Ella starts Cross Country

Ella really loves running and now has several 5Ks and a 10K under her belt. She was thrilled to join the XC team as CTK and recently had her first meet.
She finished 10th out of 52 girls so I was pretty proud of her. She is determined to get better!

Painting the house

I knew one of the first things we wanted to do with the house is get the downstairs painted. All the walls and trim needed a fresh coat. Although I was so happy to get this done, boy was it a pain! We hired a crew to do it for us and they were great it just took a really long time most of which we had to spend in a hotel. The kids loved that part but man I was so happy to be out of that hotel and back home!
Here are a few pics of the process:

Back to School 2017

This is a big start to the new school year because not only are Ella and Luke back at their old school Christ the King but AB starts her new school! She is going to Little Rock Montessori which is right across the road from CTK which really helps with drop off and pick up.
Here the kids are on the first day of school:
Ella 6th grade, Luke 3rd grade and AB pre pre school

After dropping E and L off Lyle and I went to drop off AB. I was so so nervous and she was too but she was so incredibly brave. Geez, my heart still breaks thinking about dropping her off. The first day wasn't as bad as the 2nd day. She was still very brave and didn't give us a hard time but had big tears rolling down her face when she climbed out of the car to go in. I told her, "Mommy loves you AB." and she turned to me and said with the sweetest voice trying to be strong and tears rolling down her face, "I love you too, Mom"

We were so happy to be reunited after that first day! This is us hanging out waiting for Ella and Luke to get out of school. I had my first day of work too that day. I was so happy to pick her up but I think she had a good day and seems to be getting better everyday.

Exploring our new HOME

We got back to AR August 7th. Our moving truck was not going to come for about another 5 days so we stayed at my parents. On the 8th, Lyle and I drove up to Little Rock so he could see the new house for the first time. We let the kids stay at my parents to play so we could get some errands taken care of before it got to crazy in the new house. Lyle and I bought a new mattress (first time we ever got a King bed!) new wash machine and dryer, and got a new TV for the upstairs play room. It was a fun time just hanging out with the two of us. That doesn't happen very often.
Later we went back home and picked up the kiddos so they could come see the house too! They loved picking out their new rooms...AB walked up the stairs first and immediately new what room she wanted. It was the one I was going to let Luke have but she wouldn't budge. She wanted that room and her brother was kind enough to let her have it:)
Here are a couple pics of them exploring the new house and back yard:

 They found some friendly neighbors and couldn't resist saying hello:)

 After staying with my sister a couple of nights the moving van finally arrived and it was chaos after that!

 Little AB enjoying a peaceful moment during the move. It feels so good to finally be moved in and getting settled again. I think we are really going to enjoy living here!

Bye Bye Baby Crib

I came across this picture the other day and realized that I will never see her in this crib again. We packed it up and decided to just get her a big girl's bed for her new room in the new house. Kind of makes me sad. She is growing so fast:( Love you so so much Annabeth!

Our journey back home

Since we had movers driving our stuff back home this time around we all got to ride together in the Explorer for our trip back home. It was so so fun!
Our first stop was in Reno, NV and after a long day of packing we were all ready to get some good food and fall asleep! Here is Lyle at the restaurant. He was pretty tired at this point so you can't tell it but I can promise you there was no one happier than him. He was done with fellowship! He danced in the car on the way out of SF. Said he felt like he was getting out of prison! Although he really enjoyed the people, he just worked A LOT!!

The next day we drove to Salt Lake City Utah. It was such a beautiful drive!

After a ride through Wyoming we ended up in Boulder, CO where we stayed for two days visiting Amber and Logan and little Brodie. So great to finally see him!

Then we were off to TX where we stayed with Lyle's uncle Jimmy and Aunt Kathy and then visited with his Uncle Bob. It was great getting to see them again.

The last leg of our trip was getting to Paris, AR. We pulled up around 6pm and the entire family was at mom and dad's house. It was so great seeing them and so surreal. Our time in San Francisco was complete.