Ramblings about the last couple of weeks

So much has happened in the last few weeks, I don't know where to start.

The Wednesday before Easter my mom came back from a 3 week trip to New Mexico to see Court, Christina and James. Don't be fooled, the trip was mostly about James.

While mom was gone, we decided to go to OH for Easter. So, Thursday while Ethan was in school mom and I picked up to house and got everyone ready for a weekend at Grandma's. Before we could leave town I had an OB appointment. It was for measuring the baby to make sure every thing is growing according to schedule. It was really neat to take the family and let Ethan and Emma see the baby moving around in there. Emma had gone with me once before, but this was Ethan and grandma's first time. I love seeing the movement on the monitor and feeling it at the same time. How anyone can think that what is in there is no more than a ball of tissue that can be removed like a tumor is beyond me. Anyway, the baby was balled up and the ultrasound tech had a hard time getting all the measurements she wanted. So, I get to go back and have it done again in 2 weeks. Finally we were in the car and headed east at about 9:00 at night. We got to mom's house some where between 2-3:00 in the morning.
We had a great weekend at Grandma's house. We had not been back home since January. It was fun to see how much the twins had grown and to let Ethan and Emma play with Hayden and Hannah.
I don't know when I mentioned it, but at some time during the weekend I told mom that it was too bad that she was just getting back. If she had just been hanging out at home, I would ask her to come home with us and help me get the house ready to be put on the market. Bruce has been putting in some long hours at work these past few weeks and he just hasn't have the time to help me clean, arrange and toss out. Mom said that if she could get a few things done at her house before we leave, she would be glad to come back and help.
On Sunday we had Easter lunch at Grandma's house and then all went to Granny's for the egg hunt. It was too cold and wet to have it outside, so we hid 60 plastic eggs in the house. I think this was the first year that every egg was found.
After the egg hunt, we went back to Grandma's house and packed the cars. Mom was frantically looking over her finances and email before we left when Bruce suggested we unplug her computer and take it with us. She agreed and we were off.
Monday morning mom and I sat down and compiled a list of all the things that we would like to accomplish for the week.

1. Decorate the entry way. (done, see picture)
   
2. Clean, arrange and decorate the master bedroom and bathroom. (done, see picture)
   
3. Purchase plywood for the linen closet in the master bathroom. It was to cover an attic access we had cut to fix a leak in the roof. (done)
   
4. Purchase glue to glue down the floor in the 1/2 bath. It was rolling up due to water
5. Purchase a PVC cap for one of the pipes in the basement. (done)
   
6. Clean and arrange the basement. (done)
   
7. General cleaning of the kitchen, living room, dining room and bathrooms.
8. Hang curtains in Emma's room. (done)
9. Purchase wood filler and a new closer for the front door. (1/2 done)
   
10. Clean a candle burn mark off of the underside of one of the kitchen cupboards. (done)
    
11. Get someone to come out and fix the leak in the roof over the master bedroom. (done)
    
12. Wash the windows.
13. Keep up with the laundry and not let it pile up in the laundry room (clean or dirty clothes). (done)

Needless to say there was plenty to keep us busy the entire week. It seemed we had no time for anything else. But God thought we could handle a sick child in with the mix. On Tuesday Emma threw up in the back of mom's SUV and ran a temp for 3 days.

Believe it or not, we finished most of the tasks on our list. I still need to wash the windows, clean the common areas of the house, and glue the floor in the 1/2 bath. The bonus will be if I can get outside too. I would like to pick up the stuff in the yard and put weed paper in the flower beds and cover it with mulch or stone. I think it would make a great improvement to the looks of the outside of the house. We will have to wait and see if I have time/energy to get that finished.

I am very thankful to my mom for coming out and spending the week with us. We worked hard every day. Every night we fell into bed and never before midnight. I know that there is still work to do and keeping the house clean and neat is going to be the hardest part. I can't wait until we are finished with this sale and move. My prayer is that once the house goes on the market, we will find the home that we want and our house will sell quickly. I think of it a lot like taking off a band aid. Please, let's just get it over and done with.