Moving Out and Moving On

As exciting as it is to be looking at an overseas move, there is no easy way to say goodbye to home.  Texas will always be home to us and our house there was filled with 6 years of happy memories and watching our boys grow up.  It was hard to pack it all up and leave.  Not to mention that it's a major process - I had to sort every inch of the house into 12 suitcases, a small air shipment, a 40-foot container going by sea, or storage.  Plus tons of things I gave to a local charity or pawned off on neighbors.  My conclusion - we have too much stuff. 

Matt left for a two week trip to Jakarta and the kids and I checked into a hotel so I could wash everything, clean out the fridges, and dry the washing machine before they were packed.  It was also nice to leave the chaos like this in the evening and sleep in a quiet place that served us breakfast.  The dining room was ground zero for all things storage.  We love all that furniture but we didn't have the space to move it or room in the rental house for formal dining.

 

 It was a 5-day job for 4 movers to pack and load everything.

It always interesting to watch everything disappear into boxes and wrapping and we always hope it comes out the same on the other end.

This was my little corner for the week so I could be out of the way.  It was pretty chaotic organizing everything in the house, keeping the kids occupied (but I was so thankful for grandparents and friends who did so much to get them out of the house during the week!), and keeping quite a few appointments. I thought I might lose my mind when I found out my credit card had been hacked and I had to cancel it (pretty interesting trying to pay for a hotel in cash) and that we had to find some way to get Ben into a specialist in 3 days for his medical clearance, but with a lot of prayer, a few tears, dozens of phone calls, and some deep breaths, it all fell into place.

Alex's room became the kids' hideout once it was packed.

Ben offered to travel this way.  I said no.

On Friday, the big day arrived and I prayed and prayed that everything we planned to take would fit in this container!  After hours of loading, every single box and bed fit with barely an inch to spare. God is good!!  Hopefully we'll see it all again in early October.

Grumpy took the kids home that afternoon and I spent several more hours cleaning and checking everything else.  It was nice to have some quiet time walking through each room and thinking of all the happy memories we've made in this place.

We came back as a family to grab a last few things and see the empty house.  At first, the kids thought it was pretty cool.

But empty rooms make for sad faces :(  Alex cried the rest of the afternoon.

Our sweet neighbor Rosie suggested we take one last picture in front of the house and I'm so thankful for this one!  

Quite a difference from 2011!  She was a wonderful home sweet home and she will be greatly missed...but new adventures await.

New Smiles

In the midst of all our medical appointments and vaccinations for Indonesia, we had an orthodontic checkup for both kids.  The awesome news for Ben - he could get his braces off!  The bad news for Alex - he needed two baby teeth pulled.  We opted to go the easiest route and see an oral surgeon so he could be sedated to have the teeth extracted.  Alex was still a bit nervous before the consultation, though...

 

All smiles from the kid about the lose the braces!

 

 
 When the big day came, Alex was actually really excited to be put to sleep.  He woke up extra early so he could enjoy his "nap".  Everything went smoothly and he was home minus two teeth an hour and a half later.

Aside from a few aches, it didn't bother him at all!  And now we can enjoy his cute new smile.

 

A few days later, we documented Ben's last morning with braces.

He was so excited to say goodbye to the ole braces and hello to a big bag of Fritos.  (and obviously there was no hair combing on this day but, hey, it's summer!)

And the verdict is...

...SO HANDSOME!!  I couldn't get enough of his beautiful smile all afternoon.  Happy guy and happy mom that we didn't have to move with braces.  Phase 2 may be in our future one day but we don't have to worry about that now.

Alabama

After Alex's party, we cleaned up the house, packed our things, and headed to the farm in Alabama while the house went on the market.

 

 Even though it was pretty dang hot, we got to enjoy some fishing...

...and a few more sparklers and fireworks.

On his actual birthday, Alex enjoyed the rest of his gifts.

We surprised him with a monster kit kat and a Lego set from Singapore.  He's been obsessed with his birthplace since he can't remember it at all and he cannot wait to go visit.

The boys' favorite activity is taking a nature walk with the dogs and watching them run around and explore.  I should have taken a picture at the end when all four of them were wet and muddy!

All of the fun wore this little guy out!

We had a birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Thomasville.

These guys are becoming great drivers.  They both got lots of time on the 4-wheeler roads while we looked at the land.

Unfortunately for Ben, most of the roads were muddy after the wettest June on record, but by the last full day the sun had dried things enough for him to drive on one of the dirt roads.  We avoided getting stuck (twice) while turning around and he had a great time in his favorite truck.

Alex didn't love it quite so much after a close encounter with a sign, but he got some good experience as well.

The boys shot some skeet as well and both had success.

I love watching them learn new things!

Alex's Birthday Weekend

Alex is such a tradition guy.  He's going to be the perfect Aggie one day.  He wanted his third annual waterslide party in the backyard, so we delayed putting the house on the market for a few days and had one last bash in the back.  Since it always falls around the 4th, we also didn't have a lot of choices when it came to slides, so we ended up with the mega bounce house and slide.  He was not disappointed!

 I'll never understand how kids can enjoy this for hours but all this sweet kids had so much fun!

The cookie cake was a winner as well!  Alex also picked out party blowers for everyone to use after we sang happy birthday.

Hours later we discovered something a little gross about a slide where kids get out and run around to slide again - the pool turned into a mud pit.  Good thing the parents had fun earlier because no way were we getting in that! The kids never even noticed.

To wrap up the fun, we had a pinata out front.

Most of the kids got a whack at Darth Vader before he cracked.  (And thank goodness no one got the truck that was to be sold a few weeks later!)

Later on, Alex opened some presents while we waited for the sun to go down.

It was a few days early, but we did some 4th of July fireworks with our neighbors for the last time.  We have so many happy memories of blowing things up together out on the street!

Wow, we love these kiddos and it's been fun to watch them all grow together.

Autumn, Sariah, Austin, Aaron, Rowan, Presley, Gabriella, Ryan, Ben, Spencer, and some crazy kid out in front.

Bright and early Sunday morning, we headed to church for a very special morning.

Alex decided a few months back that he was ready to be baptized and we were so excited about his decision.  All of the Houston family came to support him and enjoy the special day.

It was so sweet celebrating his birthday and his life in Jesus on the same weekend.  I love his precious faith and I hope Alex walks closely with God throughout his life.

 

I went around to watch with the rest of the family...

 The photographer in the back got lovely pictures for us while Pastor Mike spoke about Alex.  They got to know each other at church camp in June.

This is my absolute favorite - a precious hug afterward.  I'm so glad the photographer captured the moment. Happy birthday, sweet Alex!