November 2020 - The King-Whited Family Blog

Another Busy Week of Unpacking

Unpacking continues as we finish out our second week in our new house. We were very excited to order a new couch and loveseat as our old couch was terrible. Last week, the loveseat arrived first and Nate and his friend Ryan worked hard to get it into the living room. As soon as it was in place, I was horrified- it was too bulky, too tall, not the right color- basically I hated everything about it. I was prepared to adjust if Nate loved it, but I could see on his face that he didn’t like it either. And so we called and opted into the 7 day return policy and last weekend, went back to the furniture store for 2.5 hours. We sat on every single couch, sectional, loveseat and chair at least twice. We wanted a reclining sofa, we wanted a sofa/loveseat combo that would fit in our living room. Apparently we were looking for a unicorn. I was hot, tired and sweaty by the time we found a set (couch, loveseat and chair we didn’t need) that was a much higher price than we’d set out to spend, but seemed ok. We weren’t sure about the color- in the store it seemed to have a bit of a yellowish tint, but we were cautiously optimistic.

The furniture was delivered and we were pleasantly shocked that the color was much different than we’d remembered. The 2 delivery guys were skeptical that they could actually get the couch inside (small doors in St. Paul) and I even called the store to ask about a second return, but with Nate’s assistance, they managed to get it inside. The chair would not fit down or up our stairs, which ended up working out in our favor, because the store refunded it, despite it being sold as a set. Win win!

On Tuesday Augustus woke up sick. He didn’t have a temperature, but he felt hot. He was whinny and not acting like himself. He seemed achy and miserable. In-conclusive what was wrong, but we kept him home from school on Tuesday and home from Grandma’s on Wednesday as a precaution.

On Wednesday, Xander went to Grandma’s like usual, but this week they took a trip to Kohl’s (Xander keeps saying, “we went to Clothes, to buy clothes”) and bought a bunch of new outfits and Spiderman long underwear.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and we were planning to go to Danny’s house, but ultimately decided that with Augustus being sick and Covid, that it wasn’t a good idea. We watched the parade, relaxed, hung out.

We decorated a Thanksgiving centerpiece.

We ate a big meal and mini pies. It ended up being a super nice day, even though it was also just a regular day at home.

We’ve been working hard on our house, trying to get unpacked. Xander and Augustus’s playroom couch arrived this week and they were very excited!

Xander added a “no grown ups allowed” sign outside the door of the playroom. This does not include Grandma Debbie, she is allowed, but not Nate or I.

We’re adding little touches like a shoe shelf in the corner and starting to add pictures on the walls.
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As I’ve been unpacking, I’ve been getting out all of our priceless artwork and finding honored places around the house to display such beautiful pieces (pictured here is a wooden bulldog wind-chime that I absolutely would run back into a burning house to rescue).

Last night, we had “Friendsgiving” via zoom. It was definitely not the same, but we were on the call for over 3 hours and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. It was wonderful to “get together” with everyone, even if it was from our couch. This group of friends started out as Nate and his college drinking buddies, and has grown over the years as we’ve all gotten married around the same time and then had babies around the same time, and it’s very special to be able to grow together.

Today I officially finished un-packing. It took a little over 2 weeks. There are still piles of stuff to sort through and pictures to hang. I need a cabinet for here and there. I’d like to organize some rooms a little differently. And the porch is still a catch all for empty boxes, “get rid of stuff” and a few other things. BUT, overall, we’re unpacked. The last room I was working on was our spare room, which was FILLED with all of the “sentimental” boxes of framed photos, childhood mementos, boxes of stuff from my dad, etc. At one point, I had unpacked every box and had stuff spread from one end of the room to the other, piled, overflowing- it looked like a scene from Hoarders. I gradually re-organized some things into bins, got rid of some things, and managed to find places for some other things. I am a sentimental person, so I have keepsakes from childhood through today. I have scrapbooks. I tried to thin out some of the keepsakes and I made some progress. I still had the binder of all my dad’s health information from when he was sick. I had a hard time throwing that away, even though it is clearly unnecessary. My dad was a treasure hunter and I still have boxes of rocks, coins, and a box of empty boxes (my love of “good boxes” definitely came from him). I had several long moments of reasoning with myself as I looked at these small cardboard boxes and decided that while they are 100% unnecessary, I wasn’t ready to get rid of them yet.

There’s still more to do, but the major unpacking is complete! We are settling in and getting comfortable and very happy in our new house- not bad for a 2 week turnaround!

Home Sweet Home

We’ve been here for a little over a week (1 week Thursday!) and we’ve been unpacking and moving stuff around nonstop. I’m exhausted and feeling impatient for our house to be completely unpacked, but the new house is nice!

Yesterday I got the NICEST postcard in the mail! Mary is an amazing artist and a professional quilter. She made the gorgeous quilt that is on our bed and I couldn’t believe it when I saw all the same fabrics making a tiny quilt postcard. We’ve had so many kind and wonderful things from all the people in our lives during this whole move!

So far, we’ve unpacked the boys’ room, the playroom, our room, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the basement and the garage. Tomorrow our new couch arrives and so our living room will be transformed. That leaves the porch (which is a “catch all” for all of the boxes and random things that we don’t have space for), and the 2 spare bedrooms- which are FULL of boxes and random stuff. I started working on them today and it’s a very overwhelming job. I still have a few LONG days of organizing and unpacking ahead.

We got a new refrigerator delivered on Thursday. The old fridge was SO small, and the opening was much larger, so we upgraded right away. We measured the refrigerator opening, but we didn’t measure the front door. Luckily we made it by a hair (literally, it was SO tight) and learned a good lesson about measuring the entire pathway…

At our old house, my oven didn’t close all the way, so to get a tight seal, I would use a piece of packing tape to force the door shut. Our new oven is very nice and new and fancy and for a few days this week, I was hating it and wishing we still had our janky old oven. It took me about 5 batches of macarons, but I figured out the perfect settings. All of my baking supplies are unpacked and I squeezed in time to measure some ingredients- it made me feel back to normal! And once I got the hang of it, I was able to make some Thanksgiving themed batches.

One of my favorite rooms in our house is the playroom for the boys. When we first thought about moving, we thought we’d put the boys in their own rooms. But one of our favorite things is, after they go to bed, listening to them talk to each other. Also, the two bedrooms upstairs are such different sizes, we decided to keep them together and have a playroom for toys.

The playroom has some interesting nooks and crannies and there was already a tiny little loft area that we are calling the cozy corner. I put some pillows and blankets in there and Xander climbs up there in the morning to read books or play on his ipad.

There are built in bookshelves in the playroom and Xander and I painted them bright red (his favorite color). We painted the ladder to the cozy corner blue (Augustus’s request).

I labeled all of the toy bins (about 12 total) with photos of the toys that go in them (cars, power rangers, pokemon, etc).

There is a giant walk-in closet in the playroom that I made into a Paw Patrol area on the floor, hung their costumes and stored some other random toys.

In the basement, we put up several shelves and bought SO MANY bins. Our old basement was damp and basement-y and over the years we had a mouse more than once. And even though this basement is very different than that, I feel passionately about anything that gets stored is in labeled plastic bins.

More unpacking, organizing and labeling are still on the to do list for the week ahead. I also have some big projects going on at work, and it’s Thanksgiving week, so we’re going to cram a lot into the days ahead!

Moving Day!

Yesterday we moved! We made an offer on our new house at the end of August and now, on a sleeting/snowy day in November, we finally moved!

The movers arrived at 9am and started loading boxes and furniture. Christine and my mom were there to clean and offer moral support.

It’s pretty well known, that Kings don’t know how to estimate, and proven once again, the movers were concerned there wasn’t going to be enough room in the truck, so Nate and I started loading up boxes into the van and making trips over to drop stuff on the porch (the previous owners moved out last week, so it wasn’t an issue). That wasn’t exactly the plan, and I wasn’t thrilled to be moving heavy boxes, but it was fine and not shocking (I assumed something would go wrong at some point in the day).

I sent the boys to school with books I’d made for them about our move. They shared them with their classes and felt very special.

We closed on our old house at 1pm, although we didn’t get everything out until 2:15 when we had to leave to close on the new house. Our garage was still VERY full, so there was a lot left for us to do. As I walked through the empty house, I started to get choked up, and I might have started crying, but I was very focused on just how much was left to do, so there was no time for nostalgia.

We closed on the new house and rushed over to meet the movers to begin the unload process. I THOUGHT I was organized. But the number of boxes that somehow didn’t get labeled or were labeled “random stuff” made me shake my head over and over. I am NEVER moving again, but if I do, I will be the most organized, uptight packer that you’ve ever seen. I’ve learned my lesson!

We directed the movers to the basement, spare rooms, bedrooms, etc. Luckily, our new house has 5 bedrooms, which means we have 2 spare rooms to fill with boxes for sorting and unpacking later.

Christine was in PEAK bestie mode yesterday, returning to the new house with a move in kit (dishsoap, dish towels, soap, toilet paper, and towels for bathrooms, snacks, etc- all of which we desperately needed since they had been absorbed into the sea of boxes). And then she organized my entire kitchen. It was AMAZING and I am forever grateful. My mom picked the boys up from school, headed to Target (because every Grandma overnight involves a trip to Target), and back to her house for a sleepover. They were VERY excited for a special night.

When we got to the new house, one of the first jobs was to unload the coolers of food I’d brought from the old house. I was SO surprised to open our refrigerator and find a card, champagne and juice boxes! The former owners could not be sweeter! I nearly cried.

Around 6, the truck was empty and the house was a disaster and we headed back to the old house to help load all the stuff from the garage. It was COLD, snowy, wet, and we were all exhausted. The movers were so kind, in such good spirits and seemed to have endless energy. They were such a good investment- it would have taken us a week to do that on our own.

The second truck was unloaded by 8, and Nate and I went our for a quick dinner and then fell into bed. I have not been that exhausted in a long time!

We woke up this morning and immediately worked on organizing the boxes. We sorted boxes in the spare rooms (everything left in those rooms needs to be unpacked, but is not necessary to daily life, so there’s no urgency). Groceries were delivered, the internet was installed, and half of our new couch arrived (other half is on backorder, but coming….). Christine returned with more snacks and finished unpacking the kitchen. She guided me through an overwhelming trip to Target where we stocked up on shower curtains, bath mats, organizational bins, and more. I hate shopping, have ZERO style and was very grateful for her guidance and choices (everything looks great!)

My mom came over in the afternoon and helped unpack until the boys got home from school and then we had our first family dinner in our new house (Tacos- obviously). We toasted our new house and Xander said, “it was so nice of them to leave us drinks!”

In August, when we packed half of our house in order to de-clutter and stage it for moving, we packed about half of the toys. So tonight, when the boys got home, it was like Christmas as they saw toys they forgot they had and ran around playing with everything.

We still have a LONG way to go before the house is unpacked and organized, but after 24 hours, it is functional- we have dishes and towels and clothes and the basics we need to eat, sleep and live. I am trying to remember that this is a marathon, not a sprint, and that it’s ok for the house to be messy while we are adjusting. I am SO excited to have the opportunity to organize every belonging we have and make sure everything has a place (and a label to remind us of that place!). And our new house is SO wonderful- it’s perfect for us and I am SO excited to settle in! We are a very lucky family!

Moving Week!

It’s moving week for our family! Tonight is the last night in our house- I can’t believe it! I’ve lived here for 13 years and I love this house. I am sad to say goodbye, but also so so excited to move to our new house.

Yesterday, we did our final walk-through. The sellers are building a new house and will be living with family until the house is complete, so they had some flexibility on their move-out day. They moved out last weekend and so we got to do our walk through early and the whole house was empty, clean and ready for us! Today we had a cleaning crew out (even though they left it SO clean!). The sellers were SO nice and were so kind to return to the house to let the cleaning crew in. I was so grateful and I popped by to drop off some moving cookies and to say thank you.

In the midst of LONG days of packing, my cookie orders were still coming in and I was still filling them. I could have said no, but it was a nice break- pack some boxes, bake some cookies, pack some boxes, bake some cookies… not bad.

Checking out a corner of their playroom.

Tonight, our house is 99% packed. We have random things here and there that need to get packed in the morning, but the garage, the porch and the dining room are filled with boxes. The movers will arrive first thing in the morning and the adventure will begin. Grandma Debbie is picking the boys up from school and they are spending the night at her house- they are VERY excited! Nate and I have several long days of unpacking ahead, but I am so excited to get everything organized and do even more de-cluttering (we did a lot as we packed, but I think we can get rid of even more stuff as we unpack).

It’s been an exhausting week of packing and we’ve got some busy days ahead, but so far, we’ve been pretty organized, followed our day by day plan, and it’s been smooth. I hope tomorrow is the same!

Halloween Fun at Camp!

What a fun weekend! I didn’t mean to turn Halloween into such a big thing, but all through October, everyone I asked already had their own plans. Halloween is SO much more fun with more kids, so I wanted to find some friends. Luckily for us, Sarah and Greyson have a family cabin near camp and they were planning to go there and agreed to meet up with us for a day of Halloween fun. The last time I was at camp was in August, and I have been trying to get back one more time before the snow falls. Our board president was the last one there and so camp was in good shape, which I knew, but I still wanted to check in once more before winter. So this was a weekend of business and fun. And then somewhere along the planning of this, Danny and Heather decided to join in, and the boys were thrilled to spend the whole weekend with them.

We picked up the boys after lunch on Friday. Getting to skip rest time is always special for Xander and he was bouncing off the walls. We stopped for treats at Tobie’s- kicking off our weekend of anything goes!

I think Xander said, “where’s Danny” every SINGLE time he wasn’t within sight. They are Pokemon Go buddies and Xander was thrilled.

Buddha was not real sure about his cousins….

On Saturday, Xander was awake at 6am, and bounded out of his room after he woke me up to ask he if could go wake up Uncle Danny.

I had theme meals planned for the whole day. We started out with skull eggs and skull blueberry muffins.

For lunch, I made mac and cheese and served it in carved orange pumpkins. Mummy dogs and oranges to look like pumpkins. Danny kept giving me a look and shaking his head and calling me “extra” but I love a theme!

Dinner I made skull pizzas. I had seen a video of these last year and I’ve wanted to buy a special pan since then. When I saw the video again this year, I decided to go for it. I am glad I did! They were quite tasty!

After lunch, we got dressed in costumes. We’ve had family theme costumes every year, but this year, Xander was set on being a ninja and Augustus was intent on being a hot dog (I have no idea where he came up with that, but he did- all on his own!).

Sarah and Grayson brought Oliver and Elliot over to camp and we were ready for modified Halloween. The weather was a bit windy and kind of chilly, so luckily we had a large dining hall to socially distance, but still be warm and inside away from the wind. We started with a few games and a punch a prize (which was way more important than the actual games).

After the games, the boys had to search for little goodie bags that I hid all over the dining hall. Each boy had their own color to find and the bags were filled with candy and little toys. When I asked the boys what their favorite part of the weekend was, Augustus said searching for the treat bags was his favorite.

After that, we went outside for some camp trick or treating. I had buckets of candy for each adult, and luckily there are MANY doors (all within sight so we could see them at all times). The adults were stationed at the doors and the boys were able to run around, knock, say “trick or treat” and fill their buckets with candy!

After trick or treating, we headed back to the dining hall to let the kids run around for a while longer. They came up with the idea to turn Uncle Danny (and then everyone) into a mummy. When I asked the boys what their favorite part of the weekend was, Xander said, “turning Uncle Danny into a mummy and playing with Oliver”.

After the Halloween fun, we headed back to the house for dinner and then the boys made worms and dirt (pudding, crushed oreos and gummy worms), ate lots of treats, ran around, and played “the floor is lava”. It was a FABULOUS (and treat filled) Halloween!

The night ended with a little more excitement as one of the bedrooms (the one that the boys were sleeping in this weekend) got locked. We tried popping the lock with a paperclip and with a screwdriver. Danny and Nate attempted to drill it out. In the end, we smashed the doorknob with a hammer.

Gussie fell asleep while we attempted to get the bedroom opened back up.

This morning was another early start to the day, but since it was daylight savings, it was a little better. We spent the morning playing, cleaning up, Danny and Heather went for a run. I was sad that we weren’t staying longer. We had such a fun weekend and I hope to make another trip back to camp before it’s SUPER snowy.