"We forgot to move the grass."

That is what Jackson said after we finally got everything moved into our new house. And he is correct- we did forget to move the grass and get to deal with a yard full of mud until we can seed our yard in the spring. I know it has been a long time since my last blog, but things have been pretty busy. And to my family who were getting onto me for not updating- wasn't it better to see it in person? Well anyway, we did finally move in last Friday. Actually our stuff got moved in and people weren't done around here until 7pm, then we ate dinner at my parent's house and decided that maybe we would stay there one more night since we still had to make all the beds and we didn't have anything in our kitchen except a refrigerator. To tell the whole story- our countertops weren't ready yet so we didn't have a kitchen sink or cooktop because we needed a countertop for both of those. Those also didn't want to put in the double oven until they got the countertops and they just didn't have time to put the microwave in. Another problem we discovered just a day before the move was that we didn't have a dryer vent. Oops. So I wasn't able to wash any of our linens. I especially wanted to do Jackson's before I made his bed because his spent the whole time in the storage unit which we discovered (or actually the movers) had mice in it! This led to leaving our living room furniture out in the garage since it had mouse poop on it.

After all of this and freezing cold temperatures we did finally get settled in thanks to a lot of help from our family which we greatly appreciate. This past week has been pretty crazy with workers being here almost everyday. But we finally got all the appliances and countertops in, kichen backsplash done, our shower done, the exterior finished, and the remaining electrical/phone/plumbing work done. The last guys left at around 6pm on Friday. There are still a few minor things to be done but nothing that can't be done later. I have been working day and night trying to get things in place and I have to say I LOVE OUR HOUSE. Andrew and I are very happy with the way it turned out. I love so many things about it- our bathroom, the mantel (which Andy, our contractor, made), the step stool that slides out of the kids' vanity, the light coming in, the playroom where I can close the door if the mess has not been picked up, and so much more. The kids have loved it too and have had fun exploring everywhere. All I have left to do is organize the storage and garage but first we have to clean out all the trash and cardboard boxes that are filling up half of our garage right now. I think I am going to take a break for a little bit though because I was feeling totally exhausted from the past week and I discovered on Saturday that one of the reasons I was feeling so lousy was that I had the flu. So after everyone came to see the house on Saturday, I spent the rest of the time lying on the couch. I felt so bad that everyone was in town and I didn't get to spend that much time with them. Amanda and Carson were here for a whole week and I don't have any pictures to show for it. I was so tired I couldn't even find my camera. So after spending all day in bed yesterday (Andrew watched the kids all day and tried to let me get as much sleep as possible- so nice!)I am starting to feel better. I even took some pictures of the house- so here they are. . .