Packing the House - Weekend 3

We repeated weekend 1 this weekend except on a larger scale.  We got the BIG U-Haul this time!  I have to give Jerry some credit here - I was pretty sure all that stuff would never fit in that truck, but after some selling on Craigslist and leaving a few extra things for the furniture movers it all went in!!  By this point though I had had enough of packing and loading!!  My plan was to return the next weekend to tie up loose ends and be there when the movers came for our big stuff.  Instead I decided it was more than I could handle and Jerry came instead!!  What a relief!!

Will's four-wheeler was one sacrifice in the move.  We knew he wouldn't have a place to ride
very often after we moved so he and Jerry talked about it and decided to trade it in
for a new gun for Will.  Despite the fact that I was nervous when he got the
four-wheeler I was a little sad to see it go since he enjoyed riding it so much.

Lost a Tooth

Will's two front teeth have been slowly loosening for quite some time.  I think it started when he bumped them on the slide one day in kindergarten.  The first one finally came out before school this morning, and the other is hanging in there at an odd angle!

Always stop and smell the roses (or any flower) - especailly when mom is trying to take your picture!!  :)

Packing the House - Weekend 2

We had more packing to do in VA, but since school just started on Thursday, I didn't want to make Will spend so much time driving over the weekend.  Plus he had his first soccer game and didn't want to miss it.  So Jerry stayed with Will while I came to VA to continue packing.  Thanks to lots of helping hands we made good progress.

Jerry took Will kayaking on the lake.  It was a little rainy but they
both had fun anyway.

Will was really excited to paddle his own kayak!

They paddled to the cliffs which Will was calling the cave.  :)

Then they fed the carp....

And played a rather wet game of soccer.

Here was my weekend!!

We were all tired by the time we stopped but we got at least 95% of the house packed!!

First Grade

This is Will's second day of first grade.  Of course I forgot to get the picture on the actual first day!  Since its October already before I'm posting this, I can comment on how well school is going for Will this year!  It's totally opposite from last year - often during his prayers he actually says "thank you that I got to go to school today!"  Several factors have helped I think, including school here starting an hour later, Will getting to be in class with his friends, and a good teacher this year.  I'm so thankful and it helps reassure us we made the right decision in moving back. 

Packing the House - Weekend 1

We came back to VA this weekend to start packing up the house.  Acco doesn't designate a moving company like MeadWestvaco did, which I'm glad for after our last experience with movers.  We bought lots of boxes (which was crummy after giving away tons of boxes less than a year ago!!), rented a U-Haul and storage unit, and started packing and loading.  It was a bit challenging sorting out what should go into storage and what we needed to make room for in the apartment.  Also, not knowing how long we would be in the apartment, I tried to organize what things we may need access to and keep those items near the door.  So much planning and organizing!!

Will helped but as usual he won't help with anything that's
within his ability - he has to take the huge box!  : )

He was super excited to have the box truck here and help load it.

And he was even more excited to ride in it!
One truckload down.  It was rather sad.....

Acco Employee Picnic at DelGrosso's

We missed DelGrosso's Amusement Park while we were gone so it was nice to have the company picnic the first weekend we were back.  

 

We arrived early enough this year to make quite a few laps on the go karts.

Will obviously still loves trying to get in the way of my pictures so this one
turned out cute of him and Amie.

Will was thrilled to have his friends to ride with again!

Our New Apartment



While I was taking care of Will and the house in VA, Jerry was working on finding us a place to live in PA.  There were no houses for sale over the summer that we were very interested in, and we would really prefer to sell our house before we buy another.  Also, Jerry's boss at work (who lived across the street from us when we lived here the first time) is in the process of building a new house which means his will be available.  All those factors combined led us to the decision to look for a rental rather than buying right away.  Having had a friend here who had to look for a rental before buying, I didn't envy Jerry the task of finding a place for us!!  Thanks to help from our previous neighbor he found a really nice little apartment just in time.  I wanted to spend a couple weeks at the apartment before school started so Will could feel settled and not have a new house and new school all at the same time.

 

The other timing that worked out perfectly was getting an offer on our house in VA.  I worked so hard all summer making sure the house was perfect before each showing.  I cleaned, turned on all the lights, put out the cushions on the lawn furniture, prepared the Keurig, usually baked a dessert, and started a slide show on the TV.  As summer was ending and the time approached that I wouldn't be home before each showing to prepare the house I began to worry.  I laughed at myself though when the thought occurred to me that God would use his timing to show me that our house wouldn't sell through my effort but by his blessing in his time.  Sure enough the very first people who came to look at the house when I wasn't there to prepare everything made an offer! 

 

Of course, since things are never "by the book" for us, we didn't get a typical offer.  The buyers had a house for sale in Richmond and wanted to lease our house until theirs sells.  After some negotiation we worked out the details and began planning our move.    

 

Our apartment is on the smaller side - two bedrooms, bath, and eat-in kitchen/living area
but the bedrooms are spacious and everything is newly renovated with
hardwood floors, tiled bath and granite in the kitchen.  It also came (nicely) furnished
with all utilities included.  It's not exactly home, but we were blessed!

 



Josie had a little trouble settling in.  I think without Poley she didn't have a
sense of continuity.  It was kind of sad to find her in the dirty clothes
basket.  I guess the smell was comforting, but she had to work
really hard to get in there with her bad back legs.  : (