We are seriously on a roll with this packing business.

There was a time when packing (and moving) the whole house seemed like a daunting task before me. But then, I realized, with some organization and planning, I could make this process be as pain-free and stress-free as possible for my family.

At least that was my hope anyway. And so far? So good!

That spur of the moment morning of packing that was actually Dave’s idea, got the momentum going for us on this, and we haven’t stopped since!

After that morning of packing – I made a detailed list of what was left to pack, breaking it down room by room, box by box.

And, many nights since that day, once the girls are in bed, we go to that list, choose a few packing tasks to complete for that night and then we work together to get the jobs done before bedtime.

I think I also underestimated how much Dave was going to help with the packing. I guess I envisioned myself packing it all because I generally take care of all housekeeping matters and I just assumed that packing would be on my to-do list for many weeks to come! But – this has turned into a task that we are accomplishing together! Not that I ever thought Dave wouldn’t pack, but this packing business has made me realize even more what a fabulous team Dave and I really are! And packing an entire house by MYSELF would be daunting.

Night two of our packing madness, both girls were in bed by 8:15 and immediately after we told them goodnight, Dave started pulling down every single picture/décor from the walls in the living room, kitchen, hallways, master bedroom and bathroom. Then I gathered everything into two separate piles and started packing picture frames and décor for the living room areas and master bedroom. While I packed, Dave worked on filling in the holes and touching up the areas with paint.

Before we did this, I took one last picture of our house as we’ve known it for the past 6 years before all the walls were going to be bare.

On that night, we had finished up dinner and it was a Mt Everest kind of laundry week so I had gotten all the many piles of clean laundry I had washed that day and threw them on the living room floor so Dave and I could fold it.

The girls were doing what they normally do on any night we are home and it’s after dinner time. Little Bug is dressed up in one of her dress-up outfits, jumping all over her Daddy. Sweet Pea is holding the apple she walks around the house eating from the time she gets up from the dinner table to bath time. And Dave is attempting to get to his mug of coffee before Sweet Pea does. I wanted to remember this last night of house looking like our house.

The aftermath of our work that night after the girls went to bed. As Dave said, “It’s amazing how all the pictures and wall décor in a house make it look like a home!”. He is right. Everything is so bare!

I was very curious about what Little Bug would think in the morning because we did not tell her that we were going to do this before she went to bed. She woke up and came out to the living room as usual and then she asked, “Are we moving today?!?!”. I told her “no” and then she was upset because “all my toys are packed!!”. I told her not one toy was packed but we would need to pack them eventually. She didn’t want to do that so I asked if she wanted to take her toys or leave them here and then she wanted them packed. Funny girl.

Boxes are starting to pile up in the house now full of our stuff!!! (And since I wrote this post nearly a week ago, there are even more boxes pilling up everywhere. Our master tub is FULL!)

Exciting times!!!

- Elaine