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Explaining Moving to a 4 year old........again

Conversation this morning with Larissa.....

Larissa: Mom are we moving?

Me: Yes

Larissa: Where to?

Me: We are moving to the old house. What do you think about that?

Larissa: I want to go to the old house. Someone else will live in this house.

Me: Yes, we were just borrowing this house, someone else will live here after we leave.

Larissa: They will play with my toys.

Me: No, the movers will come and put all your toys in boxes, put them on a big truck and take them to our old house.

Larissa: My blocks, stroller?

Me: yes, everything.

Larissa: Can we wait until Anthony gets home?

Me: We are not moving today, we have 17 days. (Note to self...I really need to get something for the kids to mark down days)

Larissa: Good, after we move you will make me a playhouse and a pool!

Me: Pool!

Sometimes I wonder how much the kids understand all this moving business. This is the first time we are actually moving back to a house we lived in previously. I tell the little ones frequently that the movers are going to take everything back to our old house, but they seem to ask about their stuff often. When we left SC they didn't ask many question and I assume it was because it was their first move with us. The last time we stayed at a hotel Anthony asked me if it was our new home. Hopefully this will be our last move for a long time.

Larissa playing with her current favorite toys. I am truly amazed that the babies are dressed! I didn't stage that.

Pieces of My Heart

Just three pieces of my heart.........still live at home. However, they all live in my heart.



Some days I can't believe that my kids are growing up so fast. I now have too many kids living outside of my home. How can I protect them when they aren't under my roof? Why didn't anyone warn me that my job as a worrying mom doesn't end in 18 years?

Sarah is my next one to go. She is studying for her drivers permit. Oh, I am really not ready for that again. It seems like once they are driving then..........poof......... they are gone.


The two little ones are next. I just bought them new tennis shoes. In our one year in Texas Anthony has grown by one shoe size and Larissa has grown by three!



I do so enjoy the little ones. Did you know that when you have new tennis shoes then you can run faster? They have been practicing that theory all day and have determined that they are indeed faster.

Today was a big day for Larissa. She said her first words to her bus driver......she announced that it was her dad's birthday and we were taking him to lunch. Her driver was so excited to finally hear Larissa talk. She was probably shocked to realize that she did indeed speak and even in sentences. I guess that John needs to have more birthdays.

I told the kids today that we are moving back to our old house. The two little ones were excited but Sarah enjoys the big city life better. Larissa reminded me that once we get moved I have to build her a playhouse. That one has a memory like an elephant. Before Christmas we went to Costco and they had a cutest little outdoor playhouse. Problem was it was too small for Larissa. She is not a tiny one for her age, most people think she is older. So, I promised her that when we moved next time that I would build her a playhouse. She hasn't forgotten. She has also requested a doorbell. So, I need to leave my blog and go searching for some playhouse plans. Anyone know of a good (easy) one?

German Chocolate Cake

We celebrated John's birthday today. The only thing he wants for his birthday is homemade German Chocolate Cake. I sure does taste great and is definately not for anyone on a diet.





The oven in this rental is old and not reliable for temperature control. So, I burned the third pan that was on the bottom rack. This year John got only a two tiered cake. He didn't seem to mind, he just cut a bigger piece.

In other news, we have officially taken the house off of the market. So, we are heading back to SC later this month. I need to work up a to do list because I have been procrastinating as usual.

Indecisive

Well, we had three potential buyers look at the house this weekend. we were going to take the house off the market tomorrow but our real estate agent asked us to keep it on until May 5th. May 5th is the date of no return, transportation changes can't be made after that date or our departure will be delayed.

I just don't know what to think, after a year on the market suddenly buyers are looking at our home. However, one buyer decided that he wanted 5 acres. Another buyer loved the house (the mom really want it) but they have to sell their house first. That doesn't help us at this time. Our real estate agent hasn't heard from the third buyer so I am assuming they aren't interested.

So what do we do? Should we just go to Georgia and rent assuming the house may sell this summer? That is what we have been doing for the last year. Should we move into the house and keep it on the market? I really don't like having to keep the house show ready all the time and then we would have to move ourselves at a later date. Or continue with our current plan to take it off the market on the 5th and pray that DH can get a job closer to home sometime in the near future? I sure wish I had the answer to this one.

I'd love to go sit in my backyard again.........

and Larissa wants her Tinkerbell room back.

But, I'd really like for us all to be able to live together too.

Keeping Promises

Keeping my promises to my kids is very important. When I say I will do something then I make sure that I do indeed do it. That means that I need to watch what promises I make! There have been times that I have promised something and then found that I wasn't able to keep it. Honesty is always best, if it can't be done I own up to it. This is important to me because I want my children to grow up to be adults that keep their promises too.

It may seem like a small promise but I told Sarah that we would go to Friday's and share some potato skins together. We discovered Friday's potato skins at Walmart. Late at night we have been known to share a few. These are terrible for anyone on a diet and something I shouldn't be eating late at night. Such is my life, full of temptations. So I said we would go to Friday's one day and eat the real thing, not ones from a box.

Well, Sarah has not forgotten. So, today after church was our mother/daughter outing. It is nice to be able to get out with only one kid on occasion.

I don't think that I have actually eaten at Friday's before. I know that Sarah hasn't. My phone led us directly to one, gotta love all this new technology.

Here they are, very fattening potato skins at Friday's. Mmmmm, they were good. We had a great time enjoying our girl time and really need to do it more often.

Our Last Downtown San Antonio Trip

Today we loaded up and headed to downtown San Antonio for the last time.



We visited an area right off of the Riverwalk called La Villita. There are lots of interesting small shops there.

This shop called the Village Weavers carried a lot of Guatemalan items. I purchased Joselin a birthday gift there.

I love the colors of all the weavings. They remind me of shopping at the markets in Antigua, Guatemala.

Larissa fell in love with this headgear.

Anthony found something he liked as well.

We did a cheap lunch at McDonalds.

Then we headed over to Hard Rock Cafe where I bought one of their San Antonio shirts for my collection.

Then we spent just a little bit of time on the Riverwalk. (Nah, my kids wouldn't leave the path and sit on the edge of the river.)

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From the Riverwalk we walked to the Alamo. This tree in the Alamo Plaze had an interesting sign on it. I'm not sure what it meant but it has a mitigation value of $11,100.

The courtyard of the Alamo had a lot of landscape to include a pretty blooming cactus and a huge tree.

Can you guess what question I just asked Larissa?

If you guessed, "Do you want a snowcone?" then you were right.

Larissa didn't like a stranger taking our picture.

Larissa was fascinated by that big hand beckoning her in.

There are lots of things to do in downtown San Antonio. Most of the places are within walking distance of each other. We didn't make it out to the HemisFair Park or go up in the Tower of the Americas. Maybe next time..........