We're Alive (a semi-update)!

Who knew moving required so very much!?  Here we are a month ago at the closing, signing our lives away and SOOOOO ready to be in a house!

Shopping at Costco for the essentials as we prepare to move.  They delivered the washer, dryer and fridge the day we closed so it was nice to have some useful appliances there from the very beginning.

You can see what kind of help we had...I won't go naming names but one of our parental units says they were just "testing" us to see if we'd notice if they put the diaper on wrong...

Nana and Papa came the following weekend right after the painters arrived to help us pack up the rest of the apartment and unload the storage units.  Nana and Phoebe had fun in the basement playing!  Papa shared his expert packing skills and helped us empty out the storage units in no time flat.

I'm awful - it's been a full month since the house has been ours and I've not posted pictures since Halloween.  You'd think I'd have a million to show of the kids, the house, etc.  Lousy, I tell you - but I'll try to make up for it this weekend. I did end up with a horrible case of strep throat the Monday before Thanksgiving so we ended up skipping our trip to Chicago and spent the holiday in our pjs doing a whole lot of nothing.   

Here's a picture of the master bedroom getting set up.  It's painted in "Adobe" something - it's a red/orange.  We got our blinds installed just this past Tuesday so it's nice to not duck every time we get out of the shower or stumble through our room in the dark. 

Phoebe is still attempting to wear her summer clothes as the temperatures continue to drop. 

However, she has enjoyed wearing her winter dresses to church on Sundays!  The problem is now she wants to wear the SAME one every Sunday!  Here she is in the master bathroom pre-installed blinds.

Last Saturday morning we went to the 8:30 Angel Breakfast at church. Perhaps it's a bit too early for us to be out and about on a weekend but we had a good time and it's always a great way to kick off the advent season.

Later that afternoon we had a birthday party to celebrate at the Children's Museum.

Phoebe met up with one of her good friends, Hadley prior to the party so they could run through the museum together.  They had a blast!

Maverick didn't nap prior to the party so Ryan got some quality one-on-one time with him and then took him to the van where he promptly fell asleep. 

We got home just in time to meet YiaYia and Papou at our house so Ryan and I could run up to Valparaiso for the Christmas office party up there.  We didn't get back till 1:30 in the morning and are so grateful my parents pretended to be night owls just for us!

Phoebe's mattress just arrived this past Tuesday so we put together her bed frame and got her to bed just before 9:00.  She told Ryan she wanted the queen blow-up mattress she'd been on the last three weeks and told him he could take the big bed back...  She's adjusted fairly well, we think.

Maverick LOVES tomato sauce - lasagna, spaghetti, pizza, etc.  Only problem is that he gets it EVERYWHERE.  Anyone with tips on how to remove tomato sauce stains from clothes, I'm all ears.  Here's another reason we're so glad to finally have blinds installed.  We felt like the whole world was watching us eat dinner every night.  So happy that's over!  Now we just open them to watch the construction crews working on the next house going up diagonally to our backyard.

Here's the lone picture we have of our house - it's the family room (ignore the random boxes that we just can't seem to make disappear).  I promise to work on pictures this weekend.  We have another birthday party on Saturday but hoping that everyone stays well, we're praying for a more productive weekend.   I'd love to post pictures without totes lining the bedroom walls and without boxes stacked in the hallway, so here's hoping!  We've still got to get our Christmas lights up outside and finish insulating the rest of the garage - I think we'll have our hands full with projects till at least 2014!  Somehow we're going to find a way to slow down and enjoy this precious season before its gone, the house will just have to wait!