How a family starts

Chapter 40

~~ONE WEEK BEFORE THE MOVE~~

Shailene POV:
The kids have packed up mostly everything in their rooms, they just left a mattress so they could sleep for the last week and a bit of their clothes.

The next thing we need to pack up is the living room. The kids are really mad about that because they won't be able to watch TV. But we have Netflix on our iPad, so they can watch stuff there.

Everyone is at school, and Theo and I are packing up. We're starting off with the couch. We take it apart and fold it neatly in the huge box it came in. I clean out that area under the couch, and Theo packs up the TV.

He's going to the bathroom, so I quickly pack up the coffee table. He comes out of the washroom. "So, the living room's all packed up?" He asks.

"Yup. I really am going to miss this place."

"Don't worry, I'll miss it too. I mean, we haven't moved out of it since we got married sixteen years ago."

"You're right. And I miss having white Christmases, and a lawn, and some cold weather at times. So this move will have some benefits to it."

"Of course!"

"So we should just clean up this area, then put all the boxes from upstairs all in a huge pile and the boxes we just packed now. That sound good?"

"Yup. Let's get started."

We take all of the boxes from upstairs and then all of the boxes from the living room. We set them down in a pile in the far corner of the living room.

"Okay, what's next?" I ask.

"I think we need to pack up the basement, you know, all of the storage things."

"Okay, let's do that."

We go downstairs, and realize we have A LOT of stuff to pack. "Oh my god, Theo, we need to get rid of some of this stuff. It will be impossible for us to pack this all up."

"What?! But there are some stuff in here that I really want to keep!"

"And what are those things?"

"Everything!"

"We're getting rid of some stuff Theo, it's for the best."

He sighs. "Okay then."

We get rid of a long list of stuff, so now we have a pile of stuff that has to get packed up, and another pile (a bigger one) that we have to give away. "I'll put all of this in the trunk and take it to Goodwill. Okay?"

"I can do that if you want, since it'll be easier for me that it will be for you."

"Okay, then. I'll help you take this up to the trunk."

We take five trips up and down the stairs, and then we have everything loaded in the trunk of our van. "I'll be back soon." He says.

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When he got back, we packed up the whole main floor. We decided this whole week (actually, four days) will be just fruits and vegetables.

The kids are home, and they're in shock when they see how much we've packed up.

"Woah! This is crazy! How did you guys get this much done?!" Julie asks.

"We worked all day, and all we need to pack up now is the bathroom and our clothes. That won't take very long, I reckon." I say.

"We'll go as fast as we can." Nathan says. They all run upstairs. Sadie starts crying.

"Aww, Sades, what's wrong?" I ask, picking her up. She wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder.

"I'm tired." She mumbles.

"Okay, let's go upstairs and we'll put you down for a nap in our mattress, okay?"

Sadie doesn't say anything back. She probably fell asleep in my arms. I go upstairs and lay her down. I tuck her in and kiss her forehead. Theo comes into our room, and we tip toe to our closet to start packing it up.

"Kids, leave two outfits out and put them in your suitcases." I whisper.

"Okay." They all reply back, also I a whisper.

We pack up everything in our closet and put them in some boxes and leave those boxes outside of our bedroom door.

I leave out my pink sundress, and my jeans with a white tee. That is just something that I would wear when I don't have anything else to wear. (The sundress is a different outfit, Shai doesn't wear it with her jeans and white tee).

Theo packs up everything in the bathroom, and leaves out our toothbrushes and one tube of toothpaste.

"The bathroom is packed up." He says. So everything in this house is packed up except for the mattresses.

"Perfect. Are the kids done?"

"Yeah, they're taking their things downstairs."

"Okay. I guess packing is over with."

We lay down on the mattress, one of us on each side of Sadie. And fall asleep from this long day of packing.