Home *Sigh*

Well, we've moved, the boys have started at their new school last week, and we're settling into routine nicely. That's the quick update - the long one will have to come in sections because a lot has happened.

The house on possession date was better than we expected... it was cleaned out of virtually everything the lady who owned it before had packed in here. ( Think LOADS of stuff with paths around it all.) Dustin and I both had nightmares that it wouldn't be empty when we came in on possession day. But, thankfully, it was. So that meant we could get to work on cleaning and painting right away.
After our realtor left Monday morning (the 15th) Dustin and I just kinda looked at each other and started laughing. There were no words to describe it. I knew we were both thinking "What are we getting into?!" and "Where do we even start?!".
We decided cleaning was priority and called in backup. Marlene, Dustin's mom, came and cleaned my kitchen ALL day Monday. Why should a kitchen take all day you ask - because this kitchen had 25 years worth of spattered grease, sticky tar like stuff, and dust, that even a Magic Eraser fell apart on when scrubbing. It was a slow process and I'm SOOO thankful for her help.

(a sample of the mystery spatter on the cabinets that should replace the use of superglue!)

While she worked on that, Dustin tried vacuuming and discovered the central vac was in need of attention, so then he checked all the mechanical and did quick repairs around the house that were obvious and simple to fix... the central vac is still a work in progress right now. It "sorta" works.
I got the bathrooms (and I'll add it was by choice because I could NEVER ask someone else to clean those). I don't have words for how my morning went. I'm pretty sure my mind shutdown at some point and blocked out what I was doing. "Gross" doesn't come close to describing it!
After spending much of the day wondering what on earth would ever take all the stains off the walls, we decided painting over was probably a better and quicker option than wiping everything down. So Dustin fixed up the drywall in the boys rooms that evening too.
Anyway, that was Monday. Thank goodness it's over.

Tuesday, Marlene and I got to work on painting the boys' rooms. They picked a bright blue, that with new carpet and trim will look great! Now it looks a little off, but it's clean, so I don't care!
After 3 coats in both rooms, we realized priming would have been faster ... so we added that to the list of what to do on Wednesday on future rooms.

(Zach's room before paint...)

(Zach's room after paint... HUGE difference!)

Wednesday, my good friend (and fellow Domestic Goddess), Sharon, joined Marlene and me and helped with priming. This was the day that we all kicked butt and got a TON done! Between the three of us, we got the master bedroom primed and top coated, all the bathrooms primed, the main area on the main floor primed, and the ceiling in the main area primed AND top coated! (Dustin finished up the ceiling in the evening - we were all so sore by then!)
I was amazed and am SO grateful for their help!!

(Sharon - slaving yet again on another house of mine)

Thursday, Marlene and I got the main area on the main floor top coated. Including around the kitchen cabinets, which I have to say I'm glad she stood on the counters and did. With my height, I can't imagine trying to crouch under the ceiling and still be able to paint!


It was a shorter day, we only started around 10:30 and were done just after 4ish.
It was also Thursday morning that I took the boys to their new school to meet their new teachers and get a tour for Monday. I think I was on auto-pilot by this day because I don't remember a whole lot of it, except being really sore from painting!

All right, more to come....

3 more Sleeps!!

I knew this weekend was going to feel like the longest weekend in the world, but boy - this REALLY feels like the longest weekend in the world!
The boys had Thursday (yesterday) off for Remembrance Day, plus today for an Inservice Day. Dustin works tomorrow (so it will drag by) and then there's Sunday .... THEN, finally, we get possession of the new house on Monday.
Words can't describe how excited I am to get in there! It just feels like we're waiting for life to begin again.

This is a short post, but hey - I killed off about 5 minutes!! lol.

Remembrance Day Assembly

Each year, the school puts on a bit of a concert for Remembrance Day. Most years, I haven't been able to go for one reason or another, (usually because my boys don't remember to tell me about it until the morning of!) so this was the first year I got to enjoy it.
Zach told us last night that he had a small solo in a song at the assembly. I wonder if there's something fun about watching Mom and Dad scramble to see if they can make it on such short notice? I mean, really, the kids have been practicing these songs for weeks - could he not tell us even a few days before that he has a solo?? Does he have to wait until the night before??
Anyway, we did manage to make it and I took some video of my cutie. He has croup, so his voice wasn't quite what it would normally be, but it was still really good! We are so proud of him to have the confidence to sing in front of his whole school and all the parents that came!
(Please excuse the jerky taping, it's not easy trying to get both my boys when they're so far apart!)

The grade 4 choir (Brad's grade) had a very pretty song sung in Hebrew about peace, I taped that as well, that's the second video.
As always, their school did a great job! We will certainly miss this school ...

Trick or Treat!!

Friday Evening, ready to go to the mall....

I just love the little goatee we drew on Brad for the 'real' Karate Man look! lol!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

It was once again, a very sweet occasion at our place - and it happened TWICE this year! Because our mall and most stores are closed on Sundays, and halloween fell on a Sunday this year, the stores in town celebrated on Friday instead.
We thought it would be fun (and warm) to trick-or-treat in the mall again this year, so the boys dressed up and off we went.
It was a not exactly what we were expecting!
For those of you who have experienced Disney World, or an amusement park alike, think of high season line-ups and it would be a little like this. The mall was basically one giant line-up-loop that ran past all of the stores (moving at less than a snail's pace) and the kids got a little hard candy at each. Some stores ran out of candy before we made it around. This was supposed to be a 3 hour event, but within half an hour, most stores were out of candy - there were that many people!
The boys were happy with their tiny haul though, and enjoyed seeing all the other kid's costumes, so it was still a good evening - even if the trick or treating was not.

Sunday was the big haul. We went for Chinese (a tradition Dustin and I started years ago) and came home after to get the boys into their costumes and grab warmer clothes ourselves.
We went back into town (since we're living out in the country right now), stopping at Gramma & Grampa's first. Unfortunately, they weren't home so we and made our way to Zach's teacher's house and the boys got their first treats there. She had given her address to her whole class, and Zach thought it was pretty neat to trick-or-treat there.
Then we went around that block, made our way to Great Grandparent's, a friend's, and around yet another block. (I do have to mention that my dear hubby got cold and followed along in the car while this Super-Mom went door to door with the boys. I knew I wore my big parka for a reason!!)
Once the boys were saying they were cold and their bags were too heavy, we packed it in and came home to warm and sugar up.
It was a great evening, and the treats will last a loooong time!!

Bundled in multiple layers on the top and bottom under those suits. Add tuques and mittens and the looks was complete! We just couldn't get all that clothing under the spiderman costume, so Zach joined the Karate team (goatee-less though. Funny boy.)