New Year, New.....

House!! Holy crap!! We bought a new house!  Somehow, between Christmas and New Year's Eve we bought a house. Yes, during the craziest time of the year we bought a house.  I really shouldn't be surprised because it seems kinda like that's how we do things around here. We have been talking about wanting to move for a year or so, and over the past few months we decided that we would get serious "after the holidays." Before we knew it we had seen a few houses, met a realtor, decided to put our house on the market in January, saw more houses, put an offer in, and now we are going to be moving in about a month!

This is extremely exciting, but also very overwhelming. We have SO much to do in these next few weeks. It's going to be crazy moving. I thought it was stressful when just Ray and I moved from our 2 bedroom condo into this house. Now we have 2 extra people in our family who have helped us accumulate a LOT of extra stuff. (the toys...OMG I can't even begin to describe the toys. Puzzle pieces, doll shoes, stuffed animals, things that I have no idea what they are for. I never knew my kids had so many light up things, and pinwheels.  No idea what to do with it all.  On the positive side, this will help us de-clutter!!)

I can't wait to be in our new house. I can't wait to make it a home, and I am so excited for the kids to grow up there. I can't stop looking at the pictures of the house and realizing that we are going to live there. Our (current) house officially went on the market yesterday, and we already have a showing lined up for the weekend.  We're expecting and hoping to get more in the next few days.  It has been very crazy trying to de-clutter and keep the house extra super clean, but we are hoping that we will see our house pretty quickly.

I know things are going to be crazy and hectic these next few weeks, but I also know that it will all work out ok.  Here we are almost 5 years ago on moving day to this house.  Little did we know that the very next day I would get a positive pregnancy test.  We hoped that this house would be where we started our family, and we have been so blessed to have it come true.  I get a little sad thinking of leaving, but I know we have tons of amazing new memories to make in our new house. 

Merry and Bright

We had a fabulous Christmas!! What a fun, magical time with the kids it was. We had many parties and celebrations, which started with Kenley's school party.  They did their usual activities of singing, passing out treats, and had a visit from Santa.  I met up with my old co-workers, and I got to meet Frank Thomas at a new sports bar that he opened in the area. It was so good seeing them, and its always a fun time attending the annual Christmas party.  Ray and I also got amazing tickets to a Blackhawks game, and we were on the ice right next to the penalty box. It wasn't a good game, but it was fun being there.

Christmas Eve we went out to dinner with my mom's side of the family. We had another special visit from Santa, and we had 5 kids/babies here under 4. It's fun watching them all play together. Kenley was very into her preparations for Santa, and she made sure to sprinkle her "reindeer food" on the driveway and lay out the cookies and milk right by the fireplace. As soon as both kids were up Christmas morning, we headed down stairs to open our stockings and presents. Kenley was trilled with every gift, and Charlie seemed most happy about the sucker he found in his stocking.  Kenley also couldn't get over the fact that Santa left daddy and Archie onions in their stockings. (Hahaa....)

We went to my mom's house for breakfast, and we had dinner at my mother-in-law's.  We had a really great day, and we are so lucky that our families are close by so we can see everyone on Chrismtas. The kids were very spoiled by everyone in the family, and they got so many really nice toys, clothes, and everything else you could think of.  It was great to spend the day with family, and we were all exhausted by the end of the day!








It was such a great holiday season, and tomorrow we are looking forward to spending our 4th New Years Eve with our friends, the Rose Family.