We're Here!!!

24 hours of driving... 3 little ones... a full van... and a very full UHAUL....
We're HERE!!!
What a long process packing and moving is when you have 3 kids to attempt to take care of at the same time! My sister Jodi, being the angel she is, took time off work to fly down to CA & help me finish pack & then help us out on our long drive north. I really don't know what we would've done without her. We had the UHAUL packed, the house empty and cleaned and were ready to leave at 3 a.m. Monday morning (July 6th). When David went to start the UHAUL it wouldn't start and we had to call to have them send someone out. So our start time was delayed some, but we still got a decent start. The kids were amazing. Cody rode in the UHAUL with David and really enjoyed being in that big huge truck with his daddy. Jodi and I took turns driving the van and taking care of the younger two. Our portable DVD player was Kiley's best friend and I have the lyrics of every Wonder Pets, BackYardigans, Dora, Diego and Wiggles episode permanantly imprinted in my memory... like it or not!
We arrived in Spokane Monday evening and spent the night with our good friends, the Sirianis. They moved from Redding to Spokane about a year ago, and it was great fun to catch up with them. We left Tuesday morning and got to the border around 10:30. They asked some questions, had us sign a few papers, but didn't even PEEK in the UHAUL. I was almost disappointed because Jodi and I had spent forever making the itemized list of every single thing that was in the UHAUL. They barely looked at the list. The border crossing went well and we finally arrived in Airdrie late that afternoon.
Our house is amazing. My parents and many of their friends had almost completely furnished it for us, stocked the pantry, & had fresh towels waiting. The kids are THRILLED about their new house. We have an amazing backyard with plenty of room to play and a brand new trampoline. I'll take some more pics of the inside of the house when we're a bit more settled.
David could only take 9 days off work and had to fly back to CA on Monday. We already miss him so much & are counting down until we're together again! We're hoping that he will be able to move back up before September.

Mommy's helpers. Don't they look so helpful?

Kiley giving Cody loves- playing in the UHAUL

Our last night in Redding- picnic in our front yard w/ friends

Cody & Daddy in the UHAUL
Mr. Caedon
Little Sleeping Beauty

This was on Day 2 of our trip in Sparwood, BC. This is the world's largest truck. We got out to see it and let the kids run around.

Auntie Jodi with her babies
Kiley enjoyed playing in the mud
Our new house!

The kids checking out the backyard

Cody's bday present from Nana, Papa & the aunties- a trampoline!
Kiley was THRILLED to find her kitchen in her room. (We had to sell her kitchen in Redding, but my mom found one for her in Canada and put it together and had it waiting for her). Kiley kept saying, "Look! I found my kitchen!" (As if she'd been searching for it forever :))

Getting ready for the pool



The doting grandparents
Auntie Jodi & Caedon
Cody with his 4 1/2 cobs of corn. This kid loves his corn.



Caedon meeting the dogs @ Nana & Papa's house

3 More Sleeps...

Our furniture is officially gone, so we've been getting creative. Here are the kids, eating Chipotle @ their make-shift table. They've been thrilled about "camping" on the floor at night and because the house is just about empty now, they are loving games of tag and kicking their big ball around the extra space. Just had to give them credit- they are being extremely patient and are such good sports about all the changes going on in their little lives.
3 more sleeps until we start our journey north! A good part of the packing has been conquered and Jodi is flying down tomorrow morning to help me finish packing & then drive up with us.
A HUGE thank you for my wonderful friends who have been helping me pack or have been taking a child or two out for a couple hours. You are my life-savers!

Saying Goodbye...

We are blessed to have the most wonderful friends, who have really become more like family during our time here in Redding. They were so kind & threw us a good-bye party/BBQ this past weekend. It was great fun having every one together, & sad knowing it was the last time all together for awhile...

The kids had their little paradise in Lourie's backyard, with a waterslide, jumphouse, trampoline & kiddie pool.

Looks like Daddy Day Care in the Tumino's living room :)

David & Matt (Ramsey)- roomies in college, and BFF's.

I love this one- the boys & their babies.

We will really miss all these wonderful people!

Baby Daphne (Tim & Elaine's new baby girl)

Complete & Utter Chaos

Oh the joys of moving! The above picture is my living room. I am learning quickly that packing with 3 small children is pretty much impossible. The packing has to wait until they're in bed for the night, but I'm finding that I'm too exhausted after they're in bed! I HATE living like this... not knowing where anything is, wading through piles of clothes & toys, tripping on boxes, and trying to keep the kids out of the boxes that are already packed. I will be soooo glad when this is over!

Cody & Kiley like to sit up there & watch mommy pack.
They have really been good little sports with all the changes going on.

Daddy taking the kids for one last bike ride before the big move.

Kiley & her friend Lanae, having one last tea party.

Related?

These are the pictures we had taken for the kids' Canadian citizenship applications. The specifications were quite picky, which made the process long and drawn out. They had to look right at the camera. Both ears had to be showing. They weren't allowed to be smiling.
Anyways, looking at all three pictures beside each other made David and I laugh. They all look so much alike... and like baby convicts in these little mug shots. I love how all three are even biting their bottom lip. Just thought I'd share...

911

I'm beginning to lose track of the number of times I've had to dial 911 in Cody's short 5 years of life. Today was yet another of those wonderful opportunities. I hope child services isn't keeping track!

As you all know, we're crazy busy packing, yard saling & trying to get a zillion things done before our move to Canada in just over 2 weeks. Caedon was napping and Cody and Kiley were playing in the backyard. We have a huge backyard, safely fenced all the way around & I check on them frequently when they're playing back there. I was inside grabbing some popsicles for them when I heard Cody start yelling, "HELP ME! HELP ME!" I ran outside and could hear him but couldn't see him anywhere. I finally saw him on the other side of the fence- in the neighbors' yard behind our house. The fence is 7 feet high and I have no idea how he climbed that thing! He was scared and kept asking me to "open the door," so he could come back to our side of the fence. :) We had just sold our ladder at our yard sale and the fence was too high for me to climb. I thought about driving around to the other side of the neighborhood, but I had no idea what their house looked like- just their back yard. So I started to panick and decided to call 911, that all too familiar number. The police arrived in record time and brought our little guy home, safe & sound. I had to snap a picture of him getting out of the cop car with the big tough policemen. Hopefully this will be our last encounter, but I somewhat doubt it. On a sidenote, I am SO thankful that this set of neighbors didn't own any mean dogs. I'm sure I would've found the way over the fence myself if they had.

8 months & counting

Caedon Joel @ 8 1/2 months....

It's crazy how big my baby is already!