Moving

So...

Hi :)

It's been a while. To say the least. But here I am :) And I have news!

We're moving.

These boxes were in my foyer this morning, but they're at the new house now! We closed on it yesterday, cleaned it last night, and had our first moving day today. Craziness. There's lot to catch you all up on, but for tonight let's just take a look at a few photos from the weekend and the first 36 hours after receiving the keys :)

We had so much fantastic help cleaning on Friday night. The house was already very clean, but it just doesn't feel right to me to move my family in somewhere without knowing what has and hasn't been done. Is that weird?

Then this morning, Sam rented a 26 ft. truck and six friends of his came to help us move the first stage of our stuff... trampoline, outdoor furniture, many boxes of books, a sofa that has belonged to Sam's grandma, a few chairs, a loveseat, all the attic stuff, most of the garage stuff... things like that. But not the main stuff we use day to day. We are still living here through Christmas. The next phase of the move will happen around the New Year.

The new house is just across town, so that part was really easy and nice.

For the whole first part of the day, our oldest daughter stayed with the other kids at home while we got through the bulk of the loading and unloading. Then, around 1pm, I picked them all up and brought them to the new house for pizza. We wound up being there for another four hours... which was a long time for the youngest two. But, they lived.

Hope has a bruise on her forehead from sword-fighting with her brother. She's four now! Can you believe it???

Cate fell asleep after lunch and stayed knocked out on the pink couch (yes, it's pink) for a couple of hours.

I was really excited Sam was able to get the trampoline up before it got dark. It was only down for a few days while it made the move :) This was last year's Christmas gift to the kids.

After we closed on the house yesterday, I went to Target and bought a celebratory candle. I think it's called Under the Mistletoe. It has a really nice, not too overpowering Christmasy scent. This photo reminds me so much of one of my first posts on this blog. Just after we moved in to the current house. I guess I'm always hoping candles will make houses feel like home faster :)

It's nice to have a few of our things in the new house now. We won't actually be living there for two more weeks, but we will be spending time there quite a bit before then. We're planning to start painting the kids' bedrooms on Monday. I'm thrilled we get to do that before moving in!

I snapped a few more shots right before we left to come home late this afternoon. It's fun to think of how these rooms will develop over time. And it's fun to see some of our home moving to a new place.

I'll show more of the new house soon! Now I'm going to go heat my back! I turned 40 while I was away. Ha.

monday morning

I'm coming out of retirement, y'all.

Molly's class is going to want me to blog it seems. So, I blog.

I tried sharing these photos in other ways, but really - there isn't a whole lot more gratifying than seeing your photos in a blog post. Well, except having them actually in your hands. But on the interwebs... a blog is hard to beat.

I took these all this morning. Baby found the hose out front, and the rest was hooliganism at its finest :)

Here at the end of a crazy busy June, summer is well underway. Time to breathe...

blurry

I'm pumped.

I'm starting a new photography class today. It's called Visual Storytelling and Molly Flanagan is the instructor. Ex. cit. ed!

I was browsing through Molly's website just now, and was so pleased to see a little blur going on. I've been enamored with blur lately. I think it's been brought on by some really inspirational ladies I follow on IG.





I've only browsed the first lesson, and although I feel like in many ways I've already worked through the main ideas presented in this first week, I'm still so thrilled. I know from past experience in online classes that I will learn a ton through comments from classmates and from taking the time to really dig in to the topics deeply. I'm in the mood to push myself, and since we're wrapping school up this week (hurray!), I'll have more time to do just that.





I'll have more time to blog, too, which is also exciting!



So, I'm in a good place creatively. I'm coming out of a significant "big camera" rut... ruts stink. Big times. But I can sense my enthusiasm springing back to life. I'm ready to grow and expecting to grow. And that feels good :)

Do y'all have some project or hobby lined up to fuel your mind this summer? I know it can be so difficult with little ones, but the hobby doesn't have to be big or fabulous or time-consuming. But just a little something lined up? I'd love to hear about it!

Nursery Tour on Life Made Lovely!

How fun is this? Lily's room is featured today over at Life Made Lovely! I would love it if you would check it out :)