wednesday morning {October 26th}, which was the earliest I wanted to have them come since the buyers didn't terminate their due diligence period until Tuesday morning {after an inspection on Monday}. I arraigned for Ryan to have a fun day out of the house -- he went to his Sport Tykes class that morning with a friend in our playgroup, and then headed next door to have lunch, play, and watch movies for a few hours with his BFF, Ellie. Everything was packed {thanks to David for all his hard work before he left, and to my dad and mom for their help over the weekend}, the fridge was defrosted, the washer and dryer were unhooked {never mind the fact that the linoleum floor in the laundry room was ripped in the process :o), the stuff that needed to go to my Dad's house had been taken, and the furniture was dusted and ready to go sit in storage for months {I know I am just as anal as David, in some regards :)}.

This is what the house looked like at about 6 AM on moving day :)

I was prepared for moving day. Or so I thought, until the movers {4 men} stayed at our house for 10 HOURS!!! By hour 6 or 7, I felt like I had been taken hostage since I couldn't leave with them there. It was an absolute disaster!! And the moving company was highly recommended. I hate to even think what would have happened if we had used another {unrecommended} company. I can pretty much guarantee you that I will never move again without David present ... not with young kids at least. M.I.S.E.R.A.B.L.E!!!

The truck that we filled to the brim!!


They padded and shrink wrapped everything. Hopefully
that protected it during the move, and keeps it safe in storage.

Ryan's furniture ... all packed up.


We packed a lot of boxes!!

All I have to say is thank God for my friend/neighbor and my brother!! I truly couldn't have done it without them! Lisa gladly kept Ryan from 11 AM to 7 PM {much longer than she was expecting!}. She fed him lunch and dinner, and made me something for lunch -- which was a lifesaver considering how long the movers took! Not to mention that this was all in addition to having us over for a yummy dinner the night before. Uncle Alan came to the rescue after he got off work {and releaved Lisa so she could get her kids to bed}, canceling his evening plans with a friend. He fed Ryan another round of dinner {since he hadn't eaten yet}, got him a character cookie at Publix for a fun treat {and saved me half :)}, put Ryan to bed since he was exhausted and hadn't had a nap, and let Riley out to go to the bathroom -- she had been stuck at my Dad's house all day {and Dad was in Cleveland, Ohio on a business trip}.

R enjoyed playing in his empty room for a brief second :)
He didn't quite understand where all his stuff had gone though.

There were 2 moments from my LONG day with Atlanta Peach Movers that especially stand out ...

1. Moving the 500 pound gun safe out of the closet in the master bedroom and down the stairs. I had been worried about how this was going to be done for weeks since the sales consultant estimated that the safe only weighed 50 pounds! It took all 4 guys at least an hour to get it on the truck. Thankfully no one was hurt and nothing was damaged. I had my doubts for a little while!

I snapped this picture, which I'm sure thrilled them,
and then hid in the closet until they were done :)

2. As it started to get dark {around hour 8}, there were still some big items in the house -- the big flat screen TV, entertainment center, refrigerator, double mattress and box spring, queen mattress and box spring, and decorative tree come to mind. This wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that the truck was basically full! Did I already mention that this experience was a disaster?? So, the supervisor went out to the truck, unloaded a bunch of stuff on the driveway, and then repacked the truck with flashlights. I was dying at this point! Some how he managed to fit {or should I say jam} everything on board, with the exception of the tree, which he put in the front with him, a few small garage items that I said I would just take in the car with me, and all of their extra pads, blankets, and dollies -- someone else had to come out and pickup all the supplies the following afternoon.

The truck is filling up and there is still A LOT of stuff to load!

Some of the stuff, waiting to be packed/repacked
on the truck in the dark.

I finally left the house about 9:45 PM, and headed straight for Chick-fil-A for some dinner {we ate there 5 times last week!} At this point, I just hoped our stuff arrived in Kentucky in one piece, was glad to no longer be a hostage, and was thrilled that I didn't have to deal with the movers at the storage unit in Kentucky ... it was now David's turn for some fun :)

Unfortunately, the next day {Thursday} wasn't much better/easier. I spent ALL day cleaning and trying to repair the laundry room floor {I had NO idea what I was doing!} since I didn't get to do anything on Wednesday afternoon like I was planning, except for deal with movers. I was also really tired as my adrenaline had worn off! Lisa took care of Ryan again for me for a few hours after he finished at school, and Aunt Laura came and got him after work -- she took him to see her dogs, which he loves, fed him dinner and took him to Target to get a new toy {2 actually, a dog puppet and a big animal figurine}.

Looking back on everything, as well as the fact that I was basically a non-existent single mother for several days, I have several thoughts: (1) moving is not fun no matter how prepared you try to be, (2) I am lucky to have some wonderful people in my life whom I was able to call on when I needed help ... it was such a relief to know that I didn't have to worry about my sweet boy with everything else that I was responsible for handling, and to always know that he was being loved on, well taken care of, and having fun was awesome!! Thank you so much Lisa, Uncle Alan, and Aunt Laura!, (3) that God doesn't give us more than we can handle ... or I wouldn't have survived to tell about it!, and (4) as I already mentioned, I am SO glad that this phase is now over :)

As for our stuff, it got to the storage unit in Kentucky around 5 PM on Thursday evening. The final weight came in around 10,000 pounds, which was 1,500 pounds more than the estimate ... probably the reason the truck was snug! Thank goodness I fought to get a binding agreement on Monday so we didn't have to pay anymore!! I had a feeling the estimate was off based on the weight of our stuff when we moved from Fayetteville and the fact that the safe added 450 pounds alone. David was there to meet the truck and apparently gave them a hand, even though I don't technically think he was allowed to go onto the truck. He didn't unpack anything but didn't hear any glass jingling around in the boxes or see any damage to the wrapping on our furniture ... so hopefully we aren't in for any big surprises in a few months when we go to unpack! The only thing noticeably broken was a knob on the dryer, which they will have fixed.

And the best part of the unloading story is the fact that the moving truck got stuck in the mud at the storage unit {it had rained earlier in the day} and they had to call a wrecker to tow them out at 11 PM when they finished unloading :) At least David was able to lock our unit and head home at that point!

It was a memorable few days in the Harris household! :)