Pick up lines

So, I have discovered that a major part of my life in Culpeper is this...

Waiting in the line for drop off and pickup at 3 schools! It is a lot of time in the car, even stopped. Yikes! I am smiling because I had a good workout (notice the tank top) and because I am about to see my kids! 

Afternoon Park Stops

Some nights while we were still staying in Stafford, Danny had to work really late, but Victoria had practice after school. On those days, we made long park stops! We really like Yowell Meadow Park.  The trails offered some shade on those, still summer, afternoons.

These kids are all so special and unique. Christian was a leader and an example of bravery these first few weeks. He surely had some hard days (Middle schoolers aren't always confident enough to reach out to people who are new or alone), but he put on a brave face and was a good example for his younger siblings and big sister too. Talking about things later, he told me about his conscious decision not to complain about things because he knew probably everyone was having a hard enough time already and he didn't want to make it worse for anyone. That was very mature and very selfless of him.

Victoria (not in these pictures, but at practice) honestly makes friends very easily. It is probably not as quickly as she would like, but I guarentee she is making friends. She is smiley, friendly, kind and socially mature. She had a few rough moments though (Day 3 was really bad. From a mom who likes to say "We can do hard things," it merited ice cream. Code word- auditorium. Is that enough of a description to help us remember when we read this years later? I hope so. I think it was a what not to do/ how not to treat others lesson). When others are mean, I hope we will learn that we want to be nice.

Not related to the move, but following the trend of sharing the kids' special traits, Grant has always been a "good noticer!" He especially loves noticing things outside. He notices small things, like details in these flowers, shapes in clouds, or pieces of  trash that are not where they should be. It is a cool talent to be so keen on details.

Katherine has the gift of contentedness. She is happy most of the time and doesn't often let things bother her. Generally, she accepts things as they are and finds a reason to like them. "It's fine," "Well at least...(something on the bright side)," "I'm ok," and "I will try" are common phrases that I hear her say.

Packing and Saying So Long

After the first week of school we went back and packed up the house into the truck and trailer. We are thankful for the friends and family who came to help us load! We couldn't have done it without you! I didn't take pictures and don't want to list because I don't want to forget anyone. We were blessed to have some good help though! It was hard to leave our friends on Chesapeake Pl. The time in that house was, in many ways, my favorite two years in Carrollton. By the time we were leaving, I finally had close neighbor friends, close friends at church, and Craig and Lorel and their family living there! That makes it hard to say goodbye! Isn't that the way it goes with us?! When I learn to love a place, we move! It was tough to leave again. At the same time, I felt at peace with our decision to move.  For many reasons, which I will probably mention later, I felt like it was part of the plan for our family.

On our way out of the neighborhood we stopped to say goodbye to the Buggs. They are an awesome family and we will miss them too.

 

 Sweet girls!

Look at these cute friends!

First Day of School 2017

Victoria- Freshman at Culpeper County High School

Christian- 7th grader at Culpeper Middle School

 Grant- 3rd grade at Yowell Elementary School

Katherine- Kindergarten at Yowell Elementary School

Because Danny had to be extra early on the first day of school he was already gone. We had an hour drive, so we had to wake up really early. Waking up super early and the first day of school was a little too much for Katherine. It was very sad because she was not herself. She didn't know how to articulate her feelings, but she was definitely worried, sad, mad, and anxious. It broke by heart. We talked it up the best we could and she was a little better by the time they got out of the car.

I went to the YMCA in Spotsylvania (even though it was an hour away) because it filled my day and day and distracted me from being all alone in a new town on my youngest child's first day of kindergarten. I then drove around the town of Culpeper and aimlessly walked through stores (knowing that I wouldn't be buying anything because I didn't have a home to put anything) for a couple hours.  I was really proud of myself for maintaining composure that day and keeping positive. FYI, I did this routine for a couple weeks. Although I sometimes scrolled on my phone in a parking lot, ate fast food in my car, and walked at the local park. Oh yeah, I drove back to Bobby and Kattia's house a couple days and they were out and about, so I took a nap. It was lonely and hard and I may have cried into my salad in a parking lot once. I joined a few facebook groups and dropped some hints such as, "If anyone wants to meet up for lunch..." and "Does anyone have a project that they want help with? I'm available!" It hurt my feelings that people didn't really respond, but I knew it wasn't personal. I will say that I was so thankful for Cathy Pruett, a new friend from church, who invited me over one day! She really brightened my day and I think she is awesome! I also went to lunch with a new friend from the Culpeper ward, Katie Derby, one day. That was really fun. I enjoyed getting to know her too.

Back to the 1st day, when I picked the kids up, everyone was relatively happy! 

Katherine was exhausted though and definitely fell asleep on the way home.

She even transferred onto the mattress in Camila's room. 

She was ready to take her 1st day pictures that afternoon when she woke up! Thank goodness!

I am thankful it went well!

Back to School Party!

I know I can be a little "extra" at times, but this time it was called for. We were going through a huge transition, especially Katherine who only knew Carrollton. We had a "School Party" before each of our kids entered kindergarten, so I wanted to keep up with tradition and keep things as normal and consistent as possible. It was pretty low key, but I must have prepped it in mind a bit because I packed the books in my suitcase.

We had a cooperative get ready for school team obstacle course. It was really fun that Megan and Camila joined us.

We read back to school/ Kindergarten books.

And we had a treat.

Living in Stafford and Open Houses

The kids had the shortest summer ever, but were pretty good sports about it. We started school a bit before our house in Carrollton closed and several weeks before we closed on our new house. Bobby and Kattia were amazing to let Danny live at their house for a month and then Victoria (She tried out for and made the JV cheer squad) for a couple weeks. Then, they let the rest of us live at their house for the first few weeks of school! They were such a blessing to our family!

The first day there we went to school open houses!

We spent a lot of time in Mrs. Wensel's (rhymes with Pencil) classroom. She was very sweet and welcoming and had a beautifully clean and organized classroom. This gave me great comfort and relief! Kindergarten can set the tone for school and we have been so blessed with 4 amazing kindergarten teachers for our kids!

Katherine and her new friend Jaya

Grant and Katherine thought that it was cool that their new school, Yowell, has a STEM zone!

Grant was very excited about his 3rd grade classroom too! His teacher was Mrs. Wheeler. She too settled some of my anxieties about moving there. She was very kind and open and seems to have a creative and relaxed approach to teaching. Her room had flexible seating options that Grant was very excited about! He is a kid who loves to move and thought this would be fun!

 I told both of the teachers that we would be driving an hour before and after school each day and about our in limbo situation. They were both willing to be patient and understanding with our children while they were adapting. 

We also went to the middle and high schools. Those visits went well too. Changing classes would be new for Christian because in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades he moved classes as a class. We met a few people there from the PTA, signed him up to be a car rider or a walker (CCHS is next door and I can pick C and V up together some days when V doesn't have practice), and met all of his teachers and tried to help him get familiar with the school in general.  We didn't have a ton of time to meet V's teachers, but luckily Danny is right there! This is the first time that one of our kids will be in the same school he is! We think it will be a really good thing and will help our kids to see their dad more! As a side note, Victoria already knew a few people that she met while cheering. We were very happy with the new schools and felt a lot of hope for a terrific year!

Making the most of our last few days

 We played with the DeWeeses at the neighborhoold pool, 

saw the Casey family,

(Micheal was one of Christian's best friends during our time in Carrollton, but moved to Chesapeake the summer before.)

We saw a Pinkalicious Play at MacArthur Mall and the kids enjoyed meeting her, receiving a free book, and free ice cream!

Packing, packing, and more packing.

Moving is never very fun and isn't very easy either. Our family follows the motto, "We can do hard things." I had to take lots of deep breaths and tell myself this often during the process. We have moved a few times and always pack and move ourselves to make things cheaper. Another thing that made things cheaper, were yard sale pages and great military neighbors that gave us their used boxes and moving supplies! We were so blessed to be able to use wardrobe boxes, tv boxes, and dish boxes that we had never used before. Honestly, those boxes were a huge help and we were glad to pass them on to another family when we unpacked in Culpeper. Danny had been working in Culpeper and coming home on the weekend. So the majority of the work fell on the kids and I. I was thankful for friends who took kids for me from time to time to help me get work done. For this move we had a truck come and drop off the trailer. We had a weekend to pack it and then they picked it up and stored it for a month. We had too many things so we also bought a pull behind trailer, used it and then resold it. We got a good deal and resold it for the same price, so it turned out to be cheaper than renting one. We are glad we were able to pack most things and get them staged to put into the moving truck before school started in Culpeper.