Big Kid Room...

Since Baby J has still not made his arrival and I already shared his nursery, I figured it was high time to share BD's room… better known as the "Big Kid Room"
Why do we refer to it this way?  We have every intention of letting BD and J share a room one day!
But for now… it is all hers…

____________

In true BD fashion when we moved, BD decided she no longer was sleeping in her crib... She wanted to sleep in her big girl bed. There was no delaying it, it was time to set up the big kid room!

I had all these ideas and even started a Pinterest board. But to be honest, I just could not pull it together. Nothing was working the way I wanted it to and I was finding what I had in mind. Then we were at Bed Bath and Beyond looking at the clearance bedding section... And there were two twin size bed in a bags complete with pillows and everything that fit the gender neutral color scheme I was going for (we plan to let the littles share the room when they are old enough:)). Used my two 20% coupons and we were set for under $70 for all our bedding! We added one new thing on the wall for about $25 from Target and viola... Big girl room decorated for under $100. We just used decor we already had for the rest.

This where I right the Bible versus we are working on!

I replaced the knobs on this and have big plans to refinish it… one day...

BD love the way it turned out... And yes there are toys everywhere but that is life :)!

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Moving Tips...

Maybe you are lucky… and when you move you can hire someone to come box and move all your stuff.  Or maybe your new job is sending movers.  Well, we just have not been that lucky!  The truth of the matter is, if you have just graduated or you are going to school… you probably don't have the money for movers!  We have had the privilege of moving ourselves 1) To Augusta when we first got married 2) Into Andrew's Parents house until we could move to New Orleans for Seminary 3)To New Orleans for Seminary 4)To a second apartment in New Orleans  5) To Statesboro for an internship 6) Back into Andrew's Parents house (we will move again soon after we let everyone know what we are doing this next year :)) That's 6+ times… I would say we have a lot of experience!

All that being said… moving yourself???  Don't fret… 5 Moving Tips that will de-stress your move.

{one}

Why Pack things that are already packed?  Keep Things in Drawers

Don't you dare pack up your clothes.  Why would you pull them out of your dresser just to put them back again? Simply carry the drawers out separately, then when the dresser is in the moving truck, but the drawers back in the dresser! Do the same when you are unloading.  Easy peasy, everything stays organized!

{two}

Moving Plastic Wrap, Moving Plastic Wrap, Moving Plastic Wrap

Those that have talked to me about this move know I swear by this stuff… it is  a w e s o m e!  Really a game changer that we did not discover until our 4th move!  Use it to wrap baskets or crates that way you don't have to box it all.  Use it to wrap towels or blankets around pictures and breakables, without leaving a sticky residue… if you wrap the plastic all the way around, you blanket or towel won't get damaged or dirty! We even used it to wrap our spice rack and BD's puzzles!

{three}

Sticker Labels

Instead of labeling absolutely every box… have stickers printed in ready- bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, etc.  I also recommend having stickers that say fragile as well!  The less you have to write the quicker, the quicker the better :)!

{four}

Have a moving box

While you are packing put all your supplies in one box, and always put them back in that box.  This eliminate the lost tape or sharpie and saves a lot of time!  Something I recommend to keep in this box… packing tape, masking tape, sticker label, sharpies, pens, moving plastic wrap, trash bags and zip lock bags.

{five}

Get Help

Seriously. Every time we have moved we have had SO   MUCH   HELP!  From friends donating boxes, to watching BD, to boxing, to loading, to unloading.  It is a long process and help is almost a necessity! *This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting :)

Happy Packing… What are your tips???
*This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting :)

good bye NOLA...

New Orleans, the place I NEVER thought I would live, and NEVER thought I would love.  Last week, many tears were shed over this move.  This was by far the hardest move we have made emotionally.   God has used this place to really shape us as a couple, and as a family. We have made some of the best friends we have ever had.  Real, deep friendships, the kind that are really DOING life together. We have seen friends know and grow in Christ.   I worked at a place that grew me as a teacher... I am not nearly the same teacher that started there 3 years ago.  Bigger than that, the teachers I worked with became more than coworkers, they became true friends. We learned about BEING the church right where we are! We have seen college students really grow in their faith... making it their own!

The thing is about New Orleans is that people that are from there love it, many never want to leave... and they expect you to love it just as much.  As much as we like the city, it is the PEOPLE  we have grown to LOVE and will truly miss.

things i learned from this move...

In the past 4 1/2 years of our marriage Andrew and I have moved 4 times and lived in 3 different cities. This has by far been the most complicated move, between 2 month old BD, moving 9 hours away, going to the beach right after and trying to find a place to store our washer and dryer... whew.  Combined that with the fact that I was trying to spend as much time with friends before I left NOLA (which I don't regret) we had a bit of a mess!!!

After this move, here are some moving tips I recommend!

1. Make sure you go ahead and pack the important stuff. 

 I unfortunately learned this from experience this time... I had all of BD's favorite toys out until the very end.  At that point I put them in a plastic bag that was supposed to get thrown in a car... well you can guess what happened, it got thrown away:(! I literally cried over this.

2.  Get moving saran wrap.  

I don't know why we have never gotten this stuff before, it is great to wrap all sorts of things.  We could take drawers and boxes or containers and secure them.

3.  Have a box of moving box. 

 I find as we pack I lose the packing tape and other supplies that we need.  We kept this box in a central location through all of packing to take supplies from and put them back.  We were also supposed to pull this box aside when we got there to have the things we would need like scissors and trash bags... unfortunately we forgot to pull it aside and it got put to the bottom of our stuff as we moved in.  We spent the whole move in looking for the "box with the trash bags"!!!   Some of the things we kept in this box were- *packing tape *masking tape *trash bags (regular and outdoor) *moving ceran wrap *scissors  *sharpies *ziplock bags

4.  Don't pay for boxes.

We told friends we were moving, and the boxes came pouring in!  We also called our local grocery store and requested banana and egg boxes.  We had so many boxes that at the end we gave our extras to other friends that were moving soon!

5.  Keep things in drawers.

We kept everything that was in a dresser in that drawer or dresser.  When we moved the furniture we just took the drawers out, but the dresser in the moving truck and put the drawers back in... then did the same thing when we arrived.  This saved both room and time on both ends!

6.  Pack a suitcase for a few days before the move and a few days after.

Pretend like you are going on a week or two long vacation.  Get all the stuff you need so you can pack everything else.

7.  Have a final items/when you first get there box.

We were not clear enough about this this time.  Our last shower curtain ended up in the trash because we did not label a box like this.  Fill this box with last things you need at your old home and the first things you will need at your new home (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, shower curtain, etc).

8. Label, label, label!

This was another thing I was not very good at this time and things ended up in the wrong places when we got there.  I have heard of a lot of a lot of people using colored sharpies to color code boxes by room.  I have this idea for next time to print out some name tag sized white sticker labels with each room printed on them.. Then all you have to do is stick them on a box.  You could even number them if you want to make sure you don't lose any boxes.  I think the sticker labels would stand out to friends moving things in and everything would end up at the right spot, also you would only haver to peel a sticker instead of writing on each box. 

9.  If you can, pull everything out to see how you can best arrange it in the moving truck.

We had a lot to fit in a little truck.  I was already calculating which stuff to leave behind.  When our friends arrived to help us move we just had them pull all the boxes out of the house.  This made it easier to get the big stuff in first and to see what all had to fit.  And somehow it all fit!!!

10.  Enlist help!  

The babies were very important helpers in the moving process! :)

We made a facebook group for some of our friends and invited them to help us move.  We provided pizza and waters after.  We would still be in NOLA if it weren't for these friends.  It was also a sweet time for good byes... I was crying A LOT! It was harder when we got there because we did not know anyone.  But luckily some students cam out and helped... it happened so quick... we could not have done it without them!

11. Save boxes and supplies.

This may not be true in every case, but we know we will be moving again in a year, so we are saving all of our moving supplies... save a little moula this way :)

12. Don't stress!!!

Andrew will be laughing as he reads this one... I was not so good at this... but I am working on it! :) Happy moving yall!!! :)