Friday, November 21, 2014

October!

I love October!! Fall is by far my favorite season!! I love the colors, and the cooler temps, and all the pumpkin stuff!!
We had a fun October!
We went to Rylin's skating bday party! It was so fun! And hilarious to watch a bunch of 5 year olds try to skate.

Cade and I got to go to a cute little pumpkin patch in downtown McKinney with our MOPS group while the big kids were at school. 
Cade and his friend Bennett.
Cade loved this cat!
Picking out his pumpkin. Or "App-ee" as he called it.
Sweet boy!
We had a pumpkin carving night with our small group.
It was so fun!




And, of course, it wouldn't be fall without a trip to the Arboretum!










Carson and Avery got their faces painted. Carson wanted to be a witch (he loves the Wizard of Oz).
I thought it was so realistic!! He looks scary!!
MiMi with the kids in the Cinderella carriage.


Cade was being very smily that day, so I took lots of pictures!






We recreated the planter of pumpkins picture again this year! They're just getting too big!
Happy fall!!

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Goodbye 3006 Jacob Dr!

We said goodbye to our first family home this past August. We had unofficially been looking for a house in the Lucas/Fairview area and said we'd only get serious about it if we found something we really loved. And of course that happened. We went to look at a beautiful ranch style house on an acre and a half in the school district we wanted to be in, and we fell in love. We very quickly fixed up/staged and listed our house. Everything fell into place and it was an easy sell and buy. But even though we loved this new house we were buying, I still felt so much emotion and turmoil about leaving the house we brought all of babies home to. The house that they all learned to crawl, walk and talk in. I'm about to cry just typing this. I am incredibly sentimental and have a VERY hard time with change. Even though this was a good change, it was still change. And still a door closing to a very sweet and special time in our lives.
Our last family picture in front of our 3006 Jacob Dr. home.
There are so many things I will miss about this home,
Like how Carson would sneak out of his room and fall asleep on the stairs almost every night,
And the way Cade would smash his little face against the patio door when he wanted to come back inside.
And the countless times we sat in and took pictures in this porch swing over the years. 
And the trees! Oh how I will miss these trees. My mom planted a tree for each kid when they were born and it was so sad leaving them behind. Especially Avery's tree. It was just a little stick when we planted it and now it's this big beautiful tree that blooms the most beautiful pink flowers in the spring.

Cade's tree was still pretty new.

Giving his tree one last kiss!

I am going to miss the creek and trees behind our house. And the beautiful sound of the crickets and locust at night! 
And we are really going to miss our sweet neighbors Jim and Susan! They have known our kids since they were babies and have been there to help us celebrate holidays and birthdays over the years! They let the kids help in their yard and plant flowers in the spring. And they always have the most festive decorations during the holidays. We will miss them a lot!
Our last meal in our house! Eating pizza on moving boxes!
Before we bought the new house and set our closing dates, I had planned a long summer road trip to visit pretty much all of our family. My mom already had her plane ticket to meet up with us for part of the trip and we already had everything planned out. And of course the closing dates were set to happen during the trip! So Shane flew home (which was already the plan, he had to go back to work) and did all the closing paper work. Then, with the help of many sweet friends and family, he moved all of our stuff (which we had 95% packed up before we left for the trip) while the kids and I were in West Virginia. Talk about stressful. I was a nervous wreck, and had to learn to release a lot of control! But they got it all done and I am so very thankful that we have so many people in our lives that are willing to pack/move/unpack boxes for us! I love the label on this box that my mom and Christy packed up. Sums up the chaos of trying to pack up a house and pack for a 3 week road trip, with 3 kids running around!
The kids and I got home about 6 days after Shane moved us into the house and it was chaos!! He got all the beds set up and all the furniture in place, poor thing was exhausted! But there were still so many boxes to unpack!! I never want to move again!!
Even though saying goodbye to our Wylie house was emotional, we are really excited about all the memories we will make in our new home! The kids are loving it here! We have a huge yard for them to play in and a long drive way that they can ride their bikes on. They've already made friends with several neighbor kids and I love that they can just go outside and play in each other's yards safely. Reminds me of when I was a kid, and how safe it was to just let your kids go outside and play. We've enjoyed lots of yummy meals on our back patio, and have gone on several walks to our neighborhood park. 
And we added a new family member!! Stella! I have no doubt that we are where the Lord wants us to be and I know we are going to have many, many sweet memories in our new home!