Good Friends and Getting Settled
April showers bring…lots of stuff. We returned from the Cooper River Bridge Run (and honestly, I think I may have exercised ONCE since…bad Becca!) and enjoyed a surprise going-away party from Joe and Leslie. They are such amazing friends and we are so sad to move away from them. We definitely miss them the most, but know we will be in Raleigh often. We enjoyed a lot of other fun activities like dinner with friends, a Daniel Tosh comedy show (he is so wrong it’s right), and a wedding in Wrightsville. Yes, the weekend before our move, we already had plans to go to a wedding at the beach, so it was quite hectic the week before getting things ready. I think the adult weekend was actually perfect timing because we needed some down time amidst all of the hustle and bustle of prepping for the move. Trent and I thoroughly enjoyed our time together and it was good for us to have time as a couple. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jones for watching the girls while we were there!
Moving week was upon us and we actually got everything done a day ahead of schedule. The moving team (and Trent/Mom) were amazing and helped load things onto our U-Haul for the apartment, which they didn’t have to do. The majority of our belongings are all in storage and we will see all of that stuff again once we move into a house. We picked the girls up from school on a Thursday, and that was the part that I dreaded…the goodbyes. It was VERY emotional saying goodbye to a school that had known both Brayden and Hanleigh since they were each 12 weeks old. We knew all of the teachers and I went room by room giving hugs and words of appreciation. There weren’t too many dry eyes around. Brayden was so sweet, as she could tell I was upset. She gave me a hug and said, “don’t cry, Mommy.” It was a bittersweet day. Thank you to our “family” at the Cary Goddard School. You have helped raise two loving, beautiful, intelligent, and funny girls!
The closing on our house went off without a hitch (we didn’t even have to be there) and now we are actively looking for somewhere to call home. It’s a fine line to balance finding the perfect home without being too picky…especially not knowing what is going to be listed and when. Our goal is to have an address before Brayden starts kindergarten. Kendall told us a long time ago not to worry because the sellers of our house are getting it ready for us. I like that train of thought! The St. Joseph (who apparently, per Brayden, is friends with Jesus) statue is taped onto my dashboard and according to Brayden, he is “driving us to our home and I just steer where he tells me to go.” We enjoyed spending Cooper’s birthday with him (I can’t believe he is already one!), Brayden made a terrarium at Lowe’s, and we had dinner with the Dunlaps and Eagles.
Both of the girls have adjusted well to the new Goddard School here. There were a few tears from Hanleigh on the first drop-off day, but those soon subsided when she met her class fish, Dory. Hanleigh is learning a lot of sign language and loves her teachers. After being at school for only three days, Brayden notified us that she already has a best friend. Then, the next day, she let us know that she wanted to take everyone in Charlotte that she knows and move them all back to Cary. That was really the only comment she made like that. It’s been smooth sailing since then. Our apartment is really nice, but it is much smaller than our house, so the tight quarters take some getting used to. I think this will definitely motivate us to look for a house that much faster! The girls share a bedroom and at night we hear them talking back and forth to one another and it melts our hearts.
This month has been chock full of Brayden-isms and I doubt I even got all of them!
- On the way to school one morning, she went into a Star Wars-themed conversation: “Yoda is really old, right? And he’s really slow? But, not when he is fighting Darth Maul and Darth Vader, right? And he lives in a swamp?” I told her I was proud of her Star Wars knowledge and may the force be with her. Then, that night, we took a walk around the neighborhood where I said, “Luke, I am your father. Who does that sound like? It’s Darth Vader.” Brayden said, “Wait. Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s Dad? WHAT?” to which I replied, “Yeah, but you don’t find that out until episode 6.” Trent was not happy at me for saying that and “ruining” it for her.
- In the car, she asked “How high is heaven? Can you see it?” and “Is God a thing or a person?” I just love these thought-provoking questions.
- As we were packing up the house to move, she said, “Mom, I think Peapod is going to go to doggie heaven before we move” and then she starts laughing! So sad. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.
- There is a new building near her school that is under construction. When she sees how slow the progress is going, she says, “Pick up the paste, guys.”
- Brayden said, “I don’t like Dora anymore.” I said, “Why not?” to which she replied, “Because she’s fat.” I said, “That’s not a nice thing to say,” to which she said, “Well, she has a fat head.”
- She and I were taking a shower together. She had a squeegee in one hand, a mouth filled with water and then spit the water out saying, “I am a statue and on the vampire cleaning crew and I spit white blood.” Oh my!
Hanleigh’s vocabulary continues to grow exponentially. She is basically repeats everything that you say, even telling the dogs to hush and stop! Her independence is quite evident and if she wants to do something, she says, “My stop” which means, you stop or I’ll do it myself. Her new thing is to make a diamond shape with her hands and peer through it saying, “I see you.” She also says her prayers (or thankfuls) at dinner where she names each of us and then says “Amen.” It is adorable. Watch the video to see what I mean!