This Week at the Brennans’

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So so much has happened since we announced that we were moving! Read that post here.

Here’s what happened these past few weeks:

Well, Gordon spent a good chunk of his time in NYC finishing up work and also packing like crazy to get things set with the movers so he could finish up in our apartment, get our security deposit settled with the landlord and then leaving town to drive across the country back to Oregon to stay. Was that a long sentence or what? Ha! Luckily, things went as smoothly as they possibly could and he was on his way before we knew it.

We ended up getting a 16-foot POD since all the movers we tried to call were booked. And, how’s this for crazy: the POD people were all booked for “city service” too (when they bring the pod to your door) so we had to hire movers to move our stuff out of the city to where the POD was. All super crazy, but again, given the circumstances, it all worked out as well as it possibly could have. I did my best to sell all of our large items through Facebook Marketplace and was relatively successful, so everything Gordon packed fit into those 16 feet. Basically clothes, our exercise equipment and the beds. And the small amount of kitchen gear we had. It was kind of a tight fit but he did it! Unpacking will take us approximately 35 minutes. Haha!

I thought he was going to hit the road the morning after he packed the POD because it was a long day, but after the landlord gave him the go ahead, he took off that night. It was a fun surprise for me knowing I’d see him that much sooner. If you look at the last photo taken in NYC of him in front of our car, have you ever seen a man look so happy? I think not. It took him about 4 days to get here. We were all relieved and excited that he got here so quick! And so thankful for the friends he was able to see along the route.

Since Gordon has gotten here, we have all just been in a holding pattern, waiting to close on our house. We are only 8 days away, but still!! We are getting antsy. I’ve been collecting things here and there for our new house since we didn’t pack much. I was planning on buying furniture and a few tables, but everything is on backorder thanks to this little thing called covid, have you heard of it? Since we’d like a couch before Christmas, I found a nice little set on Facebook Marketplace for cheap. I also got a full sized crib for Porter too (upgrade for my little fella) and am looking for a washer and dryer too. I have a friend who lives right around the corner from our new home who has graciously kept some of our items in her garage so moving day is that much easier for us.

Before homeschool started, we went camping! If felt so good to get out of town for a while and breathe all that fresh air in! Gordon packed all our camping gear in the back of our car so we’d have it for this specific purpose. We haven’t gone camping as a family since Brooke was Eddie’s age, so it was fun to get out and show them the ropes. Porter was an early riser thanks to the sun rising so darn early, but besides that, everyone had a grand old time. I even was able to get a 3 minute shower in! (Technically 2 minutes because it took at least 1 minute for the water to warm the heck up.)

The day after we got back from camping, we went swimming at the local pool here in town. We had to make an appointment weeks in advance but it was so worth it! My kids LOVE swimming so it was a nice change from the sprinklers on the trampoline. We are hoping the pool in the small town we are moving to opens up real soon! I’m itching to get my kids into swim lessons again. Blake is *this close* to swimming completely unassisted and we are slowly convincing Brooke that swim team might not be so bad. Eddie is kind of just a hot mess when it comes to water in general, so he needs all the help he can get. Thank goodness swim lessons are 1/10th the price here than they were in the city! (Literally 90% cheaper than in new york.)

Blake and Brooke lost a tooth! Blake had a wiggly bottom tooth which seemed to hold on FOREVER but finally I convinced him to try twisting it *just a little* and the son of a gun popped right out! Brooke lost one of her larger teeth towards the back with two more loose ones that are on their way, too! That girl wants braces so badly but obviously all the baby teeth need to come out first. Womp womp. Just a little more time and she’ll be there!

And last but not least, we started homeschool today! And by we, I mean everyone but me and Porter. Ha! Gordon left his position in NYC so he could homeschool our kids and give me a full workday so I can actually work. Day one went relatively well and we are so excited for the freedom we now have. It’s amazing! I’ll probably do a whole blog post about the curriculum we’re using and other items we are supplementing with. Eddie is going to be reading by himself in the next few weeks. He is SO close!

Here’s what is happening this next week:

I’m hopefully going to find a washer and dryer on facebook marketplace or craigslist! Can’t move in without one. Ah!

We close on our house in *almost a week* so I’m putting it here because Gordon and I are so excited! It will feel so great to have something we own again. We can paint without asking! How about that?!

We are boxing up a lot of toys and things we brought with us in preparation for the move next weekend. Hot diggity dog, we are ready to go.