How do you do 2 pack outs in one day?

So today we unloaded everything from our attic at 359 Westbury Lane - it was surely a rude awakening as too how much stuff was in there.  Chris and I kept trying to estimate, a few foot lockers, some boxes, a dresser...  well it was WAY more than that of course.  Here's hoping this will get in VA in time for me to sort through, get rid of etc before the rest arrives.  I did enjoy the morning in our home.  its a beautiful place and reminded me why I love it so much.

Here's the dresser - its just one of the 4 piece bedroom set I had growing up.  I held onto it in case we had a girl....  but now, maybe we will paint it...  Any thoughts?

Lisa came over to help (she is our neighbor and how I wish our morning visits were routine - but for the time being I enjoyed our proximity and loved walking through their beautiful home that they built next to us)

That afternoon we had some beautiful playground time in the village.

Hey there Sunshine

evan can scale tall buildings and leap from high towers -

swimmers??  speaking of swimmers, my swimming buddie Lynn popped over to the playground with her three boys.  With our crazy busy schedule, its wondeful to even soak up the 2 minute hug and playtime and thank all the friends that carved out time to give hugs and make us feel like home.

well look at you Drew.

After the playground time I took Nick to see if he recognized our home.  He left when he was just over 2.  Needless to say, he didn't recognize it.  But the family happliy welcomed him in  to see the home.

We planted this tree when he was born 5 years ago!  Boy do they all grow!

Just two more days of texas time.  Soaking all the buddy love in.

Oh it feels like home

Well, we are without our stuff, a routine and a home for the next 6 weeks, so what to do....  lets pack up and visit our best buddies!!  Checly here we come!! 

Not many folks look forward to a trans USA flight after a European one - but why not right?

This photo is one my phone as we miss little Shane.  He is having some solo time with Dad and Grandma and from I understand, he is loving it!

Here's our hostess with the mostess

We were lovingly greeted by the whole family Friday night at the Austin Airport.  Her car was perfectly converted to the family carrier and toted us all home.

Apparently its quite comfortable.  Can you see Deakon back there?

Saturday night the girls escaped for a little Hard Tails - the biker bar in Georgetown.  Chelcy is looking so hot in the photo that 10 minutes later she was hit on by a real biker!  Deakon, good thing your good looks surpassed him =)  Sorry, wish I had a photo of the biker....but i'm guessing you all have your own mental picture (and let me tell you, it might be better than the real thing...)

Hey Ladies

Every good night of drinking must end with a late night snack.  Amen to Taco Bell.

Sunday was a day at the park, literally.  A beautiful park in our town.

I love all the Texas Trees planted as far as the eye can see.  Many camp sites and a playground nesteled

among them.

It was amazing seeing all the munchkins and amazing to see how many there are among us!!  I tried to capture all the wonderful families.  Here is the Rainey's (lisa, Jackson and Addison)

smiley brayden (can you find the goose egg on the left side? - he is christine's son through and through!)

The little dudes - like mamma like son right?  Almost.

Here's the Carsons.  you can only see Chloes feet and Weston Lake is making a guest appearance too

The madrays.  I cannot believe how quickly they grow.  last time we saw them was in Europe and Monica was pregnant with sweet Van.  Now he is sitting up and just about to walk.  Slow down!!

Here is Jenny and Ellie - Nate was also there too.

We have a photo just like this, only 3 years ago.  Check out the beginning of the blog.  Ellie is a knock out

So Chelcy purged all her baby items (as i cannot wait to do) so where does drew get to hang out?  In this comfy laundry basket and fluffy pillow designed by Deakon and Chelcy!  Football and all

Lets bust out the glow swords and a little backyard time.

yet another knock out.  Nick is getting plenty of ladies out here.

Well I have a crying baby onmy hands and a hubby who is dying to see these photos so I am hitting publish!

The search for home

So what's next, the search for a home.  We literally drove by one on the way home from the airport...  its time to get serious!!  We saw 10+ in 3 days.  Debated among a single family in an older neighborhood but finally decided on a Townhome in Brambelton, a new community in the southwest corner of Ashburn.  It has an amazing towncenter walking distance that has a coffee shop, grocery store, restaraunts etc...

During the search you keep home to walk in the door and have it instantly feel like home.  This is what home will look like for us in Virginia.

We may have to sell some stuff to 'fit' and we intend to  rent until we get a 'feel' for the area. so this seemed the perfect option

So give us about 6 weeks to settle and come visit!!  only 40 minutes to DC.  Here's the address

42498 Regal Wood Dr.

Ashburn, VA 20148

Welcome home

It was our final internation flight and I must admit - I have NO complaints!  Shane had his own seat between us and took a 2 hour nap.  Drew loved the Mom time and Nick happiliy played and watched movies.  We used the Ipad until it was out of juice and everyone had a great flight.  Folks were shocked that we had 3 boys with us in one row.  They didn't bother a sole.  Great job boys!

Landing at dulles airport

Taken by Nick, but I love how Drew can just be entertained by me.  What a compliment right??

racing off to find Grandma and Grandpa

Barbara warmed our hearts with 2 american balloons and the boys were so excited!!  Thank you for making us feel like home.  Their help in this transition is absolutely amazing.  We cannot thank you enough.

Thank you all for a great trip.

The final day

What I want to remember about today. The sun trying to wake us up through the beautiful windows in our bedroom Nick's first words waking me up saying 'mom, today I am sad' The VAT office lady being the most efficient lady around EVERY SECOND of nicks kindergarden send off. All 22 children sat patiently in a circle as Natalie presented nick with a book they had built for him with his drawings, their songs, photos, hand prints. They made a separate book with a drawing and photo from each child. Nick had been working on a small pillow that Goodie helped him to finish this week, another cherished item. Next nick handed each classmate an American flag, one at a time. They all sang him a song while a candle burned in the center of the room. I can only wish I remembered to video it, but I hope to hear their voiced in my ears forever. The parents presented us with a sweet gift. They made a set of memory cards with their photos on them. How fitting to play memory while remembering them. Each child shook nicks hand as they left. My tears streamed with each one (why I thought I won't cry was beyond me). Max ran from across the room to hug him Goodies hug was one of the strongest I have ever been fortunate to receive. They made a foreign country feel like home for nick and our family It's not normal for folks to leave this small town and now i know why. I always wondered if being the American family that didn't pack the right snack, or understand the protocol was a burden-but now I don't feel that way at all. I think we touched their lives just as they filled ours. I was thankful that shane's was a simple goodbye because I'm not sure if I could handle more...

Life takes a strong person---read to the end if you have the time

It's been my 'montra' for awhile. Whether I am lugging 10 grocery bags into our home (to avoid the additional time consuming trip) or slinging Drew's seat in my arm while hoisting Shane up for one reason or the other. Most recently skiing-gosh does that take strength, not just shushing down the mountain (thankful to not be sore the next morning due to some kick ass Body Pump) but getting there-boots dangling, skis on your shoulder often separating as an additional annoyance. How many times a day do you stop to think-I'm glad my body is strong enough to do this.... I think about it all the time. Our ski slope in France was horribly designed in my opinion. Runs did not terminate at lifts forcing you to remove skis and snowboards quite often, the kid play area was questionable at best. You can ski there, but once you grab your kids you can either lug them and all their crap up a tow rope (they most likely don't have skis so u are carrying them, yikes right?). Or you can walk back up the hill with your skis, their stuff and most likely carrying them. Only to reach the gondola that will take you back down the mountain, from where you will walk back home (with all the above mentioned items). This task isn't horrible when you have a husband to help. But what if your husband gets sick and the best option is to send him home solo? Well, that is what happened. Let's also add a snafu with the French credit card machine at the child care center only adding to the French experience. Maybe we should mention that our catered chalet's day off is today which equates to NO dinner for your kids (or u!). When our family returned from a quick day trip to Chamonix did we find a frazzled Eleanor? Nope, kids were eating (oranges, crackers and yogurt) and her only request was we watch them while she grabs a pizza. She even offered to watch our munchkins while we head out for our pre planned dinner reservations (that they were supposed to be part of!) One of the things I have loved about the women and families that have entered our lives while living out here is how strong they are. Whether it's the physical strength to get through daily life, emotional strength to persevere separation from family or husband deployments, or the ability to look passed the logistics of an international move to enjoy life in another country. I thank all the folks that made the effort to visit us here. As we all know traveling is expensive and difficult to plan, but the memories tend to outweigh all that! We are thankful that our family has constantly supported us through their travels and visiting us as often as possible never balking at the long flights or expensive tickets. We loved the ability to travel through europe as well as some memorable international flights. We have been truly blessed to have made some incredible memories and friends to fill our heart. And as we leap into the moving process, I will stay positive and keep trying to tell myself that I am thankful to be strong enough to carry these boxes, 50lb pound suitcases, kids, car seats, as well as coordinate for our lives to relocate in the USA finding a house, new friends, routines etc. We are leaving one safety net and will hopefully be caught in another one. As I re-read this blog I had no idea what our family was about to face upon our return. On Monday we phoned the moving company to confirm the time for Wednesday morning..... The conversation felt uncertain and on Tuesday afternoon that uncertainty was confirmed. The company had made a mistake (although they wont admit to it yet) and wanted to move our date to 17-18 january (rather difficult with a family of 5 on an international timeline). I was shocked at the ease the rep made shifting our timeline sound. We spent Wednesday morning without movers trying to figure out the best course of action. Do we stay back, do we fly, can chris fly back? So many scenarios and none the perfect fit. I'm not sure if there is a perfect fit for this situation. As it stands the company nominated a rep within the crew (he basically got a new job title, don't lose our stuff...) and we are taking the leap of faith that it all arrives-cars, belongings, photos, not to mention a time consuming transfer with a not so pleased landlord (although, her displeasure is something we endured for 3 years, we were ready ton pass the buck on this one-just not the security deposit, but verdict is yet to come). The icing on the cake was Wednesday as the kids were loaded up for a last minute errand to the legal office (Chris and I finally got a living will at the recommendation of many friends) we walked out the door, hands full of everything but the keys. The door shuts and locks. The coveted spare key had was missing and we were officially locked out. This has happened a few times, but either Chris was at work with keys, the windows were cracked open for summer time air.... We both stood there without an option. Chris scoured the home. The only possibility, the wine cellar-the home of a huge spider and thankfully just a grate coving the entry, He removed the grate and shimmied down through the opening, not comfortable, not easy, but we were back in and on the away to the law office, Now I sit here in a frankfurt hotel with our 3 boys sleeping emotionally drained from the passed few days i am adding a thought to the montra - Not only do you have to be strong in life, but you have to know there is strength training involved. We are enduring the 'mountain workout'. Tomorrow, we will be 'sore' from this workout, but we will also be stronger as a family.

Final Photos

I know I wrote the blog about our final day, but here are just a few memorable photos that I snapped on the way out.

The door to Nick's kindergarden - such a memorable place for our family.

I am sad that I didn't video record the sweet sogn they sang to Nick as he left, but here is the only photo I managed to take as Nick was handing out American flags to all his buddies.  After this they each gave him a hug as they left.  Still get tears in my eyes as I write this over a week later.

Not how I expected our house to look as we closed the door to head to the USA.  A memorable house just the same.  I will miss the beautiful windows, the amazing family room, but not the dark kitchen....

Thank you Josh for the ride to the Stuttgart HBF - we didn't think we would have our mini at the time, but since we did, we made good use of it.  Here's a favorite of my boys on their way to the train.

This is our train, and not sure if you can tell by the photo, but its snowing.  The perfect send off - even if it only snowed for 10 minutes.  Chris grabbed his last Doner, I used up my final bits of change on a gluvine.

Just a little bed jumping at the frankfurt airport hotel.   Tomorrow is the big day.

We are gonna miss this place - trying to engrain all the memories and way of life.

Finally it snows

As we were eating some scrambled eggs and sausage in our awesome chatel we looked outside to see SNOW!! Lots of it. So after breakfast we suited up and headed out.... Literally right outside



Like the sledding hill? Ben finished it yesterday





Nice artistic shot Eleanor!


Shane, are you going to sled?


Like that?





And now for the obligatory snow man


Final touches


A bit of discussion


The stink eye from Shane-perfectly captured


What a motley crew;)


Hope you are catching snow flakes on your tongue, our wet clothes are drying while I write this;)