Where is the button to slow life down?!?
SERIOUSLY?!?!?
In the past month, Dillen has graduated from Kindergarten, we bought and moved into a home in Dana Point and now Piper is standing on her own... Where in the world did the time go?!?
Dillen's last week at school was great for her. She was able to celebrate with a Spring Sing and a Kindergarten Field Day (a bunch of games set up for the Ks). Her last day was unceremonious. No big graduation ceremony or party. Just a normal pick up day and a final hug to her amazing teacher, Mrs. Emert. I REALLY wish I could post pictures. There are many. But Sean's computer is still down... rrg. Mrs. Emert was an amazing teacher for Dillen and, if I could, I would adopt her. ;)
I never blogged about what was happening with our Solana Beach home because I was never really in the mood. Circumstances, beyond our control, led us to ultimately selling the home. Solana Beach, I believe, will become that place I will look back on as a "we lived there?" kind of thought. We sold the home and moved out on June 19th. We are now back up in Dana Point which, honestly, feels like home. We were fortunate to find a property BACK in the Lantern District (our third home here!), and absolutely love it. We are in walking distance to all that happens in the downtown area, as well as the harbor. UNfortunately, the move happened while Sean was in Florida. Here's how it all went down:
Monday, June 15th: We say goodbye to our Solana Beach home and travel north to a hotel in Dana Point with the three girls and three cats in tow.
Wednesday, June 17th: We still don't know if we are going to close escrow on our home and so we spend the afternoon looking at apartments. (Go figure that the ONE available is located directly below the one Sean used to live in when we first met.)
Friday, June 19th: Sean leaves EARLY in the morning for Florida. I am now truly feeling out of sorts with the three kids and cats in a hotel room not knowing when/if escrow will close. I FINALLY get the call at 2:45 saying it has closed and I have keys!! (The moving company needed to know by 3:00PM if the Saturday move was still on.)
Saturday, June 20th: I have pre-packed the hotel room and loaded all of our possessions onto a hotel cart. Dillen pushes Piper, Roxy hangs on to the cart and I push everything to check out. After check out, we all drive to the house to meet the movers. Controlled chaos ensues for the next 8 hours. My WONDERFUL mom arrives at 1PM to assist and stays the night to help unpack even more...
Monday, June 22nd: Survival mode (Sean is out of town for the week.)
Tuesday, June 23rd: New bamboo floors are laid in all three bedrooms. This means that all of our worldly possession are crammed into the very small living/dining space. The girls and I make the most of it and turn the living room into a slumber party/movie night area. :D
Wednesday, June 24th: The girls and I make the most of the situation but we are still in survival mode. Unfortunately, Wingnut (our loving cat of 10 years) has figured out how to open the back door and has escaped.
Thursday, June 25th: Still in survival mode, my mom and Jim show up with big smiles and full of helpful love. Jim installs all new hardware on the doors and puts up new lighting and smoke detectors while my mom takes over additional unpacking. God I love them.
Friday, June 26th: Things are looking up. Wingnut comes home first thing in the morning (Dillen was so excited she heard him meowing outside the back door). And SEAN RETURNS from his trip later that night!! W00T!
In addition to the chaos above: Piper never let me put her down (not once); Roxy went missing for about 5 minutes (felt like an hour) when she was playing hide and seek in the house but didn't tell me; half of our glassware was lost when a cupboard was opened; I flooded the garage when I ran a load of laundry without realizing it wasn't hooked up properly, etc., etc.. The list goes on, but I can't even comprehend all that the week brought... It truly was THE most stressful time in all of my 38+ years of life.
And now Piper is standing up all by herself. What the?!? She is amazing. Her growth is surpassing statistics. And she is still our little "Smiley."
Now if I could only find that damn camera!!