Friday, July 1, 2011

Taking a break from packing



It's go time over here. My husband and I made a trip back out to Oklahoma with one thing to accomplish...find a house. Day one of our search and we accomplished our mission. I never expected it to be that easy. We found a house that fits all of our needs and icing on the cake, the backyard is HUGE. And when I say huge I mean seriously huge. The home is on 1/3 of an acre. Hubs said he almost needs a riding lawnmower which of course our realtor and the sellers found hilarious, they don't know him well enough to know he was serious LOL. With three kids the yard is a wonderful thing. My oldest and I already have plans for a vegetable garden. 

So now that we've found the house it's time to get packing up our current digs. I am a bit of a moving specialist. We have moved eleven times in ten years. Maybe a little bit overkill but that was our old track record. We liked to move. Now, not so much. I am over the little high that comes along with packing up, moving and unpacking. I'm thinking the little fairy movers need to come over and pack while I am sleeping so I can wake up the next morning and have everything completed. Yeah wouldn't that be nice. D day is in two weeks so it's crunch time for me. So far today I have packed eleven boxes and it's only 2:00 pm. Hoping to make it to twenty boxes and then I'll call it a day. 

Since this is our first move with our youngest being old enough to stand at my feet and want/beg to help I am taking advantage. Here are a few tricks I have been doing today to help me keep my sanity and let the kids help.

  • Give them their own box to pack
  • Let them choose what they would like to pack i.e. toys, clothes, books, etc.
  • When packing your linens do a little assembly line with your children handing one the linens and passing down until they are in the box (so far this is the kids favorite).
  • When clearing out the junk let the kids help in throwing stuff away. Not sure if it's just my kids but they seem to love throwing stuff in the trash.
  • Assign designated box holders for when you are assembling your boxes and rotate between your children. So maybe have one do the holding while you set up in the bathroom and another while in a bedroom. 
  • While going through your children's toys bring out a separate box marked "donate" and ask your kids to choose which toys they would like to keep and which toys they no longer wish to keep and would like to give to another child who may not have toys. 
So far things are going smoothly. I know it's only the beginning and I probably should talk like that so I don't jinx it but, well yeah I don't play by the rules and I am just happy my kids are as excited as we are about the big move. 

And what would a post be without some pictures!

Photobucket

Photobucket