Busch Gardens, setting up the house, and time with cousins

Oh Busch Gardens--you never disappoint. It's a two-hour drive from our house, but still close enough for us to visit at least once a month. 

Cole's first time on the Mach Tower! He's braver than me... I refuse to ride this one.

Before:

After:

That kid was not phased in the least.

Cole's first time on Verbolten! 

I can't believe little kids are allowed on the the Battering Ram (I always feel like I'm about to fall out at the top), but these girls think it's super fun. 

Well, kinda.

It was Lexi's first time riding it and she came through a champ!

We are still furniture-less! We've ordered several things, but they have yet to be delivered. Piecing together the layout so we know exactly where to put everything:

(You like how we have a mattress in the corner? Our make-shift couch until our new ones come in.)

Fun with cousins! It's always nice when we can get together with the Calderwoods. 

Cassidy has the BEST angry face. She makes it every time I try to talk to her. I love it.

Still settling...

We intentionally gave ourselves a few weeks to get the old house cleaned and fixed up before putting it on the market. Thank goodness, because the process took much longer than we thought. Other houses were going up for sale in our neighborhood at the same time, so we frantically worked to get our house in showing-shape so we could have it on the market either before or on the same day. Once this sign was in our yard, we even got emails from prospective buyers trying to figure out a deal BEFORE the house was on the market. With so much interest in our house, and after seeing what the other houses listed for, we decided to ask a bit more than we had planned. Our realtor wasn't too sure, but went along with it.

Feeling emotional about Valerie being my last baby. While I'm excited for the future, I'm going to miss this sweet stage so much.

Now Cole figured out how to edit pictures...

We took the kids to Grandmom and PopPop's house and left them there for a day so George and I could go check out Greenfront and see if we could find any furniture we liked. We managed to find a coffee table, a buffet, an area rug for the front room, furniture for the master bedroom, and even ran by Pottery Barn to check out their couches before ordering a couple online. Our house is finally coming together!

Getting dinner at the Fish 'n Pig.

Cole started doing vision therapy since the Occupational therapist suggested he has trouble tracking. He meets with a wonderful lady once a week to access and learn new exercises for his eyes, which we then do at home. It's been very neat, but also tricky to be consistent. Cole seems to respond well to her, though, and every week insists on drawing a ship on her blackboard.

We ordered some patio furniture and it came in a few huge boxes. The kids thought this was the best thing ever and wasted no time in turning them into a fort of sorts.

I spent a couple long nights over at the old house scrubbing the walls before the showing. We had someone come clean, but they didn't do the best job. In the end, the walls came out pretty well and I was pleased with the way the house looked.

More Pusheen pictures. This kiddo combined two of his loves: Pusheen and battle ships!

Settling in...

 We are settling into the new home well! Mornings are rough since I'm driving all the kids to their respective schools (about an hour round trip for the elementary kids, and 40 minutes round trip for Lance). Poor Valerie and Lexi are spending a lot of time in the car in the mornings. But I still make it to the gym most days and that is a plus.

Have I told you how perfect this place is?

First bath in the big bathtub!

I just can't get enough of this sweet face. Her personality is really starting to shine through. She is always happy and cracks herself up. 

Finally getting the last of the things out of the old house so I can clean! 

Seriously. When did we get so much junk?

Jude has discovered how to edit photos, so I find things like this all the time now:

George borrowed his buddy's jeep so we could haul a few more things without the big van. The top floor of the house actually walks out to the patio and back yard, so it was super convenient to be able to drive up the hill and carry things inside, instead of hiking it up a flight of stairs. Lexi liked riding around on the trailer in our yard.

Boys' beds are up! I think a bunk bed would have fit better, but they vetoed that idea.

Church! We are ALWAYS late, so most weeks we spend Sacrament meeting in the foyer. It works out well, although my kids aren't learning to be very reverent. Oh well. Such is life.