so, so much...

So much going on these days. So much that I have moments of feeling very overwhelmed.

Here's what's happening lately...

We officially moved most of our stuff out of our Crawford street house yesterday morning. We took Hudson to school; picked up the Uhaul truck; bought some krispy kreme doughnuts; and Brian and some guys got to work, while I continued to organize and pack up the last few things. Even though our Martha Street house is not ready, we decided to move our furniture in and store it in the big living room for now, while we work on the kitchen. While the moving was still going on, I picked up Hudson from school, ate a quick lunch at Applebee's with Brian and his faithful friends, and then Hudson and I headed to Meridian, Mississippi, where we we met Grandma and Uncle Karl and my boys at Chick fil-a. What a sweet reunion it was!! We hadn't seen them in forever. Jake has turned into a big boy, saying so many new words!! And Henry and Nate were just as cute and crazy as ever. I had missed them so much!! We stayed for awhile to eat and play, and then said goodbye to Grandma and Uncle Karl and headed back to Montgomery, while they made the long trip back to Richardson.

We got in pretty late, and Brian had had a super busy day of moving and other commitments. We originally were going to stay in the Clayton Street house (the one behind our "new" house that the couple is letting us stay in) that night, but it seemed like too much trouble to move all of our stuff late that night (like setting up beds and pac'n'play), and the boys were already asleep, so we made pallets on the floor at our Crawford house for one last night.

And today has been full of organizing and carting the last of our little stuff over to the Martha Street house (and figuring out what stuff we will need at the Clayton Street house), as well as keeping the boys entertained and out of trouble. After a long day, we're still not done, and Brian still has his storage closet and shed to finish cleaning out, but we won't close on this house until Thursday, so he has some time. And the boys have been enjoying our backyard for one final day. I am amazed at how much stuff we have...it's just never ending, and it just makes me want to throw it all out! I can't tell you how many trips I've taken to Goodwill in the past couple of weeks, and I still have another full trash bag ready to go. And still, we have too much stuff. Ugh!

Tomorrow morning we leave bright and early for Antlers, Oklahoma. My sweet Grandpa (who has recently been very sick) passed away yesterday afternoon. I'm just full of emotions right now. I'm so thankful my parents were able to take my boys to visit them last weekend when they were in Texas. I felt like a part of me was represented that day even though I couldn't be there. His funeral is Monday morning, and then we'll come back to Montgomery on Tuesday night to get the house finished up for the closing on Thursday. While we're gone, the driveway is going to be repaired. And when we get back, we'll start living in the Clayton Street house while we work on the Martha Street house. I'm really hoping to get in our new home as quickly as we can, even if it means living in chaos. I already feel like I've been living like that lately, so how much worse can it get?? :)

And now I'm so glad to have my boys back. Back to reality. Having only Hudson all this time was so easy, but our family just wasn't complete. He was definitely spoiled while they were away (but I think they were as well!), with staying up late, lots of dates with Mommy and Daddy, a trip to Chuck E. Cheese, lots of sports watching (which he was very thankful not to have to watch cartoons instead!), and just some good ol' peace and quiet. I think he really enjoyed himself, but when it came time to pick up his brothers, he was definitely ready to see them whether he admitted it or not. He gave them all great big hugs!

While the boys were away, last weekend we had a good time with Hudson, even though it felt strange to not have the whole family together for all the festivities. Last Saturday for lunch, there was a city-wide chili cook-off downtown at the Biscuits baseball stadium. Some sweet friends gave us some tickets to attend, and we enjoyed trying all the local businesses' best homemade chili. They showed football games up on the big screen while people enjoyed the chili and beautiful weather. There were also lots of yummy halloween candy at a lot of the booths, and Hudson stuffed his pockets full!

Later that afternoon (in between all the great football games that day!), while Brian was preparing for his sermon, Hudson and I went to Eastwood's fall festival. Hudson did a few of the games, but then he spent the remainder of our time there playing football with his friends. It was so strange to actually have time to have real conversations while I was there; I'm usually pretty distracted with keeping up with all my boys.

Sunday morning we went with Brian to Union Springs, where he was preaching that morning. Lately I haven't been going with him on his monthly preaching there because there's no nursery, and I just haven't had the energy to try it by myself with all 4 boys. That morning was obviously different, since it was just Hudson. I could actually pay attention during the sermon. It was great!! Brian preached on what Reformation Sunday is all about (going back to the history of Martin Luther) and then on the 5 sola's looking at Ephesians 2:8-9. After church we ate downtown at this cute pizza place in downtown Union Springs. They had Halloween music playing for the occasion. Spooky! But the pizza was delicious! We had church that night at 2Cities and then a costume party at Jordan Rae's afterward, where we enjoyed some taco soup, yummy desserts, and handed out candy to the tricker treaters. We went out to trick-or-treat with Hudson and some friends during the party around the neighborhood, but we weren't very successful.

It was a fun weekend, but our other boys were definitely missed. It just hadn't been the same without them. Thankfully, Henry was good about calling me on a regular basis while they were away, and we had many skype dates. They had tons of fun with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Karl...going to the zoo, parks, the mall, and the library...going to a fall festival and a trunk or treat on Halloween...Chuck E. Cheese a couple of times...playing in the backyard...reading books in the big tree...Jake learning how to climb up the fort all by himself...watching movies...reading books...working puzzles...they had so much fun!! Now it's Hudson's turn - he keeps asking me when is it his turn to go to Texas!

Here are some pics of our weekend's events...