Our New Digs

Yesterday, Justin and I closed on our house out here in Indiana. I love this home. I wouldn't say it's the house of my dreams, but it's definitely close. It's large, bright, newer construction, and in a great neighborhood. Compared to our house in Vermont, this is Shangri-La!

While we did close yesterday and the house is technically ours, we can't start moving in until next Friday afternoon. When we were house hunting, I saw this house and knew it had to be ours. The problem, I soon found out, was that there was a competing offer! We needed to add something to our offer to make it more attractive. The seller was requesting 7 days after closing to move out and, in order to make our offer the one that she'd pick, we gave it to her. Would I like to move in right away? You bet I would, but in a week, this won't really matter and it got us the house. So, while it's kind of a bummer to be stuck in our hotel for another week, it'll all be worth it once we're in our new home.

We did get to go on a walk through yesterday and I remembered my camera!! I took a few pictures. They're not the greatest pictures and the sellers stuff is kind of all over because she's in the process of moving out, but people have been wanting to see pictures so I took some. These will also serve as some good 'before' pictures.
This is the outside of our house. Typically I do not like this style of house. I prefer porches and different dimensions on the outside, but when I saw this one I was so drawn to the red door and the paint colors. I'm such a sucker for curb appeal!
This is the entryway. The wallpaper is okay, but not my favorite. Eventually I'm going to take the wallpaper down and paint the entryway a light gray.
This is just off the entryway to the left. It's the formal living room and leads to the formal dining room. I'm okay with the paint colors in these two rooms, but I'd like to take up the carpet in the dining room and put down hardwood floors in there.
My kitchen. I. Love. It. It's big, the colors are pretty, and there are beautiful hardwood floors.
In this room, we are eventually going to update all the appliances and change the countertops to granite (hopefully sooner rather than later).
This is the family room. It opens right off the kitchen. I love that! In this room we're going to paint (I'm thinking either a sage green or a slate blue) and (hopefully) replace the white carpet with something more practical for kids.
The boys bedroom. The boys are really excited about having a blue room, but I think we're going to alter it just a touch. I'm going to paint the top 2/3 white and put up white chair rail to divide the white from the blue. I think it'll look really classy but still give the boys the blue room that they're so excited about. This room is going to be one of the first projects that we do.
This is Josie's room. Yes, it's very red. Normally, I love red on the walls, but this is a really small space for this much red. In here, we're going to paint the top 2/3 a very soft pink, then put up white chair rail and beadboard on the bottom 2/3. I think it's going to turn out beautiful!! This is the other room that is going to get done right away.
That's all I've got (for now). The rooms that I didn't take pictures of are rooms that I probably won't change too much so they really didn't need 'before' pictures. So that's our house and I'm in love with it. There are projects for me to do, but it's basically move in ready and I am a huge fan of that!

Until we can move in though, we are stuck in our hotel room. It's not all bad though. Love these cute boys!!

The Exodus

Well, it's official, we're no longer Vermonters. I'm not going to lie, I still cry a fair amount when I think of everything (and everyone) we've left behind. We've been in Indiana for 4 days now and it just doesn't feel like home (yet). It's been a whirlwind week.
On Thursday we loaded our truck. That was fun (insert eye roll here). It was stressful, but the kids were (fairly) well behaved - no small thanks go to Grammy for that one, we had some great help, and it went pretty smoothly (I think). The noteable exception being Noah taking a header off the back of the truck. Fortunately, our brain surgeon friend, Chih, was there to check Noah over and give him a clean bill of health!
Sad empty living room:
The boys loved helping load the truck. Truthfully, they weren't our greatest 'helpers' but they win the enthusiastic award!!
Running around in the empty truck before we started loading it:
Josie loved all the boxes and things that were all stacked on top of each other. She's a climber for sure!!
On Friday, we closed on our Vermont house (goodbye Logwood Street), and hit the road!! We had decided to break the trip up into three days. Friday was just a driving day. We stopped for the night in Utica, NY where Josie and Noah had their first experiences with hotels. I have to say, I was really impressed with how well my kids handled staying in a hotel (actually, I am really impressed with how they handled the whole trip. period.).
These boys loved the hotel stay. They have seen this whole trip as a 'grand adventure' (as Grammy would say). Their attitudes have really impressed me and helped me with MY attitude. What can I say, I have the BEST kids!!

Good thing Wiebke was able to make the trip with us!
On Saturday (Josie's birthday), we decided to celebrate with driving to Palmyra, NY and seeing some church history sites. We were able to see the Hill Cumorah, the Joseph Smith farm, and the Sacred Grove. It was really cold (apparently New York didn't get the memo that it's SPRING), but we had some good experiences and I'm glad we made the stop.
Grammy and the boys in the Sacred Grove:
An amazing view of the Palmyra Temple. Wouldn't this be GORGEOUS in the fall?!?
Justin and Josie on top of the Hill Cumorah. Man alive, that is one steep hill!
Grammy and the boys on top of the Hill.
After seeing the sites of Palmyra, we continued to drive in to Conneaut, OH. When we woke up on Sunday we drove in to Kirtland, OH and went to church. After church, we saw the sites of Kirtland. We were able to see Old Kirtland (the Newel K Whitney store, the Whitney house, the Johnson Inn, etc.) Old Kirtland was my FAVORITE! The cute Sister Missionaries who took us around were amazing and had the boys eating out of the palms of their hands! So cute! It was a really great experience.
In the School of the Prophets on the second floor of the Newel K Whitney store.

Grammy and Clayton
Hands down my favorite picture of the whole trip! Everyone's looking and smiling!! This is inside the store part of the Newel K Whitney store.

At the Johnson Inn, Josie fell and hit her head on the corner of one of the exhibits. She has a pretty awesome bruise from that fall. Fortunately, she's a tough cookie and took it like a girl!
After seeing Old Kirtland, we took a tour of the Kirtland Temple. I didn't get any pictures (honestly, I spent most of my time chasing Josie and Noah), but I thought this was a cool picture of Noah looking up at the temple.
After seeing the sites of Kirtland, we drove into Indiana. We are currently staying in an extended stay hotel that I can describe in one word - small. We're pretty cramped in here and nerves have been high the past few days, but we are scheduled to close on our new house on Friday and we can't wait!! Our hotel days are numbered (thankfully)!
Indiana happenings: Clayton has been re-enrolled in school here and had his first day today. His teacher seems nice and he had a great day. We were able to take Noah to check out a potential pre-school and he thinks that he is 'all growed up' now that he's been to school (once. for, like, 15 minutes). Josie's been doing okay, but this hotel stay has been the roughest on her because she really can't see this as an adventure the way the boys can. The boys have enjoyed seeing their cousins every day and it sure doesn't hurt that Grammy is still here! Finally, I've learned that Indiana-ans are called 'Hoosiers' (okay I already knew that, but still). FYI, the term 'Hoosier Daddy', NEVER gets old. Deal with it!
I leave you with this picture of Noah (apparently this is what it looks like when you're 'all growed up' - I love that he thinks he's such a man now):

So we've left Vermont. It's been an emotional experience, but we made it to Indiana alive and sane (well, as sane as we ever were anyway). A giant thanks to Grammy for coming on this trip with us. I know for sure that I wouldn't have been able to make a 3 day, 14 hour drive with 3 kids without her!! Another big thanks to Justin for driving the MASSIVE Penske we had to rent to haul all our stuff. He did a great job! So that's the update. We're here. We're together. It's good. Hoosier Daddy!!!

Josie's Birthday

This year, Josie's birthday will come the day after we move out of our house. That means that her actual birthday will occur while we are on the road, driving to Indiana. We wanted to do something to celebrate her 1st birthday and we decided to do it here before we left. It also gave us a great chance to see our friends one last time before we leave.

I can't believe it's been a year! Time goes by way to fast. It doesn't seem like too long ago that she was this:

I cannot imagine our family without this little girl! She adds so much to our family. Justin and I adore her and the boys are over the moon about her. She's funny, smart, sweet, and sassy. A few facts about Josie at a year:
-She is walking EVERYWHERE (and has been for about two months now)
-She talks constantly. She doesn't always say things that make sense, but some words that she has are 'uh-oh', 'mama', 'dada', and 'hi'.
-She loves to dance!
-She eats anything and everything (food or not) but her favorites are bananas, goldfish crackers, and mac 'n' cheese.
-She loves to follow Clayton and Noah around. She wants to do everything that they do. They are usually pretty patient with her.
-She's already a monkey. She climbs on just about anything she can.
-She loves to get into trouble (turning off the TV, eating crayons and papers, pulling things off tables, etc.) but knows that if she flashes her sweet smile she can get away with almost anything. -She's a thumb sucker. It's cute!
-She loves to be cuddled.
-Her daddy has already told her that he is going to have a hard time telling her 'no'. I swear she's already figured this out and plays him like a fiddle!

So we celebrated with a party. Here are the pictures:
The invitations:
The party:
The birthday girl with her birthday crown (it didn't last long - shocker)!
Eating off of Annie's plate. She was such a mooch - she went from guest to guest begging for scraps even though she'd eaten a HUGE lunch just before the party. Gotta love a girl with a hearty appitite!
Shiloh and Josie (and yes, we did use the Home Depot boxes for tables, awesome)
Greeting our friend Sophie.
Watching the big kids play out in the backyard (and longing for the day when they, too, can play unattended outside).
Shiloh, Sophie, and Josie
Birthday girl with daddy.
Birthday girl with mommy.
'More food please.'
Just thought this was funny.
It's tradition for us to give the birthday kid a small cake to eat. All of our kids have handled this situation differently. Clayton was cautious at first and then, once he realized how good it was, dove in face first (very typical of who he turned out to be - cautious), Noah had nothing to do with the cake and no one and nothing was going to interest him in said cake (again, typical of who he is today - stubborn). Josie went right in, no reservations! She didn't eat a lot of it, but loved grabbing handfuls and flinging them all over! Such a mess (wonder what this says about her personality? Methinks we're in trouble with this one).


She doesn't look TOO messy, but she did her best to make sure that everything and everyone around her sure did!
After she got all cleaned up, it was time for presents. Josie didn't really understand the thrill of opening a present (she just wanted to eat the paper), but Clayton, Noah, and Enoch sure did and kindly volunteered to open all of her presents for her!



Josie made out like a little bandit! She got a taggies blankie, a soft babydoll, her first purse (thanks Sophie), and an innertube for swimming with some bubbles (thanks Shiloh)!

She loves her doll. She spent a long time (for a 1 year old) playing with it, eating her face, and 'tweaking' her nose. The dolls name...(drum roll)...Wiebke (pronounced Veeb-kuh), it's German and Justin chose it. When we first got married one of our favorite families (and still one of our favorite families) had a deal where everytime the daughter got a doll, the dad got to name the doll. Justin thought that was the coolest thing ever and we've decided to make that a rule in our house too!
The birthday princess with her handsome princes! (Who, I feel I need to point out are all looking at the camera and smiling! Victory!)
All in all it was a very successful party. Just ask Josie:
I think she'd tell you that it's pretty great to be 1 (almost)! Happy birthday sweet girl, we are so grateful you're in our family and we love you more than we could ever say!!