Abby Lee

In case you didn’t know, Jason, Abby and I are moving to Vermont. In fact we have already done so. This move was a lot of work that came from a lot of different sources. We started packing in November. We did a huge chunk of packing over Thanksgiving weekend with the help of Jason’s parents, Rick and Julie. We received over 80 boxes from a friend at work, thanks Tim & Nancy. We couldn’t have done it without you. During the weeks between Thanksgiving & December 14, we packed the rest of the apartment, I finished my Master’s program, and we tied up all of our lose ends at camp. We also had a little bit more fun with the PlayDoe and spent as much time as possible with our North Carolina friends.




Jason & I were Howed Out of Camp on December 14, 2007. It was a highly emotional event with lots of tears & laughter. Jason left quickly after to go to RDU to pick up my dad, and then find the Rental Truck. I finished off some paper work and then headed home to finish off packing. As I was packing I could feel my anxiety levels elevating. Although we had done an amazing job of packing our apartment, there was still a large amount of “stuff” still lying around. We had a bunch of friends coming and I knew when the moving started all organization will be lost. Jason and Dad arrived at the apartment at 12:30. Dad stuck around for about 15 minutes and then got into my car Bette, which was pack with musical instruments and the television, and started his drive. He was supposed to drive to Maryland and spend the night with my brother Matt. We later found out that he decided to drive all the way home. He arrived in Vermont at 3:00AM. After Dad left, Jason ran out to get some $5 Pizzas and stuff to drink. I continued packing and was working hard when our friend Scott arrived. He was the first helper. He had the job of taking the stars off of the ceiling and taking down the crib. Jason came home with lunch and we started working hard. At this point I realized that I was packing 5 different boxes at once and I was actually filling all of the boxes with materials that pertained to each other. We also found the missing boot, unfortunately I packed it into a box…I just don’t know which one. Anyway throughout the afternoon, we got help from Phil, Emily Sheridan, Kelly, Jenn, Lori, and Jeff. I think that this is everyone but I might have forgotten someone. If you were there and you can think of someone that I might of forgotten please let me know. We worked really hard and were almost completely packed by 5 PM. The last hour or so was spent throwing things into boxes and putting them into the truck. I still haven’t found certain things. The only thing I am really bummed about it the missing boot, which was found and is now missing again. We also moved our refrigerator down the stairs, cleaned it and then moved the old refrigerator back into the kitchen. Later on that night I had the opportunity to clean 2 years of grime off of the refrigerator that lived on the back porch. It was great fun. We did most of the packing process without Abby because she was out at Hazel’s ( Nanny & PaPa ) house. Liz, another friend from work, was nice enough to pick up Abby after work. By 7 o-clock most of our steam had been used. Everything was moving a little bit slower but we were still plugging along. Abby was hanging out and keeping everybody laughing. We continued to munch on $5 pizza as we finished up packing or taking stuff to the dumpster out back. By 9 o’clock most people had left and we were pretty much done. We had Abby’s mattress and our air mattress in Abby’s room with the computer & bag. Any travel bags were on the mantel trash had been taken out, all give-aways were at dumpster or by the roadside. Jason was hanging out with Lori and Jeff, while Abby and I went to bed. We were tired. Plus we knew that we were going to be up at 4:00 in the morning. We made a call to Kelly to tell her the time we were leaving and off to sleep I went.



I woke up at 4 AM and got in the shower. I knew that I had more to do and Jason would sleep later. As I went from place to place tying up loose ends, I took the trash out and packed up my travel bag and took random bits from places that we would forget about, I was excited that we were moving but a little sad to be leaving our apartment. It was really a great place. I also knew that we wouldn’t be able to find another place for only $395 a month, that was this great. Jason awoke and took his shower and then he started packing as well. Not too much later Kelly arrived with Dakota. She saved the day by watching Abby and allowing Abby and Dakota some time together before we left. Jason and I scrambled around trying to fit our bags into different places. I gave Jason his travel snacks and his walkie-talkie. We swept the apartment and moved the final piece of furniture to the roadside for give-away. Kelly dressed Abby and helped with the sweeping process. It was about 6AM when we did our final sweep of the house to make sure we had everything and then sit with Kelly & Dakota on the porch to say Goodbye. After a lot of tears and many hugs, we parted ways. Jason started driving to Hazel’s, I ran over to drop our keys off and then to Hazel’s and Kelly & Dakota returned to their house. Thank you so much Kelly for being there when we needed you, even at 4 o’clock in the morning. We arrived at Hazel’s for breakfast and dropped off a box of perishable food. We had an awesome breakfast and took some pictures of Abby’s North Carolina Grandparents, then we cried for a little while, had a bunch of hugs and were on our way. The first 3 hours were the worst for me. I cried off and on for the entire three hours. I would think that I would be OK and then I would think of one of the many good friends that we were leaving and I would start tearing up. I know that the move is a great step for our family but it is always tough to make a big change. I had been living in NC for 10Years. That is a long time. As I was contemplating our huge change, Jason called me over the walkie-talkie. Apparently there was a huge winter storm coming into Vermont on Saturday night. This meant that we needed to get there before the storm came. So we decided we needed to drive straight through to Vermont. This was a big undertaking. We had started driving at 7AM in the morning. We arrived in Vermont at 9PM. Our only stops were for gas and bathroom breaks. We ended up going all the way to Plattsburg and then taking the Ferry across. The best part of the trip was when we arrived at the Ferry and were about to pay when the clerk said to Jason “Kevin’s got it covered.” Kevin is a good friend of the family. He works at LCT, which is the Ferry Company. He had paid for our ferry crossing. How awesome is that!! As we spent 20 minutes on the boat crossing the lake, I called Hazel to let her know that we were home and revved ourselves up for the remaining 10 minutes of driving. We arrived safely at my parents’ home, went inside to eat homemade Mac & cheese and expel some pent up jitters that come from driving for 14 hours straight without breaks with a baby in the back seat. By the way Abby did awesome. She only cried once and then she was good to go. Although we did miss changing the diaper in time at hour 12 but that was solved by a plastic bag and a blanket. This stop was also when I dropped the ticket that is needed to exit the throughway. It fell out of the car when we went into the rest stop and got stuck under the car. I didn’t know what it was at that time. I came out of the rest stop and saw the paper a little bit from the car and went to see what it was and was happy to see the ticket. Could you only imagine how much I would have had to pay if I hadn’t found it. Goodness.

We arrived at home before the snow fell. The next morning we woke up and there was at least 8 inches of snow on the ground.An Awesome welcome to Vermont.

The past two months have been kind of crazy but we are going to try and keep you updated with the activities that have gone on. We’ll start with a visit to North Carolina by Jason’s parents. Grandma & Grandpa arrived on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. Jason spent the afternoon in Raleigh doing a home visit and then going to the airport. I spent the afternoon cleaning the apartment. It was a lot of work but I finished with just enough time to sit down and play with Abby for about 30 minutes before Jason & his folks got home. Abby loved seeing her grandparents and being the center of attention.
Thursday we took a walk to the park and then started cooking the Thanksgiving meal. The park is actually just a jungle gym that is in the backyard of a church. Abby likes it a lot because she gets to climb and go down the slide. We tried to go once a weekend but weren’t always successful. Abby has learned how to climb up the chain ladder and likes to go down the smaller slide. Jason usually has to go down the bigger slide with her. Additionally there is a game that Abby likes to play that includes throwing wood chips at her parents. She’ll chase you around trying to hit you with the handful of chips. Sometimes you can distract her and redirect her to go after the other person but not always.






Thanksgiving dinner was pretty awesome. Jason was in charge of most of the cooking. I took care of the sweet potato casserole & the green bean casserole and that was it. Jason was in charge of everything else. He did a really good job. We ate at about 3 (I think). Our dinner party included Jason’ Parents, Jason, Abby and I, Jeff & Lori. Jeff and Lori are our really good friends from Henderson. Lori used to work at camp, and Jeff & Jason frequently play music together, or just hang out. Jeff and Lori were in charge of dessert. Jeff brought a homemade apple pie and Lori brought some sort of Peanut Butter & Chocolate pie. It was absolutely amazing! So rich and delicious…umm, I want a piece right now.

The rest of the weekend included an early morning shopping trip for Emily & Julie (7:30), a trip to Pizza Hut, Christmas Present time, and a bunch of packing. Christmas Present Time was definitely a bunch of fun for Abby, although she enjoys opening the presents more than actually playing them. Her current move is to rip the paper and then through it over her shoulders. She received a bunch of really cool gifts including a Cars CD player, two Dora outfits, and her favorite gift…from the dollar store…a Winnie the Pooh puzzle. I know that she got more gifts that this but with the amount of packing that we did that weekend it is all a blur.





A huge percentage of our apartment was packed over Thanksgiving weekend. We packed our entire kitchen and at least three closets. Our walls were lined with stacks of boxes that were filled with our stuff. During this process we learned exactly how much junk we have. Jason’s mom and dad were huge help and we couldn’t have done it with out them. Thank You! Julie—you packed our entire kitchen and wrapped more dishes that weekend than I ever thought possible. Thanks!