Oh no...are we THAT family?

Saturday my brother and his wife moved to Arizona!  They'd been living in Houston, which was awfully far away, so this move is very exciting for our family.  I'm looking forward to having them just 90 minutes away.  And my parents are thrilled too.

Chad and the kids and I drove to Mesa Saturday to start getting the house ready.  It's a bit of a fixer-upper, so we had some work to do.  I replaced all the door handles and dead bolts, Chad cleaned up the overgrown yard, and everyone helped install a new back door.  After Adam and Heather arrived with my dad and the moving van, we hauled everything in.  The house is quite large, so they have lots of space compared to their previous apartment.  If only someone hadn't stolen all the copper pipe they could get their hands on, the whole process would have been much easier...grrr.  

It was a long day, and it was past the kids' bedtime by the time we drove through the canyon towards our little town.  And we were exhausted.  But Chad told me to pull over when we saw these ladies stranded on the side of the road.  He can change a tire in 15 minutes, so it was no big deal to him.  But it was a big deal to them, and I was proud of my husband.

We went down again on Monday to help some more.  The day was a bit of an exercise in patience.  My kids are young, and there were no toys to speak of, except the plethora of tools, screws, and pipe joints.  We should have had a plan to counteract the boredom.  

Instead, we had:

"Mason, where is my screwdriver?"

"Bree, don't squish the gerbils!"

"Mason, don't pound on that with the hammer!"

"Why would you climb on that?"

"Don't touch that!" 

"I have the powerrrr!"  (Mason hoisting the pressure washer nozzle over his head...we've been watching a lot of He-man)

I don't want to be THAT family.  You know, the family you don't want to invite over to your house because the kids are just crazy?  And they don't seem to listen?  I felt like the mom of that family, which was new for me.  And humbling.

I think I did manage to tip the scale back to the favorable side by helping paint Heather's kitchen.  In the end, I think we did more good than damage.  Besides, my kids adore Adam and Heather.  And their gerbils.