7 Things

7 Things I hope I forget:
1 - Never being rested when my kids were young
2 - The squishy feeling you get when your child vomits down your shirt
3 - The smell when your child vomits down your shirt
4 - Arguing 400 points a day, no matter how trivial (I don't know WHY clocks can't eat pizza, but I am still SURE that they can not eat pizza)
5 - The way my shoulders tense when I know a 4 year old is about to say "I want something else." at dinner
6 - My daughter's phase of announcing every house she goes into as "not clean"
7 - How much I miss them (Jeremy and the kids) when they are away


7 Things I hope I never forget:
1 - Elspeth spontaneously praying that God would make me a new fork when I broke my plastic fork at lunch yesterday.
2 - The way Addie's arms feel when she wraps them around my legs for a quick hug
3 - Silly car games the kids make up, like "over the train track", "under the car bridge", "what do you want to say to the clock", and my FAVORITE, "Things that scare Mommy"
4 - Elspeth announcing that she grew a hug for me over her nap, and that it is bigger than I am
5 - The way they feel in your arms
6 - The unnatural happiness when I hear Addie say "Hi Mommy, I love you" over the phone
7 - How excited they get to learn new things, like why a skunk "stinks you" or about "rattletail" snakes.

The Joys of House Hunting(Warning Blatant Venting)

Actual Listing Description:

Geourgous 4bd 2Ba Home single level, spilt floor plan master suite has large master bathrooms with double sinks and french doors that leads to the back patio/yard All New Dual pain Windows all thougout the home, all appliances stays including new washer and dryer large barkyard also a small doggie door

The dog is excited about a "barkyard" but I think it sounds noisy. Although I am not sure we would ever open the windows, if it is really a "pain." And what is a "georgous" home? Is that good, cause it kind of sounds like it involves someone named George, and I don't know if we like George. Maybe George is responsible for the "spilt" floor plan, my girls would be happy to take over that responsibility.

I know that spelling is not my strength either. I am sure I will never get desert vs. dessert correct which will be embarrassing more than once while living in the desert(for the record, I got this one right, but I did have to go to the dictionary to double check my facts). However, I think if your livelihood is involved, spell checker might be merited.

I actually asked one realtor to check her facts twice when she told me that a house didn't include a washer/dryer. She sounded a bit angry that I thought it should, and helpfully pointed out that I would have to pay a lot more if I wanted a washer/dryer included. After the second try at information failed, I suggested that maybe her listing was the cause of my confusion, and putting in false information (i.e. saying that it included a washer/dyer) didn't lead to any confidence that the rest of the listing was true. It was then that she ACTUALLY decided to check her facts, and recanted (not politely) that it did have washer/dyer.

That ship has sailed. I only replied the last time to "helpfully" point out to you that your own listing was causing my confusion. Maybe you should have looked at that the first time before you suggested I was stupid for thinking I could get a washer out of you (OK, that was a shameless venting, but it felt good).

Since I am so helpful, I actually thanked a realtor for her colorful listings. I was serious. I have sorted through hundreds at this point, and I am tired of step saver kitchens (which I am fairly certain is realtor for "really small"), must see properties, and this one won't last (even though it has been on the market for months already).

I have had several people comment that I have been kind of quiet online these days. This is why. All my online time is in search of the perfect home. I don't know why I am stressing, Ella looked at pictures of one house and decided that is where we should live. She doesn't care. She just wants a place to call home that involves cacti.

Oh yeah. She thought our last house was paradise. Maybe I am over-thinking this.

Have I mentioned that I hate moving?

site seeing

Wish You Were Here

Dear Elspeth and Adwen:

We miss you while we are in Tucson, but are working hard to find a great house for you to play in!

This is the backyard view from one house we looked at yesterday:


Mommy snapped a picture of the Santa Catalina Mountains while we were driving. There are three mountain ranges surrounding our new home:

Our favorite house has this for a neighbor:

And this for a backyard(notice there is no grass, only rock that you two can use your bull dozers in!):


Grandpa Dactu will be very happy to learn we have an operating Weinerschnitzel down here! He was so disappointed when the Champaign area one closed before he had a chance to try it (they only gave him 6 years):

Mommy and Daddy love you. Have fun with Grandma and Grandpa, don't get too spoiled.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Saying Goodbye

All our stuff boxed up, and lined up, waiting for the movers to come in the morning. We are saying goodbye to our stuff for several months while we bounce around, depending on the goodwill of family and friends.

Ella enjoys playing on piles of bedding in our room, our final morning.

Addie wakes for the final morning in her crib, in her room.

The last picture of our home, the only thing I will truly miss. I will always remember the trips Kev and Michele made to help us prepare for our first born. The love evident in each detail they put into her room.

Saying goodbye to the house was easy (the hardest part is giving up the autonomy that comes with your own home). Saying goodbye to these women was considerably harder. Elspeth still accidentally calls us by their names in her unguarded moments. She loves them without reserve, and so do we. This was the point I started crying without ability to stop.

We found Addie in her favorite spot. The ironic part is that Adwen will not sit in my lap for story time anymore, preferring a "group spot" to my lap. So finding that at group time, she actually will climb into the teacher's lap made me laugh. Then it made me cry. I am a sentimental sap.

I am at work this week, missing my family, and my house, and the school that my kids love so much. This week is the hardest. Next week, we go to Arizona for the first time, after seeing our new home, I will be excited, but this week I just feel the goodbyes mounting.

Final Hours

As I looked (desperately) for my travel mug this morning, I yelled "where is my mug?"

Ella didn't hesitate, she responded "You packed it."

This is not true, of course. I would never pack my travel mug, because I will always need to be able to carry coffee, but it reflects the atmosphere in our home.

The walk-through is today.

The buyers are bringing a partner from the brokerage representing them, a home inspector, and an attorney to the final walk-through.

Yes, there is an office pool as to how much $$ they will ask for in concessions. They may just be nervous, but I call a home inspector and an attorney self-fulfilling prophecies. Don't worry, the office pool is not illegal gambling, we play for pizza and bragging rights around here.

I officially came into my own as a Henn, when I crawled into the cardboard container at the recycling center to retreive a "good box." I didn't need this box (I gave it to a friend), but it was good, and I hated to see it wasted. I have never felt closer to my father-in-law, I am sure he will be proud of me. Slightly surprised, my husband asked me if I had both deposited and withdrew from the recycling container. He has never seen this side of me before.

We celebrated this morning when our trash company took away ALL the trash we piled at the curb this morning.

We are grateful for the neighbors who let us use their excess trash space.

The movers come tomorrow morning, whether I finish packing or not.

Finishing is highly unlikely.

Thus begins the Henn Family Road Trip edition.

Chick Bits

I moved too slow yesterday getting watermelon for Elspeth's breakfast. My elder child proclaimed "How bout we feed kids around here!"

My mother took my girls to the library and selected some special books to read to them. My younger child has been carrying those books around for two days saying "Grandma?"

Elspeth has gotten interested in nature. But she has already tapped out my knowledge. We got a book about trees, and it talks about photosynthesis, prompting a discussion about how sunshine is food for trees. Last night, I said something about getting done before sun down. Ella proclaimed, "Mommy, the sun doesn't go down! The trees eat it." Since we had our tree discussion, my daughter thought the trees ate the sun every evening, and a new one came up the next day.

Addie had a pair of brown shoes. She loved these shoes. In an attempt to "summerize" her wardrobe, she got a pair of hot pink sandals. She will not wear them, and has even started crying if I even pick them up. I suggested to my Mother that she pick up a pair of easy to put on sandals. Addie opened them and refused to put them on. She wants her brown shoes. In a flash of inspiration, my mother took Addie out and purchased her a new pair of brown shoes. They look almost like the old ones, just newer, one size larger, and the Velcro still holds. Addie will not look at her old brown shoes. She will not contemplate those lovely pink sandals I still dig out each morning in the hopes that today is the day.

At school, they immediately noticed she finally had on new shoes, and they noticed that they looked almost exactly like her old ones. By the end of the day they were scuffed beyond recognition as new. We figure that about makes them perfect in her book.

My old sneakers are friends of mine.

You can't trust any shoes that shine.

Some shoes pinch you and some shoes squeak.

The only shoes that I would choose are shoes that sneak.

- Sandra Boyton