More Updates...

Here are some current pictures of our house. Bleak. Everything is getting boxed up to be cleaned to see what makes the cut of not smelling like smoke anymore. The windows that were broken (by the fire fighters to let smoke out) are boarded up to keep thieves out who listened to the police scanners and know that no one is living there. It's kinda creepy that they have to do that.

What remains of my poor kids rooms...

Our bedroom...

The living room looks less "homey" now, can't put my finger on the reason...

As for us, we are still hanging in there. We are looking at rental properties today. Keep your fingers crossed that something will work out! We thought it would be a good idea to share/document some things that are different with our routines so that we remember it.

The Dess Bedtime Shuffle: Gabe goes to sleep around 8, in the hotel crib, in the bedroom. Around 8:45 Emory needs to go to sleep so we wheel Gabe (yes the crib has wheels) into the dark and quiet living room. From that point on, Grant and I sit the the dark living room watching inaudible TV or work on the computer (thanks to Donald and Angela) or work in the dark on inventory of what was in our house.

Sniff Sniff: We got out first round of clothing back from the cleaners (who specialize in getting the smoke smell out). So after the kids go to bed, there we are sniffing the clothes. It gives us both a headache and then we have to give up after like 5 minutes because you can no longer tell what smells and what is ok.

Inventory: We have to make lists and price EVERYTHING in our house. Just think about the junk in your drawers and try to assess it. The amount of baby toys we had makes me sick to my stomach. There is no way we are bringing that much back into the house. Which we also refer to as "our new house" because it will be like new when we get back.

Grant went back to work today. He got there late and is leaving early, but at least he was there. The kids and I did a fun trip, picked up lunch, swung by the house and came back to the hotel for naps. The new version of normal? That's all for now. When I get my camera back from being cleaned, I will post some cute pics of the kids instead of depressing fire pictures.