Saturday, May 14th

We had a family birthday party for the girls. Both sets of grandparents and Nichole, Reilly, and Reagan all came over to celebrate their birth!

There wasn't much to their party, since we weren't even supposed to be here, but they loved it none the less!

Tuesday - May 10th and a few more days

This day was the day that my kidney infection hit full force and I was miserable! I took the girls to dance class - looking just as bad as I felt, but they had to go because the recital was coming up. Then I went to my parents house that evening and that is when we got the call that the buyers back out of our contract! So I was a little emotional to say the least! It wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't feel so bad on top of everything falling apart! So Matt and I talked everything over and he was so positive and comforting and we knew God was in control, we just needed to figure out what to do!! That Wednesday I went to church and Kim Hucks said she would let Tim Carpenter (our new associate pastor) know because they need somewhere to rent. And low and behold, the next morning, Tim called very interested in renting out house for 4-6 months (the length of time we were told it would take to get our title/deed straightened out). Praise God!!! We were 1 week away from closing on a new home and prayers were answered! So our packing continued once again (it is kind of hard to move when you never know whether you are coming or going). We were supposed to close on Thursday the 12th and be homeless for one week. So we were packing to leave on the 12th and then we had to stop because we weren't leaving now until the 18th!! So for the rest of that weekend we packed and tried to get everything straightened out - calling all the utilities several times stopping, transferring, canceling and restarting service. The above picture is how we ate dinner for 2 1/2 weeks! We sold a lot of stuff in our yard sale and I just thought it was funny seeing Matt at the little table!

Monday, May 9th - Birthday Party

Can you believe these 2 angels are going to be 6?! They are growing up to be such wonderful girls! I decided that since we would be homeless on their real birthday, we would do a party the week before in our "old" house! I needed it to be simple and fun, since they were so excited to have a special party for themselves. I had it on a Monday night and it was pajama party theme. All their friends came and it was our first big kid party. Every Mom dropped their kids off and it was just me and Matt and a house full of kids!!! It was a sad realization that they were getting bigger and Mommies no longer had to stick around! We also realized that a real sleepover is a VERY long way away!!! We were exhausted after a 2 hour party, I don't think I can handle all nighters yet!

The house was practically empty so they had lots of room to run around and get wild! Do you notice who is in the middle of it all?! Yup, wild woman Fifi loved it! They played hide and go seek and ran around trying to not let the balloons touch the ground.

Pizza was done on the floor - we have no table!!! Clean up was a piece of cake and it was fun!

Here is the group we had! Such wonderful kids - each one of them just makes me so happy to be their friends.

Musical Chairs pillow style - tons of fun

They each got their own birthday cake. I feel that sometimes they are grouped together so much that they need a little individualism. But when I asked them if they wanted us to sing to each one of them separately, they said no!!! They wanted to be sung to together. They enjoy being a twin! After cake, we opened presents (which was awesome because for the duration of the time in this house, they had lots of new things to keep them occupied.

Back up 2 days

Ok - I have a lot of catching up to do!! Let me back up at start off this crazy week and a half over!! It all starts on Mother's Day - May 8th. I had a special day. A special day of packing that is! The kids were all so excited to give me their cards they made and their gifts. They each got me a gift card somewhere so we can go on a date together. Carly got me a gift card to Panera (we both love to eat there). Chloe's was to Chic-fila (she loves cows, so that is where our date will be). Harper (the romantic) got me one to McDonalds :) Finley's was to Baskin Robins for some "cream" and Channings was to CVS - since we have been through the ringer with prescriptions, she thought our date would most likely end up here (and 2 days later I used it :) The rest of the day consisted of packing, packing, and more packing. I didn't mind, because it just a few days we were going to sell our house and our exciting adventure would begin (so I thought). And here is a picture that evening of our 1st POD loaded up and ready to go! The kids were so funny helping us load this. We had boxes everywhere and they were like little ants getting those boxes moved outside. We packed everything that was out in about 1 hour! We decided we were going to start contracting our children out - 5 kids and a POD!!

And Then the Bottom Fell Out

So after all this preparation for moving, the thick dark clouds rolled in and the bottom fell out. As the buyers closing attorney's were preparing everything for closing, they realized our deed was fraudulent (because of a previous owner of the house) and that the buyers would not be able to close on a house that did not have a clear title. At first they were ok with pushing the closing back a week, but they still wanted to move into the house. Then the whole issue got worse and worse and the buyers decided that they just wanted out all together. So now we are stuck with a house that is now considered "unsellable." LOVELY!! Here our new house is almost done being built and we cannot sell the house that we are currently in - empty! Matt and I were just baffled at the whole situation, but we know that God has a reason for this entire thing. Oh yeah, and during all this, I get a horrific kidney infection that put me down for a couple of days! It was not fun at all. This is a very quick clip of the house situation, but it is really exhausting explaining it all! Long story short, we did not sell our house, and our house is a big headache at the moment, so now we are going to rent the house and see what happens next! So lots of prayers please!

Packing Time

Then on May 6th, the first POD arrived!

This big empty box was fun to play with at first

Then it was time to start loading! Daddy worked very hard organizing all these boxes. It was a lot of work, but we were going to be homeless for a week before we closed on the new house and these PODS were great to be able to pack and we can just call when we wanted it delivered! Wonderful invention!

And then all of Mother's Day we packed some more. We were beat (well mostly Matt). We had to get it all packed, because the next morning, it was going to be picked up and we would be given an empty one!! Packing is exhausting, especially with 5 kids under way, but it was so nice to be able to do it at our leisure.

Yard Sale

In preparation for the big move, we had to have a yard sale. We needed to get rid of our kitchen table. It only had 4 chairs, and when we bought it, we did't realize our family would be this big!! So here the kids are dining for one last time around our small table - notice Harper sat on a tool!! We also got rid of our bedroom set, our tv's, all our toy boxes, and a ton more stuff!! I we made a good amount of money and the yard sale lasted 2 days. It was so much work, but we made out well!

Here is the front yard after several hours on Saturday, but we had so many people come Friday that this picture is the picked over stuff!! We sold a lot more after this still!

Our neighbor Kendyll brought her horse over to sell, so the kids just had to try it out! It was pretty fun. Chloe was taking Harper for a walk!