Settling in

We are here!!!!  After two weeks our new home is finally starting to feel like a home.  Moving with children should come with a warning.  It is SO much work.  We still have a long long way to go with small projects and plans, but we are settled and living happily in our new place.

The very first morning in our home was EASTER!!!

The girls looked so beautiful in their sweet Easter dresses!

And we had such a fun time at our friends, the Kirks who invited us to participate with their family in Easter lunch...

And an Easter egg hunt!!!

I wish I had taken more pictures of our first two weeks in the house, but I honestly have not stopped moving.  My mom came to visit (praise Jesus!!!) and LD had a business trip out of town.  We have been going non stop just trying to be able to live...but here are a few things we have completed.

My very first goal was to have the play room finished so the girls could play happily while I completed lots of other tasks.  We just purchased a rug for in there that is not pictured and I have some things I'd like to add...but it is perfectly fuctional for playing!  Mission accomplished!!

And when Grammie got here we seriously put her to work.  She was not happy with my lack of pictures because we accomplished a lot and she wanted it documented :)  But here is her and Clare watering our front flower bed.  My mom also taught me the names of the plants growing in flower bed because I am seriously clueless...but I'm learning!

All day last Saturday LD worked us SO hard.  We cleaned out the entire backyard which was not even mowed.  There were leaves, vines and just junk back there.  After the neighbors told us about the snakes that live in the area we were all nervous.  During our little adventure we found a family of baby bunnies (so sweet), a snake (so gross), a family of baby birds living under our deck, and a ton of bugs and spiders.  But the girls love their "forest" as Clare likes to call it.

My mom was seriously a God send this weekend.  We took down and scrubbed 8 sets of blinds, cleaned out flower beds, put down mulch, shopped, cooked...and painted!!

This is a before shot of the fireplace and my mom strongly disliked it immediately upon walking in.  I was not fond of it, but there are two other projects (stripes in the dining room and a copper backsplash in the kitchen that I am itching to fix) that I really wanted done more.

But I am so thankful we got it done because it looks so so good!!!

Home sweet home

This week has been very exciting and just a little sad.  I have been so excited to move and get a little more space, but I did not anticipate the mixed emotions I would have about leaving our first home!  In May of 2006 LD and I purchased our first home...and we have loved it!!!

We purchased our first home as a new build and we were totally cluelss as to what we had to do when moving in.  I remember as soon as we closed we went to see the home all finished and all of a sudden realized we had to purchase blinds for every window...immediately, if we did not want our neighbors watching us!

We used to drive over from our apartment every weekend and watch the progress!  We would get so excited about the smallest improvements, days closer to moving in!

We had no idea what would take place during the six years we lived in this house, but it will always hold a very special place in my heart as our very first home.

On move in day we had so much help, and at the end of the day we were exhausted.  Just LD and I, and our sweet little baby Bella!  It's so hard to believe how much has changed since then.

After moving in, we had a household of visitors for our very first Easter spent in Charlotte!!

We did lots of painting and decorating along the way.  But the most important room we decorated was Clare's nursery.  I cannot tell you how many hours LD poured into that room so it would be perfect when we brough her home.

And it truly was pefect.  But the greatest thing was that it also served as Elle's nursery just two years later!

Bringing home our first little baby was a perfect day and such a sweet memory!

And so was bringing home our second sweet little girl!!!

Two years ago we spent our very first Christmas as a family in Charlotte!

And there are so many endless memories we have of watching our two little peanuts grow, play and learn in our home!

But great things are ahead!!  We are so incredibly excited about what God has provided for us!!  This weekend we will be moving and I have no doubt God has great memories and events in store for us in our new home!!