It's a crazy, crazy, crazy life

Today was Friday- although it seemed a little bit like a Saturday because all of the kids were home from school. Ethan was home with strep throat, poor dude. Curtis was also home because we had an appointment with Immigration Services to get our Visa's for our move to England! Curtis and I, and Ethan, Eli and Jo all had to go to St. Paul to get fingerprinted. We brought Janie and Sadie too. All the while Nettie and Jill and Dana were cleaning up from the garage sale that we had this week. I snuck a little nap today and good thing because I have been running on E for a bit. Curtis took Eli and Jo camping with the Lee's Lapicola's and Morley's- I stayed home with Ethan, Janie, and Sadie. I was sad to miss the campfire but not too sad to miss a cold night of being up with kids.

August was so busy, we got home from our trip out west and jumped right into soccer. And Jonah's birthday!! Then we had Curt and Sandy's Anniversary party (on our anniversary), then a week at the cabin in Hackensack. We came home and started packing for our familiarization trip to England. Dana, Kim and Sandy took care of the kids for us, and Curtis and I and Sadie had a week to find schools and grocery stores and see friends near London. It was a great discovery trip for us- I went from thinking there is no way I can handle this right now to being very very excited about it. The process was important for a final decision. It is going to be a once in a lifetime adventure, I am hardly able to believe that it is really happening, and that we are really going to take our crew across the ocean and live in a different place.

We did find a great school while we were there, and found out this week that the kids were accepted. It is an American School, and as much as I wanted to have an English countryside experience, this school will be a big help and support to us. We did visit a very quaint British school out in the country, and after driving and looking felt like it was not for us. It was very Harry-Potter-ish with houses and prefects and part of it was a converted old manor house. Very beautiful.
I am still terrified to drive but will do it when I have to.

So now we are cleaning out and trying to figure out what to take, what to store for 2-3 years, and what to give up. The garage sale was a good start but we still will have plenty of trips to the Goodwill. We have a 40 foot pod that will ship across the ocean and take 2 months to get to us. We will have some things shipped to us so we can have them during that 2 months. And then we will have our suitcases, of course! Just thinking of that flight over gives me the opportunity to do some deep breathing.
We looked at a few houses while we were there and we are definitely going to be downsizing, but we will still be able to be comfortable. Curtis will looke a little more when he is out there in a week.
We have checked off the garage sale, now we have a weekend with Isabelle's birthday party, Jonah's belated birthday party, and Janie Kate's birthday get together is Sunday!

Also, Sadie got a craniocap for her little flat head, and the kids started school at Oxbow!

September will be busy with trips and more trips, and October slows down a bit. We are aiming for a move the first week in November. Hold on to your hats!