A New House

We got the keys to our house on January 31.  It was a chilly Saturday afternoon when we got the call that we could head to our new house for the first time.

I had boxes and bags prepared for that moment.  We loaded up the car, and headed over.  Both kids came with, and we spent the first hour walking around and looking at the empty rooms that we would very soon paint, clean and fill up!  

Here are the pictures of the first time walking through the house...

Vera's room.  She was pretty excited about the tree.  She also insisted on wearing the princess skirt to the new house.

Trying to touch the leaves was also a big deal.  We can remember how tall she was when we moved in, based on this picture.

Master bedroom

Master closet

Basement storage area.

Laundry & utility area

Vince's bedroom

I started scrubbing and cleaning downstairs right away.  We had a few short days to get the basement cleaned and prepped for painting and carpet cleaning.  That evening, we went to Greenville and grabbed some drive-thru dinner and brought it back to our new house.  We ate downstairs at our table.  Our first meal was Hot Head Burritos for mom & dad and McDonald's for Vera.  Impressive dining, huh?

The next weeks were busy and exhausting.  Many evenings, our routine went something like this:  Bathe the kids and put on PJs right after work at 3pm.  (Vera thought that was the coolest thing!)  Eat a frozen casserole dinner and head to new house by 5.  Work until about 8.  Come home in the dark and (freezing!) cold and put the kids to bed.  Adam and I were so ready for that routine to end.  We were tired--it was a lot of logistics and planning to keep up with--in addition to working full time and having 2 small kids.

But the kids were troopers.  Vince napped and played in his "cage" each evening.  We wheeled the Pac & Play from room to room as we worked.

Vera played too, but she mostly watched movies on this portable DVD player.  It was awesome because it kept her occupied for large chunks of time.  Without our DVR, she was pretty limited on movies.  I think she's watching Elf, the Christmas movie here.

With the help of a family friend, the entire basement was painted in about 1.5 days.  It would've taken Adam and I an entire week to paint ourselves!  Adam painted this green wall in the kitchen, and he painted three walls in Vera's room.  He painted.  I cleaned.  Mikey painted closets.  We would've never been able to clean the entire house without the help of our family, especially my mom and Rosie.  

Moving day was Valentine's Day, February 14.  I can best describe the day as a whirlwind.  We got started around 9:45.  Vince went to Kelly Smith's house, and Vera stayed with us to help.  It started to snow right away, and the first hour wasn't bad.  By 11, it was snowing and blowing hard.  Around noon, we had white-out conditions.  I remember walking from my car to the house with my hands full of things, and I couldn't see anything.  Everything was white.  It was very dangerous to be out; Darke county was on a Level 2.  Our saving grace was a covered trailer to keep things dry, and a very short distance to move things.

The pictures don't justify just how much the snow was blowing.

Obstacle course!

We had awesome help getting everything moved.  It was hectic, but we had everything moved by 1:00.  Most of our help was gone by 2, and Adam and I spent the rest of the day finding a place for boxes and random things.

That evening, Adam helped Vera put up her Doc sticker.  She couldn't wait.  She got the decal from the McCutchins family for Christmas, so it had been a long wait to put up.  It turned out really cute.

Our first night in our new house went well.  Everyone slept all night in their own beds.  On Sunday morning when I woke up, my comment to Adam was that I couldn't believe how quiet the house was.  There was no train noise, no traffic noise.  It was weird, but very nice!

The next day, Sunday, we went to hand over the keys to our old house.  (Every "transaction" that took place with our old house involved bitterly cold temperatures--closing and exchanging keys!  So we drug the kids along in the frigid temperatures to hand things over.)  I walked through the house alone on Saturday afternoon and snapped a few pictures.  It was so weird to walk through and reminisce.  I had tears in my eyes as I took pictures of the empty house.  It was good little house for us, even if it is time to move on!

Although we didn't have the greatest weather to move, the subsequent weekends weren't any better.  It was bitterly cold and very snowy for two straight weeks after we moved.  I guess that's February in Ohio!  

We are starting to settle in.  Though it doesn't feel like home yet, we are starting to feel more comfortable.  Our garage is still a disaster and we have plenty of boxes to still unpack.  Soon enough, I think it will feel like we've always lived here.