The move (part 1)

Luck was with us!

We got the house!

We don't close on our wonderful new home until the end of May,

and are currently residing with my (wonderful, obliging, caring, magnificent)

in-laws for an 8 week period, but we got it!

The inspection went great and we are So So excited for this new chapter!

Can't wait to show everyone the new place once we're in and settled!

That said... yesterday I drove away from the house I've called home for nearly 8

years for the last time.  It was insanely bittersweet and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spend a 

few minutes sobbing on Ryan's shoulder in the empty shell of our house.

We were married while living in that home, brought our babies home there, 

essentially turned a single floor house into a beautiful, fully finished home!

There a million memories there; happy, fun, emotional... I've truly "grown-up"

in that house and will take all those moments with me.  

Bear with me as I work through this with some photos.

From moving in, to moving out.

Where we started - 2006

Fall 2013

painting that damn big wall

~Packing...

 ~Loading

We have to say Thank You to so many people for helping us with this process...

Mom and Alan, you two have been wonderful! Dad, Anderson's, Bjorn, Cory...

thank you all so so much!

 ~Apparently figuring out where we're heading!?  ;)

 ~Ready to go (at least 1 of the 3 loads)

Thank you Cory for again letting us use the truck and trailer (and storage)... you're a lifesaver!

~Making the final sweep and saying goodbye

last photo in our first home

just moved in... Summer 2006

moving out- Spring 2014

Driving away

Looking forward to the next chapter and taking all the warm feelings from this home with me.

And here's a quick peek of our current residence and what's to come....

the doors to the girls "room"!  (Thank you Barb!)

the new routine

THUMBS UP FOR OUR NEW HOME!!!

Getting Lucky and hoping for more (luck)

This past weekend Ryan and I had a pretty eventful weekend!

On Friday we met his sister and niece and spent the night at The Depot Renissance Hotel 

in Minneapolis.  It was the first stay in a hotel for our girls and they thought it was pretty

awesome!  The Depot has a fun watermark the girls loved to play in and they were all

worn out by the end of the night!

The next morning Kris, Ryan, and I got our Green gear on and got ready to Get Lucky!

We participated in the Team Ortho "Get Lucky 7K"!  

It was "brisk" that morning and it was very handy to be able to just walk out the door

of the hotel to the start of the race!

I rather enjoyed myself and felt fantastic at the end!  Ryan wasn't quite as happy, but I

was thrilled that he ran with me!  Thanks babe!

It was a beautiful course and so fun to see everyone decked out in green from head to toe!

12,000 people ran the 7k and another 8,000 crazy people participated in the half marathon 

in St. Paul (Ryan's other sister Kim was one of them)!  

So much fun!

I clearly was excited... please disregard my obnoxious expression

Us and our (very cold) good luck charms!

Yes I am!

That night, my parents took our babies home with them and we met up with friends for 

a night out!  Always a fun time!

On Sunday we decided to take a look at a house that peaked our interest a little bit and 

we figured it wouldn't hurt to walk through their open house.... 

Well, tonight we sit and wait for word on the offer we put in today!!

Keep your fingers crossed for us and lets hope the luck of the Irish is on our side!

Sicky sicky

Last Wednesday evening was just like every other Wednesday evening.

I came home and the girls had been treated to Subway for dinner.  I unloaded the

bags of stuff from the car and we went about our night.

Lila was a little whiney (nothing new to us) and had a few vague occasional complaints

before bedtime of her tummy aching. But she went to bed without any issue and Ryan

and I enjoyed our 30 minutes of quiet time on the couch.  

As we got off the couch and were just about ready to crash for the night we heard the

"Mommy--lskdfalknvliyybaaaaa" (that was vomit noise, in case you were wondering)

Every parent knows the noise.  Every parent fears the noise. 

I rush into Lila's room to her throwing up in bed.

And so it began... sheet changing, bathing, getting the bowl... etc etc etc.

My poor girl began a cycle of vomiting almost every 20-30 minutes from 10pm on 

Wednesday until 3pm on Thursday.  Neither of us slept more than 5 minutes and when 

Ryan finally took over on Thursday night, I had been up with her for 40 hours. 

The vomiting continued into Saturday morning.  She was so miserable and Ryan and 

I were honestly scared.  I was so close to taking her in to Childrens.  

I didn't want to be the freaked out mom who rushes her first born to the ER because 

of the stomach flu.  The nurse in me told me to stay calm, be patient, and remember that kids are resilient.  

Fortunately, she has finally come out of it.  This morning she actually ASKED for a 

bit of food, and had her usual bounce in her step.  I called preschool today and they 

said she was her normal cheery self, just eating smaller amounts than usual.

We'll get there.  Another night of rest.  A few more back rubs and snuggles from mama.

She finally feels better and the whole family is feeling blessed that none of the rest of us got it!

New stuff

Whoa.  What a crazy couple of weeks!

And I know it won't calm down anytime soon.

We started moving last weekend, a whole trailer load of stuff packed up and

shipped to storage at my dads until a time, still yet to be determined.

This weekend will be spent packing everything but the non-essentials, and in 2

weeks time, we will leave our house for the last time. 

(I'm not going to cry.... I'm not going to cry....)

yet.

Anyway.  Here's a short smattering of recent photos of our crazy life.

~Lila being her typical Sassafras, Cute self

~The girls, just loving being sisters!

~Trying to find the beauty in this winter.  The winter that won't die.  Ugh.

~Really wishing for this (It's our family in the pool, as illustrated by Lila)

~My beautiful morning wake up!

~How are they old enough to do this?  (sniff sniff)

~Needing some coffee to get me through all this.  (The girls are just having a grand time with all the boxes!!!)

~Moving commenced.  With much thanks to a good friend, we hauled a GIANT load out of the house.

This was FULL 

Hi baby! :) 

Load #1 DONE.

~Oh... and we got to take Boone to the vet.  And to the tune of $363, it's a darn good thing we love him!

Wish us luck as we continue on our moving endeavor!!!