Welcoming a Brand New Niece!

Kaden's been having fun with his cousins- especially the ones within a year of his age.  

He's not quite sure why they wouldn't let him play soccer, though.

The really big news is our newest niece!  Here she is, with a proud dad and a fascinated cousin!

At one point, the nurse had baby E in the bassinet to warm her up... and all her siblings, plus Kaden and her dad, crowded around just to stare at her.

Really, wouldn't you?

Exploring

Well... we're here.  Though I'm not always sure where 'here' is.  This weekend, our popular saying is  "What kind of country did you move us to, Dad?"  Kaden modified one of my comments, and since JimDad is a good sport, it stuck :)

The new casa deserves its own post, with photos.  That'll come later.  As you can tell, we've got internet hooked up now.  And I bought a new coffeepot today, so life is gradually becoming civilized.  Well, as much as it can while living out of boxes.

Church shopping officially started today.  Halfway through Mass, Kaden looked around and then whispered in my ear:  Mama, we don't know ANYONE in here.  It's true, we went from being in charge of a lot of things to being strangers...afterward, we were talking about what we liked about the church, and Kaden piped up:  "I liked it.  I like almost everything."   Which is true.

Kaden's also been over the moon about having his Dad around again.  The first night, in less than 10 minutes, he said:  Daddy, can you give me a bath? Daddy, can you put on my pjs?  Daddy, can you read me a story? Daddy, well, can you just do everything with me from now on?

In the Midst

So, guess what we did yesterday?

 Our move "plan", such as it is, consists of having a company dropping off a trailer in our driveway... loading our stuff into as little space as possible... having them drive it to PA, where it's now Jim's problem.  And Kaden and I will take a few days here, visit some friends, hop on the autotrain, and arrive in PA a day or two after the stuff has been unloaded into the new house (we're renting, have I mentioned that yet?).

We didn't plan on being in a hurricane's "Cone of Anxiety."  Or on Kaden getting sick the night before the truck came (not that you can tell from the photos).  Or on having so much freaking stuff!  I'm a bit dismayed- the wee lad himself has at least 8 boxes of toys (which doesn't include the basketball hoop, the car, the large trucks, OR any toy in Pennsylvania).  I know I gave away boxes upon boxes of books and stuff.  And yet... there's still so much.  And while there's nothing wrong with owning stuff- it's not how I pictured my life.

But we did have an awesome family come over and help, both with Kaden wrangling and with truck loading, and another unexpected friend to boot.  There is NO way I could possibly have done this without them, and we've saved quite a bit, so now I'm also taking suggestions for thank you gifts! What do you think?  What's a good thank you for 3-5 hours of sweat and general sanity-keeping?

More conversations

Kaden:  Will my voice sound the same later?
Kristi:  puzzled  Sure.  pause.  When?
Kaden:  When I'm older.
Kristi:  Oh. Yes, I guess.  Why would your voice sound different?
Kaden:  That's an interesting question.  pause.  I don't want to talk about it right now.
Kristi:  ???

sand or snow?

 ***

Kaden:  Mom, why are we leaving before those people?
Kristi:  Because I don't work here anymore, but someone just came in to register, so they have to stay.
Kaden:  Why don't you work here anymore? I liked it.
Kristi:  Because we're moving to Pennsylvania.
Kaden:  What do you work at now?
Kristi:  I don't really have a job, now.  I just get to stay at home with you.
Kaden:  Well, you could get a job and I could go to school.
Kristi:  sigh.

Burrowing Owls are common around here. Didja read/see HOOT?

***

In my old office, now inhabited by the replacement ;)  I had a "kid" section that she kept.
Kaden:  Mom, these are my toys.
Kristi:  No, they were toys I got for the church office and we left them here for other kids.
Kaden:  upset  No, they were MY toys and I shared, but now we need to take them to Pennsylvania.
Replacement:  Sure, honey, you can take them.
Kaden:  See, mom!
Kristi:  ???  sigh.

not ours- he was in the street. Kaden was upset I didn't "rescue" him...

***

We are taking SO. MANY. TOYS. to Pennsylvania- it's so frustrating. I was able to pare down our stuff (though JimDad may later question some of that!) but Kaden is hanging on to *everything*.  I know it's because of this move transition, but I am not a packrat and it's driving me crazy!  Thanks for listening.