Scoop - With Pictures Of The Back Yard

Hope you guys have had a good weekend. Ours was busy and productive! No other way to be while transitioning.

First, let's cover that finally, at the age of 3, Lainey is in a big girl bed! We sold her crib in Kansas City and moved her into this bookcase bed that I adore. Can't wait to fill it with cute Lainey-esque trinkets and all things girly.

My original intention with these photos was to showcase her "mothering". New houses = lots of time to get acclimated to new surroundings = a daughter who spends more time putting her babies to bed than getting to sleep herself. All in good time.

I love having a girl. This part is so much fun. The squealing? Notsomuch.

We've been running around the house since Friday at noon when the truck arrived trying to get things in order, all the while keeping kids busy and out of trouble. Today, we painted:

Sea shells, of course.

Such concentration.

Did I mention that the truck is empty? THE TRUCK IS EMPTY. Can you believe it, Delts?

Here's Blake being a smart ass, as we honored him with a Griswold-like drumroll upon removing the last box. That sucker rolled down the ramp, as if to mock his sarcasm. Awesome.

Have I mentioned that we moved into a neighborhood plucked right from a real estate website, google earth and all of the other creepy tools at one's fingertips via the Internet? Never saw it in person. Little did we know that a cul-de-sac full of the kindest people ever awaited us.

We planned to hire day laborers to unload the truck. Nope. Neighbors came over to help and emptied about 85% of it. 2 houses have shown up with cookies. Another lady gave me the scoop on everyone and offered a heartwarming welcome full of sincerity. We're blown away. Can't wait to get to know these fine people.

Before that, I have some laundry to do. Upon finding this house, we inquired as to if they had electric washer/dryer hook ups. We were misinformed on the dryer........had to take to Craigslist to find a gas one.....and ended up locating the exact match to our washer. For $100. Nice.

And, finally, part of the house that is resembling a livable space. The back yard. The entire reason we chose this house.

Several spots to sit alone and read or with other peeps. This one provides a view of the San Bernardino Mountains if you peek over the iron fence.

Cute trellis. Just needing some love.

Gardeners arrived today to trim back the plants and trees, paint the fence and work on the fountains. I am in love with the fountains.

Little punks have their space.

We have 2 patios......this one opens up from our master bedroom with French doors. We can see the darling gazebo and mountain view from inside. Lovely.

The other direction.

Fire pit. Blake wants to find some funky old chairs and paint them different colors to sit around the pit. Good idea.

Carter said we can hire out our yard to hold weddings. That kid is always thinking.

The breeze out here is so nice. We are up on a hill, so we get lots of air flowing through. The views are incredible and our neighbor plays Billie Holliday and Frank Sinatra from her yard. Blake and I sit out here and wonder aloud, "How did we do this?"

Shells for the punks to paint and I had to indulge in the Beach Party candle. Had to!

Put the chicken cabinet outside to hold arts/crafts and paints. We do everything at the outdoor table. Haven't eaten a meal inside since arriving.

More views off the back.

Looking toward the house from the gazebo. We're in heaven.

The punks have been riding their bikes and scooters like mad.....we house them on the side of the yard in a concrete area that trails around the house and back to the driveway. Our garage is Batman's domain now since we don't have a basement. Can't be opening it every day. So, this was a perfect solution.


I guess I don't need to tell you that we're loving life here. Seems funny to think that about 7 weeks ago, we were on vacation in La Jolla brainstorming about how to make this happen. We had some luck no doubt......and a lot of help from friends......Katie babysitting......Sass providing our movers with pizza and entertainment......the Delts packing.....new neighbors unpacking.....schools cooperating.......I could go on and on. So grateful!!!!

Hoping to have the house finished in the next day or so.

Carter starts school tomorrow.

Stay tuned for more pics!

Question Of The Weekend

So, we're in the middle of unpacking and I know that no one wants to read about how disorganized I am.......or how I spilled an entire container of oats all over the kitchen floor upon unpacking our non-perishables.......etc.

Instead, let's ask a question. It's been a while.



***If you could choose anywhere in the world to move and set roots.....with an odd little opportunity as we had......where would you go?

(Do not consider the details......expenses, custody issues, being close to family, etc. Simply think of where you'd love to live.)

Back soon with hopefully an unpacked house!

Still No Furniture - Keeping Busy

Blake let me sleep this morning. Blake lets me sleep often in the morning. Add that to the long list of why I love this man.

After I woke, sent some emails and tidied up the vacant (but messy?) house, we switched roles and I took the kids out. Off to Oceanside Harbor for lunch and to look around.

Carter went old school with some fish and chips. Popcorn shrimp counts for him.

"Don't pitcher me!!!!!!"

Lainey went all coastal on me and got microwaved nachos. She's a local already.

Lunch spot. Not a bad place to spend a couple of hours.

I'm out of order here, so bear with me. Scenes from dinner....our second dinner picnic on the beach in a row. What have I tried to teach you, people? Become a tourist in your own town. You won't believe the loveliness lurking for you to find.





Giving Jack the skunk-eye.

Back to the car. Life is rough.

Sunset. I love California.

Ice cream party in our empty house upon returning.


Switching gears....

In pure Starnes fashion, Lainey seeked out this oddity of a statue (Statue Kitty) and glommed onto her like never before. These two yahoos push this half-broken cement cat statue around our back yard like she's alive. Here is Lainey protesting that Jack gets to push.

Seriously? I don't know what's more disgraceful. The half bodied cat or the beat up stroller.


And, we're moving onto Pa.

Carter drew the lucky straw and got to sleep in the fancy hotel while we camped in our house night one. Here we are with the whole fam together at Oceanside Pier (near where Monica, fellow blogger, got engaged!!!!!!).

We treated Pa to a birthday lunch at Ruby's......with a lovely view......saw dolphins and such......so much fun to have him there for our inaugural hometown visit.

Birthday singing?! Who would have arranged that?! (Think that guy with the odd look might be re-thinking his career choice.)

Nervous Lainey. Most parents look forward to seeing their kids full of confidence and seemingly invincible. We look for these vulnerable moments when they appear unsure of themselves. It happens so rarely.



Sweet Pa. He and Lainey share a birthday.......one day apart.......the 14th and the 15th.

The fam. First pic, California style. Chaotic as usual.




Pa flew back to Texas and we've been hanging out here getting acclimated to life. Truck comes tomorrow (fingers crossed!) with our furniture. I spent 2 hours and $200 at Target today on stuff for the house. However, no amount of money could buy what we have carried from home to home to home.

Introducing.....the wind chime. When Carter was 2, we took our first trip to California. I'll never forget Blake sitting out on my grandmother's patio loving the weather. It was his first time here. We took a trip to San Diego (from Orange County) for a couple of days to go to Sea World and such.....and ate dinner in Old Town.

We bought this wind chime at a market. Seemed totally unrealistic at the time. But, Blake remarked, "Let's buy this now and when we move to California, we'll hang this in our first house."

Who knew? 7 years later and here we are.


My grandmother would be proud. I wish she were here.

Lots coming up........furniture (yeah!).......Aunt Donna visiting tomorrow.......and the weekend ahead.

I'm going to catch up on blogs soon. Missing you guys!

We're Here

Hello, bloggies.

We made it, damn it. We made it!

The truck, loaded, by the Delts. I intended on paying them generously for their efforts and not one of these guys would take a dime. That, my friends, is just good people.

I can finally show pics now of where we lived in the Midwest.....since I don't reveal current living arrangements. Our neighborhood.....

And, our cute little house. Loved it. 4 stories, a split level home, lovely trees and certainly a change from what we had in Colorado. This was our attempt at living in an older home. Learned a lot.

We woke early Monday morning to finish up the small details of final packing.......freight carrier took off with the trailer......and we were on the road around noon.

Bye, bye, KC. I miss you already.

Carter loved this Jayhawk statue, of course.

Flint Hills in the middle of Kansas.

Lots of random pictures from the road.







We drove until midnight and then stopped in Frisco, Colorado, near Breckenridge. Slept for about 5 hours, had a birthday breakfast for our 3 year old baby girl in the state she was born in not so long ago....

Back on the road.

Holy road trip, people. I'm not usually a negative person, as Shannon says, but even I was complaining via Facebook about this trip. So long. Longest day of my life.

One of the 12,346 stops we made to go potty.

Birthday girl holding up the bridge!

Glorious Colorado.

And, then leaving it.

Hello, Utah. You're just as pretty. Less inhabited, it seems. But, gorgeous. I listened to the best ever bootleg from Widespread Panic.....New Mexico.....2001. Blake and I traded off vehicles........that certainly helped the trip. Even though he lucked out driving during all the damn naps.

There he is. Hi, honey.

"Wild land fire" in Utah. Signs were on the road telling drivers not to call about it. Contained. OK.

I know these pictures are in order, but I couldn't begin to tell you what town this is. I will tell you that if I ever step foot in a McDonald's again, I will spontaneously vomit upon smelling the fried food.

Rest stop. Blake had the kids doing laps to tire them out.

Back on the road, for what seemed like forever. We drove through Vegas, at night......kids loved that. Blake tried to explain to them that it's really for adults. Jack's response:

"Las Begas wooks cool. I adult. Yainey adult. Carter adult. Wet's go!"

I have no pictures of the low points. I cried. Too much caffeine + stress + driving through unknown territory is tough, peeps. I absolutely didn't want to stay another night on the road, but have never witnessed time pass so slowly.

We arrived in Oceanside around 12:30am Pacific time. Think our total on the road was around 29 hours. I'm still too tired to do the numbers. So, you'll have to live with that.

Furniture doesn't arrive until Friday (hopefully), so we're camping right now. Little ones fell right asleep. Thank goodness for Pa, who was in town when we arrived. He picked up our house key and met us there in the middle of the night to help us get kids settled. I love Pa.


So, it was a very challenging journey.

The good news: we made it here safely; our house is darling; the back yard is even more fabulous than we saw via real estate sites and google earth. Pictures coming.

Lots to do......more to share......we enjoyed our first day here and ended it with a picnic on the beach to watch the sun set.

Heaven:



Oh, one more thing.....while in the hotel in Colorado, Blake spotted a TV on the wall showing quotes. How perfect is this?

"Your kids inevitably want to move where they had their vacations when they were younger." -Jim Harrison

And, We're Off!!!!!!!

30+ hours, maybe a stop for overnight......but our eye is on the prize.  House in KC is empty and sparkling clean.  Kids are loaded up.  Batman is panicked in the front seat gobbling like a turkey.

I'll post as I can from the road......check Facebook for updates, too.

Love you, bloggies!  Thanks for all your support during this crazy move of ours.  Later!