SOLD!

On June 15, 2006 our house was officially "sold" and on Saturday, June 17th this sign appeared on our front lawn, replacing the "sale pending" sign that had hung there for more than a month.

Today is Sunday, June 18th - Father's Day. We spent most of the day 'at the races' at Bay Meadows, enjoying brunch and watching the horses and jockeys run around the track.

We've returned home to finishing the packing! What fun.... NOT! So far the girls have only quarrelled about six times in the last hour. Things are quiet for the moment as I take a short break to mentally plan the next packing project. Just hope it's all done by a civilized hour and we can get a decent night's rest before the moving company shows up at our door around 8am.

Two weeks from today we'll have been in our new house for a little more than 24 hours.... watch for news of the 'move in' blog around the 4th of July! 

Graduation and Turning 10!

On June 14th Kali 'graduated' from 5th grade, finishing her years of elementary school at North Shoreview Montessori school. She has really excelled in Montessori education and each year grew more and more intellectually. Kali is very ready for 6th grade and we are sure she will make an easy and successful transition to a traditional school.

In Elk Grove she will remain in elementary school for one more year - lucky for Melia!

After the graduation ceremonies at school we went to lunch at Max's in Burligame. Along to celebrate were Duane's Mom (Nanna to the girls), Grandpa (my Dad), Grandma Henrietta (my grandmother and the girls great-grandmother) and Auntie Debbie (my big sis), and of course, Duane (taking photo) and me.

The day before (June 13th) Melia also celebrated a personal milestone - turning 10! That was quite a celebration too - Malibu after school with her friends (that was a noisy 2+ hours for me) and dinner at home with Nanna, Poppi, Uncle Kevin, Tia Vicki, Marcellus and Syra.

I am truly all partied out..... but we'll celebrate Melia's birthday one more time in Aromas next Tuesday with Grandma (she'll be back from Europe with Uncle Dave on Monday), Grandpa, Auntie Debbie & Katie, and Uncle Glenn, Aunt Lori and cousins Aaron & Noah. Then we begin the musical beds while we are 'in between' homes for about 10 days. The girls will stay in Aromas while Duane and I bounce from house to house and then land at a Residence Inn for the week before we move into the new house.

So, so long for now as the blogging will take a back seat to packing and moving and orchestrating all the things that need to be scheduled and purchased for the new home. We'll be back with updates in a few weeks!

Count Down: One Week til Move Out!

In only seven days the moving company will arrive early in the AM to start packing and loading our belongs and haul them away to store until July 1st. Already the house is beginning to feel and sound a little hollow with the dining room set gone as well as a large armoire that held table linens and serving dishes. The girls bunk bed frame left the premises about 10 days ago but the mattresses remained. Duane initially wondered why I hadn't sold those too. I reminded him that Melia has barfed on the mattress more than once (reason enough not too subject someone else's kid to that mattress) and I didn't think he was interested in giving up his bed either - that reason hit home.

Packed boxes of 'stuff' we don't use daily (or probably monthly for that matter) are now filling up the garage. Of course we had to hold a garage sale and take two additional loads of stuff to the Goodwill to clear out enough space for the boxes. One of the best things about moving is that you can very easily decide not to take things you really don't want or use anymore and there is a lot less guilt about being wasteful. Duane apparently will have absolutely no problem with that - he's already decided that rather than pack anything at all, he'll just start from scratch in Elk Grove. We'll see how that plays out. :-)

But if all that wasn't enough to keep us busy and up late every night this week we also have Melia's 10th birthday and Kali's 5th grade graduation to celebrate tomorrow and Wednesday. The girls are really excited about these milestone events in their lives and we are looking forward to them as well. Perhaps by September of this year our lives will settle back down a bit and we will not feel like little hamsters on a wheel.

Check back in a few days for pictures of Melia's birthday and Kali's graduation!