Already in St. Louis

Well, between all the stuff that had to get done our last week in St. Louis, I didn't get a chance to give an update before we left. The party was great. People ate all the food -- 2 hams and lots of snacks, a keg of rootbeer, and most of a keg of beer. We had a moon-bouncer and it was a great time.

The last week of school was hard. I don't like goodbyes, and I said lots. Albert got a nice present at 8th grade graduation to recognize all the volunteer work he did at school -- running the PTFA for years and doing lots of other stuff. Basically, spending all his free time there.

Karl had his 8th grade graduation, and it was lovely. He was the salutatorian (sp?) for his class -- just like me -- and therefore gave the farewell speech. And then the next day was the last day of school, and most of the 2-1/2 hours of it was spent in chapel, hearing the choir sing and having all the teachers present year-end awards to the kids. I held it together at graduation, but really started crying at the chapel.

By the end of the ice cream social on Friday night, we were all emotionally and physically exhausted (Albert was actually in LA working). We slept in a hotel, came back to the house to finish our own packing, and finally got out the door at 2:30pm. Although we had planned to leave the cats behind, the person who was going to take them said no at the last minute, and they came with. We were actually happy about that.

We've been here now for five days, and had help from Kat and Mark every day (this isn't the kind of help we were thinking about when we moved down here, but it's been terrific). They've cooked food (Mark), watched kids (Mark), cleaned floors, moved furniture, and offered lots of advice about where stuff should go (especially Kat). Tonight, we finally have a house that feels pretty much put together.

Countdown to the Big Move Day (and other major events)

I'm home from a super-busy week at work, and now we're in countdown mode to leaving. We're having an open house on Sunday. We invited pretty much everybody we could think of and have no idea how many people will show up, despite asking for a RSVP. I will shop for all the supplies on Saturday -- ham (1 or 2?), buns, chips, celery, carrots, watermelon, and cookies. Hopefully we'll buy just enough food to feed everyone and give us leftovers so we don't have to cook for the rest of the week. And of course we're getting kegs of beer and rootbeer.

The packers come on Wednesday and Thursday and the moving van gets loaded on Friday. I can't wait to all be living in one place. I've really missed being at home with my family most nights.

Eric is downright excited to be moving. He can't wait to live near his cousins. Karl is okay with it; he would have preferred not to move, but he'll be fine (and that's pretty much what he told another adult tonight). Lilly is either neutral or angry, but has slowly been moving towards neutral. Of all the kids, timing-wise, she had it the worst. But she starts a geeky math class on Monday, and that should perk her up (and maybe provide a source of potential friends). Karl also takes a class starting Monday, so he can free up some time during his school year. I have hopes that both of them will make some connections then.

I'll post again after the party.