The Big Moving Sale

My parents will be moving out of their home for the last 17 years this week. Our family went down for a few days to help them get ready for a moving sale.

Our first day down, Jonathan emptied the attic so we spent some time sorting through that. It was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me. I found my UF and William and Mary admission letters, certificates that dated back to second grade, pretty much all of my high school notebooks (embarrassingly, one of my math notebooks I opened wasn’t labeled…I think it was calculus, but I have NO idea…I remember nothing), and little bits and pieces of my childhood. Most of it made its way to the garbage or recycling. I saved a few things. Less than a box, down from 3 or 4.

The next day mom and I sorted and priced everything that was going in the sale. We got most of our work finished in the morning, which was good since it was pretty warm. That night, we got the house picked up and furniture labels up.

Friday morning we were up at 5:30am so that we could start setting up at 6am. Our first customer came by at 6:24am (someone walking in the neighborhood) and we had advertised that we were opening at 8am. We knew there would be early birds.

Here are a few of the before pics I took when we opened Friday:

The full-sized bedroom set. I’ve always loved this furniture. It went fast on Friday.

By the end of Friday, the couch and tables were gone. On Saturday, the recliner sold. Jonathan really wanted to find a place for this at our house, but we have no room. But Jonathan’s parents bought it so that he still will have a chance to sit in it.

The dishes on the table sold, but the rest in this room was donated.

Lots of toys on Friday. Almost all were gone at the end of Saturday.

A “few” Christmas things for sale…and mugs too.

More Christmas and décor items.

Tons of stuff in the driveway too.

More stuff

Mom and Mrs. Hewson ready for the crowds. On Friday it was almost constantly busy. My mom’s friend, Mrs. Henderson, also helped out, which was great. That way two of us could be outside and two could be inside showing the furniture. My dad took Friday off so he could watch our kids.

Saturday was quiet, to say the least. Thank goodness for the throngs of people who came by Friday!

But, really, so much sold. Below is a pic of all the garage and driveway stuff that was left to be picked up the next week:

That’s it! Plus the computer desk, dining room furniture, and two recliners. Everything else, gone!

The kids enjoyed their last trip here too.

Enjoying some breakfast…chocolate doughnuts. Now, that is a special treat.

On Saturday, Rosemary and Benjamin took one last dip in the spa with my dad.

I think the last dip wasn’t so tough knowing that the apartment has two pools and the new neighborhood has a community pool and a playground. They are excited about where Grandpa and Grandma will be next!

Archaeology Dig

We just started using Story of the World for our history curriculum and the first chapter (actually, it’s chapter 0) talks about what is an historian and what is an archaeologist. We’ve read books and talked about it, but one of the activities it suggests doing is creating a dig site. So we did. It was very small, but I think Ben and Rosemary had a lot of fun. They went out Monday morning to dig while Charlotte took her morning nap.

We used shovels, paint brushes, and toothbrushes to find our artifacts

Rosemary had just discovered the remains of a ceramic mug

Brushing the dirt off the remains of an egg carton. We deduced from this artifact that whoever left this item likely ate eggs. :-)

A pair of old eyeglasses

After collecting all of our artifacts, we bagged our finds then took them into our ‘lab,’ as Rosemary called it, to record our observations.

All six of our artifacts: seed packet, eyeglasses, egg carton, empty soap pump, pencil, and mug fragments.

Next, we plan to do some cave painting, but at the end of the summer we hope to mummify a chicken!

Ballet Recital 2012–In Every Season

The day of the recital finally arrived and we got Rosemary’s hair back into her well-gelled bun, did the stage make-up, and got her dressed once again. Since it was overcast, she decided to wear her rain boots on the way there. It was a good choice. It was pouring later that night!

On our way!

Grandma and Grandpa Workmaster arrived just as we did.

Rosemary didn’t get a chance to see Grandpa Peine before the recital, but she gave him a big hug as soon as it was over.

Rosemary and her co-op friend, Lucy

With her teacher, Miss Sharon

Rosemary and Grandpa Peine

It was another beautiful recital!

Ballet Rehearsal 2012

This past weekend we enjoyed Rosemary’s third ballet recital with Doxa Dance Studio. They were in a new venue this year so some things were a bit different, but once again we thoroughly enjoyed the big event. This year, Rosemary’s dance was titled Spring Showers and her costume was just beautiful.

First, Rosemary had her rehearsal on Friday. It was a closed rehearsal so we didn’t get to watch or take pics, but I tried to snap lots before and afterwards.

It had been a dreary day, but we didn’t have any rain during the rehearsal.

Rosemary with her dance friend, Abby.

Ben did great waiting for Rosemary. He hung out quite happily inside for about 40 minutes. Then we headed outside so he could run around a bit. Charlotte was content to eat crackers and chill in her stroller.

From outside we caught a glimpse of Rosemary waiting for rehearsal to end.

Ben was dancing on the stage for the camera.

We got a few shots with Megan from church. She was dancing in the morning recital.

It was tough to get a good one where they both were looking at the camera.

Checking out the water.

And the two professional photos that we had taken that day…

Stunning.

Kindergarten Graduation Dinner

We officially finished up our first year of homeschooling at the end of May. Since having a kindergarten graduation ceremony wasn’t really an option, we decided to meet up with the grandparents and have a special dinner at Red Lobster per Rosemary’s request. As things worked out, Janice and Richard weren’t able to join us but we still had seven of us together to celebrate Rosemary finishing kindergarten.

Showing off her diploma, which is now taped proudly on her door.

So excited about her $5 bill from Grandpa and Grandma W.

Rosemary’s first full Bible. She’s carried her New Testament and Psalms/Proverbs since she was 2. She took her new Bible to church the next morning…in the box. She didn’t want it to get messed up.

Congratulations, Rosemary!

Longwood Visit

My mom and dad will be moving at the end of the month so the kids and I went down for a few days last week to help get started with getting ready to move. While there, the kids enjoyed a couple dips in the spa. Charlotte even got in on the action.

Ben’s gotten much more comfortable in the water. The older two even went in on their own while my dad watched them from the side.

Charlotte just wanted to hang out with Grandpa a bit.