MOVING DAY & FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

It has been CRAZY here - extremely overwhelming.... conveniently Mike had to go to SF for the week - so it's been me, Lucas & the movers....we're at the tail end and I just have to "be here" so I had a second - but it has been really really hard, much more than I thought - and quite embarrassing HOW MUCH CRAP we've accumulated over the years. I purged (what I could reach) but wow there's a lot going into storage that I'll have to purge when we come back.

The first day of school, the calm before the storm......



Ian's new teacher (aka Barbie)



Welcome back Muffins (lucas loves blueberry)



No explanation needed



It's truly happening



So we're in temporary housing - will be checking periodically - we leave for the 11 hours plane journey next Thursday - yikes! And a shout out to my friends & family just joining my blog - don't be a blog-stalker :) drop us a comment often so we know you're checking in on us!!!!

Bowling Par-tay

Well I survived the last kid party - we went bowling for Ian's early Bday - we had a great bargain though - we had planned the party a month ago - and it ended up being $0.99 for games and shoes and hotdog & drink .... hello - it was something like $2.97 per kid!!! Score!!

Good thing too because we ended up having 17 kids! Last week for Cman's party it seemed all his friends were out of town - this week (school starts next Tuesday) everyone was home!!! So random.



We had a good time - Ian's friends tend to be a bit more "rowdy" than my other kids friends - but they were all great and had a good time....




On Monday we went to see Rachel (side bar Brackett) and went to Chuck E's - but in a different town - I know - Linda is going to be SOOOOO thrilled that I posted my pictures!!

My good friend Grace came to see us too - such a great place - between the 4 of us we have 19 1/2 kids - luckily for Chuck E's we didn't bring ALL of them!!

After that I had to run down to SJ for ANOTHER surprise party for Mike at his work - his Admin put together a little ditty - it was nice - but now I'm exhausted between the kids activities & purging - my house looks so empty it's great!

This weekend my next door neighbor is throwing me a babyshower - the fun NEVER stops...

SURPRISE!!

My great friends help me carry off a great surprise 40th bday for my man last Friday night. I didn't obviously also talk about this party in my earlier post because Mike blog-stalks sometimes! ( I love what Hot Mama has nicknamed me: Marathon Mom! I totally feel like I am running crazy)

We went to a place called Campo di Bocce - so we played outdoor bocce ball!!! It was soooooooooo much fun. I love my friends - I am going to miss them so much when we move to London - but I'm also so grateful that so many of them are planning to come visit me already! My friend Christy has already booked her tickets to come out for Easter!

Mike's real bday isn't until November but I wanted to celebrate before we left - I had always wanted to do a big party for him - but this party was perfect - he was very surprised - Mike & I always do a Birthday Dinner every year with Linda & Chris - obviously this year with us being in the UK by November we won't be able to do it - so that was the guise to get him out to dinner....

All of our great friends that could make it

Heels aren't allowed so I had to remind the men not to wear Stillettos

Such a good sport!Me hiding my 25 week belly, Laura & Michele (my GNO girls!)

Miss Linda winning at Bocce

Lots of friends: Todd, Mike, Linda & Christy

Let's eat Cake!

He loves me

Me & Lulu (Auntie Nu!)

Chris & Mike

Dan, Herbie, Mike & Jimmy Cole

Summer Fun

I am kinda ready for summer to be over and these little kiddies to be back to school - they are starting to pick on each other and keep saying how bored they are - I can't get them to read anything or do homework books anymore - they just want to watch TV or play the Wii or DS - so we have to keep doing things with friends to keep them busy. However on the flipside - once they go back to school - the next day we pack up our house for our great adventure....so there is a bit of a Catch-22.

With that said - we've also been cramming in get-togethers before we our big move. Ty got a small sleepover with girlfriends - so we did a tent sleep in the backyard thing - I made this yummy Monkey Bread for breakfast - doesn't it look delish?!







When the girls all left - we planned an early birthday party for Cman - we had our first swim party at our neighborhood pool - my kids always remind me we are the only ones in the neighborhood that doesn't have their own pool in the backyard, but hardly anyone was there - so it's just like our own private pool without the electricity bill!

He had a few friends able to come - it's tough in August - lots of friends were on vacation - but lucky for us - Linda's crew is a party in itself - so we still ended up with 16 kids with her 5, my 4, plus 2 friends for Ty - and Cman's real "guests"!

It was a HOT HOT day - so it was perfect - notice there are no pictures of the giant pregnant whale in the blue non-maternity swimsuit. Luckily 10 year old boys don't care what their moms look like!

Lucas & Hayden - Best Buds

KR, Lucas, Ty & MA (literally I always call these girls by their initials - something I've done for years, not cuz I'm disguising their names or anything! They just both always went by their first & middle name)

All for one & one for all!!! If you enlarge - you will see Bowen - he is always trying to steal the limelight - I keep telling Linda that she has a starlet on her hands! I expect tickets to the Oscars one day - or walk down the red carpet as the second mom who always supported the arts......

Yes, us crazy 2 moms and 16 kiddies in the pool - I kept counting them 1,2,3..... (I tried to get a lifeguard/babysitter to help but she was a Driver's School - scary!)

So I had back-to-back parties and lived to talk about it - then next week we'll do bowling for Ian's early bday!!! Yikes! Within the next week too we'll also have a baby shower, then school starts, pack our house, then a good-bye open house!!!! Oh the fun never stops!

Off to watch more Olympics!

Cross you fingers!

A family came to look at our pad on Friday - we're crossing our fingers they liked it enough to rent ... it was only the 1st showing, but it would be so nice just to get it over and done with....

Here's a little glimpse at all of our hard work - we've been "cleaning house" literally!







We were supposed to go to Idaho this weekend to visit Mike's brothers family - sadly though my SIL's grandma passed away quickly and they had to go to SLC - since Mike still had the day off though we took the kids to Raging Waters for the day - we had a load of fun - and the weather was PERFECT, probably 78 degrees! Tyler got to also bring Katie Rose - she's like another daughter to me :)

Mike & Cman racing - Chandler won!

Busy Busy Busy - SPT

I've done well with my picture taking - for me this SPT is also about me trying to be "fortius" - stronger - Mike may be the CEO (and patriarch) of our family, but I have to be the lead in this grand adventure our family is taking - The motivator, psychologist, facilities coordinator, personal administrator, CFO, CTO........I'm also trying to be Social cruise director (move over Julie on the Love Boat!) so we have ample time to say proper farewells to our great friends........here are some of the things we've done since Sunday

Chris & Mike showing their fancy tongue colors after eating something Linda & I find disgusting!



Mike's brother Ryan arrived for dinner on Monday - we got to visit him for a few hours as he is in SF for business this week.


Twins.......Louise, Max & Sophia came to visit Tuesday night - Max & Mike are actually twins - they are literally born on the same day, same year...... it's fun for us - BFF's with husbands with the same birthdays?! What are the odds? (although since Italy is 8 or 9 hours ahead, Max gets to be the older twin!!)



Ooops a little out of sequence - but during the day Tuesday we went out with a bunch of girls in our ward - we took the Ferry across the SF Bay and spent the day with the kids - yes something like 17 kiddies!! But we had such fun - and the kids (and myself!) will miss our great friends here. No matter how much more organizing and cleaning I have to do here in the house I am glad we make time to spend quality time with people instead of our belongings!





This was just the social part of our week - I didn't even do a pictoral documentation of all the manual labor we've been doing! Painters, moving furniture, gardening -minimal, purging galore! Oh it feels so nice to have empty space!!!