day to day...

I've had some of these pictures on file since before we moved.  But I wanted to post them because they are memorable ;).  Please bear with the randomness of this post!  There's A LOT of pictures...I'm just trying to catch up.

Emma's gummy smile...yes, she will be 1 in a week and half - and still has NO teeth!

Chad was buying donuts on a regular basis near the end of building our house.  This also was when Livie was still OBSESSED with pink and sugar!  I'm happy to say that her love of pink has died down a bit (it no longer motivates her every decision)...but her love of sugar still stands :).

Emma helping me pack ;)

Some of our amazing friends from our moving crew. I couldn't say thank you enough that day!

And the boys...seriously, they blessed us SO much.  Pretty much helped from 8am to 8pm...moving EVERYTHING from our old house and helping UNPACK almost every box!!!

Chad's cousin, Jenny, had the girls the day we moved...another huge help :).  

Like I said before, that first week we moved was crazy.  I did take a few pictures during the few "down" moments. 

The move did not effect this little one's eating habits ;).

Chad showing the girls around...

And the above one is Father's day morning....Chad finally got to sleep in ;).

Since the move and the parade, Chad and I both did get strep throat (we think), which wiped us out for awhile...but we're feeling much better now.  And life is getting more and more normal every week. We're loving not having much planned, catching up on appointments, relationships, summer activities, and just enjoying each other.

The girls LOVE playing in the pantry.

Livie with her first "bike".  She's getting the hang of it!

A week ago, Chad took me and the girls to the "Cuba Farm"...a personal hunting/fishing get-a-way lodge he's been working on for the past 14 months.  It's not finished yet, but it's extravagant for a personal lodge.  And very cool!  There's a reason he didn't take me to see it until after we finished our house ;).

The great room

The fishing garage...

More garage...

Still garage...yeah, I mean check out all those barn doors in just one of the garages!!

the refrigerator!!

A vintage looking built-in in the dining room

Love this laundry room...

The sunroom facing the lake

Love all the old wood finishes

one of the guest bathrooms...they all had barn door shower doors!  crazy...

Hallway...

Outdoor kitchen...yeah, everything about this place is pretty much an outdoor man's dream...

Sooo...here's some more random pictures!!

Love that smirky smile...

She LOVES her dad

My baking assistant 

Had to take a picture of this moment, cause it happens A LOT..both girls wanting me at the same time.  Result?  Me getting smothered and at least one of them in tears.  It's so nice to be loved :).

And last one of this post...Livie with baby Zion (just over 2 weeks old).  She LOVED holding her !!  Not sure if Zion felt the same way tho :(.  Maybe next time...

home

I know, I know...it has been forever since I last blogged.  

After we moved 3 weeks ago, things were CRAZY for the first 2 weeks...some of which I don't want to remember!  Here's what I do remember: trying to finish the house (Chad had a list about 2 pages long of plumbing/electrical/carpentry/landscaping/etc that had to get done), cleaning, getting it to pass inspection, unpacking, putting everything away, cleaning, decorating, getting it ready for the parade of homes, cleaning...yeah, there was lots of cleaning going on.  Oh, and not to mention meeting the needs of our two little girls :).  Everyday was FULL, and there were occasional mishaps, but God graciously got us through it! 

And it is OVER.

We can hardly believe it.  We kinda feel like we're on vacation.

Chad was seriously giddy last week.  I was just relieved.  And our girls seem to be happier now too (amazing how that is, huh?).  

Thank you to EVERYONE who made it possible for us to finish this crazy project!  All those who labored on the house and the lot (all 14+ months), those who watched our girls, those who helped us move (and even stayed to help us unpack almost ALL our boxes in one day!).  You all are awesome :). 

And now that it's over, there are few things fresh on my mind that I've learned...and want to have to written down to remind myself for the next time we may build ;).

• Chad is an amazing builder (I am not at all biased)...TRUST him...he knows what he's doing
• The mistakes in the house that I thought were a big deal at the time, faded away IMMEDIATELY after we moved in 
• It's way too nice for us...but we will ENJOY it, and USE it while we have it :)
• It's just a house
• It's God's...always has been...always will be.  Keep an open hand!

Enjoy the pictures! And my models ;).  One big thing that's missing is our windows/view from the great room/kitchen...I'll try to sneak that in sometime soon.

And please stop by anytime...we LOVE visitors...seriously.

a lil' summary

So, we sold this baby a few weeks ago.  After listing it with an amazing realtor ;), it was on the market 5 days, had one showing, and was sold.  Praise the Lord!   The buyers were able to wait for a June closing too...so all in all, we feel very blessed with how everything worked out.  

Are we ready to move on?  As much as we've loved living here and have loads of memories from the past 4 and half years...we definitely are ready to move on and have our "normal" life back.  Building has definitely taken it's toll on all of us.

But in the midst of building, working, selling, packing, errands, a garage sale, and taking care of each other...God has given us some much needed moments to play and enjoy each other too.

Still loving food!

Our resident bag lady :).  Yep, all those buckets and bags are filled with Liv's trinkets and treasures from around the house.

They love each other soo much.

My two helpers while running errands...they do SO well for all we pack in each day.

We've also been blessed to be at the big lake a little too.  Livie has loved hanging out with her cousins...and  Tink's baby raccoons (or just watching others love on them) ;).  

And we are just 4 weeks from moving into the new house...God willing!  We are SO close to getting everything done, but there is SO much to do yet.  Please pray for us that we can get everything done before the parade of homes on June 16th.  Besides finishing the house, "everything" also means getting moved, unpacked, decorating it, and having it SHOW READY!  

Daily, my head is spinning with getting stuff done, keeping everything straight, and making sure my family is taken care of.  Please forgive me if you've talked to me and I've said things I don't mean or that don't make sense or if I seem to be on some other planet!  Some days I feel like I am.  

Chad and I feel SO blessed though.  God has given us His amazing love, grace, salvation, eternity with Him...and the blessings of each other and wonderful family and friends.  Keeping that in mind makes everything better :).  And we just keep saying "5 MORE WEEKS" and this craziness will be behind us!!

In reality, it'll probably be 5 weeks until I post again...so, see ya on that flip side!!