February Home scenes

We're official now! Our house didn't have its own mailbox yet, so Jim bought one at Lowe's and stuck it in at the bottom of the street/driveway. See our brown house up on top of that hill?

We have quickly learned that exploring this neighborhood means HILLS. Lots of "I'm using my muscles" talk these days, and "Come on, you can do it!" and "Let's sing Old MacDonald Had A Farm to make it easier to get up this hill." Here we are on one of our first walks, stopping for some snacks midway to keep our energy up, ha!

Our side yard has a nice flat area with a small fence around it, plus a sandbox that the previous people left behind. The weather is always good for digging, right?

The Super-Highway: another wonderfully perfect aspect of this house for two boys! This is the view from the living room to that side of the house, with the boys' two little bedrooms to the left; a bathroom on the right; the playroom at the end at the right; and the door leading to the side yard.
 

My 37th (gasp) birthday was on Feb 8, the first Monday after we moved in. Unfortunately in the midst of exhausting unpacking, we didn't do much to celebrate. Thankfully though Jim whipped up a delicious chocolate cake for teatime on Sunday, with a few presents!!! (Don't look too hard at the room; we've added and changed up the arrangement a bit and it is feeling more settled now.)

Timo was a very happy helper who put all the candles on by himself

Something about Timo's expression here makes me think of Granddad!

Random scene during our "not leaving the house the first 3 days of potty training" - the boys having a drumming session with chopsticks and laundry basket. (Timo in his underwear. This was three weeks ago, and he is doing pretty well with staying dry now.)

Arriving home (home?!)

Thursday, Feb 4 was the day our 'cubes' arrived from the moving company and we had the keys to our new (rental) house and were able to unload!! 

There were some agonizing hours leading up to the delivery, due to a snow day (higher up in the mountains, which prevented trucks from getting through) and the complicating factor of Sylva's narrow streets and the narrow, winding turns of our driveway. Where was the flatbed truck to park, and could the forklift make it up the steep turn to our driveway?? The driver from the moving company was balking at the delivery, until finally - nearly panicking - I had the brilliant idea to go into the Police station and ask for help. Within minutes of hearing the problem, they offered to mark off a parking spot on Main St across from the station, and stop the traffic so the forklift could unload the cubes and drive two blocks up to our driveway. On Thursday morning, an officer was there at the parking spot and another officer was positioned at the intersection to direct traffic. 

Now there's a welcome to Sylva!! We love our new small town!! The officer even gave Timo a little stuffed skunk ("Don't drink; you'll stink") as a present.

There goes the forklift turning up the street (with the library up on the hill) while traffic is stopped

Here comes the forklift, two blocks up from Main St, and pulling onto our street/driveway

Grandpa and Timo and I were there to watch, and ran up the street after the forklift to our garage. There is a little stream next to the road, so of course Timo stopped to throw in some rocks.

Entrance to Hooper St, a short paved road. Our house is just above at the top of the hill.

How appropriate, the sun has come out and it looks to be a beautiful day! Dad and I opened up the cubes and unloaded a bit, then had some lunch which Mom had packed. Shortly after, Mr Woody arrived to help, and he and Dad together unloaded the cubes into the house in less than 2 hours!

Can you guess what our favorite feature of the driveway/garage area is?

There's Dad watching the 2nd cube coming up the driveway - and a view to our neighbors.

Since Mom & Dad were in town, and Jim was working, we were able to sleep at the Woodys' for two more nights while we unpacked a bit and set up the beds. Finally, on Saturday, we gathered up the rest of our things and officially moved over to 126 Hooper St!

the "playroom" has great built-in shelving. The Legos were the first toys out!

view of the side yard from the street above

We could not have done this move/transition the past 5 weeks without the help and support of my amazing parents!!!!!

The waiting period... Me & Boys in Durham

After a week's crazy and stressful search for a rental house, we were amazed to find (thanks to a friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who hear about a newly available house) a rental house in downtown Sylva, beyond what we had been hoping for with 3 bedrooms, a fenced yard, garage, basketball hoop and sitauted one block from the library and the downtown. However, it was not available until the first week of February, so the boys & I loaded up the car again and drove to Durham with Jaja, while Jim started at his new job.

This visit was unplanned (like many elements of this move!!) and it was wonderful to be with Grandpa and Jaja without an 'agenda' or pressure of a short visit (yes, we stayed 2 1/2 weeks!). We had a lot of low-key days close to home, especially with one week of cold temps and icy, sleety roads.

Apologies for the photos, which were few and not very representative of our visit. That's what happens when Jim is not around to photo-document!

One of the boys' favorite spots in the house

While much of the rest of NC and the east coast got pummeled with snow, Durham only had a light dusting of snow, covered by sleet and ice. It may have been white... but it was a sheet of ice on top and very slick and hard. Nevertheless, Timo enjoyed exploring outside and "working hard" to throw chunks of sleet around the yard.

Heading to the park to see neighborhood kids sledding

What a treat to be there for Mom's birthday! Rachel and I took her to this great little walk-up eatery for lunch (with no children in tow!). All the fish and seafood come from the NC coast. VERY yummy. And even though there was still snow on the ground, the sun was out and it had gotten a lot warmer so we could eat at the picnic table.

One of our most favorite places in Durham: Museum of Life & Science!! Hurrah!!! I loved going here as a kid, and the museum is 300% bigger and better now; we also loved going when we lived in Durham and Gemma was 2 1/2. Rachel and Craig got another year's membership to the museum and listed us on the cards, so I was able to take the boys twice. Timo got very excited to see the rocket ship and the space/astronaut exhibit, reminding me of Gemma's love of astronauts when she visited here. Sadly I didn't take other photos... and Timo has continued to ask to "go back to the museum". Don't worry, we will be back again soon, Timo.

Mawethu and Lisa live in Durham now! WHAT! Yes, these South African friends are now Durham residents and have connected themselves well with the Hawkins fam and other church folks. We got to hang out numerous times, including one morning for Lithemba's birthday party. (Naturally, I didn't get any photos with them or of the birthday, oh well.)

Mawethu, Lithemba and Mila playing football with friends in the side yard

Timo learning to go down the ramp at 1406.

Timo was carrying on dialogue between the cars

One sunny afternoon, Pete and Rita came over, and in a jiffy Timo had gone out to the backyard with Pete and they had made "a fort" with some branches. Oh yeah! 

Just another afternoon, walking down to the park - oh hey, Lisa, you did make it in the photos after all! And Lithemba pushed Mattias the whole way.

Asher, Mila, Adah Joy (pictured) and Lithemba and Timo all got in a line and were going up and down and around on the slide. Lisa and I kept looking at each other and saying happily, "This is crazy! We're at the park and our boys are playing together!"

Sunny and warm one morning, and Timo & Mattias played happily with Asher & Adah Joy & Abram outside in the Frey's backyard. At one point, all five were in the sandbox together, concentrating and quietly playing. (And then, a few minutes passed and suddenly there were screams and tears and the quietness was broken...)

snacktime on the deck (and look at that curly hair!)

Grandpa let Timo help wash the cars before before we packed up to head back to Sylva. And Jaja drove back with us again - AND Dad drove Pete's truck, loaded up with some furniture and stuff from Costco for our new house. Let's go!

Can we say "phew"!!

Our excitement - and relief - was growing with each turn of the winding mountain roads. "We made it to North Carolina!" I kept saying to Timo. And then, finally, we exited the highway, drove through the little village of Dillsboro, crossed the Tuckaseegee River and turned onto Macktown Rd (next to the big Rafting sign), and wound our way up to the Woody's house.

We were exhausted and relieved and thankful to arrive in Sylva on Jan 6th. And what a great feeling it was to be able to pull up the driveway of "the mountain house" (as we called it, to help Timo remember it from our family reunion there this past July) and be greeted by Phil and Gayle Woody's friendly faces. They graciously hosted us upon arrival; it turned out to be an open-ended invitation that stretched into a 11 day stay (for me and the boys) and a 4 week stay (for Jim)!! 

Once we arrived we were able to start looking for a rental house and getting acclimated. In the middle of trying to rest up from the trip and start in on all the logistics of moving to a new town, we spent a lot of time hanging out at the house and exploring the woods around the property. I quickly realized that we all now need big mud boots/rain boots/wellies/rubber boots/gum boots! Hurray!

one of the best things about the house is this play area, loaded with trains and Fisher-Price toys

Most evenings were spent around the cozy wood stove. One night we had a little sing-along, thanks to Gayle. (Don't look at my face to judge; in fact I really enjoyed it too!)

Timo loved helping Mr Woody gather some branches to bring in for kindling

A barn and mud and tools. Heaven for a little boy like this one!

We all spent a week together at the Woodys until we found a house to rent and Jim started his new job at Western, and then I drove with the boys and Mom back to Durham. The house wasn't available until Feb 3rd, so we ended up staying in Durham for 2 weeks - while Jim began at his new role as the study abroad advisor. The first two weeks were spent alongside the outgoing/retiring advisor and trying to get his mind around a lot of new information and procedures for the position.


One morning we went for a little walk around Sylva, getting to know this mountain town. (Colorado Springs is at a high altitude and is right on the front of the Rockies, but now we really are in the mountains!) It's a town of about 2,500 people and the county has a population of 40,000; a few miles down the road is the campus of Western Carolina and the 'town' of Cullowhee. So, yep, small town mountain life for sure!! More details on this coming in future posts! We're still learning...


One of the best parts of Sylva and the county is this incredible, historic courthouse, which now houses the public library. 

And here's Jim, on campus for the first time on a day when he filled out some paperwork at Human Resources and got his ID card (and gym access, of course). Okay, Jim, your turn to write a post about your new job.

The road trip: Four days and 1,500 miles!

Sunny, clear skies the whole way! No snow!

Two cars, with 3 drivers swapping turns

Contents of cars: suitcases, booster seats, pack n play, extra diapers, the wooden toy treehouse (too fragile to load in the moving cube), Timo's bicycle, stroller, lots of books and toys and snacks. I took a tip from the Mary Gieser book and wrapped some books and new toys, so the boys could open them every few hours along the trip. That was a great help... although let's be honest, there were numerous moments of Timo yelling, "Mattias, stop crying! Jaja is driving!" (particularly on the last day) and me continuing to marvel at how Mattias napped no more than 30 minutes in the car the entire day, and Timo never napped. Yet somehow we made it.

Driving Day 1: Colorado Springs to Lawrence, Kansas and overnight in a hotel (with a swimming pool!)
Driving Day 2: Kansas to Chesterfield, Missouri and the home of the Brinks! We stayed 2 nights and one full day with them - great to be with family at the end of Christmastime (thanks for still having up your decorations, Katie). 
Driving Day 3: Missouri to Madison, Indiana and the home of the Katerbergs! Friends from Bloomington situated perfectly as an overnight stop.
Driving Day 4: Indiana to Sylva, North Carolina and the home of the Woodys and to Western Carolina University!

No pics from the first two days of driving, except these two of the boys "being football players" (as Timo said) and running around on the grass outside a rest area. We all participated in some brisk walking or running at every stop to clear our heads and get some energy out!

We made it to the cousins' house! Boy was it wonderful to see them, and in particular to see them in their new home in Chesterfield and see a bit of their new lives there. We are really looking forward to going back and having more wrestling in the huge basement play area, and explore all the cool things St Louis has for kids. But wait, first they need to come here and Katie can help us get our house decorated and arranged!

David, Timo and Elsie riding a horse (Jim)

Millie had changed so much since we saw her in June! Now a little girl!

the fams! well, this is what you get when you try to take a photo right before bedtime...

Boys in their matching soccer shirts from Nonna

And now, on to Madison and the Katerbergs house - great friends from our time in Bloomington. This is what our families looked like one in January 2013 just before we moved....

And now we have these 3rd children, too! Mattias and Audrey, who by the end of dinner were holding hands across their chairs!

Thanks for having us, Kevin and Laura - and we'll be back!

NOW, finally, onto North Carolina!