Move In Day!!!

The truck arrived safely and on time! And it was really full!!! Dustin spent most of Sunday afternoon helping the movers unload. I honestly can't remember what the kids and I that afternoon!


The kids were super excited to get to sleep in our "new house" and in their new rooms. We all slept on mattresses Sunday night - no beds were together yet! By 5:00 am Monday, I couldn't sleep anymore and got up to start unpacking. The kids woke up soon after! We spent Memorial Day Monday unpacking, unpacking, and unpacking!
Reagan found Peyton's guitar amongst all the boxes! She calls it a "tit-tar". As she "plays" it, she sings "Ti-ti-ti-tarrrrrrrrrr" (her version of Beethoven 5th Symphony)

A Kindergartner and A New House!

This morning, Peyton and I went to school to register him for Kindergarten! We turned in all of his paperwork - he's all set! We also got to spend a few minutes in Aunt Stephanie's library. Next week we're going to back so that Stephanie can show him all around.

We officially have a new home! Our closing was this morning at 11:30, and we got the call late this afternoon that all money and paperwork was in. So the house officially became ours! We had cleaners out today to get the house in tip-top shape! (The pic above is of Peyton and Reagan waiting entertaining themselves while we waited for the cleaners to arrive - thank goodness for technology!) Tomorrow, after we have the yard guys out, we'll post pictures! We also have the carpet cleaners, the cable company, and the internet company coming out! Once again - another exciting and busy day!

Adios "Big D", Hola San Antonio!

Esta mañana fue nuestro fin reunión para nuestra casa en McKinney. Desde que nosotros supimos que sería corto y quisimos ponerse en camino inmediatamente después, nosotros tomamos los niños con nosotros.

Well, since everyone is asking if we are going to start speaking Spanish after we move to San Antonio, I thought I would start blogging in Spanish, too! :) Just kidding!

This morning was our closing meeting for our house in McKinney. Since we knew it would be short and we wanted to hit the road immediately after, we took the kids with us. We explained to Peyton that we were going to a meeting to sign some papers to sell our house (so that we would get paid!). He said excitedly, "I've never, ever been to a meeting before!" (He thought it was pretty cool that he was actually allowed to go to a "meeting" with Mommy and Daddy!) To keep him busy while we were signing paperwork, we told him that he could sign his name on some papers, too. "Okay," he said, "I'll sign my name so that I can sell my room!"

Everything went smoothly, and we were on the road by 9:30. We waved "good-bye" to more familiar places. The trip to San Antonio in two cars was not fun, but we made it! During lunch, Peyton brought up the fact that, "But we never got to go to that tower with the ball on it!" (referring to Reunion Tower - something we hadn't discussed doing at all during at least the last six months!). Of all things for him to think about! We told him about the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio, and that we'll try to visit it soon.

Reagan was disappointed that we didn't get to ride on an airplane this time! She kept saying, "Ride airplane to San Antonio?"

At one point during the trip, Dustin and Peyton were riding in the same car, discussing math. Peyton wanted to know how long a mile is and Dustin told him that a mile is about 5000 feet. Peyton (knowing that Mommy is 5 feet 2 inches tall) said, "So 1000 mommies who are as tall as Mommy would be one mile tall."

On our way into town, Peyton announced that he needed to go to the bathroom and he couldn't wait any longer. So we pulled into the first place we could find with a restroom - Shipley's Donuts. We walked into the store and saw an entire wall full of every kind of donut you can imagine. Peyton's eyes got as big as I've ever seen them and he got a gigantic smile on his face. "Look at all those good things to eat!" he squealed. I thought he would for sure beg for one, but, he didn't. I guess he needed to "go" too bad!

As we were driving up 281 to our new neighborhood, Peyton asked, "Are we going to live in San Antonio forever?" I told him we would live in San Antonio as long as God has plans for us here, and that Mommy and Daddy feel that we want to be here for a long time. "If you and Daddy live here, then I always want to live here," he said. We'll see how he feels about that in 13 or so years! :)

Stephanie went with us this evening to the final walk-through of our new house. We can't wait for it to officially be ours tomorrow!

Move Day!

The Box Room, aka - the dining room

Another huge (and very sad!) hurdle crossed on our way to life in San Antonio! Today was "Move Day."

The kids reactions to everything have been interesting. A few days ago, Dustin took apart the dining room table to make room for the mountains of boxes starting to overtake the house. As he worked, Reagan wandered in there and asked, "Are you going to fix it in San Antonio, Daddy?"

Peyton has expressed sadness over leaving our life here behind (especially friends), but he also expresses a lot of excitement about living closer to Grandma, Grandpa, Brett and Stephanie, our new house and Kindergarten. Today was a bit of an emotional roller coaster for him, and us.

Yesterday evening, Dustin took apart as much furniture as he could. This time, Reagan walked in on him taking apart her bed. Once again, she asked, "Are you going to fix it in San Antonio, Daddy?"

Peyton packed a couple of boxes of his own toys, but, for the most part, he did not want to even watch us packing anything. He was really interested in when we were going to take down the decorations on top of the kitchen cabinets. When Dustin took them down last weekend, his reaction was, "Thank you, Daddy, for not letting me see you take them down."

So today, the first words out of Peyton's mouth were, "Today is May 26!" (a day we've been counting to on the calendar) with a smile on his face! And May 26 was definitely a busy, busy one! The movers were set to arrive between nine and ten in the morning. Dustin and I had a few last minute things to pack up. The kids and I stayed busy running errands before and during the time the movers worked. If I remember right, here is the order: Wal Mart, home, Chick-fil-a, Goodwill, home (movers had arrived), Wal Mart (again), pharmacy, UPS, home, U-haul, Wendy's (it was lunch by this point), Target, Great Clips (I had a coupon for a $6.99 haircut I wanted to use for Peyton before we moved), home, McDonalds to play with friends, home, hotel to check in, home, dinner, hotel. Almost all day, Reagan has whined, "I want to go home!" Peyton spent a few sad minutes on my lap during one trip back home, as he watched the movers walk out the door over and over with his things. As usual, his sadness went away after a few minutes. Every once in a while he would say, "Our house looks weirder!"

On one trip back to the house, Dustin showed Reagan her room, which was completely empty. She asked, "Where's my kitchen?" Dustin explained that the movers put it on the big truck outside. So she promptly walked up to the first mover she saw (a very large African-American man - Reagan head barely reached his knee!) and asked, "Did you put my kitchen on the twuck?"

"Bye-bye!"

Dustin stayed at the house with the movers. Fortunately, they finish up around 3:00. And the truck was packed full! The only casualty so far (that we know of!) was my set of Poppies on Blue dinnerware (which we registered for when we were married). Despite being packed in a special plate packer box marked with the word "FRAGILE" on every side, the box wasn't secured and fell off the top of a stack of boxes. The incident was witnessed (and the shattering heard!) by each mover and Dustin! I think a few of the plates and a couple of bowls survived, but we'll still need new dinnerware now. Our movers contract states that they will replace up to 50 percent of the value of anything broken, so hopefully, they will come through on that!

Fun with friends on our final day in McKinney. Wrestling is much more fun in a room with no furniture!

This evening, during our final trip back to the house we met the buyer and his realtor. First impressions were favorable! After they left, we spent a few minutes saying good-bye to the yard and each room. The kids got a kick out of telling the rooms good-bye! Reagan just had fun yelling and listening to the echo of an empty house! Peyton asked if we will ever be in our house again. We said our final good-byes and then went to Gatti's for one last pizza buffet. Peyton stated that he wants to find a "new" Gatti's in San Antonio. As we left Gatti's to go to the hotel, Reagan once again whined, "I want to go home!" Peyton answered, in a very brotherly voice, "We can't. It's not our home now."

Peyton went to the buffet with Daddy and returned with his "creation"! He made this Mickey Mouse all on his own!

On our way to the hotel (we're staying in Plano, close to the Title company, where our closing will be tomorrow at 8:30) we waved good-bye to all our familiar places (the kid's doctor's office, Chuck-E-Cheese, the gym). Although we didn't drive by it on this trip, Reagan said, "Good-bye church, Good-bye school!" and waved!

We were hoping for an early bedtime here at the hotel, but the kids didn't fall asleep until after 10 pm! We're all exhausted and drained, physically and emotionally. The impact of having to say good-bye so often lately to so many people, places and things we love is really wearing us down! Hopefully a good nights' sleep will get us ready for an 8:30 am closing, a long drive in two cars to San Antonio, and a 5:00pm walk through of our new home there!

Birthday Parties a Little Early

Since both Peyton and Reagan have birthdays soon after we move, we decided to have a little birthday/going away party for them on Monday evening. It was really Peyton's idea - he had said he wanted to have a birthday party with "friends from here." And Mommy decided that Reagan needed to celebrate with her friends, too. So we picked a theme (Mickey & Minnie Mouse), a day and a park - Aviator Park in McKinney, which has a fun splash pad. We prayed that it wouldn't rain - it didn't. However, we didn't think to pray for no wind - or that the City of McKinney would actually have the water on the splash pad turned on! So there we were - 15 kids in swim suits, no water, playing on the huge playground instead and trying desperately to keep plates of pizza/cupcakes from blowing away! Despite that, everyone had fun, especially Peyton and Reagan! It was another sweet and special time as our days in McKinney quickly come to an end.

Peyton putting sprinkles on his party cupcakes at home. He insisted on doing his own sprinkles instead of letting Sam's put them on!

Reagan having fun on the slide.

Before eating his own cupcake, Peyton wanted out his own red cupcakes (Reagan's were pink) to his friends himself. He would sweetly ask each friend if they wanted vanilla or chocolate and then deliver their choice to them. (Everyone wanted chocolate, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Peyton!)

Reagan didn't wait to hand out her cupcakes - she dove right in!

Daddy saved the day with the water situation - and let Peyton run through the sprinkles at home!

More birthday pics in Spring 10.

Evening in Greenville

We spent most of today trying to pack a few more boxes! Dustin climbed up on the roof to make a few minor repairs the buyers requested. At 3:00 we loaded up the kids and went to Greenville to spend some time with Dustin's grandparents before we move. We soon arrived at Nona and Grandad's house. The kids played as we chatted. Gran Gran and PePa arrived a short time later and we all headed to Ole Whiskers for dinner. Everyone enjoyed a huge buffet of fish, shrimp, chicken, gumbo and lots of sides! Even Peyton really likes fried shrimp and fried catfish! Afterwards, we went back to Nona and Grandad's for some yummy German Chocolate cake. We had a really nice evening visiting with everyone! When it was time to go, the kids gave their great-grandparents multiple hugs and kisses. Reagan wished everyone a "Merry Christmas!" through the open door window as we drove away! We will definitely miss being so close to Gran Gran, PePa, Nona and Grandad!

Mr. Incredible

A few weeks ago, Peyton made this picture of Mr. Incredible using Kid Pix. We thought it was pretty incredible!

Graduation Day!

Yesterday was Peyton's last day of Kid Care and Graduation Day - so we (Mommy!) had another very bittersweet, tear-filled day! Doesn't he look so grown up in this picture?

Peyton with his sweet teachers!

Peyton's class

Peyton on the big screen!

Our director calling Peyton's name and reading his teacher-given label and description.

Peyton's teacher-given label and description! While our hearts are filled with joy over this, we were a bit curious, since his prays at home usually consist of, "Dear Jesus, Thank you for our food. Amen", and we have to drag a "nice" prayer out of him! Later in the day, I asked Peyton's teacher for more info on the origins of her description. She described how Peyton's attitude toward the class prayers is always very respectful, and he always leads prays sincerely. She also commented that he is the only one who consistently remembers to pray for kids when they are absent.

Peyton opening his graduation gift from Mommy and Daddy - his very own copy of his favorite music CD from Ms Laura's classroom.

Peyton's diploma.

This morning at breakfast, Peyton announced that he wanted to go to school. "We can't this year, Buddy. School is over for the summer," I had to tell him. "But I'm ready to go to Kindergarten now," he said!

Field Day

Today both Reagan's and Peyton's classes had Field Day. Reagan's class went first this morning. Their Field Day was following by a water party, which is why the kids are in swimsuits and cover-ups. Peyton's Field Day was at the end of the day. His class did not have a water party, which was deemed "unfair" by Peyton as he insisted that he "never gets to play in the water." Daddy made up for the extreme injustice by taking Peyton to our neighborhood pool this evening.

Reagan going "under the rainbow" of the obstacle course.

Through the tunnel.

Beanbag Bowling

Flipping a pancake

Patting a pancake

Tasting a pancake.

Not to sure about the water play.

Found a sponge to play with!

Reagan with her sweet teachers!

Mentally preparing for the obstacle course.


Through the tunnel.

Throwing a ball through the ring.

Sitting on a balloon to pop it.

Final Kid Care Chapel and First Visit to the Dentist

Today's Chapel was Peyton and Mommy's final Chapel together at Kid Care. Despite our classes being one section apart from each other, having Chapel "together" was one of the perks of my job this year! It was something I really enjoyed getting to do with Peyton 3 days a week. And it was always fun to grab a quick kiss from him if our classes crossed paths heading back to the classrooms!

Reagan had her very first dentist visit this afternoon. She did great - wasn't scared a bit! She let the dentist "count" her teeth. He came up with 16 1/2 (she has a couple of molars poking through!). One of the reasons I wanted to take her for her first visit this early is because we've noticed that one of her teeth has never come in - her left upper lateral incisor. The dentist was also curious as to why it didn't come in, but we can't tell very much about that space without taking an x-ray, something he said is not worth doing to a 2 year old at this point. There are a couple of reasons why the tooth didn't come it. One, that baby tooth just did not form for some reason. Two, the baby tooth is still in her jaw from getting "caught" as her skull bones fused together when she was an infant. As long as it's not causing any problems, it's not something we have to take action on while she still has her baby teeth. However, she may need to have braces and an implant done eventually if there is no adult tooth, either. Worst case, she may need a lot of dental work to get it corrected. Best case, there was just no baby tooth, and the adult tooth grows in when it is time. After Reagan's successful "teeth counting", she was allowed a trip to the treasure chest, where she happily chose a tiny red camera and a bracelet.

Weekend with Friends

One of Dustin's weekend projects was to clean up the rocks and empty out the sand box. So he got the kids to help pick up rocks. They were excited for about the first three rocks.

They were more excited about finding roly polies, or "poly polies" as Reagan called them. The boys all held the bugs, but Reagan refused.

The kids having fun in the sand box before Dustin emptied it. Peyton made a "sand rocket" by pouring sand into the hollowed out part of his Wall-E rocket. He would then throw it as far as he could. As the sand trailed out, he said it was the rocket's smoke.

More fun it the yard - crawling through the roof of the swing set porch! Andrew's feet are towards the bottom of the picture. The other set of feet belong to Reagan.


On Saturday night, friends Thomas and Andrew spent the night with us. The kids spent a lot of time in the yard Saturday afternoon. That evening we went to Chick-fil-a. Then we came back and everyone got a bath! Reagan went to sleep in her room, but the boys got to "camp" on the floor in the playroom and watch Astroboy until they feel asleep. The next morning we had mountains of pancakes, and the kids all played some more!

On Sunday evening, our ABF class hosted a good-bye party at a park for us and two other families who are about to move away. It was a bittersweet time - great to be with our friends but sad that it was our final time with our ABF friends! Several families gave us sweet good-bye cards and notes, which we are planning to put on our fireplace mantle when we first get to San Antonio.