A friend of mine writes a blog and she keeps a cool tradition:

"Take 10 pictures on the 10th day of the month! Document a snapshot of your life and find beauty among the ordinary things in your day!"

I have always wanted to try this myself, but I forgot that today was the 10th until I was getting ready for bed. Oops.

This time I'll bend the rules a little bit.

Here are (more than 10) photos from the past 10 days, as we packed up our whole world and moved it across town.

I was majorly overwhelmed by the task of packing for the move. Amy suggested we find a good view, and we ended up here. It really does help me chill out when I'm stressed.

That time I sent my kid to school with no pants on and didn't notice until I picked her up that afternoon. I told you I was stressed! She looked pretty cute which is the only reason I had photo evidence of my mommy-fail. Thank goodness the jersey is huge on her.

I went on a cooking strike approximately 7 days before the move. We consumed a lot of take-out and frozen dinners during this time, but I did manage a few random clear-out-the-fridge meals. This was breakfast for dinner: a TJ's green chili & cheese tamale over refried beans and baby spinach with avocado and a fried egg. Yum.

My mom convinced us to throw some paint on the walls at the new house before we moved in. When I say "throw paint" that's what I mean because 1. Russ and I are rookie painters and 2. We have three small children in tow. We used Kelly Moore "Hello Yellow" (Megan's room), "Gulf Wind" (master bedroom), "Green Eggs" (Grace & Amy's room), and "Spanish Sand" (office).

The peanut gallery on painting day.

They rolled up their sleeves and helped out quite a bit!

Except this little one was all trouble.

There were snack breaks...

...and painters' tape roller derby...

...and we finished all 4 rooms in one day (HUGE thank you to Mom, Katie, and Brian!)

Back at the condo, Meg reminded us to keep our spirits up.

While we packed, we discovered random things like this tiny pink wagon we had taken away THREE YEARS AGO as a consequence for Grace repeatedly trying to pull her then-baby sister Amy around in it. At the time, we thought it was too small and unsafe. When packing up his closet this week, Russ found the wagon still sitting up on the top shelf. He took it down for the kids to play with and what's the first thing Grace did? Of course she pulled her baby sister Meg around in it. And we just looked the other way this time. She's the third kid, she'll be fine.

As the big day approached, I checked the weather forecast. We were set to move on Wednesday, not cool. Pun intended.

I stuck with my color-coding system but you can see things got a little dicey as time ran out! No scissors, scribble scrabble, just getting it done.

Those smiles say: it's finally moving day!

We took the kitties over to the new house before school so they'd be out of the way during the move. The kids talked for days about who would get to hold Stella's cage and who would hold Steven's cage. It was important to them to get the kitties to the new house safely! In the end, there were tears because nobody wanted Steven (sorry he's a punk) and they fought over Stella. Jeez.

I found this spider in the garage on moving day. I died. And so did it. Sorry. That night I found a different (much smaller) spider at the new house and set him free outside, so hopefully all is forgiven.

Our movers were awesome and efficient and found a way to fit every last thing including the awkwardly shaped kitty-condo. This image sums up how I was feeling at the end of weeks of packing: Just get the rest of this $#!+ stuffed in somehow and let's get on with it!

The movers drove away and it was all ours. Woohoo! I need a cocktail and a nap.

I promised Amy over and over that all of her books and toys were coming with us. This morning she finally believed me!

Breakfast in our new house.

Now Megan has a bedroom of her very own (and plenty of stuff to fill it up with). She calls this book "GO."

Steven is still casing the joint, he looks skeptical.

So there's a peek at the past 10 days!

Packing and moving was (highly) uncomfortable at times, but I guess that's how it feels when you're growing and changing.

Feeling happy to be mostly unpacked and grateful for the opportunity to make this new house our home.