What is it With Kids & Boxes??

We ordered new patio furniture (finally...I have only been waiting 6 years for it) and when Jay put it together, Arabella had to have the box.  She colored it and made it into an animal house.  She had fun playing in it and it held her attention for awhile.  In the meantime, all her regular toys were hanging out upstairs waiting for her return.

The BIG Purge

One of the things I accomplished that I feel great about is purging my clothes.  It has really been years...since before we moved to Montreal...that I have done a purge on this level.  It helped that I had Lori here to say yeah or nay to items and to tell me that I was never going to wear something again.  This was the couch before the purge...

And many hours later this is what it looked like...

The purge included a huge box of shoes and accessories and a garment box full of suits and coats.

Now I hope I can make some money off these clothes at our garage sale or the consignment store!

Cool Kids

Auntie Lori To The Rescue

Auntie Lori saved the day!  If it wasn't for her, our house wouldn't be in as good shape as it is now.  It is hard to empty and unpack boxes with a 4 month old and a 4 year old, add to the all the traveling that Jay has had to do and there is no way I could have done it without her.  I know it sounds silly, but Max eats every 2 hours still and then I have to take and pick Arabella up at school, make meals, etc.  I was making very slow progress but with an extra set of hands, we made a ton of progress!  And I (actually we) are so very thankful for her help!!  She really cracked the whip and our house was in pretty good shape when she left.

We had fun while unpacking too.  It is always interesting to see how the movers pack things. 

Take this box for instance labeled stemware...

 This was what was inside...

 Or this one....

We also had a chance to enjoy a (few) glasses of wine in the evening when we had productive days.  Please ignore the lawn chairs in the living room...our new couch had not been delivered yet!

I know I enjoyed having Auntie Lori here to help out and Arabella and Max did too!  Thanks for all your help and hard work!! 

Dragonfly On Our Doorstep

We found a dragonfly on our doorstep one afternoon.  Arabella was very excited to hold him.  He stayed on her finger for a bit, then flew off.  It was a fun find!

A Little Celebration

Once we were a little settled and we found the champagne, Jay and I toasted to our new house!  Cheers!

                 So delicious, my absolute favorite Champagne!  Thank you Cynthia for introducing me.

Backyard Creatures

Who knew that we were going to have these in our backyard in Charlotte...

I'm still determining how I feel about them...