a new start in a new place

 This is a ridiculous amount of pictures, but I wanted to document the house.  I am not a photographer by any means and the color looks off in a lot of the pictures, but it's better than nothing!  We are so incredibly pleased with how the house came together.  Our builder was absolutely amazing and helped us get the exact look we wanted.  We have moved almost all of our stuff into the garage and tomorrow we will move the furniture into the house and begin the task of unpacking and settling.  It has been a very long,
 exhausting, and very emotional week.  I feel so blessed to be able to live in this gorgeous home and at the same time, I feel very scared to let myself become attached to it completely.  I feel happy, sad, scared, excited, overwhelmed, anxious, and just plain exhausted.  The girls are excited but I also think they are nervous for what life is going to feel like in a different place.  The last year has been such a whirlwind.  I am hoping Jeff's job continues to be wonderful and that it remains stable.  I am hopeful we will continue to love the area we are in and that this is finally a place we will live for a long, long time.  If we were ever to need to move again, the opportunity to build our home again probably won't be a possibility so I hope we can enjoy this home and make thousands of memories in these walls.

Office/scrapbooking/craft room

This is covered porch off the eating area.  They are finishing screening it in this week...a must in the south.  The straw is there for some yard work they are doing this week sometime.

We love this home and can't wait to sleepin it tomorrow!  

I am excited to be unpacked and settled and for life to slow down just a touch

so I can start enjoying regular day to day life with Jeff and the girls.

swimming lessons

I finally found a swim class that I could get the girls into this summer.  Of course it fell the same week we are moving, but hey, they need lessons.  I was so nervous about how the lesson would go.  It's every morning for one week. The girls are both a little hesitant about water, Heidi always has been and Savanna plays off of Heidi's water anxiety.  I was planning for the absolute worst but hoping for the best.  Savanna doesn't do well with going to class type situations but I figured since they could be in the same class it would be a higher chance she would cooperate and at least get over to the teacher.

 I was so proud of the girls!  Savanna was so cooperative and was even the first to volunteer to do some of the activities!  Neither one of them liked the going under the water part, but it will take time and practice to be comfortable with that feeling.  They woke up really happy to go again so that is a good sign!  Both of them did mention this morning that they didn't want to go under water and Savanna said she didn't want to go because she didn't want to jump in, so again, I am just hoping and praying for the best!  The teacher is really good and very encouraging.  I hope the remainder of the week goes smoothly and that by the end they feel more comfortable with the idea of swimming because let's be honest, it gets hot enough here we need to be able to spend summer in the pool!

a few more random pictures

 It seems like I have a lot of photos that don't really fit anywhere today!  We will be doing our official move this week on Wednesday and Thursday.  We moved the garage and shed stuff into the new garage and are now moving onto the house.  Moving is stressful no matter how you do it or how well it is executed!  The part I am the most stressed about it getting the last odds and ends out of the rental house and then having enough time to get the rental cleaned really well.  Isn't cleaning the old place the worst part??  I mean, all you really want is to be unpacking and feeling settled and buying groceries so you can sort of function at the new place!  But, it's just part of it.  We have moved so many times in the last few years I should be used to it!  The girls are not stressed at all, haha. They think this whole moving thing is an absolute blast and love being a part of everything.  I'm glad they are excited.

I am excited too, but nervous.  Moving into the home we built is different this time.  Jeff said he feels weird about it too this time around.  I think because of how everything happened the last time we built when we thought it was forever, we are just a little hesitant to let ourselves become attached to our new house.  I don't know if that even makes sense, but I can't think of a better way to explain it.  Don't get me wrong, we are soooooo happy about our new house, but it's hard to let ourselves be totally happy and feel totally secure.

 The girls have just been so cute lately.  Caimbree is so adored by both of her older sisters.  She is so easy to love!  We were at Lowes and she kept giving Savanna and Heidi hugs.  So precious.  I am so glad they all have each other.  I always tell them the best gift we ever gave them was each other...I usually tell them that when they forget what a gift they are to each other haha.

Caimbree got a new dress for her birthday from Grandma H.  She was beyond thrilled to wear it and she looked so adorable.  She wanted us to call her 'princess' and Savanna was so funny because she kept saying, "I'm the guy chasing the princess!"  She would run after Caimbree and Caimbree was laughing so hard. They have the most hilarious little friendship.

farm life

Another benefit to Heidi's pre-k was that I got to meet and become friends with quite a few other moms!  Her friend Caden from school got baby goats and his mom texted me to see if we wanted to come and see them.  We had the best day and I loved having a chance to visit with my friend!  They have a lot of land and a lot of animals and it was super fun for the girls, especially Heidi who has finally let go of her fear of animals!  She had so much fun with the goats.  Savanna even warmed up a little and fed the goats a few little treats.  I was so proud of both of them...if you know my kids, you know animals are a little intimidating to them.  This was huge for Savanna.

 Although they loved the goats, the really, really loved the chickens!!!  Heidi could not get enough.  She liked to lightly let them go and watch them fly.  My friend even let us take home some farm fresh eggs.  We cooked them up for breakfast the next morning and they were so yummy.  We were so grateful for the invite and had such a fun time.  It was cute to see Heidi playing with Caden too.  She made such great friends at pre-k.  Caden is going to her elementary next year so I am crossing my fingers they end up in the same class!