Back in the Saddle

Here's the deal: I've been busy, but I've also been spending free time (that I could have spent posting here) mostly reading. I'm doing another Modern Mrs. Darcy Reading Challenge (both of them, actually), and it seems I think I'm supposed to finish the challenge(s) before the 4th of July rather than New Years Eve.

Anyway, we really have been busier than usual. Isn't the month of May, with Mother's Day and the end of school, always a hectic time of year? Our extended family also celebrates several May birthdays. On top of that, we're gearing up for our big move from Texas to California. We get more and more used to moving (and a fraction more efficient) each time we move, but if I think too long and hard about the disorganized and extremely inconvenient nature of moving in general...well, let's just not go there.

I should clarify: when I say "gearing up" for our big move, what I mean is that the moving company sent people to pack up our house last Friday (May 19th), and they showed up again this morning to finish. It took these fine, efficient people 6.5 total hours to put all of our earthly possessions into boxes, while Chet and I sat around eating donuts and feeling impressed by, and appreciative of, their hard work. (That sounds sarcastic, but it's not! They were great!)

(Please note: we shared the donuts with said fine, efficient people.)

So really we're past the "gearing up" phase and more accurately in the "there's no turning back now" phase. Our house is a sea of boxes, and the moving truck will come pick all of them (and our furniture) up Wednesday. Chet, Sydney, and Lorelei are still staying in our house so that Sydney can attend school and Lorelei can go to her gymnastics class, and Ford, Ruthie, and I are staying with Didi and Papa Dave in New Braunfels.

Moving IS inconvenient. For example, Chet will have to make breakfast work tomorrow with two plastic spoons and a single paper coffee cup (Starbucks, size Tall), out of which the girls will eat cereal. But there's also a fun flipside: today after school he took the girls to the bowling alley and then out to dinner (not our normal Monday night routine!). I have to keep reminding myself that it's all an adventure.

I also have to keep reminding myself that even though we're in the midst of a move and summer vacation is quickly approaching (my least favorite time of year), I can still have a routine. I miss recording our family memories and the things that my kids say and the random things that pop into my head, so I'm going to make time for blogging again. But I have to be honest: without the use of our home computer (I'll be using Didi's computer for the majority of the summer), I won't be able to post many pictures (if any). I'm fine with that, but I know that pictures make this space more exciting, so I apologize in advance. Pictures or no pictures, I'm getting back in the saddle!