Seriously

Monday night my bible study group held a going away party for me and the kids. I might have slightly threw a wrench in the surprise when I attempted not to return to Demopolis. But those sneaky little girls convinced me otherwise.

I feel so bittersweet about this week. Tonight is the babies last night in the house where they both turned one. I have so many wonderful memories here.

I knew my moment was coming; when I could no longer hold back my flood of emotions. That is precisely where I find myself.

This is a painful place.

I've been here before.

I'll be here again.

Because you see, I can't live in a vacuum. Somehow I think the depth of affection is directly relational to the depth of pain.

I am hurting, quietly. The kids are sleeping.

Then I took a cleansing shower.

And I'm ok now.

I'm a girl; ugly cries happen.

I don't want anyone to cry

...but our Demopolis season is drawing to a close. I spoke with relocation specialist today (Wednesday) should hear something back tomorrow.

I am sad about leaving my DEAR friends, but Peyton and TJ cry for their Daddy every night.

I think they are trying to play the sympathy card, but gosh-a-bill miss him too.

Carpet

It's another blog-tory post!

I'm hoping to move this house swiftly, so I want it to look it's best.  That includes our year-old carpet.  Two little boys can make one rough year on the carpets let me tell ya.

Peyton's room looked worse, only because  of the sheer size of his stains, which we think were chocolate milk....

But it was under the middle of the bed...

so there really is no telling.

I forgot to take a picture of the stain to begin with...but here is the best I got.

See the dark spots? 

The whole area was that color!  I'm talking 1 foot by 6 inches!

here we are to save the daaaaaaaay!

Meet the dirt devil

stain: "I'm fading!"

one more touch up ya think?

It's like magic! But for now, no more drinks in the bedrooms!

If I Had a Tear....

...for every time I've been frustrated today - I'd have a river! 

BUT- I am still here and so are the kids. 

Well, actually they are on their side of the hall. 

I am hoping to finish "Knowing We're Showing" this week; first part of the week hopefully.  The worst part of deep cleaning your house to put it on the market: surely is dirty-ing up one room to clean another. 

I don't have pictures to prove this, can you trust me?

Something else I don't have pictures to prove?  Our first poison control scare!  Peyton swallowed trace amounts of a cleansing medicine. 

Dude, I am tired.  This single mom stuff ain't no joke. 

not the poison control issue- this is when they spilled apple juice and found candy corn

Jake was Right

Everyone has obsessions.

Mine is books!

(for the kids)

board books

one stack I didn't have space to display



more books I can't find a place to display

Jake is constantly encouraging me to stop increasing the collection.  After this experience, I will...sort of.

I PLEDGE: to only purchase high quality literature for the kiddos.

Shenanigance

I make this face all the time.  I'm so glad to know how ridiculous it is.  What does this look mean?  I'm perturbed.  Basically, one of the kids has just come up with a completely insane way of making my life harder.  That is when I make this face. 

Look closely at the background of the picture.  See the shed?  Want to see inside of it?

Please focus on the newly painted floor. 

See, what happened was..............

I was merrily packing boxes with china and crystal, when I realized how mice and quiet my surroundings were.  That's not good. 

So I trotted myself outside and found my shed door open.  Then I ran

What I found was my two little preciousness into Mommy's art paints. 

The ones Jake keeps asking me to throw away.

SIDE NOTE:  During this move, we have resolved to decrease our possessions by one-third.  It is my opinion that my boys just want to help.

Anyway, so I found TJ with black paint on his lips, (why?) and Peyton squeezing the tar out of all my paint bottles. 

"OK, boys, let's have a bath." 

I took the picture AFTER bath and boys were at nap. 

NEXT

I once had a nice patio table.

Not anymore

The boys decreased that for me too.

Fortunately, it was made of tempered glass, so no one was injured.  I used four WM bags to carry all the little rounds of glass away.  TJ tromped on the glass as if it were snow.  Peyton tried to run his hands in the broken glass.

Ugly Cry

You know about ugly cries right?  Some folks call it snot crying.   When Jake left Tuesday, I ugly cried. 

Since then I have been feverishly working on our house. 

You probably can't tell I've done that much.  I've only filled 10 boxes with unessential kitchen items!   And you probably really can't tell.  I'm a weebit discrouraged. 

Psalm 61:2 From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety,


The boys have been busier than usual, I will so post about their shenanigance. 

Glass Repair

Today was supposed to be the day that Jake left for Corinth.   He will stay in Demopolis until our glass gets repaired.  Several of the windows in our house have been broken in the three and a half years we have lived here.  How?  I'm glad you asked. 

summertime pastime

Sometimes, and I do mean rarely, the boys go a little too fast on the lawnmower. 

Look at the rocks

Rarely, when the backyard gets mowed (rarely because grass doesn't really grow there) they have to work around the rocks.  And since we don't use our backyard or the gravel for vehicles, the grass has grown over the rocks.   Actually, the only part of our backyard grass that WILL grow is the section right up next to the house - in the gravel. 

Shouldn't Jake raise the lawn mower blade? He does.   But...

...they lower the blade back down.

Suffice to say, a few windows needed replacing.



Up and Down People

Renevate to Sell-abrate! Phase 1: We had to relay our floor in one room.

  After the excitement of this weeekend was over, TJ's crib fell apart!  Six months ago I would have said, "REALLY?" But now I just say, "We better get over it and get on with our business." 

new bed = play pen

In case you ever wonder, your house and life turn upside down during renovation.  The kids?  They just roll with the punches and question the moving furniture.

Why does my room look different?

There are other side effects too.  The toy box was placed in Peyton's room during the floor relay, which resulted in NO sleep for Peyton Friday night.  Don't believe me?  Want proof?  I have some!

budding photographer?

You see, I found this picture WHILE Peyton was confessing his midnight adventures to Daddy. 

Comment on September 11, 2011:  Ten years ago today, Jake and I were seniors in high school.  ACHS (Jake's school) was allowed to watch  the coverage, but CHS (my school, Go Warriors!) was not.  I didn't need to see it anyway.  I do find it funny, however, that in 10 years I have grown and healed yet without fully processing the events of that fateful day.

Christmas Dance 2001

Tomorrow is our last real day as a family in this house.  I smell a house tour in your near future.  Minus the front room that you've already seen.   OH! I've painted the doors and mouldings white again, well, really I just touched everything up.  But I felt good about my accomplishment. 

I Learned to Work!

I love it!

Day 1 of Renovate to Sell-abrate: First up, removing the humps in the floor of the formal living room / guest room.  I was prepared with face masks, work gloves, and a flat-ended shovel!  *whisper voice: be honest Whitney*  Fine, I realized I needed those things 1 hour into said project and ran to my handy dandy Walmart. Which I could see from my house until Aaron's was built.  But I digress.

this room, remember?

My grandfather (Dad) and I worked diligently until naptime.  The boys must go down to rest, and I needed a shower.  Dad kidded with my mom, on the phone, that he was teaching me how to work.  HEHE, I like that! 

Jake came home from his FINAL day at Foster Farms today.  When he started working with Dad I realized that I was no longer crucial.  pooh.  Upside?  I like to watch Jake work.  It's true!  Once, I watched while he used a sledgehammer to break up a concrete pad outside our living room.  Does that make me lazy? 

Dad and Jake

What did the cuties do while Dad, Jake, and I worked?  They played with my grandmother (Nana!)  Busy and sweet.

Nana put his mask on like a beanie

But sometimes Peyton helped out in the renovation.  He loves to work, that boy of mine!

Peyton wore his mask over his mouth

It Got Crazy for a Minute

The kids  made me get up at 7:something this morning.  Read: This is a problem.  Why? TJ and Peyton both crawled in with me last night until I solved the problem.  "No one in Mama's bed except Mama!" What? Jake had already escaped!   I carried TJ to his room and plopped him down.  Then I went back for Peyton, "Why me Mama? I wasn't kicking you."  He did have a point, but by then I wanted to be alone. 

Back to the original point.  I finally got up, started Sesame Street, and went to the kitchen to get started on pancakes (from scratch since I ran out of mix.)  The recipe I use for pancakes calls for bunches of milk.  This resulted in a VERY thin batter.  I guess I should have finshed combining dry ingredients before adding wet, huh?  We ate crepes for breakfast, lots of crepes.  Each child 'polished off' nine each.  I say 'polished off' because they literally licked the plate.  Boys.

  I quickly realized that my plate was full today.  Well, not my breakfast plate because my kids did not leave me hardly anything to eat.  Our real estate agent was coming by for her initial visit at 2, my grandparents were coming to visit at roughly the same time,  I needed to make cute cupcakes for a shower at church, and I - I was sitting in the middle of my kitchen floor surrounded by crumbs, dish rags, and my good silver that the kids were using to cut play dough. 

No.  This process is moving too fast.  I am not ready for the real estate agent to view this mess of a house that we call home.   No.  I will just call her back and postpone our viewing.  Yes.  That will make the crumbs disappear, the rags put themselves in the wash, the cupcakes bake themselves, and the good silver will waltz back into its' boxes.  Oh, it won't? I should take a chill pill? 

This is where God spoke: My child, let me take care of this.
Whitney: OK!

So I swept the floor, put rags and towels on to wash, and gathered the good silver in the sink. 

And some other stuff that was no more glamorous.  Then the realtor showed up, and she didn't mention the crumbs (because by then, more crumbs accumulated from the cupcakes I was making for the aforementioned shower.)  She did, however, suggest we take down our extra bed that is stationed in the formal living room.  OK!  

taken after the sebatical

Then my grandparents arrived.  My Dad (for that is what I've always called my grandfather) put in our new icemaker.  Sidenote: Have you ever seen the little contraption appliance-men use to activate an ice-maker?  It is AWESOME!  They put what looks like a false cover on the ice-maker and push little buttons on the side, then, then it lights up. 

Cupcakes:  I picked up two boxes of chocolate cake mix at the Marketplace last week.  Unfortunatley, the cake mix called for three eggs and A WHOLE STICK OF BUTTER!  Imagine whipped, silky, chocolate buttercream icing - that would be this batter.  Of course whenever I host (or co-host) as baby shower, I volunteer for cupcakes.  Because I have a method for cupcake and muffin making that I really should attempt to patent.  OK, so maybe not patent.  Instead of filling the pan cup 2/3 full, as directed, I fill the pan cup 3/4 full.  Sometimes, not always, this happens. 

not today's cupcakes, but similar

That's why I went light on the icing, that, and the whole stick of butter.  Leftovers.

So, true to Fairhaven form, we hosted a TRIPLE baby shower.  Once again we had three ladies due within weeks of each other.  The first triple shower was held for TJ, his friends Emma James, and Mia.   I totally thought news of our impending departure had traveled throughout Demopolis, alas my sweet, pregnant friend Lana did not know.  There were tears.  Then I had another heart-to-heart with my pregnant friend Heather.  Finally, I spoke with the pregnant Mallie about how happy I am for her and Tony. 

At home, Jake was washing dishes (like every GOOD man should.)  Our media player has stopped working completely, so we listened to music on his iPhone.  George Strait was singing "Troubadour" as we slow danced in our kitchen.  "Lord, help me to hang on to this moment in the coming weeks when I am alone and missing Jake's help with the kids, the house, and most importantly, his comnpanionship." 

Jake and TJ sleeping in the green chair- sometime early 2010

Blog-tory: Our History

No matter how long you have been reading my blog (e.g. since the beginining [Apr 2011] or just now [Sept 2011] or you are reviewing the blog-tory [in the future]), you have probably heard of the sebatical. 

Definition:

  Sebatical- May 2010, Jake accepted a night shift position at Wayne Farms, Decatur, AL.  This was suppposed to be a twelve hour position, but we soon found out that in reality, the position was 16 hours.  During the six weeks Jake stayed on at said location, the kids and I lived with my grandparents in Corinth.  Obviously, this whole Wayne Farms thing DID NOT work out.  As soon as Foster Farms asked Jake to return, we gladly did.  That, my friends, is a sebatical.

Not an actual picture from the sebatical, but Jake's face discribes how we felt.

I think we actually took this picture before TJ was born.

The Decision

             Our decision to move and leave our home church was very difficult.    Fairhaven has reached out and wrapped us with love these past three years.   Peyton was eight weeks old when the Keys came to Demopolis.  Now he is 3 and 1/2 years old and a little boy.  During this time, TJ was born.  Fairhaven took care of us.  So, suffice it to say- we're feeling bittersweet. 

         God has a plan for us.  Jake and I have prayed, and prayed, and prayed, and cried and prayed.  God had to be extremely clear with us.  There is NO doubt in our mind that this is His plan.  I'll spare you the mundane details- it's not public business.  I am a little sad that God had to go so far to teach us his plan, we just weren't willing to listen at first.

     Then when we were willing to listen, we weren't sure that what we heard was His voice.  I say that to say- we didn't think He would have us leave FBC when we are fully involved in His service. 

     Pictures of Sunday school teachers' caring faces filled our mind.  Peyton NEVER hesitates to go to SS, how can I be sure he'll be that comfortable elsewhere?  TJ is always shy about his class, I can't imagine taking him somewhere else!  Will other children's departments be welcoming and love on our babies? 

    Of course! 

     Now take into consideration both of our bible study groups.  My girls will be fine without me, I know that.  Will I be fine without them?  Jake's group is a blessing to him and our marriage.  How long until he finds another group where he is comfortable? 

    All of these matters did weigh heavy on our minds, and they all continue to weigh heavy on our minds.  Pray for us, because all aspects of this situation need to bathed in prayer. 

The Beginning: a Blog-tory

This is a story.

Shared to those who love our familly, via blog.

Hence, blog story, or blog-tory.

Jake and I have spent many months in prayer and much consternation- but the decision has been made.  We're moving.  Jake will no longer be employed by Foster Farms.  He is going to work for Cargill.  In Memphis. 

But we're not moving to Memphis.  Or west Mississippi.  Yet.

First, our Demopolis home needs to sell.