The Harvey Family: September {2016}

This month has been nothing less than crazy for us. We spent the beginning of the month fixing up the house to get it ready to be sold, then we spent the last 2 weeks partly in a hotel, then partly up in our new townhouse. We knew that it would be too hard to sell the house while we were living in it so we scheduled the moving truck to come with enough time for us to get it cleaned up while living in temporary housing in Florida. The schedule went like this: Monday = packers came and packed up the house, Tuesday = moving truck came to load everything, Wednesday = got carpets steam cleaned and stretched, Thursday = house was staged to prepare for going on the market, Friday = met with our Realtor and took care of all the other finishing touches that needed to be done, Saturday = started our journey up north with a stop in Tennessee, Sunday = drove the rest of the way to Ohio and moved into our townhouse (that we'll be renting). Unfortunately, the townhouse had previous owners who must've cooked a ton of curry, so the house smelled awful and was basically unlivable so we ended up moving to another one just a couple buildings down. Luckily they had another one available and we were able to move our handful of things over to it on Monday before the moving truck came on Tuesday to deliver all of our stuff. PHEW!

Our new address is:
3222 Skyview Dr.
Mason, OH 45040

Fast forward a week, and we've had some time to get settled in and MOST of the boxes unpacked. We're just in heaven with the weather and we've had the windows open every day since we got here! There were a few rainy days in there but it was ok because there was a lot of unpacking to do. We're starting to get into a new routine but that is going to take a little while. The boys haven't had enough sleep and when that happens they like to get into trouble. Hopefully we'll get everyone back into a good sleep schedule soon enough. The most challenging thing to get figured out here is the grocery shopping. We had our routine set with the 3 main stores that we'd go shopping at to get each thing that we needed, so we're on the hunt to find either what we're used to or good replacements for them. We rarely eat out so this is a big deal for us! We're so sad to part with Publix Greenwise meats and Zephyrhills water, and the boys will probably freak out once we run out of the Millet bread that they've grown up on which is made in Tampa (they can ship it if it comes to that, at least - we're down to 1 loaf so I'd better find something soon!).

The other big difference with townhome life is only having a single car garage that is filled with stuff, so no one can park in the garage. I'm sure this will become a bigger deal once the weather starts getting even colder.

We didn't really keep the big camera accessible so all the pictures this month are from the cell phone.

This month Brett:

wanted to wear pockets on his clothes. Blake had a shirt with a pocket on it and when Brett realized he could carry toys around like that, he had to have one too. Then he wanted to wear pants with pockets because he could carry around that many more toys.
did so great in school and his teachers just love him. It took a few weeks for Brett to start to feel comfortable at school (there were some tears and the teachers said he paced a lot). Once he finally got into the routine he actually started talking a lot more at school and the teachers just thought he was the sweetest boy. They even said they wanted to clone him so he wouldn't have to move away to Ohio (what a sweet thing to say!). I'm so glad he got to have those few weeks to get used to going to school, and glad he had a good experience finally so he'll have that to grow on once he starts school up in Ohio.
says yes please and no thank you. We've been working on his manners and it is the cutest thing ever.
has gotten extremely defiant. I think this might have to do with him being off on his sleep schedule, but he makes everything into a fight. There are many days where he either has threats of or goes to timeout a couple times before breakfast is even over. It makes for long days. I was hoping that more fresh air and walking around outside would help things but clearly we still have some disciplinary work to do.
copies everything Blake does. If Blake does something, Brett has to immediately go to the exact spot that Blake did it and follow each movement and say the exact thing(s). He's a really good mimic but of course he really loves to imitate Blake when he does things that I tell them both not to do. Grrr.
has become a picky eater. I think he's going through a growth spurt because he acts hungry all the time, but when I give him something he's asked for he'll eat a couple bites and then start asking for something else. He's almost always hungry I think because he won't eat anything with protein that will actually keep him full.
counts to 18 but skips 14, 15, and 16. He gets so mad when I try and help him count the right way, so for now I guess we'll be missing a few numbers. I believe he fits in the "strong-willed child" category.

This month Blake:

counts backward from 5 before answering a question you ask him. Me: Blake do you want more food? Blake: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, yes. The speed of the countdown varies.
won't sleep in his bed. When we were in Florida he started to become afraid of the dark and all his bedroom furniture is dark wood. He slept with the light on for a couple nights and he actually stayed in his room that way. Ever since we left Florida he has been accompanied by Chris... sometimes he'll go to sleep on his own, but only with the promise that he won't wake up alone.
is obsessed with starting the new dishwasher. Our new dishwasher in Florida was the push button type which was way more advanced than our simple twist the knob one that was over 25 years old, so he wanted to start it every day and wanted to try out all the different wash cycles. Then when we spend a few days in the hotel suite at the beach, he wanted to start that every day too. He finally got a chance on our last day there (man was I tired of him asking). Then he got to start Grandmom's dishwasher when we were in Tennessee (he has been asking if we can go visit her again so he can start her dishwasher again), and he's gotten to start the one in our townhome here a couple times.
became interested in learning to play chess. Chris has been trying to get me to play for a few months now but I just don't have the time to devote to it right now, but the boys have access to some apps on their Kindles to help teach them how to play so it has become their ritual to do it before bed with Daddy (while I clean up the house or unpack just a few more boxes).
was the Super Star at school his last week there. Each kid in VPK gets the chance to be a Super Star and they make a big poster about themselves and get special treatment for a whole week at school. It is supposed to give them more confidence and self esteem and I'm so glad Blake got to do it his last week there. We chose the week at his Meet and Greet before school even started and we had any idea if/when we'd be moving, so it was ended up being perfect timing that he was able to do it before we moved. He helped me pick out pictures for his poster and then helped me decorate it after we got it organized. He also got to wear a "star student" crown to school each day so everyone knew it was his special week. I'm not sure if he enjoyed the attention or dreaded it.

Pictures:

Hurricane Hermine that came through just after I finished fixing up the atrium. Luckily everything seemed to hold up to all the rain!

This boy knows how to accessorize. He loves necklaces and his "mittens" as he calls coozies.

The community just north of our house in Palm Harbor had the most beautiful trees so I had to take a few pics to remember them by. Maybe I'll paint them at some point in the future.

Blake insisted on taking a picture at his school before leaving. He wanted to take it right here in front of the Salvation Army donation bins.

Blake's super star poster. We took this before he put all the finishing touches on it, but they were mostly star stickers.

The boys lounging around watching tv. I thought it was cute that Brett tucked himself all in.

A cool storm cloud.

A frog that hung out next to our front door for a while one day.

The pile of stuff that the movers weren't allowed to pack, but instead we had to fit into our 2 cars. We had to pack clothes and bedding for 8-10 days, plus all the items that weren't allowed on the truck (batteries, cds, photo albums, firearms, personal documents - basically anything irreplaceable or flammable). We got it to fit just barely!

The kitchen almost packed up.

I took the boys to the mall for one last ride on the train while the packers were at the house.

The living room all packed up.

Another angle of the living room.

The office.

Living room/kitchen

The huge moving truck. It was rainy for the first bit of the day and then it cleared up and was nice and steamy.

The boys were pretty much over it.

We stayed down on Clearwater Beach for our temporary housing and were able to have a nice evening at the beach on Thursday. We got to watch the sunset and swim in the water one last time.

We even got a visit from our friends the Elams! Here's me and Karen.

And a group shot. Blake was throwing sand at the camera...

The boys loaded into the packed car for our road trip.

We packed up this poor car a few different times and we could just barely see out the back.

Our drive through Tennessee on 75 was one of the most beautiful drives I can remember. The mountains were incredible! I was so busy enjoying them I didn't get a good picture.