Settling In

I realized that I forget to mention anything about our first week here.  It wasn't the easiest.  To make a long story short......We didn't have a fridge for about 5 days, we had to put our Luther down on Friday, a lot of issues getting Cliff's car, and me having numerous breakdowns dealing with all the above and Cliff having to start work less than 24 hours of moving in.  However, now we are getting a little more settled.  We have been enjoying getting to know our church family and the kids our enjoying their new house and neighborhood.

The flowers Aidan picked for me :)

Thunderstorms

We had quite a few thunderstorms our first week in Austin.  Didn't see a lot of those in Spokane, so the kids thought they were pretty neat.  Fun to see how different their reactions were.

The House

Several people have been asking how we like the house.  We do like it a lot.  I took this video several days ago to give a general idea.  Just remember that it has been pure craziness around here.  The first room I unpacked was the toy room so that I could unpack the rest of the house.  We are getting there slowly.  

NOAH

I was really unhappy with the 5 month pics I took of Noah so I grabbed some new ones.  So technically this is 5 months and week and half old :)

Noah at 5 Months

Our Noah turned 5 months in the middle of all this chaos.  It was so crazy I didn't even have time to change him.  Later I noticed that he had spit up all over his outfit.  Oh well.  He was such a trooper for our move and is like having a quieter house to take naps in (carpet makes a huge difference).  He is taking cereal at night and we will start adding some veggies in a couple of weeks.  His cough is finally almost gone but he is still waking up 1-2 times a night.  Usually 2.  He is such a mellow little dude.  All you have to do is look at him and he will smile for you.  

The MOVE!!!

Oh where to begin.  It has been a CRAZY last 2 and a half weeks.  So I guess I will start 2 and half weeks ago.  We got our U Haul on Sunday and began the loading process. on Monday.  We were able to hire a couple of men to help load the U Haul which was an huuuuge help to Cliff.  They weren't quite able to get it all done so our friends the Schraders helped with the rest.  It was a very stressful time for Cliff.  I had it pretty easy just watching over the kids....We did, unfortunately, have to get rid of our train table for Aidan.  Luckily he hasn't noticed yet and we can surprise him with a new one for Christmas.  Aidan of course wanted to help and such a great helper he was!!!

That same Monday evening my three best girlfriends in Spokane came to help me clean the house.  It only took like and hour and a half with their help which was amazing!!!!!  Our property management company said however we leave it is how they will expect the renters to leave it when they vacate so I tried to make it as spotless as possible.

 We stayed the night at our friends Clint and Jennifer that evening which was so nice because we were without beds.  We went over to our house the next morning to grab some stuff out of the fridge.  It was so strange to see the kiddos running around in a vacant house.  Have to admit it made me tear up.  This was our first home and I LOVED it.  We will definitely miss it!!!

 We then headed to our first destination in Montana.  The kids did amazing in the car.  I had packed some of their favorite toys in a "fun bag" so that when I got them out for the trip they would be really excited and it worked!  We arrived at our first hotel and the kids were very excited to go swimming.  Unfortunately this pic below is about as close as they got to the water as we found out they are both petrified.  (Swimming lessons here we come!!!!)

 We stayed in Casper, Wyoming the next day and then on to Denver.  We noticed in Casper our tire on the van getting low and had to start airing it up everyday.  Luckily it never blew.  This day was also when we noticed the lump on Luther's chest.  By this point he was barely drinking any water and was not eating at all.  :(
We really liked stopping at rest stops.  We would get fast food and fill up on gas and the stop and let the kids run around for about an hour.  It also made it convenient for Luther not having to be left in the car.

We were sooooo excited to stay with our friends Holly and Collin Packer in Denver.  We haven't seen them in almost 3 years.  The last time Aidan was a few months old and Holly was pregnant with Maddox.  It was also amazing to let the kids go crazy in a house instead of being cooped up in a hotel room.  We got there around 3 so it ended up being a really relaxing day.  So great to catch up!

The next day was our longest drive to Wichita.  Again, the kids were great!!!!  We got to stay at my brother Travis's there.  My parents came up from Hutch so it was a nice little family reunion.  

 The next day we stayed in Dallas and stopped for a little family photo.  IT WAS HOT at this point!  This is especially when we knew something was wrong with Lu cause he wouldn't drink at all.

The next day (Sunday morning) we pulled up to our home in Round Rock.  No one was there yet since we were a little early.  We did a quick inspection with the property manager and soon after everyone showed up to help us move in.  It was amazing.  There was around 20 people or so.  Our good friend the Collwells brought lunch for everyone and the church even made sure there were babysitters provided.  After they unloaded.  They set up all the beds, the dining table, hooked up my washer and dryer, and helped me put together the kitchen.  Such a huge stress relieved.  

We went to bed that night feeling pretty good about our move.  Our kids could not have been better travelers Lu seemed to be coming around since we were finally settled.  Little did we know that the next week was going to be one of the most stressful we have ever had.  I think that will have to be a separate post....