Early in May, our family waved good-bye to our home, our church, our friends, and our beloved Montana. Our new journey had begun. Halfway through our drive to Texas, we drove through tornado alley during an exciting (and scary!) storm. The radio was reporting multiple tornado warnings, we heard city sirens blaring when we stopped for dinner in Kansas, and once back on the road, we even spotted a funnel cloud waaaay off in the distance in northern Oklahoma. That night, we were forced to change our hotel reservation, due to high flooding and strong winds mere miles from our hotel. Plus, at least two tornadoes had touched down right along the interstate less than 10 miles ahead of us. It felt sooo good to get out of the car that night and safely rest our heads down for bed! Finally, after 3 days and 24+ hours in the car, we crossed the border into Texas, our new home.
Our siblings, Matt and Kim, had graciously agreed to host us at their home until we officially moved in to our new home. This next pic will make my Billings friends smile.... Before leaving Montana, we received this long purple snake as a hand-me-down from my friend Samie. A large stuffed snake was one of the top birthday wish-list items for our nephew Ian. We traveled across 6 states with this unique stuffed animal in our van. Jaden and Cody couldn't wait to see Ian's reaction when he received the gift. As expected, Ian loved the gift and is even known to keep the snake beside him in bed each night!
The day we arrived was Ian's actual birthday. We were happy to join the rest of the family for Ian's requested birthday dinner of pizza and brownies for dessert.
The next day Jaden and Cody, along with cousin Ryan, helped out in the kitchen to make a cake for Ian's upcoming birthday party.
The best part, of course, was licking the spoon at the end. Gotta love these cake-batter mustaches. :)
The cousins weren't the only ones who enjoyed the few days of living together... I'm not even sure what Matt and Jason were doing on the computer this particular evening, but the brotherly similarities sure made for a funny photo op. :)
After arriving in Texas, things moved rather quickly for us. We pulled in to Matt and Kim's on a Thursday evening, signed the paperwork for our new home on Friday afternoon, cleaned out the home that night, and then welcomed the moving truck early Saturday morning. We were eager to move in-- we love our new home!
It was such a relief to see that all of our belongings had survived the 1600 mile journey.
We enjoyed seeing the double-deck feature of the truck that allowed our car to be transported right below all of our boxes. Amazing!
That morning, Amy was in charge of checking off all the boxes that the movers brought in,
...Jason did TONS of odd jobs, including purchasing water and a few candy bar treats for our moving crew,
... and Grammy (who had flown in on Friday evening) was the amazing helper who entertained Cody and Jaden during all of the busy-ness. Here, the threesome made their own picnic snack by sitting on packing paper squares. The moving process sure involves a LOT of improvising and making-do, doesn't it? :)
Grammy made our lives a thousand times less stressful by helping out with our boys. She even convinced them to help unpack several kitchen pantry boxes. Jaden and Cody were SO excited about this task. They eagerly identified each food item as they pulled it out of the box.
In fact, with both boys unpacking simultaneously, Grammy really had to work to keep up!
These few kitchen boxes, and the boxes that contained our bedding, were about the only things that got unpacked that day. Instead, we spent the majority of our day (after the full move-in morning) helping out with Ian's birthday party, and then the next morning was Jason's installation at church. Did I mention that we had a busy weekend? :) It actually felt good to tackle the unpacking in stages. On Sunday afternoon, Matt and Kim's family came over after church to help unpack. The guys started in the master closet (which is quite roomy!).
Even the newest 6-year-old helped out. Ian sorted and matched all of our shoes into pairs, not pausing until the job was done. What an awesome little worker!
Meanwhile, the women tackled the kitchen. The biggest chore was simply finding the items in the boxes amid all the packing paper.
Little Nathan thought the packing paper was just GREAT! (P.S. Don't I have a wonderful sister? One who's willing to unpack even while holding a baby!)
Organizing the kitchen, in my opinion, is very overwhelming. I loved having my mom and sister there to give suggestions and even sometimes to just make the decisions for me!
Grammy enlisted Cody and Jaden's help to stuff our mounds of packing paper into garbage bags. Looks like fun, huh? :)
Later in the week, Jason's parents (who were still in town caring for baby Isaiah), along with Chelsea and Isaiah, brought a tasty dinner over for us. With so much family around, I got pretty used to this not-having-to-cook gig! After dinner, the family stayed late to a help with number of tasks-- unpacking a few more boxes, carrying tons of boxes up to the attic, and playing with Jaden and Cody. We were definitely spoiled by all of our helping hands during the moving process.
Grammy stayed in town for about a week and a half to help us settle in. Jason jumped right into a full week of work, so it was very nice having Grammy around. We went on quite a few errands together. What a treat to have an extra set of hands while shopping with two 3-year-olds! Sometimes Grammy just took the boys for a ride in the cart around the entire store while Mommy made her purchases. :)
Back at home, Grammy would either unpack (while the boys were sleeping) or entertain (while the boys were awake). She came up with all kinds of ideas to keep the boys busy so that Mommy could make more progress with the home. What a gift! Grammy and the boys went on walks around our neighborhood (which has two ponds inhabited by many ducks).
Another afternoon, they made brownies together. (I think Jaden and Cody got excited about this when they were unpacking the pantry, as they kept on exclaiming, "more brownies!" whenever they uncovered pretty much any boxed food item.)
Grammy even got out an extra spoon so that both boys could have a sample.
Yum!
Reading together was another popular activity.
We appreciated that Grammy was able to keep life fairly consistent for Jaden and Cody by focusing on them and doing things they loved. She definitely made their initial transition much smoother! In addition, we were so thankful for all the uninterrupted time she gave us to organize. By the time Grammy left, we had less than 5 boxes left to unpack in our new home. Hooray!
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