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This town is so small that the schools do not have orchestra. At first Noelle said that she did not want to switch to a band instrument and that she would just get private lessons so she could keep playing the cello. Now she realises that one of the things she enjoyed most about playing an instrument was the time she spent with the other kids. So she talked to the band director and he said that they do not start band until 5th grade here so she is only one year behind. He said that since she already plays an instrument it should not be hard for her to catch up if she really practices.

So yesterday James went and rented her a clarinet. The angle her bite is at may make it hard for her to play so we decided to just rent it for a month and then if she can play it ok buy one next month. Noelle said that she still wants to keep practicing the cello on her own so we will keep the one we own.

She started practicing right away yesterday. The book the school uses has pages in the beginning to teach kids how to play so she read it yesterday and already taught herself a bunch. She is so excited now about how easy it was for her to start learning a new instrument so she asked James to start teaching her guitar again. She was even talking about learning as many instruments as possible and becoming a teacher. I have not seen her this excited in awhile.

Yesterday ended up being a pretty fun day. School was closed because it was so cold out. James got home from work around 2pm and the rest of the day was spent with the kids trying to play music. While Noelle practiced the clarinet in her room James set up the guitar, amp, and karaoke in the rec room. Nicole and Neona got very excited and now they want to get their own guitar so they can learn too.

So that was added to the Wish Book

I had the kids start a Wish Book. They always come up to me asking for things they see in ads or on tv. I wanted them to start looking at all the things they ask me for and see how much it all costs. Then they can really look at it and see what is worth buying when they are able to buy new things.

So we created the Wish Book. It is just a notebook that they can write down what they would like to get. They have pages for themselves individually and pages for if it is something they all want and agree upon. They also have to look it up online or in an ad and write down how much it costs. I think this will also help the girls see more about how money works. Plus they will have to learn how to decide what is more important and that you can not always get what you want.

James had already promised them each around $200 to spend any way they want when we get our tax return so I thought this would be a good time to do something like this. I wanted them to really think about what they wanted to spend their money on. I am actually trying to get them to realise that it would be better to put the money all together and get a big thing to share but who knows what will happen. Hopefully with them having the book they will at least not spend it all on candy and stupid stuff. LOL

Well, moving day did not go as smoothly as we had hoped. The Land Rover sounded like it wanted to start but it still would not turn over. James decided that we had way too much to get done and no time to worry about it so he called AAA and had it towed to his grandparent's house. They have a ton of land out in the country so their driveway is more like a parking lot. We will just have to go back and worry about it later.

I was so excited that we were supposed to have so much help but we still ended up with some problems. James kept saying that a guy that used to work for him was going to help but he forgot that the guy did not have a car. He lives on the other side of town and needed to get picked up and dropped off so James told him we had enough help. Another friend kept saying that he was busy but would be over soon all day long just like when we first moved back to Wisconsin and asked him to help unload.

So James' grandparents helped us load the first truck and then it was just us and Mike. Thank God for Mike. He helped us from 9am until 8pm. Him and James had to carry all of the heavy stuff up and down stairs alone. Nicole, Neona, and I stayed at the new house unpacking the kitchen while James, Noelle, and Mike went back for the second load. By the time they filled it James was very tired and the fog came back so he decided to sleep for a bit at his grandparent's house.

At around 4am James and Noelle got to the new house. It was raining all day the second day so we tried to hurry up and unload but this time it was just us so it took longer than we hoped. The second load was mostly stuff from in the garage and basement so there was not very many heavy things just a lot of small things.

That afternoon we started setting things up and rearranging furniture. We ended up taking apart the pool table because it took up too much room in the rec room. We put the second largest TV, video games, casino table, Noelle's reading chair and foot rest, the chaise lounge we did not have room for in the livingroom, and my desk in the rec room. James said that he would rather not have me clicking on the keyboard all the time upstairs while he is trying to sleep. LOL

At the time I thought this was a good idea. I could stay up late and not bother anyone. Now that I am trying to blog and I have two kids playing video games behind me and 1 kid playing roulette I am think that I would rather be upstairs in a quiet room. I do really love having the rec room though. It is very nice having the kids in the basement when they are being loud.

I was not as impressed as I would have hoped when I saw the house at first but I am really starting to like it now. The man that lived here before us must have been a slob so there is some scrubbing I need to do and way more dog poop in the yard and the kennel than I care to mention. At least the yard is huge and the poop is all in one area. It is not just a little poop it is like the man NEVER cleaned it up. There is a nice dog kennel with dog house in it but the ground in it looks like it housed a cow. The snow keeps melting and new layers of poop keep showing up in the yard around the kennel too.

Ok, off the poop topic. LOL

The rest of the yard is great. There is a half acre in the back. The back part of the yard slopes down a lot but there is still plenty of room to play. The kids are excited about sledding down the slope if we get more snow. The owner also told us to feel free to plant a garden if we want. Everyone has been excitedly talking about what we could plant. There is also a little wood fence that separates the kids play area from the garage area. James said that would be perfect for planting berries.

The owner's wife said there was a little play house in the yard. I assumed she meant one of those plastic things. It is actually a little wood house for kids. Complete with roof, siding, windows, front step, and a door.

(James was talking to the new regional manager at work before we moved and the guy had said he was asked when he took the job to promise them 3-4 years in this city. He then said that he wanted James to stay with him for all the time he was here.) So James and I have been discussing that if we are going to stay here this is the perfect house to stay in for a long time. It is much cheaper than anything else we looked at around here since it is not in Madison. Plus when you add on all the extras that other places did not have we are very happy that we found it.
Okay I think this has gotten long enough I will have to blog about the kids new school later.

Yesterday started out with the Land Rover not starting. That got us stressed out and in bad moods. First James wanted to blame me and asked if I really started it everyday like he told me to. I told him that I started it everyday and it always started. So he drove to a store and bought jumper cables. That did not work so he checked for another problem. Then he said that there was not any gas getting to the engine so he went to the gas station and got the gas can filled even though it said that it had a quarter of a tank left. That did not work either. So he decided that the temperature dropping so fast and all of water in the air from the dense fog must have gotten into the system. He decided to leave it to deal with later and just go look at the house in one vehicle.

He got some additive put in at last night and if that does not work we will just have AAA tow it to his Grandpa's house and we will deal with it later. We have too much other stuff to deal with right now.

So off we went to see the new house and get the measurement for furniture placement. I made James do all of the driving. It was sooo foggy that I freaked out a lot of the time. There is no way I would have been able to drive in that if we took two vehicles. I would have ended up driving right back here.

It is a cute little town. The house did not impress me as much as I had hoped but I am sure that part of it is because all of the snow is melting so everywhere you look is ugly. It is dirty snow and mud in every ones yard so I am sure it will look better later. The inside looks small but I know that every place we have ever lived looks small until we put all of our stuff in it. The pool table in the basement is wobbly and can not be tightened. We would rather have the extra space so we are going to take it apart. There is still a bit of cleaning to do in the house. The dog kennel in the yard still has dog poop in it and that really above all else disgusts me and maks me mad.

We got groceries for the house so we would not have to deal with it after moving. Then we headed back home. On the way home the fog was just starting to lift so I was only freaking out part of the time. When we got home we ate dinner and then Abby and I packed more boxes. I could not fall asleep so we packed boxes until midnight.

I just woke up and got on the computer to check the weather for today. I was hoping some huge wind would have blown the weather away from us but no such luck. We are supposed to have rain and fog the next two days. I really worry that people will not want to help us in the rain but we have to get it done right now. Plus this is a very tall big truck so the ramp is thin and steep. I do not want any one to slip and get hurt. If everyone still comes and helps we should be able to fill up the truck fast.

So we are hoping that everyone is also planning on coming with us to unload it. If we can get it all loaded and unloaded fast we will try to get them to help us load it the second time and then we will unload it our self when we get there. We know we will need two trips and we have no help tomorrow. If we can get everyone to stick around long enough to fill the truck a second time we can get it all done today and not have to do a trip tomorrow.

That brings me back to checking the computer. I went on the computer and what do I see? A huge pile up in Madison yesterday. There was a 100 car pile up because of the fog while we were there. Freaks the hell out of me. That fog was soooo bad.

Ok James is calling for me to take him to pick up the truck.

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I can not believe how close everything is getting. My stomach has been bothering me but I am sure it is from all of the stress. The closer we get the more the uncertainties are bothering me.

Yesterday James was supposed to sign the lease but the owner of the house went to see James at work without it. He said that his secretary had not gotten it all made up yet and that she was also supposed to have faxed James the application he was not able to fill out.

So James asked him if it was still for sure that we had the house. He also pointed out that we already have a truck set up to start moving stuff in on Monday. The man said that there was no reason to worry. We still have the house and the lease was just a formality.

He said that he likes that James works for a huge company. He also said that he had called Barb and James' boss and everyone spoke very highly of him. He said that he would bring the papers in for James to fill out today and then he will come in with the lease and the keys on Friday. James asked him if he wanted the money right away or on Friday. To which the man replied, "Friday will be fine, I am used to not getting paid for that house. I do not know what I will even do with the money when I start getting money regularly."

This is all driving me nuts. I know I should not still be worried but that is what I do. I worry about everything. I have to call the school and get the papers all made up to withdraw them from school and I would much rather have a lease signed before then. At this point I will have them completely pulled out of their schools before the lease is even signed. Friday is going to be their last day of school. I do not want to end up waiting forever to get all the utilities hooked up either. I really wanted internet as soon as possible. LOL

Well, today James' friend Jeremy is supposed to bring me some more boxes. We are not sure how many but James asked him for as many as possible. I will not have my little helpers today or tomorrow since their Christmas break is over now. I can not believe they have them back in school for just 2 days this week. I thought we always got two full weeks off. Well I guess it works out for them because they wanted to have time to say goodbye to friends before we leave. We had not found a house yet before break started so they did not know how soon we would be moving.


Well I need to start calling the schools to get the papers ready.

What a waste of a perfectly good day. We have not done ANYTHING today. When James came home Sunday night we talked about getting the bunk beds taken apart since it is one of those huge ones with bookshelf, dresser, and desk. When we move we always completely take apart the bed parts to save room. We wanted to be able to get it all taken apart and against the wall so we could finish filling that room with boxes. Plus James brought home some boxes with him for us to pack.

Yesterday, we packed maybe 4 boxes and then James decided that he would rather take the kids bowling and then over to his dad's house. Today, we slept in until around 8am. Then I made a big breakfast. I sat for like an hour while the kids played video games and James laid in bed. So then I decided to take a nap on the couch. Finally James got out of bed and I thought he was going to take apart the bed. No, he took the kids sledding instead. I love that he always does stuff with the kids but I had really hoped he would be more helpful while he was here.

We started planning everything out for the move. Our friend Mike is able to help us move next Tuesday so James is going to take his normal Sunday and Monday off and add on Tuesday for the move. We had already reserved a truck for two days we just had to give them the final decision on the pick up date. So I made the pick up for Monday.

The last time we moved we filled the entire 26 foot semi top to bottom. I do mean fully packed. My dad and James stacked stuff all the way up to the ceiling. I told James that I was worried that we would not fit it all into the semi this time since his friends will not be as careful and hard working as my dad. Plus this time we have more stuff. We sold a lot of our stuff last time at a rummage sale since we could not fit it all. Now that we bought some new TVs and entertainment centers for the kids it will take up more room. Also we did not bring our grill with us last time and we did not have a lawn mower in Arizona since there was no grass. LOL

So we decided that we will get the truck on Monday since James is off work anyway. Then we can take a trip with the truck both days. If we can not get help on Monday we will just get the stuff that we can do on our own. This time we think we will just put all of the boxes in the garage of the new house and bring them in as we are ready to unpack them. It will be easier to get all of the furniture figured out that way and it has an oversized two car garage. We have lots of big furniture and it is hard enough for us to figure out where to put it all when we move without boxes in the way.

We have talked about possibly taking a drive up there on Sunday with the kids since James is off work anyway because the girls really want to see the house. It would be just a road trip with maybe only whatever small things would fit in the back of the Jeep. It also depends on if we have everything ready to go for Monday. We only have 2 boxes left and we are waiting for James' friend Jeremy to bring more over after he gets a shipment at work Wednesday. I hope he brings us enough.

All of this planning has me getting nervous. I really wish we had the lease signed already. James is supposed to sign it tomorrow night but it worries me that something will go wrong. We are so close to all of this being over and I do not want something to happen. This house is an answer to all of our prayers and I just want it all signed so I can relax and be happy.