The day felt like it came slowly, but before we knew it, it was our last morning in our little home. And we started on full speed and never stopped.

Jon went first thing in the morning to my parents’ closing and I stayed behind and finished packing up the very “lasts” of the lasts, then he picked me up, we dropped the boys off at our friends the Beechem’s house and we went to our closing.

I had such a weird deja vu moment in the title company’s office. It felt like it had been only a brief second since we’d signed our names on those lines saying we were buying the house! We left the closing, picked up the boys and headed home to finish up.

Playing on their beloved playhouse for the very last time. I was a mess this entire day. I could barely move without bursting into tears.

Love my sweet boys.

Jon was in and out all day trying to figure out stuff for Mom and Dad’s closing and ours and so he would run out and do something and come back and pack in his dress clothes and run back out. We were both completely stressed out by this point because we had no idea where we would even be that night, since it didn’t look like Mom and Dad’s house would close in time. Poor Parker and Eisley both collapsed on the family room floor in exhaustion because their beds were already packed.

Last wrestle in the backyard! It was just about time to go.

This house. We came in as two and we left with full hands. Jon carried me over that doorstep on our first night there and he carried our babies out on our last day there. In this house, we experienced so much. We brought three sweet babies home to this house and we said goodbye to one. We taught a puppy his boundaries and we watched him turn into an old dog who followed us around. We landscaped our backyard 597 times and we knew every river stone by name by the end of it. 😉 We taught a baby how to sleep through the night and taught that same boy how to read. We snuggled babies in our rocking chair every single day. We painted walls, we cleaned up when kids wrote on those same walls and we got teary washing handprints off the back door for the last time.

In this house, we baked cookies and shared them with neighbors. We packed kids and friends in around our tiny kitchen table and when it got too small, we shoved some of those people outside. 😉 We planted a garden and watched our kids’ wonder and excitement as the first vegetables came to life. We took walks and bike rides and said hello to friends and neighbors. We read the Jesus Storybook Bible to one child, then two and then three. We wept with friends who could not have children and then wept again when they came back to our table and told us they were expecting. We hung streamers over doorways to celebrate birthdays and turned the whole house into a winter wonderland for small boys who made everything magical.

In this house, we lived. We laughed (a lot). We cried. And most of all, we loved.

Thank you, Jesus, for our sweet little first home.

Oh this week was so hard, friends. We know that we are doing what we are supposed to be doing – if anything, the twelve hours on the market was confirmation of that. But we have loved this little house. And this little house has loved us.

So we began our last week in this house with lots of tears and lots of trepidation. The tears because we were moving. The trepidation because we weren’t sure where we were going. Mom and Dad’s closing was delayed and we were supposed to be moving in with them for the three weeks before we closed on our new house.

As of right now, we have no idea was is going to happen.

Last Friday night Pizza and Movie Night. My kids count down the week to Fridays so we can have our picnic on the family room floor with pizza. It’s one of our most beloved family traditions. I could barely eat during this one – I was such a sentimental mess. We started this tradition on this floor with just one little kid and now there are three of them.

Last time hanging out on his bunk bed in his first little room! We had to dismantle it to get it through the doorway. 🙂

Moving weekend began with me packing up our whole house like crazy. I found Parker here – he was NOT handling me packing up all our stuff well at ALL. Poor baby. He does much better with gradual change.

Jon picked up the moving truck and THAT was cool, so Parker decided maybe this moving thing was too terrible. The boys loved running up and down the gangplank and yelling like crazy people inside it because it echoed so much. 😉

Almost eight years ago, Jon and I got the keys to our first little home, went over so excitedly that very night and ate peanut butter and jelly on the floor of what felt like a huge, echoey, empty house. So it was only fitting that we closed this chapter the way we began it.

Last dinner in our first home.

How things have changed! We are so blessed. I bawled through all of dinner just thinking about all the things that had happened in that little home.

One, two, three sweet babies sleeping in their first home for the last time.

I rocked Eisley to sleep and I just couldn’t stop crying. I couldn’t stop remembering. We started in such an empty, echoing house and the house was suddenly empty of furniture and echoing again. Only this time, all I could hear was the echoes of our time there. Babies giggling, taking their first steps, learning how to play patty-cake, crying because they needed a kiss on their owie. I rocked Eisley, kissed her, tucked her in bed and sat for a long time just remembering.

Oh, how I love this little house.

This is just not possible.

I just cannot believe that my baby girl is five months old! She is just the most precious girl in the entire world. She discovered her voice this month and talks all. day. long.

She LOVES to laugh – and we love to make her laugh! She loves her mama to hold her all day long and only really fusses if she feels like she should be 1) held or, 2) in the middle of something. 😉

She’s a fantastic sleeper!! We transitioned out of the swaddle and she kept on sleeping – a MIRACLE considering her brothers and their swaddle transition! 😉 She is rolling both ways now and is grabbing everything and going straight for the mouth. So much fun with all the toys and packing materials everywhere. 😉

She is still wearing 0-3 month clothes! She loves to screech like a pterodactyl, loves to get those perfect kissing cheeks kissed and loves to be the center of attention (particularly if the attention is of her brothers).

I just love my precious girl!!

It’s true what they say. You know know how much junk you’ve accumulated until you move. And after almost eight years, we have a LOT of junk.

Time to purge!!

The boys have been living in the yard while we’ve been packing up. Parker thought it was hilarious that Kody was drinking out of the hose so he decided to try. Blegh.

I love this so much right now. I read it every day to remind myself that everything will get done, I don’t need to panic and I do need to stop and enjoy the days. 🙂

She helps me remember this too. 🙂

Little laughing love. She smiles seriously all. day. long.

The boys talked me into a movie and a snack in the family room since it was raining outside and Eisley was sleeping. I love how we have a complete outfit between the two of them. #noshirt #nopants

Saturday morning has us all like “nah”.

Baby love. Big love.

Tummy time. I scrounged up some toys from the back of Parker’s closet. Notice how she’s on a blanket in every picture so she doesn’t spit up all over the new owner’s carpet. 😉

I paused packing one afternoon so we could have a little chat. She just talked and talked and talked. Someone has discovered her voice.

My sweet nephew had his second surgery this week. Poor little man. He recovered so well though and so quickly. We were so thankful!

Sweet little boy. This kid is a mess. Hands down mess. But I just cannot imagine loving him more. 🙂

Playing his favorite position again! He looks so little and so big to me at the same time in this picture – how is he this old??!

Buddies. 🙂 Jon and I often talk about how neat it is to watch their relationship grow. They play together so well and I love listening to their conversations. It’s such a blessing to us!

Last week in our little house! Cue the tears. 🙁

Days are getting longer and warmer and crazier and in an effort to keep everyone from freaking out, we packed our week full of wonderful things. 🙂

We met friends at a new park in town and the boys LOVED it. It was such a neat place! It was packed though – by the time we left, the giant parking lot was all the way full!

There’s a whole section where wild little boys can hit things on purpose and make a lot of noise and it’s actually encouraged. 😉 Someone spent a lot of time in this part. Ha!

It’s hard work to be moving, looking at being homeless and playing baseball. 😉 This one never takes naps anymore and yet he was out hard on his way to Little League Night at the minor league stadium. We had trouble waking him up!

Thankfully, he woke up happy. 😉 My boys!

Look who came in town for Mother’s Day!!! 🙂 We LOVE our Nama and we soak up any time around her!! I think Eisley took most of her naps on Nama while she was out here. 😉

What I walked in and saw on Mother’s Day morning. My heart. I adore these two.

All my babies. I am so overwhelmed with how much God has blessed us!! These sweet faces are so precious. This motherhood thing is exhausting and hard and a million other things, but I wouldn’t trade one minute of time with these three for anything. So thankful for them!

Miss Priss and Nama. 🙂 Someone loves her namesake!! When we were tossing around girls’ names when I was pregnant with Eisley, I knew I wanted to incorporate Nama’s name – Eloise – in there somewhere. I saw Eisley as a nickname for Eloise online and it just stuck. 🙂

Love love love LOVE this!!

Playing with the one toy we have left in the house! Ha! 😉 Seriously though. We have very little left here. Every time Parker gets up from nap, something else is packed. He just walks around demanding to know things now. “WHERE MY BOOKS? WHERE MY PUZZLE? WHERE MY BUDDIES?” Bless his heart.

Little Miss was SO proud to be “playing” with the big boys on this day! She was smiling so big the whole time. It just made us all laugh. 😉

We have spent the last many weeks in a slight (read: MAJOR) panic because we have looked at approximately 164 houses and couldn’t find one we wanted to buy. I seriously was checking Zillow like every six minutes to see if anything new in our hoped-for area of town had popped up.

Then, the house we really liked that was in terrible terrible terrible condition but had an awesome backyard and SO much space popped back up on my list – they had lowered the price!! We’d made an offer several weeks prior and they hadn’t accepted it, but we took my parents and Nama back to it, got their thumbs up on the potential of the house and decided to make another offer.

Two of the longest, most nerve wracking, awful days ever passed and then…

SOLD. They accepted it!! There were definitely thankful tears shed! So excited and overwhelmed and SO THANKFUL. We cannot wait to see what this house can be with some love and care. 🙂 And I’m so excited that it all happened when Nama was in town!

My whole goal for the last month in our little house is to pack as much as possible without the kids really noticing or getting all freaked out about it. We’ve had so much change lately. I think this would be best for everyone. 😉

Little Miss woke up backwards in her bed one morning. SO sad because this means the swaddle is about to need to be retired! 🙁

Y’all. My number one question I get when people find out I’m a writer is “how do you do it with the kids?” Some days, this is how. Baby in the lap, word count to meet. I’ve written while bouncing with a baby in the ergo, I’ve written while eating lunch, I’ve written while sitting in piles of laundry or on the back porch so I don’t have to look at the mess and get distracted. 😉 I’ve written while nursing and gotten up (many times) at 4:30 in the morning to have some kid-free time so I can make deadlines. You just do it. 🙂

Sweet big boy graduated his first year in Sparkies! We love Awana – such a fun, wonderful way for kids to learn Bible verses!

My proud boy. 🙂

I asked Parker to put the remote away one morning and then I couldn’t find it the rest of the day. That night, I pulled out this drawer to make dinner and low and behold. 😉 We are head first in the “putting away” stage. I can’t find anything. 😉

We have talked about doing this race that benefits our local zoo for years and so this year, since you know, we had nothing else going on, we decided to finally do it. 😉 We were so excited but when we woke up, we were having the COLDEST, nastiest day ever! Ha! It was raining sideways and FREEZING cold. But, we powered through it! Nathan did fantastic – Jon and I were so proud of him! He did way way better than his mama. 😉

The stroller buddies. Bless their hearts. As a side note, this is the hat I made for Eisley right before she was born that was supposed to fit her as a newborn. It fits her well now. 😉

We finished the race and immediately went straight home to put on dry clothes and get hot chocolate. 🙂

Sleeping beauty. 🙂

She’s got a little bit of hair coming in!! 🙂

This day I had been busy making to-do lists and trying to pack closets and organize and I was so overwhelmed and nervous because the house we found that both Jon and I liked was not responding to our offer and we had looked at a million other houses and not found one we liked as much. We had to be out of our house in 30 days and we had nowhere to go and I was just completely worried. So I cried, put away the to-do lists, got us all popsicles and we played outside in the yard until bedtime. Sometimes everything looks better after a popscicle. 😉

Eisley had her four month check up and got a couple of shots and a clean bill of health. 😉 Our little love is 12 pounds 12.6 ounces, which puts her in the 14th percentile. She’s 23.5 inches tall, which is the 7th percentile and her head circumference is 40.5 centimeters, which is the 36th percentile. After both of our giant boys, we are just delighting in this sweet girl’s littleness!!

Less than a month in our house! I am officially sentimental about everything. 🙁