So much to blog.......so little time!

WARNING: VERY LONG POST AHEAD!

It's hard to believe it was 5 weeks ago today that the movers finished packing us up and we were out of our house. It's also hard to believe that it was 9 years ago that we moved to the Chicago area on the 3-5 year plan. So much has happened to our family in the last 9 years and we have really enjoyed living there and we will forever remember our time there and the many wonderful friends we made. We were all a little sad (okay some were extremely unhappy) to leave our good friends and our home, but we (okay not all of us) were excited to start a new adventure in KCMO (translastion - Kansas City, MO).

Friday night (Sept. 25th) began our two week stay in 4 different hotels. Friday and Saturday nights we stayed at a hotel near our house because we had to finish doing some cleaning at the house and we wanted to attend our ward on Sunday for the last time. It was the primary program, which of course Emilie and Ada would not participate in, but they did invite their friend Grace to come and watch. Grace lived around the corner from us and knew a lot of the kids in our ward. Grace came over to our house every morning before school because her mom had to go to work before the bus came. She is a great friend to Emilie and Ada and we miss her much!

Ada, Grace and Emilie

On Sunday after church my good friend Staci had us over for dinner (saving us from McDonalds! THANK YOU!) and then had a going away party for us. It was fun to visit with everyone and have a chance to say goodbye.

Here are just a few pictures

Some of the greatest kids in the world!
Two of my favorite girls!
Our good friends and neighbors - oh how we miss you! One of mine and Sarah's favorite people
Thanks Staci for everything - we miss you!
Sunday night we went to our 2nd hotel which was closer to downtown Chicago because on Monday we were taking the girls downtown for one last time. The main plan was to go to the Sears Tower (I know it's now the Willis Tower, but seriously) since the girls had never been to the top. Of course Monday ended up being an incredibly windy day - I know, when is it not windy in the windy city, but it was UBER windy! We parked and walked the block to the tower and it was so windy we could hardly walk! When we got to the doors this is what greeted us:
PLAN B: Hancock Observitory
It was open, so we drove over there. It was a good second option, but someday we'll get those girls to the top of the Sears Tower! We all had a great time and the girls had fun with the self guided tour.

We then had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory - YUM! After that sadly we were all tired and ready to start our drive to St. Louis. So we drove back to the hotel and picked up my car. Sarah, Ada and Jeff drove in his car. Emilie and I drove in my car. Everything was going smoothly until Sarah woke up around the Bloomington/Normal area. (about 2 hours from downtown).

Monday morning when Sarah woke up her left eye was a bit red and swollen. The only thing we could figure out is that she had gotten a misquito bite on her eye the night before at the party.

I didn't think much of it. We went downtown and she fell asleep in the car on the way back to the hotel to pick up my car. When she woke up 2 hours later she couldn't open her eye it was so swollen! So we stopped in Bloomington at the Walgreen's quick care. The doctor there said it looked like Celluitus and we should take her to the prompt care at the hospital incase it was.

So we drove over there and saw the doctor there who said it was just an allergic reation. Most likely to the mosquito bite. So we got her a prescription and all of us some dinner and were back on our way to St. Louis. With our 2 hour detour we didn't get to St. Louis until around 10:30 that night. We were all pretty tired from the day and were ready to go to bed in hotel #3. But not before stopping by to see Jeff's sister and family!

Here is Sarah's eye - I called her Rocky all day because it looked like she got in a fight! You should see the mosquito! HA HA HA

This is pretty much the last picture I took since arriving except for some of our kitchen. We are in the process of new granite counter tops and new back splash which they are supposed to finish tomorrow! It looks awesome! I'll post the before and afters when it's all done.

Tuesday we drove the rest of the way to to KC and to hotel #4 and our home for the next 9 days. We made it just in time to go to the school and meet the girls new teachers. Both seemed very nice and have turned out to be perfect fits for both girls. Emilie's teacher is Mrs. Littrell and Ada's teacher is Mrs. Sheriff. They started school the next day and it was much as I expected. Neither wanted to go and there were lots of tears. But they went and they survived. Ada was fine after a couple of days and is doing great. Emilie took a little longer to adjust, but she too is doing great and they both like their new school and teachers!

We closed on Thursday Oct. 1st and then took possesion of the house on Monday the 5th. (It was wierd to us too, but that is how they do it a closing date and a posession date.) Over the next few days we had a radon mitigation system installed, a washer and dryer delivered, carpets cleaned, painted the dining room and I tried to get the house cleaned and ready for our stuff to be delivered. I say tried because I didn't get everything done I had hoped! Our stuff was supposed to be delivered on Thursday the 8th, but there was a 100% chance of rain so we postponed the delivery until Friday.

Gratefully they let us stay in the hotel all 9 days! Everyone in the hotel knew who we were by the time we left. The funniest story was one night we had popped some popcorn and Ada wanted some more, so she put a bag in the microwave and turned it on. All of sudden the smoke alarm went off and we looked over and there was a huge cloud of smoke coming out of the microwave. The bag had gotten stuck and stopped turning and was burning up! It took 4 days for the smell to finally get out of the room! We definitely left our mark at that hotel!

The moving in part was a bit of a fiasco (later post). They guys who unpacked the truck were in a big hurry and put stuff pretty much where ever they wanted. But everything made it and we, for the most part, are unpacked and pretty much settled. We have met a lot of neighbors and the girls are making friends. We love the area - it has rolling hills! From the top of our street we can see all the way to downtown KC (about 20 miles from us)! LOVE THAT! We love the house, the neighborhood and our ward too. I've had fun doing some exploring and getting to know the area. It's been a busy and crazy 5 weeks, but we are doing well and happy to be here!

And just as in Chicago, we love visitors!!!!