new house

We moved into our new house!  We've been here since April 1st, but today is the first day our computer has been connected to the internet.  I didn't know it was possible to survive so long without that.  hehe. 

Closing happened pretty quickly.  On Thursday (March 30) we found out we were closing the next day.  They actually didn't even tell us what time our appointment was until the day of.  It was really fun and surreal.  Here Tyler is signing the papers.  The lady that assisted us was super awesome. 

On our way back home, we drove over to the place to get our keys.  Then we ran over to our new house really quick to leave something in the house...just because we could:-) 

We had most everything packed, so the next day when we moved it all, it was pretty quick.  There were 12-13 guys that came to help.  It was so nice of them (thank you!!).  It took two loads in a big u-haul.  They filled it up, drove to new house (not far away) and emptied it.  Then went back and reloaded, then came back and emptied it.  They were done in about two hours exactly.  Pretty speedy!

I wasn't there when they picked up the truck, though if I had my choice, I would have chosen this exact one.  Who doesn't want a huge blue turtle on their moving truck?

Emptying old house...

Bringing it in to new house. 

We had each box labeled with what room it went in, and they were even kind enough to put them all in the proper rooms!  (good thing, too, because many of the boxes were way too heavy for me to pick up.  I may be a ninja, but my karate chops and somersaults don't help very much in picking up large boxes.)

 I caught the end of it in this picture, but the guys got momentarily distracted when they came across the light sabers, play swords, and play guns.  They had a couple brief battles and then continued with their work.

So, we moved from this house that we loved for the six years that we lived in it:

 

Back when we moved in we had one kidlet, not knowing if, or how many, we'd have more.  Then the next few years, we added four more babies!  It started feeling squished, so we decided it was time to move.  If I ever end up with time, I'll share more details about the whole thing.  It was an interesting experience how it all worked out.  It all started last June...


And, this is the house we have moved in to:

It's about 900 sq ft larger.  We have an office now, and a better school room (using separate dining as school room).  We also have a separate playroom and a larger/better set up kitchen. 

We had considered buying a larger home than this with more bedrooms (this one has four), but in the end we decided we wanted a house that wouldn't be too big for us once the kids move out but would still be big enough for them while they are living with us. 

We really wanted to move into a house that could be our "forever" house.  If Emma passes away, we want the option to stay in the house for the rest of our lives (though I know some families find it too hard to stay.  at least we'll have the option).  But, we've decided she's going to be living until she's 80 years old, so no worries, right?

The house was built by another family who ended up not being able to buy it because they couldn't sell their current home (can't imagine how disappointed they were!).  So, about the time we came along, the builder had dropped the price quite a bit to sell it fast.  The moment we walked in, it felt like our house.  It was weird.  (And, we'd looked at lots of houses over the previous several months!)

Anyway, we're excited to be here.  This house is way fancier than any house I've ever lived in or thought I'd ever live in.  We feel very grateful for the Lord blessing us to have things work out as they have.  A lot has happened with Ty's work too that I'll share some of when I have more time (do I ever have more time?!).  Tyler has worked really hard to get to the point he has to provide this for our family - thanks Tyler!  It was a great birthday present:-)

I have a million photos, but here are a few...

Violet & Rhys entertaining themselves while we're busy unpacking:

Violet washed everyone's dishes off for them after breakfast:

Sitting on Auntie Siouxsie's lap:

And, the kidlets...well, four of them.  

The house is so much more spacious and I feel like I can breath so much better.  I felt really squished in the last house.  Emma kept telling us for the first week or so that she felt like she was in a dream.  They all LOVE the house.  So fun.

Now all we have to do is sell the old house...