so… we moved!! FINALLY… we stayed pretty quiet about it to most people, but trust me it was a LONGGGG wait!
We could not be more thrilled!! We are currently LOVING our new home, but of course, like any move, it comes with a pretty long back story.
When we first moved to PA we got a rental house, and figured we'd make sure that things were going to work out with Derrik's job and that we liked it before we made any commitment too big! I'm not sure I ever said "Hey I love it here, and never want to move back to Florida!"… because I didn't :) but at at certain point it did start to feel more like home, and sometimes it's not all about me! Shocker huh?! We have really settled in up here as a family, and we've really settled into a nice routine of seeing my family. And for some reason it just started to feel ok and alright. Soo… we started house hunting. We got really serious about it last July when my family was visiting, and helped us house hunt some. While looking it became clear to us that we could afford an older house or a new town home. Well Derrik might be an amazing athlete, but handy man is not something that will ever be on his resume :) so a newer town townhome was obviously a better option for us! By the end of July we had found the perfect neighborhood for us. It was in the right school district where Derrik went to school and his brothers currently do. Practically down the street from Derrik's mom's house, and much closer to everyone on Derrik's dad's side of the family. Plus it was in a really nice development!! Lucky for us there is a small little circle of town homes, and the rest is a huge neighborhood full of houses… and kids!!! We can not wait for it to warm up outside and go make some new friends :)
Of course we are the lucky ducks who picked a development where the builder let some certifications lapse which is making the mortgage process hellish on their end. Like we signed our paperwork mid-August, and are still waiting on them to get some things together. So through negotiations (more like mean phone calls, screaming, meeting with the Vice President of the company, and much more) we are now currently "renting" our house until they get their re-certification. And then they are oh so graciously reimbursing us :) Oh the wars we've had with these people! We are not the only ones in this boat, and it was a really nice way to get close with out neighbors quickly lol :) We've wanted to back out so many times and move on, but now that we are living here I am so glad we didn't. We love it here and that was the point all along!
So… we came to these negotiations the Friday before Christmas. My parents decided to come that Saturday, arrived Monday, celebrated Christmas Wednesday, and on Thursday morning we had keys in our hand to our new home!!! That's when the fun began… we spent the next week and a half painting, doing wood work, moving our house (moving with Christmas decorations still up… not cool), and just getting this place to feel like home as quick as possible while we had help around. My mom and sisters were so amazing taking over my mom role with the boys, and my dad worked endless hours doing as much work around here as possible!! I can not thank them enough. Thank you to everyone who helped move our house as well (Aunt Gina, Chad, Richie, Ryan, and Tommy… you were amazing!), and of course our Papi spent his lovely "vacation" days helping my dad get our crown molding, wainscoting, and chair rail in. THANK YOU!!!
These pictures are random at best. We literally spent every waking minute working. The pictures of the boys are just random, mainly from my sisters phones, and just some of the fun we had during our lovely move :)
Someone was missing mommy this day… found this on my nightstand
See ya later E. Caracas Ave… you were good to us!
Ignore the mess.. we changed our mind about 10 times in the boys rooms… promise it looks good now :)
Mack showed them how to use the nail gun...
Ally sent this over their drive home… this wasn't our funnest vacation with them, but it was so nice to just "be" with them. Transitioning to a new home is always hard, but they made it much less stressful. I am always so thankful for our time together, and always counting down to the next time!!
The house still needs lots of decorating and some new furniture, but i'll get some pictures up next! Because it might take me all year to get it decorated how I want it :)
