we did it! MOVED!

Once again I've been away from the blog- and I'm heading out of town for the next week.  But I will be back in July! Promise!!

We did move, and it was a lot of work, and that's one of my excuses for lack of computer time!

The move happened in stages (I'm still not sure if that was a good plan or not, but it's what we did, and it worked).  The kids and I started moving stuff upstairs (from the 2nd floor to the 8th floor) on Tuesday - the same day that workers moved our curtains and our air conditioning units.  Cool air and privacy drove us upstairs  - ha!

The first day we moved what we could carry, and it was a lot!  My kids worked so hard!!!  And that night we slept on our mattresses in the new house - but no bed frames.... too heavy for us!

The rest of that week we gradually moved things upstairs.  More and more furniture, and using a moving cart we got some pretty heavy stuff moved too.  The girls and I did the kitchen one day and it went great!

Luke was my most faithful helper!  I am not even kidding!  He worked so hard and pushed this little cart so many trips!

And he - and everyone else - is loving this favorite spot in our new place!

then on Saturday Matt led the charge and we had tons of people show up to help!  It was such an encouragement to be surrounded by so many friends who sweated and carried and just generally loved and served our family so well.

So it was a little wild for a while but we did it!  MOVED!

weekends are for sleepovers

Every weekend, it seems, most every weekend.  And we love it - kids here, kids there.  I'm happy when the house is full and fuller.  Last Friday we had 8 kiddos under this roof and it makes for a busy time ordering dinner (thanks Matt for handling this one while I took the photo!)

This restaurant is just a block or two from our house - pick the meats and veggies you want, they drop it all in a big spicy pot and cook it to perfection.  The trick is in the picking of the meat and veggies, everyone has their favs and likes to ensure their selection is well represented in the stash! 

What could be better than 3 well-armed sons?  A few friends in tow.  I never fear for my safety when I'm out with this crew.  

And the next morning? Nerf war.  This (and legos) is an all day every day kind of event around here.  I encourage them to aim clear of the kitchen, but every now and then a stray bullet bounces off my rear end :) At least they claim it's a stray bullet!

This next weekend we hoped we would be moving, but it's postponed, again.  Sigh.  So I'm guessing there will be sleepovers, and I'll happily tuck in the extra kiddos (and yes! we send our kids to other houses too).