Uneventful

Today we drove through:

North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia
Alabama

Today we ate:
Gas station snacks $11
Chick-fil-A $16 (It was in a mall, but good ole Gregory (the GPS) found it!)
Olive Garden $50
2 bottles of water $2

The boys watched:
Monsters Inc.
Facing the Giants
Boz
Blues Clues

We left at 7:45 and got to Olive Garden at 5:00. 600 miles.

The boys did awesome. I can't complain one bit. We considered continuing all the way but decided setting up air mattresses at 1 in the morning was not ideal.

We have been in that car driving for 20 hours in the last 3 days, I have driven one.

What an awesome husband I have! He puts up with my sobbing through my book, Ever After by Karen Kingsbury.

The boys are in bed and since we are sharing a hotel room, that means I need to be also!

Hotel Crisis

We promised Sage that if his pull up was dry all day yesterday we could go swimming.

At 4, I decided we should call and make sure our hotel has a pool.

"No, but we have a fitness center."

We texted google and found a new hotel.

For $30 extra dollars.

A promise kept.

Today we made our way to my brothers house. Check out his new blog!

We are going to up our driving schedule so that we can arrive on Sunday night rather than Monday night. Tomorrow we are scheduled to drive 600 miles. We'll see how it goes!

A New Beginning

The truck is packed.

It's "on its way".

We are still in Connecticut.

Our last night, not in our apartment, in a hotel.

Tomorrow, we drive away.

Away from the only place Kolby has known, away from our life for the last three years, away from the familiar.

Our new adventure begins, come along for the ride!

Drew Graduates From Yale

The Dean of Architecture asking the President of Yale to grant the degree of Master of Architecture.


The Dean of SOM asking the President of Yale to grant the degree of Master of Business Administration.


Drew's class from SOM graduating.


Sir Paul McCartney receiving Doctorate of Music.


Cesar Pelli (whom Drew worked in his office) receiving his doctorate of Fine Arts.


Sage drinking water.


Sage and mommy waiting for the diploma ceremony to start.


Sage napping on Nana during the diploma ceremony.


Kolby napping on mommy.


Sage being held by Drew in line for the diploma.


Drew and Sage walking across the stage towards diploma. Kolby was sleeping so he didn't get to walk across with Drew.


Drew receiving his diploma from the SOM Dean.


The Family

The day was long but short. The boys didn't go to the morning ceremony on Old Campus, the 307th graduation of Yale. Our good friends, James and Kim graciously watched them and shuttled me and them around. They went to the diploma ceremony at the School of Management and were invited to walk across the stage with Drew. Sage napped perfectly right before and Kolby conked out right as they started handing out the diplomas, so he stayed with me. I must say, they both behaved wonderfully and made a too long ceremony sitting in the sun enjoyable.

I am so proud of Drew. I don't think I realized how much work and effort it was going to be for him to complete graduate school. In a way, I felt like our whole family should have walked across the stage with him. Drew did a tremendous job of balancing school and family. He went to school in the early morning and was home almost every evening for a family dinner and bedtime. Words can't adequately describe the amount of pride that I have for Drew.

We made it!

I should be packing but this is more fun

This lovely picture is me and Drew in his dorm room at Iowa State. There is something in particular that I want you to notice. Drew's eyebrows.

Here's the story. The summer before this picture was taken, he worked at Mt. Carmel Bible Camp in Alexandria, MN. He used Sun-In. He claims that Sun-In misted down from his hair to his eyebrows. On one occasion, he said that maybe some Sun-In got on a q-tip and onto his eyebrows.

He still gets teased. Mainly by me when we find old pictures. I think his eyebrows stayed this white for the next 3 years.

The Beginning of the End

We have had a few lasts here already. Some of them on purpose, some of them unknowingly. Yesterday, we went to NYC via the train for the last time. We played in Central Park, saw Thumbelina, the worlds smallest horse, ate lunch with some friends who moved from Iowa, and picked up my mothers day gif. It was a great exhausting day.

A week or so ago, we went to the library story time for the last time without realizing it. It was sad as I looked back and didn't even get to tell Miss Mary, thank you for making story time so fun for my boys, we won't be coming back. I thought we would go the next week but circumstances kept us from going.

This morning, we went to our church for the last time. We are excited to find a new church in Houston.

I don't know when Sage played with his Little Tykes firetruck for the last time. We had to sell it. Moving into a town home without a garage and without a yard of our own, we have to get rid of quite a few outdoor toys. Drew had to deliver it Friday night as I put the boys to bed. Sage was so sad. I was so sad for him. We were both crying. He kept telling Drew "You don't have to deliver it!" Sage wasn't asleep when Drew got home and he started telling him again not to deliver it. Drew replied with "I think it is time to get you a bike!" We haven't heard another word of being sad about the firetruck. And no, we have no idea where we will keep the bike, but we will figure it out later.

I think some of the things will be easier if we don't realize they are our last time. We have a park a couple blocks away, the park where both boys learned how to slide, to swing and both love that park still. I don't want to know when the last time we go there will be.

On Saturday, Drew's parents arrive for his graduation, after that, nothing will be the same. We are giving them our room and taking an air mattress in the boys room, his brother will sleep on the couch (if we still have it). Friday night will be the last time we sleep as a family in our little apartment, like we are supposed to be.

I am excited for the new adventure that awaits us, but I am a little sad to be moving too. I haven't written too much here about what a surprise moving to Houston is. I knew we were open to moving anywhere but assumed we were moving to Minneapolis. Close to family. But, we are moving the same distance away, but in the opposite direction. And as we have gotten ready to move, I have realized how much I have liked living in New Haven. It took me awhile, but I like it, I do.

We sang "I Surrender All" for our closing hymn this morning. And I was thinking, I haven't surrendered all. I have held on to many things. My kids, my husband. I don't surrender them. I want to hold them tight and keep them with me always. I haven't surrendered this move. I want to do it myself.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

Refrain

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

Refrain

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

Refrain

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

Refrain

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!

So, this week, I am going to work on surrendering. All. Because I want to. Because I know life will be easier if I do.

Random and Slightly Boring

I went to the grocery store hungry this morning. I just needed a few things, here was my list:

dishwasher detergent (the main reason for going)
hamburger buns
snacks (for the boys)
sour cream

I know, it is a totally random list. But, it all made sense in my head. I came home with all those items, plus some. Like:

oreo cakesters
chocolate chip cookie dough
ice cream sandwiches
cherry coke

As I write this I am eating an oreo cakester and they were a lot better when I tasted them at Sam's a month or so ago. Bummer.

I did also get some vegetables so I can fix the most perfect bagel sandwich ever. Veggie cream cheese, tomato, cucumber, lettuce and green pepper. I usually get whole wheat but I was in a hurry and grabbed plain, not quite as good, but they will do.

Here is the list of things that I am procrastinating doing while I read blogs and write this:

pack bathroom
pack clothes
make list of things to take in car to stay at house with nothing
pack dining room closet
pack boys closet
pack boys clothes
pack desk

And now, I have made myself feel guilty so I am going to go sort out and pack the bathroom stuff. Right after I...

Add a Week!

This morning I had my last OB visit here. I can't say I am sad. When I was pregnant with Kolby, it was common to wait an hour or two to be seen and I always had Sage with me.

From the ultrasound last week, they moved my due date up a week so now I am 13 weeks! That means, that I am officially, by some books, through my first trimester!

I gained a week of pregnancy and 1.5 lbs. The heartrate was 148, if that means anything to you.

But, now I passed my goal of not wearing maternity clothes until after 12 weeks!

Yesterday

Yesterday was my birthday. 29.

Drew temporarily forgot. Sage reminded him. It sounds worse than it was. I had bought my own present about a month ago so he didn't really have any prep work. And the day before, he was taking his last final from 7 pm - 11 pm and studied all day.

And we were still laying in bed when Sage reminded him. So, to give him the benefit of doubt, I am sure he would have remembered before the day was over, probably pretty quickly after getting out of bed.

The most exciting part of the day was getting an ultrasound. I am 11 weeks along. We even got a 3D ultra sound, a perk of going to a research hospital!




We ended the day with a family dinner to Friendly's and then to the Awana Awards Ceremony where unknowingly to me, I had to hand out the Cubbies awards. I got promoted from helper to teacher in January when the teacher had to take a job and couldn't make it to Cubbies anymore. I was not sad to see Cubbies come to a close. Some nights, I thought, I should have been a preschool teacher but most nights I was thinking how much longer until their parents come?

Looking Forward

Saturday, Drew's first free Saturday, was great.

I slept in! Until 8:30!

I showered, with the door closed!

I went grocery shopping, by myself!

Drew grilled pork chops.

It was a great day.

I look forward to many more Saturdays like that. But, I wonder when they will come. Soon, we need to start packing. And then it will be unpacking and painting. We were talking about what we want to get done realistically in the two weeks that we will have before he starts work in our new house. I said, paint the boys room, our room, living, dining and kitchen. My first priority will be the boys room because I read that will help them adjust better. Then I can slowly unpack, organize and get us settled. While working on organizing the living room/ play room so it doesn't look like a play room. Because right now, our living room is over taken by toys. And it bothers us. There isn't enough toy storage so some of it just sits on the floor and it never really seems "picked up". I know, it is just a time of life.

I am concerned that I don't realize how much work the next month or two is going to be, how stressful it will be on our family to move.

Last time we moved, Sage was just 10 months old and it took me 5 days to unpack the kitchen!

How do we paint major rooms (living, dining and kitchen) in our house with children under foot? These three rooms are all kind of connected. It will be an experience!

We are so excited. Any ideas on paint colors for me? We are going to get a khaki couch. So, no khaki walls, maybe a light chocolate brown?