It's a hard knock life...

I've been a slacker... I could blame the lack of blogging on the fact that the whole family got sick 2 weeks ago, or that we are trying to move, or that we are now shopping for a new car. But it hasn't been one of these factors, it's been all of these things combined... ;) Plus being in that state of mind where you're not sure what if anything you should write about.

We're selling our minivan. It's not exactly what I hoped/wanted to be doing at this time in our lives. But, the AC is on the fritz again. And we've had decided the last time we took it in was our last time to repair this AC. (For those of you that don't know, we had the AC basically completely replaced 3 separate times at Ford dealerships in 3 different states. It was not a fun vacation, and our latest dealership to fix it just went bankrupt!) So, I loose my big comfy van for a more affordable and less gas guzzling car. I'm sad. I like the van. I don't like filling it up though. Elizabeth will probably cry, again.

This moving business is proving to be very hard on my 3 year old. I got a book form the library that we read together about moving, and how it can make you feel. When we finished it yesterday she just started crying and said "I don't want to move!!" We are selling some of our furniture, so last week we sold our beds. I cannot describe for you the tears that occurred over this event. I was trying to explain that we would not be selling her new bed spread or room decor, and then I thought it would help if I let her know she could help us pick out her new bed after we got settled. I said, "we will get you a new bed, a brand spankin' new bed!" She turned and looked at me with a slight look of horror on her face and breaking out into tears she said "I don't want a spanking bed!!!" At least she keeps us laughing!

If anyone has any ideas on ways to make this easier let me know...

Moving

We're moving...
It's good and bad. Happy and Sad... (feel free to sing along)

So we have a little over a month left here in Iowa. And I am totally torn.
For 5 years (from the day I left for college until when we moved into this apartment) I (we) moved every year. This is the longest I have lived in one place since I moved out on my own.

There are so many things that make this place special in my heart forever. It is the first time I have ever lived FAR away from any family. So, it made me really grow up and establish things for myself. It also changed me because of our circumstances. I have spent so much time alone, or just with Elizabeth over the last 3 years that I had to make my friends and neighbors more like family. I am going to miss people tremendously. This is the only house my 3 year old has ever really known, and to leave it and our friends makes me so sad for her.

Many of you know, that this is also a welcome move. Some of you may know that Iowa is probably not my favorite of the 50 states... :) But despite the terrible driving, road planning, snow storms, and cold it hasn't been that bad. I am happy to be moving closer to family. (Even if it is short lived.) I am happy to be moving away from winter wiper blades and bundling my kids up like eskimos. I am happy that this means Justin is one year closer to fulfilling his dreams, and we are all one more year closer to being done with school.

I'm delaying getting boxes, because then I can delay packing. As long as I delay packing I can almost delay the reality of facing this jumble of emotions. (I can at least brush them from the front of my mind.)
I'm sure many of you have moved before and know what I mean. I'd love to hear anything you have to say about the subject. And if you're around here, do you know where I can get boxes? I can't put it off forever...