Settling In

We passed this sign at about 1am when we FINALLY made it here

I fall a little more in love with our house each day.
It's still a sea of boxes, even though we have unpacked almost every room. We ordered an entertainment center and are at kind of a stand still till it's delivered.

So far, my first experience of living in a neighborhood is ok. I love being close to everything, school, grocery shopping, restaurants. My youngest is THRILLED that we live so close to a Michael's craft store, so funny!
Being close to the beach is my new favorite thing!   ^_^
I'm a very private person when it comes to being at home, I'm having to get used to having people so close. It's a bit socially awkward to me to be out in the back yard playing with the boys and see the neighbors out. I wave but in my head I'm thinking, should I go say hi? strike up a conversation? We've introduced ourselves, is that it?  Yea.. it weirds me out a little.

I think we are all adjusting well. I'm ready for things to come together and be rid of these boxes.
It's a holiday weekend this week so maybe we can sort out a bit more.
I plan to start visiting churches next Sunday. I made a list, there's one here in town, the rest are a little further toward Columbia. It will be nice to meet people and find a church home we all like.

I can't wait to have family come visit! That's the only thing that would make this place absolute heaven.
The people are amazingly nice and helpful. You can't call someone to ask about trash or phone service without getting their life story.. and that is no exaggeration. We now know all about the family of a lady who works at the local garbage service. It's pretty funny!

I think we're all going to like it  here.... it can be home :)

I'm Washing Plasticware...

This is just for you my dear Aunt ;)

Ahh hotel living... SUCKS! I love my family but I am so ready to have my own space. Everyone have a room, cook my own food, not pay $2 a load to do laundry (that's $2 to wash $2 to dry!) Ugh! I'm also looking forward to not fighting old ladies for the ONLY washer and dryer this 6 floor hotel has. It was rather comical when Hubby went down stairs for something and saw the washer was free. He busted into the room Washer's free! GO! GO!

I did go to walmart today and buy some lunch meat and good things to eat rather than going out for lunch and dinner today. Sooo tired of eating out..

As far as we know we are still closing on Wednesday. Our mortgage guy isn't telling us much other than " We're on time for closing!!" and a swift hang up. Not a friendly fellow but oh well, we won't have to deal with him again after we close.

The cats and kids seem to like hotel life pretty well. the oldest kiddo is tired of eating out all of the time, as am I. Baby boy is happy as a lark and LOVES the decorative bowls that have fruit in them sitting everywhere. He has to grab an apple or banana every time he passes one.

The kids and I did venture out on our own last night. Hubby reported to work last night and that left us to go after our own dinner. I was in the wrong lane and ended up on the freeway, I got off at the next exit where we found a cracker barrel. I had planned to eat at the mall but cracker barrel was there and the boys were thrilled. I did manage to find my way back to the street the hotel is on without getting back on the freeway! Go me! We also went to Books a Million before we headed back. I love how we are in the middle of everything.

Our final walk through was yesterday too. It was the first time the boys had been in the house. They LOVED it. They were running up and down the hall and in and out of each other's rooms. Gavin had to check out the bathroom. Shane had to use it but the water isn't on, SO he christened the back yard!

We drove my soon to be kindergartener by his new school while we were out there. He was pretty impressed. Open house and Meet the Teacher are next week!

Over all things are going well, We may need to go visit the Zoo or something in the next day or so to keep us from going stir crazy! Well... that and I just want to go to the zoo ;)

Love to all and I'll update again soon!

Greetings From South Carolina

I'm so glad that drive is over! I will never NEVER drive all of that in one day ever again. Everyone did great, we couldn't have asked for a better trip.
It was also the hardest trip I've ever had to make. I knew saying goodbye to my family and friends was going to be hard but I never dreamed it would have been as hard as it was. I don't know how many times between Texarkana and Shreveport that I wanted to turn around and go back to the only home I've ever known. I cried, I prayed, this is honestly the hardest thing I have ever done.
Once I made it out of Shreveport, and out of anything familiar to me, it got better. It was really need watching the landscape change from state to state. The kids thought the Mississippi river, and the bridge we crossed it on, was AMAZING! We passed farms in Alabama and my youngest told me how he is going to be a farmer when he's a grown up, he made sure to stress the fact that he didn't have time to be a farmer right now. Being 4 takes up so much time you know! I was pretty awesome driving past Olympic Village in Atlanta, GA. Driving in Atlanta isn't a pleasant experience, I feel almost invincible now! Driving in 6 lanes of traffic while it's raining off and on, lightening EVERYWHERE, yea like I said, INVINCIBLE!
By the time we crossed over into South Carolina we were running on fumes. I've never been so exhausted. The kids were fighting with each other, the cats were waking up, it was terrible!!
Everyone was happy to be in our hotel room. The cats were THRILLED to be out of their crates and have a space to terrorize. The kids wanted a soft bed about as much as we did.
So thankful to everyone for the prayers for safe travels, we couldn't have asked for a smoother trip. Now the count down begins till move in day!

Packing Day 1

Wanna know what I hate more than house hunting? Packing a Uhaul!!
Thank God for great friends and family for help! My parents watched the boys for us while we started the painful process of loading the truck. This is going to be an interesting process!
We were able to get TONS done today. We are currently on a late night run to Walmart for more tape and tie downs for the appliances.
I'm really happy with our progress today. We are sweaty, exhausted and stinky! I can't wait for a hot shower, some icy hot on my back and a soft bed!

Catch Up Time

The kids have hijacked my computer so I haven't been able to post anything. I do have the app on my phone but when you have a lot to type.. that screen is just too little!!

So 2 weeks ago I was able to accompany my husband to SC to go house hunting. I thought it would be fun... yea so not!! There were a few houses out realtor took us through where I wanted to ask her.. umm really? We're not the fixer upper type of people. Anyway, we looked at several, the one I had my heart almost set on was TERRIBLE. It was beautiful on the outside but the inside layout made no sense what so ever. Living space was so small, kitchen was minuscule, and the Washer/Dryer hookups were in the guest bathroom! Like I said... pretty bad. I was so upset by the time we took a break for lunch that I was about in tears.
Our realtor was able to make a new list of houses to look at when we were done and we set off with renewed hope. The first house we looked at that afternoon was IT. The outside was pretty, inside was perfect, we LOVED it. And within 4 hours the process to make it ours was underway.
We will find out Friday if we will be able to close early, please pray that we can. My husband and I both have had dreams that we were able to close on the 10th. It would be really awesome if that were to happen!
Once I got home the packing frenzy began. We had gotten quiet a bit done before I left for SC so that was a great help. My Aunt came out a few times to help pack and just for company. I feel really blessed to have had that opportunity and those fun memories, she passed away of a sudden heart attack last week. We spent the day together on Monday, she passed on Tuesday. Totally unreal, it's still hard to wrap my head around it. Other than the packing we did on Monday, I did nothing last week. I don't think I could have packed if I had tried. The hubs was able to come home, he was working in SC, I'm still so very thankful for that. It would have been hard without him.
SO this brings us to the present. I'm so tired of packing that I'm just throwing everything in sight into a box and labeling a random room to put it in. It's going to make unpacking interesting but at least it's in a box! We leave one week from today. I can't wait to have the moving process behind us!

Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare for our journey. Also pray that we will have a safe trip!!
Thank you to everyone who has offered to help. Please don't take my declining your offer personal, our family and my husband's employer have been taking wonderful care of us! We love you all and thank you so much for offering your time.