Novah's First Birthday Party

I'm back tracking a bit but there are still tons of pre-move events that I haven't had a chance to blog about yet. These posts are mainly for my own benefit and for the sake of keeping a record of our memories so I'm sorry to leap back and forth in time. One very important event that we hosted just prior to leaving Calgary was Novah's 1st birthday party.

I always like to throw a BIG party when our kids turn ONE! I think that the first year of a baby's life is full of so many ups and downs that it is only fitting to PAR-TAY and celebrate that you all survived it all! It was also a lovely opportunity to visit with many of our friends one last time before heading East. I am so thankful to all the lovely family and friends who gathered to celebrate Novah's special day with us. The party was a hit besides it being one of the hottest days of the summer (so we were all sweating out pants off) and Novah seemed thoroughly happy with all the friends and food!

(I apologize in advance for the 501 photos to follow!)

Food table.

Another shot of the food table and some of the party decor. 

Ivey and Novah- best little baby friends!

Just look at that adorable cloth diaper ruffle bottom! 

Little princess and her Daddy! She loves him to pieces and I think he's pretty fond of her too! 

Story time with Pam. 

All the kids were super attentive.


Novah's beautiful baby girl friends Amy, Ivey, her cousin Kendra, and her birthday month buddy Audrey!


Everyone gathering around to sing happy birthday to this sweet little girl!
She was so pleased when we started to sing that she clapped her hands for joy!


Mommy and daughter and one very pink birthday cake! Totally a pink party! (Navy photo bombing in the background)


Uh where did that cake go guys!?


Ok here we go. Just testing this out to see how it feels.


What is this thing for?


Ok this stuff is good.


The best part of the birthday party without doubt!


And here is the pretty pink cake that I slaved away to make for my beautiful little lady. I truly love making and decorating cakes and wish I had more time to practice and perfect my skills- maybe one day.
For now I will do my best with every birthday cake I get to make!


Opening some gifts.

 Exploring.

Sorry I just had to- cutest little cloth bottom.


Happy birthday to our sweet baby girl!

Thank you so much to all of the friends and family who came out to celebrate with us and for helping to make Novah's birthday so special!

Jordan

Fullers Move East Part Three: A Few Days In Kitchener

After we arrived in Kitchener on Saturday we loaded up into Dan's parents van and drove over to his sister Nat's house. She lives in Kitchener and we had arranged to stay with her for a few days while Dan completed the drive to Ontario. When we got to her house the kids were very excited about meeting their little cousins Rachael and Erica and also excited to be out of their car seats and free to run around and play. It had been a long day of travelling and being cooped up! It was great to visit with Nat and her hubby Brett (who we had only met once before), their cute little girls and Dan's parents, but I confess I was pretty beat! I was probably more exhausted than the kids at this point but you know no rest for the weary, especially when you're a weary mom!

After visiting and playing the kids were quite tuckered out but they were also in a new place with new surroundings and none of their things. I had a rough time getting them to bed so it was a difficult night for us all. They went to bed so late that we ended up sleeping in and missing church the next day. Having a day at, "home," was good so that we could start to recover from our travels. The kids definitely needed some down time.

Sunday (August 3) evening Dan's sister Alli and her family came over to Nat's place to visit with us too. We had a simple BBQ dinner and then enjoyed playing at the park. It was great to meet the rest of my nieces and for all the Ontario cousins to play together.

All the cuties ready for dinner! L to R: Rachael, Zoe, Jayden, Cohen, Marshal 

Jayden and Cohen playing at the park

My three munchkins riding the bulldozer.

My beautiful little girl on the slide at the park. 

While we were at the park I looked down and saw a four leaf clover.
I took this as a sign of making the right choice in moving back to Ontario.

All of the kids running down the hill with Uncle Brad. 

We had a lovely evening catching up on old times, building new friendships and simply enjoying each others company. At this point in our journey east I was feeling really blessed to be back in such a beautiful province and to be surround by family that I hadn't seen in so long.

On Monday (August 4) I decided to take the kids to London (my hometown), to meet up with my high school best friend Kathy, and to enjoy my favourite summer festival in London- Ribfest! It was so much fun to visit Victoria Park, a place where I created many memories in my childhood and to see the beautiful city of London again. I hadn't been in my hometown for over 6 years!

Had some delicious ribs from Kentucky Smokehouse!

Let me assure you this meal was AMAZING!

Two cuties waiting to dig in!

I finally let Marshal get his face painted for the first time!

That is one rocking Captain America.
He was so proud of his shield and kept walking around with his shield, I mean hand up!

Batman and Captain America. 

Founds some mini quads. 

Little boy Heaven. 

If they could have driven these away it would have been their dream come true. 

My munchkins and I. 

This pose demonstrates how he walked around the whole evening. 

There were some cool chalks drawing and Cohen found a monkey friend for George. 

Posing with his new friend. 

Fun on the super slide with Auntie Kathy.

Bouncy castle fun. 

We enjoyed a great early evening in London and then it was time to pack it in and head home. It started to rain just as we were getting ready to leave which made heading out a lot easier with the kids. We had a lovely time at the Ribfest and it was great to be able to visit with Kathy. We hot back to Kitchener around 9pm and luckily I didn't have to fight the boys to bed since they were pretty tired. Novah was another story but alas they all fell asleep eventually.

Dan actually arrived at Nat's house later that evening somewhere between 10-11pm after a 37 hour drive that he completed in wait for it... 2 and a half days! That man is crazy I tell you! I was super glad that he arrived safe and sound and that we could look forward to completing the next part of our journey.

Jordan

Fullers Move East Part Two: The Flight

As previously mentioned the week leading up to our departure from Calgary was a little on the insane side. The week was long and arduous for both us and the children. Unfortunately because we were so busy getting things ready for the move the children were pretty neglected that week so they were a little more difficult than normal. Now I don't mean they were actually neglected, but neglected in that they were passed off to friends to be watched (I'm sure our friends didn't neglect them but you get what I'm saying here), sat in front of the TV watching movies all day long, they were not really played with or fed very balanced meals etc. Novah was also having a particularly rough week and wasn't feeling very well, she had an upset tummy and seemed to be teething. All of these factors summed up to me being a little terrified of flying solo with three kids on Saturday (August 2.)

Now I must explain that we were generously gifted with three standby passes from a West Jet employee. Because we were using stand by passes there was no guarantee that we would actually get on the flight we were hoping for! We had scoped out a flight from Calgary to Kitchener all week and it seemed to have a pretty decent number of available seats so we decided (earlier during the week) to list our selves for standby in hope that things wouldn't change too much. When we checked in 24 hours before the flight we were the first three listed and there were still 11 seats available so I felt like we would be fine.

In the morning when I checked our status there were an additional 3 people listed on standby and we had been bumped back a few spots because employees obliviously get seating preference. We had a hectic morning with all the last minute preparations for our flight and saying our last good byes to my family, Dan (since we wouldn't be seeing him for a few days) and some friends.

Our last family photo in Calgary! We weren't all exactly happy at this point :)

Our friend Mary Anne had volunteered to drive the kids an I up to the airport. I was super thankful for this because how else was I going to get there with three crazy kids, a bunch of suitcases, a giant stroller and three car seats. Yes a ride was a must! She showed up and we loaded the crew and I started preparing myself for the next leg of the race!

Mary Anne was generous enough to come in the airport with me and was able get a gate pass to help get my crew and I through the airport to our departure gate. Fortunately everywhere I went people seemed to take pity on the crazy woman with three very young children and a gazillion possessions (aka me.) Since we were flying standby we didn't check any of our bags which meant we have a LOT of stuff!

When we got to our gate I still didn't know if we were even going to be on the flight. Despite this key part of the journey that was still up in the air I cannot deny the peace that I felt. Even though I was alone about to take the kids on their first plane ride, travelling so far and going into this new unknown I just felt that everything was going to work out.

And it did.

About a minute before the flight was about to board one of the staff came and told me that we had made it on the flight. Let me tell you it was a miracle because every single seat on that plane was full. All 11 seats that had been empty the night before were full by boarding time. We literally found out while they were boarding other families that we had gotten seats.

We made it on the plane (thanks to a kind older gentlemen who helped me carry everything onto the plane) and I honestly felt that the worst part was over.

The boys were pretty elated about being on a plane. We had gotten them special earphones so that they could play with the ipod/tablet and watch tv.

So excited to be able to use the devices!!

Pretty little girl ready to fly!

The kids were actually pretty great during the take off.  While we were taking off I could tell that Cohen was a little scared so once we were up on the air so I had him and Marshal switch seats, putting Marshal by the window to look out with Cohen beside me (I was on the aisle.) Not long after this Cohen was tired so I gave him the baby carrier to use as a pillow and he passed out pretty quickly. He stayed asleep almost the whole time and woke up only about half hour before landing. A huge blessing.

Here's the sweet little angel all snuggled up. 

Novah fell asleep not long after Cohen and also miraculously stayed asleep on me for almost the entire flight!I definitely think this was another blessing given how fussy she had been all week and the fact that she never sleeps on me! She even stayed asleep when I had to switch seats and put Marshal on the aisle because he suddenly became terrified that he was going to fall out of the window!

Marshal was incredibly well behaved for the whole flight too. He was pretty stoked about his own personal tv and the fact that he could play with the ipod and tablet! We did have a bathroom incident when he proclaimed (while they were serving drinks and blocking out sets of course) that he had to go poop. I wasn't sure what I was going to do since Cohen was passed out and Novah was passed out on me, and then that lady in the green shirt (you can see in the picture of Marshal above) offered to take him to the bathroom. I was honestly so grateful. I mean its a little weird letting a stranger take your kid to go poop but I wasn't in a position to say no so I let her! And was eternally grateful I might add!

All in all the flight was actually a huge success and probably the least stressful part of my travels up to this point. I am so grateful for the blessings that I had in making this part of my journey smooth because I know it could have been very far from this! With the children sleeping and Marshal preoccupied with his technology the flight was actually somewhat peaceful and dare I say even enjoyable! I'm not the biggest fan of flying (slightly claustrophobic) but I was sure glad that our trip was only 4 hours and not 40 that Dan had to spend in the van!

Once we arrived in Kitchener we were greeted by Dan's parents and ready to start the next part of our journey east!

Jordan

Fullers Move East Part 1: The Packathon

I've been dying for a chance to sit down and document our move and I'm finally getting a chance to get it started! Let me tell you time has been hard to come by lately. While we have been having some fun over the past month we have also been working hard to get settled into our new home. There has been much to do with unpacking, organizing, trying to enjoy the last few days of summer, visiting family, getting ready for work, starting up Dan's business again and all manner of other things. Alas before I start rambling again here is part one of our move east.

As you all know moving really begins long before you actually, "move." As we have passed through the entire process now I am able to say without a doubt that the absolute worst part of moving is the preparation that is involved with it. Tack on the fact that we were moving across the country and you've entered a whole new ball game.

The days leading up to our move east were beyond stressful. Even though I started sorting, decluttering, packing and organizing months before the big day there was no way I could be prepared for the amount of work that we had cut out for ourselves.

Because we are cheap (or poor- take your pick) we chose to move our things by sending them with a trucking company. We looked into many moving options but this was by far the cheapest method of transportation (like $3000 cheaper than using u haul or those fancy pods they have.)

Because we sent our stuff with a trucking company we had to have all of our things packed in boxes and then loaded onto skids (pallets) which we had to deliver to the shipping yard ourselves. These skids were then put onto trucks and sent across the country.

Packing boxes itself is a big job when you're moving, but add playing the ultimate game of Jenga while you try to build skids with as much stuff possible sends you into a whole new dimension. Dan had to rent a big flat bed which we then put empty skids onto and spent 2 days building! Let me tell you we did not think it would take that long! Thank goodness for the help of the missionaries or we would have been in even more trouble! It's also important to note that we had to pack all of the large items we were moving onto the skids- this included all of our boxes and furniture items, back yard play equipment and all kinds of other goodies. Oh yes and the best part of all was that the two days that we had to load our skids happened to be the two hottest days in Calgary all summer. I kid you not we were sweating buckets out there while we moved and packed and stacked and wrapped! We ended up packing 9 skids over two days with two delivery trips to the trucking depot. Here are some pictures of our handy work!

Believe it or not these skids took hours to build!

A better view of the truck with some of the skids.
Kind of sad I didn't get a couple more shots of the whole truck!
Dan is a master packer!

After we finally succeeded in packing everything (well everything we didn't decide to leave behind because we were just sick of packing!) we still had the lovely job of finishing up the house. There were several things which we opted to send in our van which Dan was driving across the country, items such as valuables and breakables we didn't want to rick losing to the skids. By the time we got to this it was late Thursday night and I was planning to fly out with the kids Saturday morning (more on this to follow.) We spent all day Friday trying to sort though the last of the stuff in the house and let me tell you there was still a heck of a lot of stuff! Honestly I recommend a monthly purge of times you no longer use to avoid what we went through with our move! I ended up sending a huge load of stuff to the Goodwill and left a bunch of things behind that I just didn't care to deal moving.

The one good things about all of this is that I have become much better at letting things go. I am a bit of a lover of things, and often have a difficult time getting rid of objects that I really like. But through this whole moving process I came to realize more and more that things are just things and they came be replaced!

Moving week was truly a test of many things for me. I definitely had some bad moments in dealing with the stress of it all, but in all honesty I have never been so exhausted and pushed to my limit in so many ways for so long! It was a hard week and I was so relieved when everything was packed up and I knew it was on its way. Even though only a portion of the difficult journey was complete after the packing was done it was one very stressful part of the journey that I was relived to be free from.

Jordan