New Year's and After

Curtis was anxious to take a load over to the new house and I finally told him he could go New Year's weekend. He took both boys with him and our friends, Tracy and Porter Ballantyne. Porter is Jack's best friend and we happen to be really good friends with his parents. It was a guy's weekend for them! We were very appreciative of Tracy going because he was able to drive Curtis's work car over for him and leave it at the house. Curtis had been worrying about how we were going to get all of our vehicles over there so this helped relieve some of that stress. We also went ahead and paid Tracy some money for helping. The boys did do some work while they were there but they also brought a TV and video games so they could play or watch a movie. Curtis had found that the basement had flooded due to some blocked drains and gutters. They got those cleaned up so hopefully that won't happen again. We were planning on tearing out all of the carpet anyway, so the boys removed all the carpet and took it to the dump. We also learned that the previous owner never used the community mailbox so there was no key to check the mail. They always went to the post office to pick up the mail. I'm going to have to go down to the post office after we move to get the key and any mail that might be accumulating already.

This is our friend Tracy. He helped Curtis install the new microwave and oven. Then he tested it out for us by cooking some steak on the stovetop. Tracy is actually distantly related to us through Ada Ballantyne. 

While the boys had their weekend in Washington, I stayed behind with Alice and Charlotte. Nikki had flown back to Tacoma on the 29th. Tamara invited us over for New Year's Eve and it was a lot of fun! We brought over stuff to make pizza rolls and homemade guacamole, plus some cheese balls and chocolate covered pretzels. Tamara provided pop, chips and a new type of pig in a blanket. We played some games, did some dancing and watched Encanto. Right before midnight, Grandma and Jess and Diane showed up to ring in the new year with us. Tamara bought horn blowers and confetti. We also had sparkling cider.

Making the pizza rolls.

The new type of pigs in a blanket. They turned out so cute!

Charlotte busting a move on the dance floor.

Cartwheel time with Tony!

Since Jess, Diane and Grandma came late, we visited longer than we planned. I didn't end up getting in bed until 1:30am that night! I was SO tired at church the next day because it was also Fast Sunday. Thankfully, our ward meets at 12:00 noon now so it allowed us to sleep in. And even at noon, the girls and I were late! It's so not worth it to stay up that late. The boys came back Sunday evening and they were very tired as well. 

We were finally able to get Garrett in to his orthodontists appointments on the 3rd and 4th after having missed it in November and then cancelling the week of Christmas because he was sick. He hasn't been good about wearing his rubber bands on his braces but now that we are going to be traveling back and forth to finish us his appointments, I'm going to be on his case to make sure he wears them! I feel like he could have had his braces off early had he been good about it. The doctor said his case will be another 4 to 6 months. Honestly though, I like having an excuse to come back for a visit! It's just tricky planning his appointments so that he won't miss any school. The next appointment will either be on March 13th or 24th. Those are no school days for Kennewick School District. Well, the 13th we're not totally sure if it will be no school because it's a snow day make up day. That's why I made two appointments, just in case. 

The kids break ended and went back to school on Wednesday the 4th. That morning I called the kids' schools to let them know their last day will be the 13th but I didn't call Jack's school early enough. His new school in Kennewick already requested his records and so the secretary withdrew him from the Nampa School district, thinking we had already moved. They of course, had to put him back in but there was a school program he couldn't get into until two days later because of that. It was a little frustrating but oh well. One more week to go.

Here's a couple of fun pictures of kids doing different things during the week after Christmas.

Garrett and Curtis were learning how to use one of his gifts. They were learning how to program and Garrett loves it! They programmed lights to go on and off at certain times.

Charlotte colored a page from her big coloring book. She says she's going to give this one to a friend at school.

Garrett did this 750 piece puzzle. He wanted to challenge himself and see if he could do it by himself so I wasn't allowed to help. That was hard for me to do! Although, I think Jack snuck in a few pieces. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the trouble we had with Charlotte's new mini sewing machine she got for Christmas. I spent half a day trying to figure it out because it was not stitching properly and the thread was way too tight. After trying to get help from my Aunt Karen on the phone and my mother in law coming over (both are very good at sewing) I finally made the decision to send it back to Amazon. We haven't quite figured out what we're going to do to replace it yet but I'm thinking about just letting her use my sewing machine and buying her own little sewing box and filling it with sewing supplies. Maybe I will give her my old one and get myself a new one. Right now, she's happy using her other Christmas gifts and we're just focused on moving now.

Also, the day before the kids went back to school (the 3rd) I brushed the girls hair in the morning and decided it was time for a hair cut. I didn't want to mess with trying to schedule with either Melissa, Jeanie or my friend Amanda so I just did it myself! I figured it couldn't be that hard if all I needed to do was part their hair down the middle and try to cut a straight line around the bottom. It was a little more difficult than I thought because their hair curls or waves but I think I did pretty good for a beginner on girl's hair.

Before

Before

After

After

Before

Before

After

After

Both Alice and I weren't sure we liked how short I cut her hair. I didn't mean to cut it that short but it happened. I'm sad that her curls are gone also but it was getting so difficult to brush through the knots. I was just wanted to trim it.  Alice did say at one point that she wanted her hair like Charlotte's, so that's what she got. It is growing on both of us though. Charlotte, however, loves her new hair cut and so do I! Short hair looks really good on her but of course I think they are both so cute in their new hair cuts! New year, new do!

I almost forgot to add, that on Monday the 2nd, we finally sold our red van that we've had for 16.5 years! I wasn't sure we could get much for it so I was thinking to list it for $1000. Curtis was thinking $2000. After seeing what other people were selling their similar vans for, we found we could probably get more. We listed it for $3,250.00. We got 3 appointments set up after an hour of posting it on Facebook Marketplace! The first couple who looked at it wanted to buy it though so we cancelled the other two appointments. They came back the next day with the money and just like that it was gone. One less thing we need to worry about before our move! Bitter sweet because I loved that van but it was just time to upgrade.