Our New Home

HOME SWEET HOME!  We moved into our new house on June 10th.  We closed on our house on the 3rd and we had about a 10 day period where we had both of our houses.  It really was such a blessing because we were able to slowly move, paint the entire house, and clean our old house all over the course of those 10 days.  Our actual first night in the new house was June 10th.  The big 3 kiddos went to stay in Tyler for a few days while we had the movers here and finished things up at the old house.  Was such a blessing to be able to work long and hard without little people in the way.

I have to say this move was SO much harder than I ever anticipated.  I feel like it took us foreverrrr to get unpacked and settled.  Hindsight is always 20/20 and I would have done things completely different if I could.  While the kids were in Tyler for 3 days we did not get anything done like I thought we would (in the new house).  Monday we moved in all day, Tuesday I was finishing the last little bit of JUNK-that-you-want-to-take-a-match-to-and-takes-forever-to-load-up, Wednesday we had our old house cleaned and carpets done so I had to be at the old house for all of that, and Thursday I went to pick up the kids.  Seriously nothing was done at the new house and here I was bringing them back.  It was crazy and chaotic and a headache.  I felt so in over my head and stressed out.  There was nothing fun about it.  Also since we had just come off a week away in Florida, Matt was swamped at work and couldn't get off.  Bru-tal.  BUT here we are in August and we are settled and it feels like home.  Anyone moving with kids, do I ever have advice for you!!

Goodness, I already feel like they have grown so much since we have moved in.

 We hired painters to come and paint all of the open area of the house plus the master bedroom and bath, & dining room.  It was so nice having them come and do it and they did a really great job.  I love all of the paint colors I chose.  My last house was very colorful, so this time I wanted a lot more neutrals.  Matt's mom---aka LIFESAVER, GIFT, best woman I know, stayed with us 3 weeks.  YES, 3 weeks people.  I know many of you would cringe at the thought of your MIL here for 3 weeks, but honestly I wasn't ready for her to go and could have cried when she did.  She was the biggest help of all time.  She painted all of the kids rooms and bathrooms, our office, 1/2 bath, laundry room....the woman is a rock star and we could not for a second survived June without her.

The kids playing 'cave people' outside.  I love when they play together.

Here is the closet under the stairs.  Definitely turned into one of my favorite spots in our house for the kids.

Picking up the kids in Waco and bringing them home to their new house.  (Little did we know Holton had a yucky virus that was in the early stages of raring it's ugly head).

First night to have all my babies sleeping here.

We have really had a great time making this house our home.  The people we bought it from were an older couple so this house did feel 'grandparent-y'.  I was dying to slap paint on the walls and get my furniture in here.  We have bought several new pieces of furniture for this house that I just love and feel like they are perfect additions.  It's been fun seeing our things find a home here. 

Daddy's little helper

One way to wrangle a 2 year old.

 I don't know WHY on earth it took me 2 weeks to come up with the brilliant idea to shuffle the kids around every night for a few days so we could work on each room.  We had every bedroom unpacked and things on the walls done in less than a week.  These pics below are from Instagram right after we finished.  We've added a few things/moved things around since then, but overall here's the general idea.

Hudson and Holton's room.  They will share for about another year or so until we move Hayes out of his nursery. 

Harp's 'pink with polkadot' bathroom.  I think it turned out very sweet and very little girl like I wanted.  (I don't have a pic of her bedroom on here--whoops).

Our bedroom

My love has become quite the brave handyman.  I've been so impressed with his mad skills and attempts hanging things, doing electrical things, and just being so handy!  Quite the stud I must say.

The 'after' he got our light fixture hung along with a dimmer.  I tell ya, he surprised me.

We have done so much around here and still have more to do.  I am sure that honey-do list will never end because we both are thinking of new things to do around here.  Next up is getting the playroom all complete.  We are having a contractor come out and put in a closet for all the junk toys we have.  (why it isn't standard to have a closet with a playroom is beyond me).  We are also going to have our painter come back and do stripes on the playroom walls.  I'll be so glad when that room is complete.

my sweet baby boy.

We are so excited to use this outdoor fireplace/sitting area come the Fall.  It's calling our name.

We love it here.  We feel so blessed to call this house our home.  We hope to have many, many years here.  I love this sweet little picture of the kids on the front porch steps.  I think that is where most of our pics will probably be taken.  It will be fun to watch them grow on those front steps.