Packing Up

It's finally happening.  After 16 months of renting and what feels like eons of house hunting, we are finally closing on our new house in Knoxville.  This has been a stressful process. And not simply b/c we are buying a house and that is a dream/nightmare in itself.  But we are coming off a bad burn from selling our house in Florida and that alone will make one gun-shy, hesitant, scarred for life.  You name it, we've felt it.  So after much trepidation and over a thousand late night pros and cons lists, Andy and I finally found the perfect house to raise our family in!  I wish I could post pictures but we need to have the place cleaned and painted first so that will be coming soon.  It's so exciting because this will be the house Jack first learns to walk in (frankly b/c that's not likely to happen in the next 2 months :).  This will be the house where we hopefully welcome baby #2 someday.  This will be the house with a swing set and sleepovers and trick-or-treating.  It'll be the house where frankly, Andy & I finally feel like grown-ups.  Not that we were juveniles in Florida or while renting here.  It's hard to explain.  But this house is our first "long haul" house.  A place where we can picture many, many milestones.  This move has a sense of permanence that I have been missing since I moved out of my home in Jackson.  These rooms will be the setting for Jack's childhood recollections.  It makes me feel so unbelievably happy.  And grateful for a husband who has taken care of the entire home buying process for us (I hate paperwork.)  Now if only we didn't have the whole silly packing and moving process to interfere with the excitement!

 Thankfully, I have on site Bean & the Jackman Moving Professionals.  They are a tad slow and slightly unprofessional (I mean, who naps on the job?  honestly...)  But they are cheap - charging only the occasional hug and kiss.

Jack even comes with his own moving truck :)

 Here he is getting focused for the process.

 Bean has more of a supervisor role.  I could tell her worker was getting off track here & losing valuable time & money.

 So she explained it more forcefully - with an onslaught of kisses.

 It's a Jack on the Box!

 And finally, another Jack IN the box!  It never gets old :)  For me at least.

Here he is using pot lids to help him figure out where the furniture should go in the next house.  He's a very spatial thinker.

And conscientious too.  Moving is messy.

The only downside to hiring Bean & the Jackman Moving Professionals is their propensity for using boxes to climb onto nearby furniture while I'm out of the room.  I guess the monkey on his shirt is fitting after all :)