We are moved in!

How long has it been anyway? Since I sent an email, sat down at the computer or had a glass of wine? Its been a while. But, the kids and I are here, we are in our adorable new little house, computer has finally been picked up at Moms so I can write a note and we are starting our next journey on our own... yet again.  And I am starting this one as a single Mom (temporarily of course).  We still have plenty of "extra" things to pick up at my Mom's house that I just have not had time to get...the final pick ups should be taking place this week.  With my wonderful family helping me every step of the way during this move, I cant complain. I fit in the move when I could and when I had someone to watch the kids.  I feel pretty lucky that it hasnt taken longer. Lets hope I am all done by this weekend and getting this place as close to ready to be lived in as soon as possible!

Its not been too bad (the single Mom part), just busy, busy, busy. Like any other day really but at night it gets hard. However, its been less than two weeks, so ask me in a month or two. :) However, lets hope by that time all energy will be focused on Daddy coming home at Christmas.  There wont be too much stress about late nights, time-outs or breaking up fights, we will have much more to look forward to so I hope it will help me during that time of need.  Ten more weeks cant come soon enough honey...we cant wait!!!. :)

So, to keep ourselves busy as most Moms do during the school year, we decided to have Hannah take dance at the Decatur School of Ballet and Chase is taking Mommy and Me at Atlanta Gymnastics once a week.  They both love it!

Hannah is in heaven as her girlfriend from school and dance lives across the street. Its really cute. She ask to play with her the second we pull in from school.  Although we have only had a couple "play dates", it has been nice to know that she has a friend she can play with along with a few others on the street. Once we get a little more settled, I am sure "play dates" will come a lot more often. At least, I hope! I take that back, maybe not. 

Our storage items arrived safely from Miami last Monday.  Yes, when I say Miami, I mean the items we put in storage when we moved from Miami, Florida five years ago. We have not seen it since then so it was definitely a surprise to find some things we totally forgot about after all that time.  It was 3,700 lbs; two bedroom sets and a dining room table along with misc. other items but most importantly...there were beds! So, after those items arrived, we could officially move in. Although we currently don't have some basic things like lamps, towels, silverware, plates or glasses...all of these items should be coming from Kenya in the next month or so.  Don't worry though, we have borrowed plenty and are doing fine. We actually don't need much more but isn't that how it always goes.  You realize how little you really "need" in life and then you still have another 4,000 lbs of storage "stuff" coming...and you have no idea what you will do with it all. But because of our life and moving as often as we do, both Tom and I felt like it would be a good idea to sort through it all now that we have or own place. That way we wont have to wait ten years before we see the things we put in storage initially. I am glad we did it. However, this might be another ... ask me again in a few months question when we get the rest of our storage from both Kenya and Israel and I have no place to put any of it.  Garage Sale here we come!!

Pics of the new place coming soon. For now, enjoy the kids at their new after-school activities. By the way, please remind me to move Piper's food bowl that is now sitting right next to the computer... it smells horrible, gross!

Chase...running, running, and running at gymnastics.  He is so exhausted he had to take a break on the trampoline (bottome left). Mom is actually wiped out when we get done..he wont stop until we get in the car!!

Hannah already posing for her ballet pictures, she knew just what to do! Waiting for the other girls to get to class (top right) and the girls getting ready for their first class...just adorable!! (bottom right)

New Beginnings

And so with one adventure, always leads us to another...

We are going to now start a new challenge with chaos and madness, but needed change for the kids and I. The Rhodes family seems to have few dull moments and with no lack of entertainment. This always seems to be one thing you can count on...entertainment. We live a life that seems to give us no rest, for now anyway ... but it is also one that we love.

The kids and I have decided to move from Mom's house and get our own place.  We were lucky and have found a home only 20 minutes away from my Mom and 5 minutes from my Dad. It is a great little house in a perfect neighborhood with little kids that Hannah and Chase can play with, an absolute dream.
We hope!! Ha

And we move out...  next week!
We are heading to Decatur, Georgia only a few miles from Emory University. 

If you read the last blog...the kids and I just recently took a trip to Charleston. The week before that, I went looking for houses with my Mom and Dad but didn't find anything.  I wanted to be close to one of them, but wasn't having much luck in either locations. While I was gone, the perfect house was found. So once we got back from our trip I quickly searched for a NEW preschool for Hannah. 

We got back from the beach Saturday afternoon, I called schools to see if they had any availability on Monday, signed the lease Monday evening, went to see the schools on Tuesday and Hannah started school on Wednesday of last week.  Whew!! Hannah's class was actually full and a boy dropped out that morning that I took the tour...another WHEW!!! Like I said, never a dull moment. Lucky enough for us, a few of Hannah's classmates will actually be our new neighbors as well. It seems to all be working out beautifully. We will however keep our fingers crossed for the continuation of this steady flow of good fortune. We will need it!

 

Hannah leaving for her first day. In her new classroom finding her new shelf for her bags.

Hannah taking a non hesitated and quick seat with the other girls. With a big smile to Mommy out the door and a hug goodbye, she was fine and surprisingly, so was I. I am certain she was excited and nervous but more than ready to meet some new friends and have some fun. This is all you can really ask for.

Above are some pictures of Hannah at her school picnic with the class on September 8th at the local recreation center across from the school.  It looks like she is having some fun with the girls...and so is Chase. :) It was nice to meet some of the Moms and get a glimpse of what the next year will be like for Hannah, Chase and even Mom too!

Chase started his first day of Mommy's Morning Out Friday!! What in the world will I do?

He did great. Walked in the room ( I had to wait outside), stood in the middle of the room with his bag and waited for the teacher to come and help him out. I was so sad the poor guy standing in the middle of the room alone. However, the teacher soon saw the worry on my face and she showed him where to put his stuff and that was that.  I of course was paranoid wondering if they knew how curious he was, if they would make sure he would not get into too much trouble, that he had enough to drink,etc. Freak Mom!! But, all was fine. I picked him up four hours later and he ran to me. Not with a smile or a frown, but just a run and a hug.  We will see how the next visits go but for now, he seems OK. Mom of course shed a few tears on the way home, but she will also be fine. 

He was thrilled to pieces to finally use his spider man backpack we got him in Kenya.

He has been waiting to go to "school" since Hannah started going last year! I think it was more than backpack than anything. Ha

Hip Hip Hooray for School!!! Yippee!

The next few weeks will be crazy, so if you don't hear from me...don't worry.

We are all just getting settled...AGAIN!

By the way, this is Move #8 since April!

It's Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month!

September is Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month!

Click on the link to find out more about Thyroid Cancer and make sure to

GET YOUR NECK CHECKED!

This is for me and my best friend Claudia ...we are both Thyroid Cancer Survivors!

I have known Claudia since I was in seventh grade. We grew up swimming together and have remained life long friends. :)  Claudia with her son Jack and the kids and I last summer in 2009.

Here's to us Claudia and to all my friends and family that are cancer survivors!

Super Mom!!

We just had a great week in Charleston at the beach visiting Nonne!

I was impressed with myself that I took the kids (and dog) on a five hour car ride by myself for the first time and didn’t scream too incredibly loud. We all made it there with smiles and left with smiles.

I realized however that in one week I only took two showers!! I know, I know, it’s really gross if you think about it, REALLY gross! However, the goal was keeping the kids happy and entertained. Yes, my personal hygiene was sacrificed, but the kids were thrilled with each and every moment of their day and not a dull moment to spare. Sadly, I didn’t even realize I had only taken two showers until on my way home, in a swim suit, in sand, itchy butt…yes, ALL FOR THE KIDS! And I said, you know what…I'm a good Mom. It is really the only thing I could say to make myself feel better. I also wanted to take my kids and my dog to one last beach visit before we left, so I sacrificed my five hour car ride home. However, my intentions were to grab lunch and change clothes at a restaurant once we got in the car from the beach. I mean the kids were changed and had most if not all sand removed of course, but Mom didn’t have a moment. When the kids fell asleep within five minutes of getting in their car seats…I knew it was worth it. I mean that was the point, to get them to pass out and sleep, but I realized the itchy butt, the sand; all of it… was again worth it in the end. And for this, the lack of hygiene and for the sand that itched my bottom for the entire five hour car ride...I decided to just call myself Super Mom for the day! Ha

The kids had a blast and that was what the whole week was about…them. It’s been a while since I really focused on them and them alone. With all we have going on, trying to cope with the day to day, the day to day without Tom and the what to do next day to day…I felt like the kids were suffering a little, although you would never know it from their view. A change of venue was in need however and the beach was the perfect answer.

Each day was jam packed with things that Nonne planned and we actually only hit the beach three days out of the seven day six night trip with the last trip being the morning before we left town…and it was great. We went on a carriage ride around Charleston which although extremely interesting and historical for me, was only glamorous for about the first 5 minutes for the kids and the first ten minutes prior to the carriage ride when we got to see the chickens sitting outside the barn. Oh…toddlers. We also took a ferry boat tour around Charleston which the kids did love, Chase especially! Luckily too there was the downstairs air conditioned part which saved us all during the 99 degree heat. It was relaxing, the kids got to look around and it was a beautiful ride. We went to the children’s museum where the kids played pirate, Hannah played princess, dressed up in an old Victorian gown and Chase had his sword and shield- of course, ha. They painted, played in water and even got to play grocery store, scanning in their grocery items and the check out. It was too cute! The kids and I also gave Nonne an afternoon break and had a movie trip to see The Return of Nanny McPhee. This was nice, air conditioned and also relaxing. I debated the whole movie trip, but the kids were exhausted. Hannah was sleeping with Nonne at night in her condo and Chase and I slept in the upstairs condo. It was fine, but of course there were no naps involved for Chase the whole week which led to some extreme moments and of course the inevitable crash out any moment we got in the car. The trip to the movie started at 4 pm, they fell asleep within 5 minutes of getting in the car. Hannah woke up and Chase never woke from the car seat removal, to entering movie theatre…until 45 minutes later. Again…these kids were just flat out exhausted!

We got to see Aunt Alexis a few times, but our timing was off and unfortunately did not get the quality time with her we all would of loved to of had.  It was great seeing her when we did and Hannah made the most of every moment with her Aunt Alexis. We went out to dinner, played at the beach with the dogs and she also played dress up & put make-up on her Aunt Alexis too.  It seems to be Hannah's tradition, I am sure Alexis doesn't mind. :)

Nonne entertained us every second without a moment to spare and we all had a blast. I am sure she can attest that a week chasing and entertaining these crazy kids around is a lot, but I know they had a blast. For this, I will not only call myself Super Mom but also call my wonderful Mother in Law. .. Super Nonne!

The kids and I had so much fun! In the end, that's what it’s all about. :)

Thanks again Nonne...for everything! We love you!

Check out our fun slideshow from our trip:

Charleston Beach Trip