The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds...

Today was a beautiful day for our family...we're in our new house for good! Hooray!! It feels SO good to be here. Love it already. Feathering our nest has been so fun. And the kids are thrilled to be here- they simply could not wait for today to come!!! That alone felt so good in my heart. Nighttime has arrived, our first night in the house...sigh. We're home.

The children are nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of fun memories dance in their heads and mama settles in for a good long read in her bed... Sweet dreams to all and to all a good night!

We can't wait to start making memories here...we started off great with pizza dinner, and a movie night (Night At the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) tonight, projected on the wall of our family room, too- SO fun!

More updates will come soon, this is just the beginning of our moving adventure after all. And I'll be back with a picture for this post, but I don't have my camera cord to upload pics- so, check back again for updates to this post, too. :) I just couldn't wait to put up my first post in our new home.

'K, I'm back with a couple pictures of our first night home! More pics again soon!

Welcome home, my dear family.

Before We Leave This House...

I've spent the past couple months weeding through thousands and thousands of digital photos, cleaning up some space, rediscovering gems from days past, smiling, crying...and as we near the final days of living in this house, I couldn't help but put together collages of fave pictures (click each collage to make it bigger, and then click it again to make it even bigger, if you'd like a closer look!) of our family over the years, pictures that tell the story of our family in this house, our first house, the house we brought babies home to...

2006-2008

Here, in this house...is where we started out, just the two of us. 

Here we adopted two cats, Jack and Zoey.

Here we brought home our first baby and stared at him all day long.

Here is where that baby gave us a slice of Heaven, totally oblivious to that fact.

Here that baby smiled for the first time, melting our hearts. 

2009

Here is where that baby played peek-a-boo, picked up toys with his feet, climbed into end tables.

Here is where we played "gonna getcha" to the most thrilling laughter we would ever hear, music to our ears.

Here is where Daniel first experienced snow.

And where Daniel showed us what Christmas is about when you have kids...craziness!

2010

Here we waved the cutest little waves wearing cute little monkey hats. 

Here we fit into boxes, stood on tippy toes.

Here we fell in love with the world outside, whether in the front yard or back.

Here where Lion officially joined our family, becoming the most loved possession of a certain little boy.

Here is where we took countless Mickey pictures, getting bigger each time.

Here we splashed in pools and discovered our shadows.

Here we mowed alongside Daddy, wanting to be just like him.

Here we played kitchen, never stopping for a single day since.

Here where sand play became a favorite outdoor pastime.

 Here is where we announced baby number two. 

Here is where we snuggled up, loved playing in the leaves, and loved hiding.

Here is where I thoroughly enjoyed being pregnant.

Here is where Daniel fell in love with the snow, a love that knows no bounds.

Here is where Daniel's very first and very own batch of cookies were eagerly anticipated, with many bounces and very watchful eyes as the timer ticked away.

2011

 Here is where we experienced many many inches of snow.

Where helpers were grown, and readers were born, reading anywhere books could be found.

Here is where stuffed buddies played alongside us.

Here is where we brought baby #2 home, with a very proud big brother's help.

Here is where that big brother came down from his nap on that first day so very excited to see baby sister again, practically shouting, "WHERE is Annabel?!"

Here more baby snuggles happened.

Here family bedtime story times started.

Here baby baths were a family affair.

And babies adorably slept, while big brothers grew suddenly bigger overnight.

 Here we dressed up in costumes too large for us.

Here is where Annabel first talked our ears off, from the very early age of 2 months old.

Here babies melted our hearts with cute baby yawns.

Here we played police. 

Here where tummy time never looked cuter.

Here where babies found their super cute and tiny feet.

Here where our first selfies were taken.

Here where Annabel smiled to no end, winning our hearts forever.

Here where Annabel slept in crazy positions.

Here where stools were needed to reach light switches.

Here a certain little girl learned all about peek-a-boo.

 It was here where Annabel learned to sit up and proud big brother Daniel plopped down excitedly next to her that very first time and read to her.

Here we rocked sunglasses. 

Here my two babies became instant loves, instant friends, forever bound.

Here is where limbs escaped pajamas, amusing babies and frustrating parents.

Here we said goodbye to our Mustang.

Here we made our own star for the Christmas tree.

Here babies backed into chairs.

Here chefs were born.

Here is where babies learned to crawl, tents were made, Christmases were enjoyed.

2012

Here we chased trains and made trains.

Here helpful big brothers gave baby sisters every toy possible.

Here we painted hand prints and hid in boxes.

Here we had toothy grins and fell in love with chocolate.

Here is where babies learned to walk, ending the tiny baby stage.

Here we loved vacuuming and cleaning chores of all kinds.

Here we chased siblings down the street, shouting all the way.

Here is where we fell in love with soccer, from the moment we could walk.

Here we fell in love with painting and all things art.

 Here we bought our first backpacks, followed Daddy's silly whims, and made silly faces. 

Here we fell asleep at the high chair, only once ever after two kids.

Here we celebrated our first day of school, skipping down the sidewalk on our merry way.

Here we loved getting phone calls. 

Here where diapered babies explored the pantry.

Here we received our first of many blow-kisses.

Here we snuggled with as many animals in our arms as possible.

Here we decorated Christmas trees.

Here where we waved goodbye on garage steps. 

Here we baked our little hearts out.

Here we grew up alongside Minnie Mouse.

2013

Here we did chores on tippy toes. 

Here we made our first snowman and snow hide-outs.

Here we snuggled in mommy's bed.

Here is where two kids wrestled like crazy. 

Here we greeted Easter morning eagerly, in matching jammies.

Here we helped with birthday decorations, made beds on floors, and ate sandwich centers only.

 Here a lefty joined Mommy.

Here a sneaky cook was born, quite pleased with herself.

Here is where my little boy rode his first bike, while my little girl learned to hold up three fingers.

Here we graduated into big beds and learned to ride scooters. 

Here we sang many songs.

Here we welcomed many Falls and Winters, enjoying every leaf and snowflake.

2014

 Here we dumped out drawers and set up Lego displays.

Here we loved puddle jumping.

Here is where we welcomed Daddy home from Australia, three times.

Here my two babies hugged and danced and sat looking out the window.

Here we became fish, loving the water. 

Here we played with toys in the kitchen, just to be near to those cooking.

2014-2015

 Here we started Kindergarten and Preschool. 

Here we got snuggles, even with long legs.

Here we did gymnastics all over the house. 

Here we made many gingerbread houses and Christmas cookies.

Here is where the Pajama Elf visited us.

Here we rang in the new year, 2015, the year we would buy our new house.

Here we said goodbye to toddler years, hello to big girls and big girl scooters.

Here we ran ourselves silly on the deck. 

Here we said goodbye to another school year.

Here is where we made many memories, 

memories we will never forget.

Progress!

We are making progress on the new house! I know I've been slow in sharing pictures, but here I am, finally ready to share a few more sneak peeks of the house! Fourth of July weekend was spent painting, basically. Ben agreed to do horizontal stripes in Daniel and Annabel's rooms, so it took some doing for him to get it all lined up, gets the walls ready for paint and all. Daniel chose green for his walls (he wants his room to look the same as the old house, no surprise there) with a blue stripe, while Annabel chose pink (you surprised? I'm not.) and aqua with a white stripe between the two colors.

The kids couldn't wait to help, too! Daniel's room was started first, and of course we let Annabel do a little in her room later on, too. So fun to watch the kids paint! Daniel's motions were all about lines and shapes, while Annabel was just painting all over the place. The kids decided their painting in Daniel's room looked like an animal. It was cute to see what they thought.

When Annabel did her room later that afternoon, Ben had shown her how to paint her name, which she just thought was awesome, so of course she spent the rest of the time painting all our names- Daniel, Annabel, Mom, Dad. We had to spread her cardboard out more because she kept moving down the wall! I was impressed with how long they both stuck with painting, too- they had such a great time!

And here's a funny story- when the kids came back a couple days later when it was all done (oh I was SO excited about how their rooms turned out- they really are just wonderful), Annabel took one look at her walls and immediately frowned and said, "Where's my painting?" I did not see that coming. It was so cute, though. We explained that she just did the first layer and that Daddy had to smooth it all out and paint the whole wall. She was fine and moved on quickly. Thank goodness. But I'm thinking she'd love making art on some nice big canvases for her room or the playroom...hmm...having a moment here...well, we'll see. Art sure is a fun activity in this house in any case!

Anyway, enjoy pictures of the kids painting their rooms! (And yes, it took me back to this day...gosh time flies...where IS that little boy?!)

And now for the sneak peek at these AMAZING rooms- BIG thanks to Ben for his hard work on giving our kids their dreams! Can't wait to start sleeping there real soon!

The kids are working on building up their Lego light switch plates, by the way. BIG hit! These were a fun item I scored on Amazon, having put it on my wish list ages ago, just waiting for the day we could use them in the kids' rooms!