A lot has happened since I last blogged....I made one more trip to Ohio right before Thanksgiving to make one last try to find a house. (A HUGE thank you to the friends who watched the kids!) The trip paid off and we found this country farm house. It has 3 bedrooms upstairs, a dining room separate from the kitchen, a living room and den on the main floor, and a huge partially finished basement. There is also a laundry room, 3 full baths (one has the shower unfinished), and a half-bath. There is also a 2-car attached garage with extra storage and a large detached garage/workshop. It is on 15 acres. We are super excited and can't wait to make it our home.
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| Rear View....The deck will be fun for barbecues |
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| An aerial View of the property. That strip along the North side isn't really owned by anybody, kind of a buffer between the property/county boundaries. And that diagonal tree line has a creek running through it. |
December was spent packing and having one last Christmas and trying to be ready and Aaron got the paperwork and junk taken care of so we could close on time.
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| I am going to miss this fireplace at Christmas time. |
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| All the kids ready for Santa |
We had a very nice Christmas and Aaron was able to spend over a week with us. The poor guy ended up sick so I don't know that he really enjoyed his visit.
After Christmas we got ready to move. The goal was to be out the 18th. We ended up staying an extra week to take care of replacing the carpets and painting and other things to get the house ready for renters. Yes renters. We feel very blessed with our house in Texas. People noticed when Aaron was loading his truck up back in June and we had one set of neighbors approach us asking if they could rent until they came up with the tax refund/down payment and then buy it when they had the money. We also had our other neighbors express a possible interest in it, and then after I moved here the kids' bus driver who had seen the repair work being done called us. He was interested in renting it as well. All without any effort on our part to sell or lease. We were very fortunate indeed.
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| The last moving unit loaded on the truck and being driven away. These units made moving very easy and with the help of friends we were out of the house and on our way. (THANK YOU!!! to all who helped us pack and load the units and clean) |
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| One last picture outside the house.... |
We said our good-byes and started on our way. I was actually kind of excited (but very nervous) for this trip since I would be going through states I had never been in. And I knew at some point the roads could get snowy/icy.
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| We stopping in Joplin, Missouri to see my dad's Aunt Julia. The last time we saw her was when we lived in Laramie and David and Carissa were just babies. It was a good visit and nice to stay in a home with her motherly care instead of in an impersonal hotel. |
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| It was 75 degrees when we left Texas. Someplace around the Illinois/Indiana border was where the weather changed. This picture was taken at a rest stop outside of Indianapolis. |
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| Not quite there yet, but this sign and arch was our first look at our new home-state. |
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| Finally. After a pretty uneventful and smooth trip (well as uneventful and smooth as a 1200 mile car trip with 6 kids, 2 cats, and a dog can be) we finally reached our destination. This is our first glimpse of our new home. |
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| The kids wasted no time filling the yard with tracks and the next day we were able to take a good hike all around the property. This is David and Joey at the back of our back yard. The land behind them, past the tree line, and up the hill, is ours. |
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| Starting up the trail with daddy. |
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| Heading up the hill at the back of our property |
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| The view of our house (and beyond) from the top of the hill at the back of our property. |
The weather has been mostly cold and snowy since we moved here. The kids are enjoying it, me not so much....
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| The kids shoveling our long driveway while waiting on the bus one morning. |
We are getting settled in to our new home ok. The kids are liking school, although Joey and Caitlyn miss them while they are gone. It is work as usual for Aaron and settling in for me. We now have Ohio license plates on the van and Aaron has his new driver's license. We will get the plates for the truck and my license when we get the truck back from the shop (yes, Aaron wrecked it avoiding a deer our first night here. It still hasn't been fixed yet.)
One of the coolest things about our new property is all the wildlife. We need to get a muzzle-loading gun so we can go hunting this year.
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| Wild turkey? spotted on our hike |
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| Aaron got a shot of these deer one day after he moved in, before we got here. |
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| This is a picture of the herd (S?) of deer that live in the lot of trees at the northwest border of our property. I think I have counted as many as 14. There are at least 10 in this picture and 11 in the video I took the same night below. They come out of the trees every night around 5:30 or so. |
So, that's the short of what has been going on in our lives. I will blog more now that we are a little more settled and I have more time in my day.
