Phew

Boy! We are pretty tired here at the Call household...pretty happy too! All week I worked on unpacking and ironically repacking the same boxes. It felt like two steps forward and three back. After 9 months in the rental unit we accumulated the equivalent of another household sans major furniture. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we spent a couple hours packing and stuffing our cars with as much stuff as possible. Friday morning I buckled down and spent the entire morning packing and with the help of Alison and her van transported about 80% of our stuff to the new house. Man, Alison is an angel! Her and Matt constantly answer to our calls for assistance. She is earning a butt load of free photo shoots and cute crocheted hats. Friday by 10 pm we were completely out of the house...well, the goldfish are still swimming over there. Another friend traded skills with me, she cleaned our apartment for free in exchange for updated family pictures. After the pizza/oven fiasco she earned her dues by cleaning the oven. That story is summed up with these words: flimsy pizza, no cutting board, trying to get pizza out of oven with cardboard, and falling into hot oven door crack. Now that we are out of the apartment I can empty boxes and organize with everything in one location. Progress will be made...one room at a time.

Wednesday evening we spent our first night at the new house. It was hard to settle down to sleep! We are super glad to sleep in our huge King SIZED bed after 9 months. I put Phillip's crib together. Amelia was upset that her princess bed was transformed into a monkey crib. She still has her princess pillow. Melissa, Jonathon, Ethan, and Grant joined us that first night. They were passing through back to Utah after a visit to the Calls in Virginia. I am afraid they were rather neglected as I raced around trying to get everything set for sleeping. Melissa just jumped right in and made our bed and helped put Amelia's door on. Poor guys were worn out after driving 36 hours. I am glad Justin put the guest bed together. Ethan found a comfy bed in Phillip's Moses basket! The boys and Mia helped me give Phillip a bath the next morning.

Thursday we took a morning break. Justin's coworkers threw us a baby shower for Phillip. We had a little lunch at the Goose pit, a couple gifts, and cake. Their generosity was much appreciated. The kids wore their matching leaf outfits! I was excited for an opportunity to dress them up.

Justin is earning angel wings. He is so patient with me and my crazy ideas. I wanted to paint all the trim and doors, so removed all the doors AND hardware. I did not know hardware is door specific so everything was jumbled up. The doors are not fitting back into the frames because the screw holes are stripped and the hardware mixed up. He did not say "I told you so..." in words at least. He has to give me a picture of what to do (explain why) otherwise I'll do it my way, which is not organized.

Today I felt encouraged to get one room completely finished. The toilet was in the tub and the kids needed a bath so the main bathroom was organized. Sometimes the movers pack silly stuff. I found three entire sheets of paper cradling two stale crackers the other day. Amelia helped me by putting stuff back in boxes once I unwrapped the items. It was fun to watch her begin to sort stuff. By noon all the sundry items were put away, by 1 pm the toilet installed, and by dinner the bathroom was cleaned, decorated, and ready for action. Getting one room done was very encouraging. We took another break this evening to watch a movie at the local theater, "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." It was very silly and more than a little strange. The kid's book is about a thousand times better. Mia enjoyed it!