Moving with children, regardless of age, can be a challenge. Leaving an old home for a new home, saying goodbye to friends, and disrupting your children’s regular routine will be a transition for your entire family. Our friends from The Scott Boudreaux Group have a few tips to help spot possible stressors and how to address them.

Time is your friend:

In many cases, you may have months to prepare for your move, but sometimes we don’t have that luxury, especially when the market is moving as fast as ours is right now. If you have the time, use it to your advantage. Prepare your kids for the move by giving them as much information as you can about your new home, let them go to a showing, show them pictures of what their new bedroom will look like, where they’ll go to school, drive through the neighborhood, or show them photos  online of the local playground they’ll visit.

If you’re moving on a short schedule or long distance, use the time at your old home to make a plan with your child about all the steps of the moving process. Knowing what to expect can help ease those jitters and give them a sense of what happens next.

Involve your kids in the process:

Even the littlest task can make a difference in your child’s feelings towards their new home.

Kids can help you run a yard sale, help pick paint colors for repainting the walls of the living room, or even help you narrow down the homes you’re considering. If you have little ones, there are tons of creative ways to repurpose packing material and create moving-day entertainment (think: a moving-box fort).

Let the kids pack a few of their own moving boxes. As an extra tip let them decorate their boxes with stickers and crayons.

Pack a bag for moving day:

Allow your child to have a small bag or backpack for their most favorite items. Their lovey, their game console… a few things that they don’t want to be without or that can keep them busy while all of the boxes are unpacked and sorted.

Visit your new neighborhood:

If you’re not moving cross country, and have the ability, visit your new neighborhood. As mentioned above, driving by places that will be a part of their new routine, their school, parks, ice cream shops etc… will help take the surprise out of the experience and give them a better understanding of where they’ll be loving and all of the exciting new things they’ll be close to.

Keep your routine as much as possible:

Minimizing change is essential. You may be moving to a new house or even a new state, but you can keep things familiar by setting up their bedroom furniture in the same arrangement or maintaining the same morning routines. Moreover, try to preserve any traditions you held in your old home, like family movie nights or Sunday morning pancakes. This will help ease the transition.

You won’t be able to keep everything the same, but the little pieces you preserve in the transition can make a world of difference.

Have you made a move with children recently? What tips do you have that helped make your transition easier?

Thank you to our site sponsors, Sophia Leece and Scott Boudreaux with LAH Real Estate. For more information on what’s happening in the Birmingham Housing Market, or to schedule a free home buyer/seller consultation, you can reach them:

Sophia Leece, 205.895.9120 | sleece@lahrealestate.com
Scott Boudreaux, 205.835.9787 | sboudreaux@lahrealestate.com

If you’re looking for ways to help with donations for those impacted by the recent storms, here is a list of items and donation sites collecting for families and individuals in need.

Homewood City Hall:

Collecting items until Friday, January 29th
Items needed: Flashlights, batteries, matches, candles, cleaning supplies, and water

All 5 Pelham Fire Stations:

Collecting Items  through noon on Monday, February 2nd
Items needed: Tarps, trash bags, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, feminine products, hand sanitizer, face masks, diapers and wipes, socks (all sizes) Ensure, pillows and blankets, baby formula, pet food, Gatorade, bottled water, laundry detergent.

Any Hoover Fire Dept:

Collecting items until 5pm on Sunday, January 31st.
Items needed: Tarps, hygiene products, feminine hygiene products, diapers and wipes, adult diapers and bed pads, socks (multiple sizes), Ensure, formula, pet food, cleaning supplies, trash bags, work gloves, Gatorade, cases of water, protein bars, pillows and blankets, laundry detergent, plastic totes, gallon size plastic ziplock bags, hand sanitizer and face masks.

Centerpoint City Hall:

Items needed: Cases of water, non-perishable food, tarps and Covid-19 supplies.

Warrior Fire Dept:

Collecting until 10am on January 31st
Items needed: Tarps, hygiene products, feminine hygiene products, diapers and wipes, adult diapers and bed pads, socks (multiple sizes), Ensure, formula, pet food, cleaning supplies, trash bags, work gloves, Gatorade, cases of water, protein bars, pillows and blankets, laundry detergent, plastic totes, gallon size plastic ziplock bags, hand sanitizer and face masks.

Gardendale Civic Center:

Donations can be dropped off during the following time slots:
Monday – Thursday: 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. | Friday and Saturday: 8:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. |Sunday: 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Items needed: Tarps, hygiene products, feminine hygiene products, diapers and wipes, adult diapers and bed pads, socks (multiple sizes), Ensure, formula, pet food, cleaning supplies, trash bags, work gloves, Gatorade, cases of water, protein bars, pillows and blankets, laundry detergent, plastic totes, gallon size plastic ziplock bags, hand sanitizer and face masks.

Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure is the premiere family fun park in Alabama and now there’s even more to love! On December 25th, Christmas Day, Alabama Adventure and Splash Adventure announced the largest expansion since the park’s beginning by introducing the Rocket Racer! Rocket Racer is a massive new slide structure with six separate lanes to race your family and friends, head first, to the bottom. This incredible new addition is not only over 50 feet tall, but also over 400 feet long! This makes Rocket Racer the biggest water slide in Alabama, and also makes Splash Adventure the biggest Water Park in the state!

See it for yourself —> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t15OFwGiYk

Along with this giant attraction comes an expansion to the park area itself. The Rocket Racer will be installed in a new area of the park that will be renovated and cultivated to create an opportunity for growth in the future, plus additional space for guests to spread out and enjoy their day at the park. In addition to the park’s expansion, 2021 will also see the return of Free Soft Drinks, Free Parking, Free Tubes, and Free Shows including the Aquabatic Stunt Show and the Wild West Dive Show!

Who’s looking forward to Summer, now?

Much like everything since March, New Year’s Eve is going to feel a lot different this year, the ball drop in Times Square without the massive crowd of spectators, lots of families opting to stay in rather than celebrate in large crowds as the clock counts down to 2021, but just because things will be more subdued doesn’t mean we can’t still have a Rockin’ New Year’s Eve… Here are some ideas for celebrating at home!

Have your own fireworks show:

Most public New Year’s Eve fireworks events are canceled due to Covid-19, but you can still have your own, even it’s just the kids waving around some sparklers.

Create a Countdown Party:

At each hour, have a special surprise activity planned for the family to do together. Play games, make crafts, eat snacks, go on a scavenger hunt, read a new book… Write the activity on a balloon, blow it up and right the hour on the outside of the balloon. At the start of each hour pop the corresponding balloon to find out your new activity.

Host a virtual Celebration:

Just because your kiddos can’t celebrate with all of their friends in person doesn’t mean they can’t all get together via Facetime or Zoom. Let them dress up in silly outfits or New Year’s gear and chat with their friends as 2020 comes to a close. For parents with kids already in bed, grab your favorite adult beverage and zoom it up with your besties.

Dance it out:

As if we need an excuse to have a dance party. Create a playlist of all of your favorite songs from 2020 and have a dance off or let your kids teach you some of the most popular TikTok dances from this year.

Celebrate NOON Year’s Eve:

Go all out with a sparkling grape juice toast, turn on a pre-recorded Netflix countdown and make a lot of noise!

Movie Marathon:

Pop popcorn, pass out the movie candy and host an all-night movie marathon! Pick a series you’ve been wanting to see (Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Percy Jackson… ) and start at the beginning, or let everyone pick their favorite.

Have a Game Night:

Get out all of your board games and cards and spend the night playing all of your family favorites!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to urge people to celebrate the holidays at home with others who live with them, but whatever you choose to do, all of us here at BirminghamMommy wish you a Happy New Year!!

Stanley Steemer of North Central Alabama services the greater Birmingham Metro Area and surrounding counties, spanning from Cullman to Clanton and from the Mississippi state line to the Georgia state line.

All Stanley Steemer water restoration specialists have Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC), the most widely recognized and accepted certification program in the industry. These individuals are highly trained and prepared for any emergency water removal task they encounter. In addition to certification, our technicians attend IICRC-accredited continuing education and training programs throughout the year. We provide the time and money to train our people, and we supply them with the best equipment available.
For more information on their 24/7 Emergency Water Resmoval visit their site

Stanley Steemer provides trained technicians and state-of-the-art equipment you can’t get anywhere else. When flooding occurs, why muddy the waters? Call Stanley Steemer.

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Whether you’re planning to buy or sell this year, there are some real estate resolutions that buyers and sellers can, and should make. Here are a few to consider:

Buyers: Clean your Financial House and get it in order. Planning to buy a home takes time and effort. Plan to meet with a Mortgage Broker early in the new year. Know your credit score, and any potential credit issues that might make getting a loan difficult. Knowing in advance will give you time to correct any problems or to know what you’re facing. Your Real Estate Agent should be able to recommend a local Mortgage Professional.

Sellers: Your home is a product. Start now clearing out the clutter by donating or getting rid of the things you no longer need. Consult with your Real Estate Agent and come up with a list of improvements that need to be made. Start getting bids now to help spread out the cost of the repairs or upgrades.

Buyers: Start Early. A buyer needs a couple of months to learn and research the market and understand home values in the area they are interested in. Your Agent will most likely show you a number of houses before you make your first offer, and you may make several offers before getting a contract on your dream home. Being an informed buyer by doing research prior to starting your search will help this process move more quickly and help you to make a decision faster, which could be very important if inventory is low and houses aren’t staying on the market long.

Sellers: Know your exit strategy. Planning to purchase while trying to sell at the same time can be tricky and stressful for any seller. A few things you need to be able to answer- Can you afford to close on the new home before selling? And if so, for how long? Do you need to sell the property first? If so, will the potential sale price support a home purchase in the neighborhood you want to be in? If not, what other areas should you be looking in? Is short term housing an option? Can you afford to purchase, then sell? What can you be doing in your current home to insure a quick sell once you close on your new home. Lots of questions and having a plan in place ahead of time will help make the process less stressful for you and your family.

Buyer and Sellers: Hire an Agent now. Hiring a real estate agent early in the process will allow you to have an expert on hand as you start to putting your plan together. A good real estate agent doesn’t just show and sell homes: They can be your strategic adviser, even well in advance of any actual transaction. Thanks to their years of experience and market knowledge, a Realtor’s opinions, thoughts and ideas can save you a lot of time and money.

Thank you to our site sponsors, Sophia Leece and Scott Boudreaux with LAH Real Estate. For more information on what’s happening in the Birmingham Housing Market, or to schedule a free home buyer/seller consultation, you can reach them:

Sophia Leece, 205.895.9120 | sleece@lahrealestate.com
Scott Boudreaux, 205.835.9787 | sboudreaux@lahrealestate.com

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