the part where we move in

(missed me much? Yeah, I've gotten out of my groove. Moving and family reunion did that to me. But, never fear, I shall try to get back on track!)

We arrived in Minnesota and took stock of our new place. Did I mention that we'd only seen the place in pictures online? Yeah, so we were anxious to see what we had committed to. Liam and Dash were so funny, exploring each room, trying all the doors. The verdict: cute house, slanty floors, most doors don't close right, big yard, small bedrooms, lots of living space. We like it!

Our truck arrived shortly after us and we unloaded our mattresses and some other items. I dropped a mattress and it slide along my face, leaving a nice burn mark on my forehead. Awesome. My parents came a little bit later- I drove our SUV, sean drove the small U-Haul with my parent's gifted items, mom drove our old Honda, and Dad drove his car. All that PLUS our big moving trailer... it's a good thing the driveway is long.

The next morning was time to unload and we had a slew of helpers. All sorts of guys from church came out, not to mention six missionaries. We got everything out of the truck and into the house in 45 minutes. BAM. What an incredible help! Would have taken us daaaays. Some ladies also came over with tasty treats. PLUS a new friend (who lives super close) later made us dinner AND watched our kids for a few hours so we could unpack. Who does that?! So amazing.

In the coming days, we slowly (slowly slowly slowly) unpacked (and still have plenty to do) and got to know the place even more. There's a huuuge maple tree in the back which litters the place with helicopter seeds. Honestly, I'm always tracking them inside. Plus there a million bazillion box elder bugs. And it's definitely mating season. I don't really mind them, though, as long as they're not cockroaches, they may go where they please. The twins love the long driveway, they ride their backs up and down that thing.

For my first visit to church, my contact irritated my eye real bad that it looked like the red sea. That plus my big ol' mattress burn scab definitely screamed, "come meet me, I'm a cool person!" I hope everyone was looking at my cute kids instead. Oy.

I think we're all adjusting alright. The kids have been waking up a little more in the night; hopefully that will subside as they get more comfortable. At first, the older boys were getting up around 5am... ugh. It's got a little bit better recently. Now, anything after 6am sounds heavenly.

When we were getting ready to move here, we were gearing up the boys by differentiating between our Texas and Minnesota house. Now they still label everything as Minnesotan. "Minnesota house!" "Minnesota park!" "Minnesota church!" "Not go to Texas house?" I wonder when that won't be necessary anymore. Only a few times have they been upset about not going back to Texas.

Every time we've had to do major moving during naptime, Grey's slept amazingly. It happened in Texas, Illinois, and Minnesota. That must be the trick to a good nap, lots and lots of noise. Oh, did I mention that Grey's room is pink? Good thing we're allowed to paint!