Saturday, September 8, 2007

Packing

The process of packing myself and my almost 15 month old Baby Girl up to move to China has officially begun! Let the fun begin!!! I've sold, given away, thrown away, and packed away so much stuff in my lifetime that I think I could almost do this part in my sleep!

I will admit that it gets a lot harder when you add kids to the mix, though. I know I could live without my Pooh Bear Sing-Along book, but when it is one of your kid's most favorite treasures you want to desperately find the room for it.

Luckily at this age they still have short memories and will quickly find new treasures to love. My Girl is so funny, her very most favorite most loved treasures in all the world right now are the rocks in Grampaw and Mimi's courtyard. She carries them around, kisses them, holds them, moves them from place to place. Part of me wishes so much I could take the whole courtyard with us to China with as much as she loves to spend time out there. I have memories of myself as a little kid all dressed up in ballet clothes with mamma's shoes and jewelry twirling in that courtyard and I do get sentimental that our Little Darling may not have memories of "home" - the one place that is always there for you. I know she'll have different - and still good - memories. But different is sometimes difficult for us with Rees blood in our veins.

So I'll get back to my packing - making split second decisions on whether the item in hand gets to go with us and enjoy the smiles of our Little Darling for another season, gets to spend a life cooped up in a dark storage unit, or gets a second chance at life through the hope second-hand shops offer to previously loved toys and clothes.

Do I feel cold blooded? yes, at times. But that's the life we've chosen! And don't worry, several of those courtyard rocks will end up making their way to China!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Summer '07 In Review

Summer is (almost) officially over for us. Guess I am holding on tightly to the idea that it's not quite over... even though I get on a plane in one week to fly to China and begin teaching the day after I arrive!

So here's my "Ode to Summer" slideshow.... who can get enough Annabelle pictures anyway, right??






PS - I have TONS more pics but just got tired of waiting for them to upload. So maybe I'll do an "Ode 2" and "Ode 3" in the future. Then again, I'm a pretty lazy mom, too!