moving...

first phase:

-the organized decluttering, 

like painstakingly gathering pieces of children's puzzles spread all
over the house and putting the pieces in individual bags,
giving away things we don't need anymore

-the bubble wrapping of fragile pieces

all my china, stemware, serving pieces, cake plates, 10 fragile boxes in all

-the labeling

at first i specifically labeled what was in each box

second phase:

-bulk packing

things we wouldn't need for a few weeks went into boxes labeled by room
such as winter clothes/master bedroom or baby stuff/cora's room

-books

soooo many books

-some fun procrastination

looking at old pictures and little baby clothes

third phase:

gathering all of our pictures and other things like the kitchen aid mixer
or our 4! strollers that are too complicated to pack
and driving them ourselves to the new house 

and finally: 

the emptying of complete drawers into boxes and bins,
sometimes not even closing them, no labels, no nothing,
often done as the movers were carrying everything else out of the house!

 just pure craziness

unpacking:

sort of like Christmas- "we had this!?!"

sort of like Hoarders- "we have ALL this!?!"

and sort of like Extreme Makeover Home Edition-
tears, fears, fun rooms for the kids, a big increase in square footage, new furniture,
and finally:

"welcome home thompson family, welcome home"