Busy, busy, busy

Two weeks from today, we will be living in a brand-spankin'-new house!  No more scraping car windows on frosty mornings!  No more children waking each other up at unearthly hours because they share a bedroom!  No more complaints from downstairs neighbors because of the exuberant, jumping 3-year-old in our family!  Yes, we are excited.
And a little overwhelmed.  December is always a busy time of year, but I think we've outdone ourselves this time.  Last week, for example, was filled with:

• Trying to buy Cassie her Christmas present (a kitchen) on KSL classifieds.  Sounds easy, right?  Wrong.  Play kitchens are a hot commodity this time of year.  I'm happy to say I finally snagged a nice one a few hours after it had been posted.  Let me also mention here that I was totally on top of the Christmas shopping ahead of time, and had actually already bought Cassie a bike (also on KSL...for some reason we're on a tight budget this year...something about buying something really expensive in the next few weeks?).  But she kept saying that she wanted a kitchen and play food for Christmas, so we decided to buy a kitchen and sell the bike (which we also did this week).
• Preparing for our Relief Society Christmas program, which was today.  Technically, I was released from my calling in Relief Society two weeks ago, but you've gotta finish what you start, right?  I was in charge of the program, but I really only had to finish up the last few details this week.  I spent a few of my evenings preparing musical numbers as well.
• Passing the "baton" to the new 1st Counselor, finishing up my responsibilities, and attending some final presidency visits and a presidency meeting.  We tend to chat a lot, so this actually took a good chunk of time...
• Practicing with my amazing friend Katie's choirs.  Katie teaches choir at a local high school and I am accompanying for her Christmas performances.  I'm accompanying for a junior high school this year as well, and I love getting the chance to practice piano and be involved with choirs.  Please note that high school choir music is WAY harder to play than junior high school choir music.  So I've also been practicing a lot.  As busy as this keeps me, I am so glad I'm doing it.  I'm a total choir nerd at heart, and I honestly get a thrill while I'm accompanying the final, polished product.
• Packing boxes!  We are trying to pack a few boxes everyday so we aren't too stressed when our actual moving day arrives.  So far so good!  We started with aesthetic things, so our poor little apartment is looking awfully bare.  I'm especially missing the Christmas decorations and lights this year.
• Trevor working late.  We hardly saw each other this week because one of us was gone every week night.
• Searching for a washer and dryer.  We'll need one of each.
• Dealing with the logistics of moving to a new place, like arranging for homeowners insurance, planning for our closing, giving our 30-day-notice, setting up utilities, etc.
• Regular life.  You know, Joy School, hair cuts, playing hide-and-seek, teaching piano lessons, making meals, grocery shopping, cleaning bathrooms, library visits, making forts, vacuuming...

I may have presented this too drearily.  Don't worry, we are very happy around here!  Just busy.  And the next few weeks aren't going to slow down at all.  But obviously we have some wonderful things to look forward to when all is said and done.  Like a garage.  And separate bedrooms for the kids.  And Christmas!

Now, would I leave you without some pictures?  Of course not!

Here are some pictures of the inside of the house the last time we saw it, which was about two weeks ago.  Our final walk-through is this week!

The dusty floor and the fireplace

 The kitchen!  Ahh!  So excited.

Drumroll, please...I sewed!  I made a nursing cover for my sister-in law who is pregnant with twin boys, who will probably be arriving the day after Christmas!  I also made these matching car seat covers for the boys.  Everything actually turned out quite nicely, and although they aren't perfect (don't zoom in...) and they're very simple, they looked good enough that I was willing to give them away.

Thanksgiving with cousins!  We had a super fun, relaxing Thanksgiving with Trevor's family this year.  Cassie loved playing with her cousins and Benson took a liking to Savanah.