House Hunting in Arkansas

For this move, the girls REALLY wanted to come along and be involved in our house hunting trip. We booked the time for everyone and came the week after Easter. They loved the giant checkerboard in the Bentonville airport.

Sometimes a girl is too tired to manage her own suitcase and needs a ride on Dad's.

My mom came a few days in and helped with the girls. It was great that they were able to alternate house shopping and playing at the hotel with her. And, Tommy and I were able to go alone to dinner once or twice so we could talk through houses and decisions. We bought a house quickly so we had an afternoon off for painting pottery. Picking it up after we moved gave us something to look forward to.

Our new home. We stumbled upon it while seeing other houses in the neighborhood. It wasn't finished, but the builder was willing to work with us and make sure it could be done on our timeline.

House shopping with kids was interesting. We had a stop here.

My flexible girl. She can sit nearly in full splits in the car seat. 

Driving the plane at the airport.

Traveling with the girls at this age is a whole new world!!! They can pack, carry luggage and take care of their things along the way. We had a great trip and were thankful they had come along....knowing where they were headed made saying goodbye a *little* easier. 

Addison's Birthday

After the girls' Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party, Addison decided it was so much fun that she should have her party there as well. She had a great day celebrating with her friends and getting millions of tickets. Her birthday also included extra riding lessons, a kindle, fun treats for school and of course the traditional Red Robin dinner. 

Easter

The blog is behind!!! Turns out it is hard to maintain daily life, move across the country, get 3 kids through the craziness of the end of school and have time to blog. These pictures were from our last Easter in Ohio. We are grateful to the Leslie family for always opening their home to us each Easter. They let us join their family for dinner, fellowship and egg hunting and it became a favorite tradition for us. This year, in addition to our Resurrection eggs, we made Resurrection Rolls and the girls loved it. I think that will become a new Easter activity.

Gracyn's 5th Birthday

Gracyn's 5th Birthday fell on a Sunday.
We opened a few presents before church. She got Beanie Boos from her sister, some money and an Ipod Touch. 

We left church and went to our traditional Red Robin lunch.

So glad this girl got her own ipod, so we aren't sharing the other girls. It came just in time for our house hunting trip.

Reagan's Birthday Day

Reagan's 7th birthday fell on a Saturday and it was a busy day, but we had tons of fun. She and I even squeezed in a little date for a pedicure, shopping and dinner. She had a Justice gift card that she used for a big make-up kit. Then she gave herself the makeover above.

Reading on her knew Kindle, while getting her toes done. That's my girl!!!

We had the traditional Red Robin birthday lunch. We actually opened presents there, so she wouldn't have to wait until bedtime when we were finally home for the day.

Loving to read on her knew Kindle. She was so surprised and excited.

The Friday before she got to celebrate at school. Her teacher gives them 7 pink kisses.

I took her lunch at school. She posed for a quick picture with one of her besties before she went back to class. They are allowed to pick one friend to the guest table when you come eat lunch with them. Somehow we ended up with EVERY girl from the class at our table. They were adorable. 

Happy Birthday

Never say never. I have always said we would have NO Chuck-E-Cheese Birthday parties. Then we went to a party there a few weeks before their birthdays and I knew we were hosed. They begged, they pleaded, Reagan and Gracyn agreed to have one big party together and I caved. Turns out it was the easiest party we have ever had. The kids loved every second of it. The Dads had fun too, there were many basketball challenges on the Pop-A-Shot machine. The biggest hit of all was the ticket blaster! The girls had a ball on their turns in there. The party was such a hit that as we were leaving Addison decided that she wanted her party there as well and we were back 3 weeks later!

Busy day

Life is completely nuts around here right now! We are 16 days away from having our belongings packed and heading to Arkansas. The movers begin the last day of school for the girls. They will pack for 2 days, spend a day loading and then met us several days later at our new house. During the "down" time, we will be traveling with the girls, the dog and whatever belongings aren't on the truck. Oh, and Addison's first horse show (here) is the morning before we close on our house (there). Should be interesting.

Our house has been sold since mid-April. Thank you God, they did not want to close until school got out. Our realtor came on Tuesday the 15th of April to take pictures. I had initially planned not to list it until Thursday, because I would be downtown Wednesday on a field trip with Gracyn's class and wouldn't be home to take care of the dog in case of showings. At the last minute I told her to go ahead and list it around lunchtime Wednesday. I felt sure we wouldn't have showings on the first day anyway. Well, we had 4 showings. The first one allowed me just enough time to race back from the museum, grab the dog and turn lights on. By 10pm that night, we had 2 offers and word that a 3rd was coming in. Praise God, we were under contract the next day, for over the asking price, to a family that had written us the sweetest letter about how much they wanted our house to be their home. I was thrilled to be able to enjoy the last few months we have here without the stress of trying to sell a house 5 people are living in.

In between the museum and showings, I picked Reagan up for an eye doctor appointment. She had been telling me she couldn't read books with small print. She was reading mostly on her kindle and making the font size huge. Turns out she needed reading glasses. She just uses them for small, up-close reading. She looks adorable and super smart in them!

This was Gracyn's class that morning at the museum.

The dance party room was a big hit!

These three love each other so much. I am grateful for their preschool years together and for lifelong friendships we have formed here.

So, there you have it. Typical days are CRAZY!!! Buying a house, selling a house. School withdrawl, school registration. Inspections, appraisers, repair men, loan documents, mover's surveys, cancelling utilities, starting utilities. The list goes on and on. And, its happening in the middle of May, which means activity after activity for the kids. Life is one big adventure right now.