The Heflins Are Moving!

We are so excited that the Heflins are moving from the other side of the river to our side of the river! They are moving into the house on the family farm. The house needs a ton of work but THAT is what friends are for!

 

They spent their first weekend that it was open there. We went down to see them and help for a bit on Sunday evening. We ordered pizza and took them champagne.

 

Sawyer eating pizza on the "clean" carpet. They removed every bit of flooring and painted every single wall. Alex and I helped wash walls, tape, and paint. It was fabulous!

Poor Ella didn't feel well so she napped. Charlotte helped paint. Emily was as good as she always is!

We are so happy to have them closer!!!!

She will hate me for posting this BUT it was so funny!

We love them and know that having them closer means we will get to see them more!!

 

Happy New House, friends. Congratulations :)

Honey, I'm Home!

Well, March 1, 2013 started out with very little sleep. Dad and I got back to his house around 4:30 am (ish). I had to meet my new landlord at the new house in Metamora at 9 am. So, I was able to sleep for about 2.5 hours. Perfection.

I went up to our newest residence on Big Red Drive and met Mr. John. I took Charlotte with me so she could see our new place. It looked great!!! The painters had just a few finishing touches to make that afternoon and then it would be all finished... well, until the weather warmed up. Once the snow melts and it is no longer below freezing, we will be getting a driveway, a back porch, a mailbox, and a yard. Until then we get rocks and dirt and we get to have our mail sent to my parents' house. Charlotte and I ran a few errands and headed back to Mom and Dad's house. I ended up going back up to the new house to unload Mom and Dad's Yukon. Let me just tell you what all was jammed in there... two coolers with food in them, four tvs (3 flat screen, a desktop computer, a printer/fax combo, about 20 8x10 or larger picture frames wrapped in towels and plastic to protect them, a propane tank, two glass round table tops for our end tables, all of our cleaning supplies, Dad and I's clothes, and a few other special items. It was PACKED!!

Here is our new place....

This is the inside right after we unloaded the Yukon. This is the living, dining room, and kitchen area on the first floor.

I spent the afternoon at Mom and Dad's house packing up our stuff there.  Mary ate dinner with the kids, Alex and I at Mom and Dad's house. Grandma Ann, Aunt Kathy, and Aunt Diane came up for the weekend to help me. They ended up eating out with Mom and Dad and eventually they came back to the house to hang out. I went to bed early since I knew I had only slept a few hours the night before and I knew the next day my feet would hit the floor running.

Saturday morning I got up and headed up to Metamora. I got breakfast for my helpers and for the movers. All of the helpers (Dad, Mary, Grandma Ann, Aunt Diane, and Aunt Kathy) arrived 9 am. Mom stayed at her house with the kids and her Mary would be tag teaming taking care of them all day. The movers around around 9:30 am and we started unloading around 10 am.

It was overwhelming and a bit nervewracking as they opened the back doors to the truck. I swore it was all going to come falling out :)

BUT IT DIDN'T!

Me and all of our crap :)

The movers were fabulous. They were Southern Boys born and raised. They were freezing (initially). AJ here had to buy this cat hat at the gas station bc he had forgotten a stocking cap. He rocked the kitty hat all day. John, the other mover, had forgotten a hat as well so he borrowed one of mine... it was a pretty knitted hat with ribbon on the top. He wore it with pride (and don't worry, I washed it before I wore it again.)

Let's get this party started.

We had a great system. Grandma and Aunt Kathy were manning the door, Mary, Didi, Dad, Aunt Kathy and I were helping them carry the stuff in, and once a bunch of stuff got carried in, everyone started unpacking/putting stuff together while I kept bossing everyone around.

It was pretty chill. No one got worked up. Dad and John put the cribs together, Didi put the kid's clothes in their dressers and packed both of the kid's rooms (as well as organized the upstairs linen closet and bathroom). Mary helped Didi and ended up babysitting the kids while mom played her trumpet at a funeral. Mary and Grandma did the kitchen, Aunt Kathy did the living room, and Dad and I floated around and did whatever. We ate Michael's Italian Feast for lunch and when the movers finished at 12:30 pm, we sent  food with them.

I went from a big kitchen in Charleston to an even bigger kitchen in Georgia, to a small small small kitchen in Illinois. So we decided to make a kitchen area/pantry in the basement. Didi, Mary, Grandma and I ran to Walmart to get shelves while Dad and Aunt Kathy organized the boxes in the basement. We got the shelves up, ate pizza, and hung out for awhile. By the time Alex got to our new house that night after work, it looked like we had moved in weeks ago. It was wonderful.

I could not have done this whole move without all of the help from family. This is another huge plus to being back in Illinois. We had such great help. It was a pretty stress free day.

Thank you to Mom, Dad, Mary, John, Grandma Ann, Aunt Kathy, and Aunt Didi. You guys were amazing!!!!!!!!! Don't know what we would have done without you!!!!!  Love you all so much.

Honey, we are home!! :-)

Another Day, Another Move

Oh February 27th, I have been dreading you and looking forward to you all at the same time.

That morning brought our "Back to Georgia" day. Dad and I woke up and were out of the house by 6:30 am. We were able to make pretty good time without having to worry about making stops. We were making excellent time until we got to Atlanta. Oh, Atlanta, you are so annoying at times. When we got to Atlanta, we met up with rush hour traffic and multiple car accidents. We got to our place in Fortson before 9 pm... which wasn't horrible timing but it wasn't amazing. We were so thankful to be there and to finally be closing that chapter in our lives. 

Dad and I got to work and got the rest of the house packed up. Mom and I had packed up about 75% of the house before we left for Illinois 3 weeks prior.  Dad and I worked until about 11:30 and then we headed to bed. This was my first night away from Sawyer and only my third time of being away from Charlotte at night. I felt a bit weird going to sleep knowing I could sleep through the night. Crazy. I slept like a rock. AMAZING.

We got up the next morning, the 28th, and we started busting our booties. The movers got to the house about 9:30 am. We used Two Men and A Truck this time. Our two guys got there. They were hysterical. The driver/lead mover, John, was quite the talker. The second guy, Mr. Flowers, was the strong silent type. They were quite a pair but so very nice and efficient. They looked at everything in our house and told me it would be NO PROBLEM  to get all of it in their truck. No problem at all :) 

We. Shall. See. 

They finally got started loading the truck around 10:30 am. I ran into Columbus one last time and ran a few errands. I got lunch for all of us from Zaxby's. I wish the North had Zaxby's. Man, I am going to miss that!!!!

The movers sat down and ate with us for a bit. They were shocked when I brought them lunch and even more shocked when Dad asked them to eat at the kitchen table WITH us.

I was a nervous wreck the entire time they were packing the truck. I kept praying that everything would fit. it was pretty awesome doing the move with just Dad as my helper. Dad and I are pretty chill in situations like this so we were all pretty relaxed. No one was high strung or worked up. It really made the day so much easier.

We finally got the entire truck loaded. As they were getting ready to shut the door, they noticed the rocking chair on the front porch. I basically said that I would rather leave something and take the rocking chair. We put our heads together and found a way to switch around the fire pit and the chair and it all fit!!!! The truck pulled out of the driveway at 2:45 pm. Excellent work!!

Dad and I cleaned finished the cleaning and the landlords came by. They really were amazing people. Tommy and Mary Properties in Columbus, GA is a great place to rent from. They apologized to me for my poor kitty dying. They apologized for not checking on me and helping me out more. I just said, "You know, everything happens for a reason. I am just glad to be going home."

Our empty house. The only thing left is Max's ashes...

After Tommy and Mary left, Dad and I showered quick and loaded the Tahoe to the brim. There was literally NO ROOM for even a cotton ball in the car at that point. But it was a successful day!

We had a beautiful home. I will really miss my huge kitchen, all of the upgrades, the TALL ceilings, the privacy in the yard, the big windows, the screened in porch, the red dirt, and my massive walk-in closet.

House, thank you for being so good to us!

Our massive pile of garbage. Thankfully garbage day was set to be the next morning!!

Dad and I hit the road at 4 pm. We decided to take backroad up to Rome Georgia and just skip ALL of Atlanta. It was kind of nice seeing more of the backwoods of Georgia :)

We drove until 4 am, CST. We made good time. I drove a pretty big chunk of the drive. I would like to give a massive shout out to a wonderful man in my life. Mr. Paul, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for always talking to me on the phone when I need someone. Mr. Paul talked to me for hours on the drive. It was amazing. One time he actually talked to me for four hours to help keep me awake. He is truly amazing. Mr. Paul, what would I do without you?????

Although I am not a big fan of snow, I can say that I am so glad to be home. After being gone for almost 8 years, I am so glad to call Illinois "home" again.

Georgia, it was real and it was fun but it wasn't real fun.

Here is to the first day of the rest of our lives....

Bye Bye Georgia

Well, we spent the rest of February 4th, all of February 5th, and the morning of February 6th packing, cleaning, and organizing. We got all of the kids' rooms packed, most of the toys packed, all but one cabinet of stuff in the kitchen (and it's a big kitchen), most of my room, and just a few odds and ends scattered. We got the entire house cleaned. We made piles for what would be travelling back with us when we made the final move. It was extremely productive. We were on a roll!!!

I loaded up the Tahoe on Wednesday morning. We had a LARGE pile of items to go with us back to Illinois. I took clothes, toys, food, all of Sawyer's feeding stuff, medicine, shoes, coats, wedding stuff, etc... all stuff we might need over the next month. I got it ALL to fit. Barely. One of the funniest parts was when we had the entire car piled up, I realized I had forgotten to pack my hanging up clothes. I had a big a bunch of them hanging out in my closet. The car I went to look for room. It was full. There was no room for anything else... just us humans.  But somehow, I found room. I have no idea how. 

We then loaded up.

Mom had her corner of the world in the very back.

The front seat was full. So full that I could barely see over the stuff to see the mirror.

Sawyer was packed in.

And happy pants had enough toys sat her feet and below her to last her a lifetime.

We left our house a little before 1 pm. We got through Atlanta and stopped North of Atlanta for lunch at Chick Fil A. I was the number one mom after lunch and gave Charlotte some hand sanitizer. She had burned her finger on a lamp the Sunday night before. Well, the scab had fallen off and it was raw and open. The gel hit it. She screamed, cried, was hysterical from North of Atlanta to passed Chattanooga. She finally stopped crying when we were in the mountains and we stopped and got her a donut. It's the small things. 

We stopped again in Nashville and went to Opryland Mills to eat dinner and walk around. We had a delicious meal and Charlotte even road the carousel with Gigi. We put both babies in their jammies and we piled back in our white trash wagon that was filled to the brim with items. (We looked like a bunch of hoarders.) We finished out the drive. I drove the entire trip. Mom was a trooper in the back with the kids. (Lots of up and down and feeling for pacis and cups and bottles.) All I did was man the steering wheel. We got home around 3 am. It was a nice long drive but it felt great to know we wouldn't have to be doing that with the kids for a VERY long time. Praise the Lord

So, we are now in Illinois...

We are Land of Lincoln residents. 

HELP IS ON THE WAY!!!

So Alex left on a Saturday, Grandma and the girls left on a Sunday, and that left me in Columbus until the following Sunday without guests. Niki and her boys were planning to come for four days the following Sunday, Alysia and Callie were planning to come the following Friday, and Aunt Kathy was going to fly in the following Wednesday. Well, Alex's brother and future sister-in-law offered to come visit the very first weekend we had free. Niki moved her visit to a week later. So that left us by ourselves for most of Sunday through Friday night instead of Sunday to Sunday. I was so happy, relieved, and excited. Well, on that first Friday morning, Alex's brother called to say they wouldn't be able to make it. He said they had too much stuff to get done over the weekend to come visit. I was pretty sad but I know that things come up and plans change. Niki had already changed all of her plans she wasn't able to come up visit that Sunday like the original plan.

When my momma found out about it, she just decided that there was no point in the kids and I sitting in Georgia by ourselves. Mom, Dad, and Mary had been worried sick the entire time we had been by ourselves. Mary had told them how I wasn't sleeping because I was just worried about "stuff". Mom and Dad decided that if it was ok with us, Mom would just fly down and pick us up and drive back to Illinois to live with them until we had a place to live. Even though I felt like I was giving up and disappointing myself (as well as the visitors that we had planned), I decided that it would be the best thing for us to do for the kids. Having only one stressed out parent and two small babies with no outside contact just isn't the best case scenario.

So, that Friday afternoon (February 1), Mom booked a plane ticket (for surprisingly cheap) to come save us :) We made it through the weekend. On Monday February 4, mom flew from St. Louis to Columbus. Her and Dad got up at 2 am and drove to St. Louis to have her there in time for the 7 am flight. We went and picked mom up for the LAST TIME from the Groomes Station. All sweetness, no bitterness. The end had finally come...

Charlotte got out of the car and ran to her :) To say that a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders the second I saw her would be an understatement. Help had arrived :)

I know that I make it sound very dramatic. I know that there are tons of single moms out there. But the thing is, I didn't have a support system of any type. I didn't have a friend... any family... heck, I couldn't even depend on the garbage man for anything because they were all prisoners. I just didn't know what I would do in case of an emergency or what if something happened to me? Who would notice and come save my kids? What if the house caught on fire? Or someone broke into the house? What if one of the kids got really sick? What would I do with the other one?? My mind was a HOT MESS.

But once my Mom got there...it all went away. I do not know what I would do without her... or my Dad. They saved the day...and my sanity.

We picked her up, ran a few errands, ate lunch at the Chicken Salad Chick, and got our last bunch of cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes. Deliciousness.

We then headed back to the woods and started packing our booties off...

We have lots of stuff. Oh. My. Goodness.

One Crazy Week...

We had a crazy busy week at the beginning of January. We were in Illinois for Tyler's visitation and funeral. While we were driving TO Illinois on that Friday night (December 28), Alex called me to tell me that he a car dealership in Peoria, IL had called him and wanted him to come as soon as possible for an interview. He had gone to lunch with a man with a possible job opportunity. That man also brought a friend of his who was the manager of a car dealership. The car dealership guy really liked Alex and ended up calling him exactly one week later to set up an interview.FABULOUS!!

So, Alex decided to drive to Illinois very early on Wednesday, January 2nd. He got to mom and dad's house at about 2 pm Wednesday afternoon. He had an interview at 10 am the next morning (Thursday). The interview went well and he left with a good feeling. After his interview, we met Dad, Mom, and John for lunch then we got on the road back to Georgia with the two kids. We left Peoria area around 2 pm. The kids did well in the car...especially since they were required to spend the better part of their day in the car. We got home around 3 am. The next day was a LONG day. I took over driving in Kentucky so Alex was able to sleep quite a bit on the way home. 

Friday, January 4, Alex got a phone call about the next job. The store in Peoria offered him a job as a finance manager!!! I sent a text message to many people telling them that we are going home :) Alex and I were both ecstatic!!

Alex worked on Saturday, got home late Saturday night, and had to get up early Sunday morning because he was leaving for Texas for a week for work. He left the house at 7 am. Then there were three...

The kids and I hung out and packed in preparation for our trip to Charleston. Mom was coming to visit and go to Charleston with us. It was a busy week with many more busy weeks to come... and apparently a bunch of packing to do as well!!! :) We can't believe that this opportunity just randomly showed itself to us. It is amazing!! We can't wait to live close to family...and to have friends again!

So that was the week of January 2-January 7 (not quite a week but you know what I mean)

Now here are a few pictures to make you smile.

SHOCKING!!!!

Welcome to the Jackson House

Our humble abode in the woods of Georgia :)

The foyer right when you walk in.

Charlotte's play room...which would typically be a formal dining room but since we have no friends here, we don't need an entertaining area :)

We do however need a place to store all of Charlotte's goodies :)

Here is our living room. 

I didn't want to add a bunch of holes to the walls that I would have to worry about filling later so we just put stuff where there were already hanging things.

Love the ceiling here... and the lighting...and it's an actual wood burning fireplace. Perfect for the kids.

Our eating area/breakfast area.

This is Max's cat door that Alex and Dad put in.

Our kitchen.

Really love our kitchen. Love the backsplash, love the oven/stove (which I forgot to take a pic of), love all of the cabinet space. The only draw back is there is not a garbage disposal. YUCK.

Laundry room.

Half bath.

Master bedroom.

Master Bath.

Master closet.

LOVE IT. Huge.

I know I already posted these but this is Charlotte's room.

That dresser is from my Great Grandma Weber's house... it had raccoon poop on it when I found it in 2005. 

The nursery. Nice, right???

More of the nursery. We have a LONG way to go with it.

The Kids'/Guest bath

Our Guest bedroom/the Office.

The view from our front porch looking out into our cul-de-sac.

The start of our Georgia clay mountain in the backyard.

The actual hill doesn't look all that impressive but it is tall.

Yep, we are classy. Don't be jealous.

So this is our humble abode. We really like living here. It's a good size for what we need it for and it's nice not having to worry about stairs with Charlotte. We like feeling a bit secluded although we have no idea what our neighbors even look like. Also, we kind of hate having very little cellphone service. That part gets slightly annoying but that should be fixed soon.

Come visit us at anytime! We love visitors :) Now that the house is settled, we will have time to finally get to know our new city!