The Saturday 7: New House Edition

1. We did it!! We successfully moved into the new house!

I spent weeks purging, packing, and organizing. My kids watched hours and hours of TV. The Roku was the last thing I packed. Lol. Justin and I hauled load after load to the new house and stored it in the basement. Then finally, on Friday my dad, Justin, and Luke all had the day off, so we kicked it into high gear. And on Saturday we called in the cavalry and knocked out the rest of the move in just a couple trips. We are so grateful for all the people who lent their muscles and their time.

2. 2 days before the big move, we took a break from the packing to celebrate Levi's 3rd birthday. I was very grateful that he's young enough to have low expectations. Haha.

Working on getting all 3 fingers up at the same time.

Lena had gymnastics on Levi's birthday, so he got to get a candy bar from the vending machine.

My sweet friend Kelly gave Levi a bunch of her boys' old tracks. He's been loving them!

Every time he opened a present, he said, "I do like this!" Haha.

I tried to do a birthday interview with Levi like I do with the girls, but he was not at all interested. Haha.

3. The kids have done fairly well with transitioning to the new house. It was probably harder on me than anyone. Lol. But I managed to make it through the whole process without shedding a tear (thank you, Zoloft). I only got choked up once - when my dad hugged me good-bye. But seriously, we're ten minutes away. It's not a big deal. At least that's what I keep telling myself. 😁

Last bedtime story in the old house.

A picture of the kids' growth chart. 

Last family photo as we headed out the door to the new house.

The house that built me. 

Other than the 7 years Justin and I lived on our own, and the 2 years I spent in dorm rooms, this is the only house I've lived in. I'm not great at math, but I'm pretty sure that's like 24 years of my life.

4. Despite the bittersweet nature of leaving my parents and my childhood home, we are loving the new house. It's been overwhelming, of course, to unpack everything I just spent weeks packing! But I love finding homes for everything and figuring out how to best maximize our space. I spent the past week making the main floor livable. Most of the furniture is in place, and most of the main stuff is unpacked and put away. But I have done very little in the way of decorating or putting things on the walls. We finally unrolled our living room rug today, but I can't decide which way to angle it. There are just a lot of little things that still need to be tweaked and perfected. As for the basement . . . other than our bedroom, nothing is done. It still looks like this:

Actually, I did set up my Keurig. At least that is removed from this picture. 

I can't wait to get this area finished, so I can send the kids downstairs to play!

5. The girls have done really well with sharing a room and adjusting to the new house. Levi has struggled a little more. The first night, he slept almost all night without a peep.

The second night, he kept crying that he was scared, so I spent half the night sleeping on the toddler bed in his room. The third night, he was up so many times, I finally just slept on the couch instead of running up and down the stairs. The fourth night he got out of his crib in the middle of the night for the first time and stood at the top of the stairs screaming for me. (He ended up in bed with us that night.) The fifth night, he came down with a cold and a cough that wakes him up so often he ended up in bed with us again. He's also randomly decided that he wants to sleep in the toddler bed instead of the crib. I wasn't going to work on that transition until we were more settled here, but I guess he's ready. He has yet to actually sleep all night in it, but I think the crib's days are numbered!

6. I'm just going to finish with pictures since I have lots of them and it's nearing midnight!

My dad found this picture of my brother Luke when we were packing. Don't you see Levi in that little face?

Justin taught the girls how to play checkers and they've loved competing against each other. 

The awesome print I got from Valueland for $3!

 I haven't taken any real "after" pictures since I don't have everything quite how I want it, but here are some before and during pictures.

Our bedroom in the basement.

One of the first things we did when we moved in was replace that sagging closet bar. Haha.

The girls' room before the bunk beds were put up.

Dining room looking into kitchen mid-move.

Living room

Other side of the living room

Levi's room

Putting the girls to work

Semi-finished dining/kitchen. Someday I want to paint those cabinets white. Someday . . .

My epic track in Levi's room

Our first non-pizza meal in the dining room. (Justin hadn't sat down yet.)

Thanks for putting up with my constant moving talk for the past month. Stay tuned for more picture updates!