One down...

So, the pictures have nothing at all to do with this post.  Ashley would kill me if I posted moving pics of her.

So, this was the big weekend.  The weekend that Ashley moved out.  If you were able to tell me how you feel about this, I think you'd be pretty angry that I let her go.  You love your oldest sister so much that sometimes you'd rather hang with her than me.  And that's a good thing, usually.  I really don't know how I'll ever get anything done around here ever again.  Your dad has been busy helping her renovate her new room at Grammy's.  They've been painting, ripping up carpet and installing new floors for two weeks now.  Her room has been packed up for days.  But it was only when you watched her load things into her car that you began to take an interest.  You eyed her suspiciously as she hauled her entire wardrobe to her backseat.  It still amazes me that her entire life can basically fit into one carload.  Ahhh, the simplicity of youth.  

This was just a day we spent at Cambier Park this week.

 

It's kind of like a semi-family portrait.

What surprises me most about this huge step is the way I feel about it.  If you would've told me when Ashley was little that someday she would move out and that I would be ready for it, too, I would've told you that you were crazy.  I could not imagine a day that I'd be ready to see her move on.  And while there will be lots of thing I am going to miss about having her around, I am so excited to see her start her life.  I'm glad that she feels ready to be independent, even if I know that she isn't as ready as she thinks.  I know she will learn a lot and experience many things in these next few years that she wouldn't if she lived at home.  Part of this "being okay" probably comes from the fact that she'll be five minutes up the road, at my parents' house, and in my old room, no less.  It's like having a safety net while she learns how to fly.  I know she'll come home frequently.  She's in a panic that you'll forget all about her.  She would never let that happen.  For all of the reluctance she felt about a new baby in the family while I was pregnant, she is the most taken with you- for sure.  Possibly even a little obsessed.

It was so hot out.

And we had a grumpy rock star with us.

Ashley's departure also frees up a much-needed bedroom around here.  A room that will soon be Sydney's and yours.  I'm very ready to give Kylee her own room for the first time since Sydney was born.  I knew the weekend would be a flurry of moving dressers and swapping beds, but I never could've predicted the chaos that ensued.  A broken pipe caused a mini flood in Ashley's old room just as she was packing her final boxes.  To make a long story short, there is currently a giant hole in the concrete slab of your new room, ripped up carpet, an industrial fan drying things out, and the smell of damp carpet padding permeating the air.  In case you were wondering, it's not a pleasant smell.  It's times like this I am so thankful that we don't have a dog.  So my much-anticipated decorating of a new room for you and Sydney will have to wait a bit.  

So we hit up Starbucks on 5th for some Izzy's.  (Seriously, what is this face?)

That seemed to soften up the grumpiness a bit.

Got teeth?

Since things haven't gone as planned, and it has also rained for two days, we've spent the weekend baking, playing, picture-taking and sleeping in.  The upheaval around here is evident everywhere you look.  Closets emptied by the leak detection company still need organizing.  Displaced children's furniture has found a temporary home in the playroom.  Odds and ends that Ashley neglected to pack are sitting on my dining room table.  And even though it looks like a disaster, I feel surprisingly content and relaxed.  Lazy even.  Change is in the air.  New rooms.  New school year.  Soon, a new season.  And a little further off, a birthday party and a new year for you.  I'm starting to get excited about it all.

Crawling, ruffly baby behinds are precious things.