Good-Byes

We had an evening of fun with Rachel, James, Elliott, and Meredith before we left...

Then we got ready for our Going Away Party

First Trip to ATL

In June, we went to Atlanta to check things out, find an apartment and a daycare, visit my office, etc. Ahmad ended up getting an interview when we were down there and was offered the job on the spot! We felt we were meant to be moving. We even found time to have some fun!

Zany Zoo

Sometime in May, we went to the zoo in Indy with the Kleins...

This was Miles' first roller coaster....he loved it and we rode 3 times!

Carrie and Chuck

Carrie and Chuck got married in May! Miles was ring bearer, although, sadly, I have to admit that he did not do a good job. He went early, practically ran down the isle, and then stopped and did something silly in the isle at the front. However, everything else was just beautiful and we had a wonderful time!

Just Trying to Catch Up

I don't even know how to catch up 3 months. The more I try, the more I miss, so I'm going to just hit the highlights and add some photos in a bit.

• Work is going great! I'm enjoying my new position and new staff.
• Ahmad is also enjoying his new job at the Atlantic Athletic Club
• However, it stinks that I work during the week and he works weekends.
• Miles and Hailey weren't going to start daycare right away after moving, but after 2-3 weeks, Miles started being sad he didn't have any friends, so we started them early. Then after a few weeks of just daycare, Miles started Pre-K.
• Miles does awesome at school and even complained they didn't do enough work at first like they did at his old school. They started giving him homework!
• Hailey also does great at daycare; she loves it!
• Miles started soccer and is awesome. He loves to play and does a great job. They practice for an hour a week and then have a game on Saturdays. They don't really keep score, but I guess this last game (that I missed) was the only one that took them so far. Miles usually scores several times and all I hear is "he's so fast!"
• Miles also has made a good friend at soccer and had his first real playdate over the weekend
• Hailey was in a pageant this past weekend. Yes, a glitz pageant. However, I didn't glitz her out enough and she got shy on stage (except for her talent where she blew bubbles!), so she didn't place too well. She did a beauty portion, outfit of choice (where she was a cowgirl with pink boots), and talent. She ended up winning an honorable mention in talent and Princess in her age division. She got 2 trophies, a nice sash and a crown/tiara. However, I think she really did have fun because she kept telling me she wanted to dance. And when she didn't get to, she cried. And cried. And cried. All through crowning. Miles was there for part of the pageant and after we picked him up from his playdate, he told Hailey how he was so proud of her for doing so good. :) And, some ladies who work the acting scene in Birmingham talked to me quite a bit. They loved Hailey. They thought she was beautiful and had a sweet demeanor. I gave them my email address. :)
• Miles continues to be such a great big brother. He takes care of Hailey and is so nice to her, even when she's being 20 months to him. He gives her his toys or food if she wants it and tries to hug her all the time. If she doesn't share with him or give him a hug when he wants it, he gets sad and tells her that she's making him sad. It's too precious and also breaks my heart!
• Hailey is talking talking talking. I can't even count how many words she has. She will repeat most anything you say and I can understand most of what she says. She also sings a lot of songs like Twinkle Twinkle, ABC's, Wheels on the Bus, a prayer from school, a hand washing song, the Clean Up song, and she will count.
• Hailey is definitely left handed.
• Miles is going to be the red Power Ranger for Halloween, even though he's never even seen Power Rangers and Hailey is going to be a purple butterfly with a tutu style skirt.
• I went to California for work the middle of September. By myself. I ended up having a great time, but it was so strange to be away and on my own. We had a very grass roots-ish type conference that was inspiring for 2 days and then I spent Saturday wine tasting and seeing wineries with 2 co-workers and one of their boyfriends. It was wonderful. My mom came in to help that weekend because Ahmad was working. She had a great time being Nana! She took Miles to his soccer game and they played at the playground. Then Sunday we went to Chuckie Cheese (a fav of Miles all the sudden) and hung out. Monday I took off work and took mom to get mani's and pedi's for her bday, which was that weekend. We got quite the treatment! Now she will be back this weekend to help again because I have to work a festival in town all weekend. I'm so glad she's coming! It's so strange. Prior to moving here, we left the kids with someone (Amber and Jeff) exactly twice. Well, and with my parents once while we went out to eat. Now that we are here and Ahmad works the weekends, our schedules clash quite a bit! We've had to scramble and use sitters a lot. I'm always nervous about it and hopeful we can get something worked out. So far, it has been ok.
• I'm also heading to North Carolina to our office there next week for a short training. And then I might go to Indy to train a staff there in November. It's crazy! I hadn't flown in about 4 years and now all the sudden, I'm going everywhere!
• OK, I think I've hit the highlights, but I know I'm missing a lot. Hopefully I can fill in the blanks and start moving forward now. :)
  

Moving to ATL

Ok, by now, I'm sure you know the Keyes Klan has moved to Atlanta, Georgia. We moved the weekend of July 4th, so it's been almost 3 months now. 3 months seems so long and so short at the same time! The highlights of the move included:

• packing up a U-Haul with a 4 year old and a 1 year old running around
  
• realizing that the truck we rented was too small for all out things and trying to figure out what to do at the last minute. Eventually, we left some things at the house for Jamahl and Tiphanny to enjoy.
• Leaving Indy much much much later than we had planned and arriving at my parent's house about 11:30pm
• Not really even getting a chance to say goodbye to our house
• parking our U-Haul and trailer in front of mom's house while we laid daddy to rest
• stopping at a Mountain Inn on the way to Atlanta
• unhooking the tow dolly prior to unloading the car and being in it when it all rolled backwards and got stuck (thankfully actually) in a drainage ditch and then paying $150 to a tow truck to do something we could've but were too afraid to do ourselves
• having our credit cards all put on freeze on a holiday weekend because we were using them out of town
• having my in-laws fly in to help us out for the weekend
• trying to make Hailey feel better and understand the move through a five day 102 degree fever
• not being able to get our couch into our living room and after sitting on our back porch, giving it away on Craig's List
• finding bugs in our apartment and needing it sprayed. More than once.
• having Comcast come 3 times before getting our internet, phone and cable to work
• having ADT come twice to install our security system
• having a fuse blow to our brand new dryer
• then having a fuse blow to our brand new washer
• not doing laundry for over a week
• finally getting unpacked
• then packing everything up to fog the apartment
• unpacking
• again
• finally getting situated and moving forward in Atlanta