Last Days in New Hope

Since we spent the last two weekends of July camping, we didn't have much time to get ahead with packing for our move. We camped for five days, were home for two (just long enough to wash the dirt out of everything and repack it) and then camped for four more days. Then we came back, washed the dirt out of everything and unpacked again just in time to start packing our whole house! Plus I was a little tired, because, you know... pregnancy. So it was a little crazy. But I was still bound and determined to make sure we got to enjoy a few of our favorite things in the area before we left.

So here are some of  the things we did instead of packing during that last week and a half in our old house. :-)

We went to a few of our favorite parks.

And the best splash pad!

We went to the Lego Americana Roadshow at the mall.

We ran a lot of errands.

And we had a lot of fun at home amidst the chaos too.

The king with his walkie talkie on his belt.

The jester?

And the princess.

Always a princess.

Here she's just pretending there's a baby in her tummy. But since then Aria has become convinced that there really is one in there. She talks about her baby kicking her and tells people to feel her baby kick regularly. She leans forward as far as she possibly can and tries to kiss her tummy. She is so excited to meet "my" baby though.  Hopefully that excitement will make her forget about the one in her tummy when it isn't also born that day!

Just more proof that one of my kids can't do a single thing without the other two following.

We had pizza with our dear neighbor, Marlene. She told us we wouldn't see her on moving day because she would be in her basement where she couldn't see the truck or watch us leave. We were sad to leave her too! We've already visited her several times and I'm sure there will be many more.

Part way through that week Carl and I got this fun news in the mail from the doctor!

We found out through a blood test. But we kept it a secret until my ultrasound a couple weeks later. Mostly because I didn't trust the scratch off. I needed to see the baby before we told people. :-)

We closed on the new house on August 7 (or maybe the 8th. I honestly don't even remember!) And we moved on the 12th. Buying this house was a crazy experience. Their realtor was very difficult to work with and it felt like almost daily he was threatening to back out. We didn't feel confident that it would all go through until we walked out with keys. It felt like a deal just waiting to crumble if we so much as breathed wrong! That's probably partly why I procrastinated on the packing. I didn't want to be fully packed and then have to unpack it all again!

But we got keys!

The day before the big move Carl's parents came to help with the kids while I worked more on packing. They had been begging all summer to do a lemonade stand and I knew that our new house would never be a prime location for one, so I bought everything and hoped Grandma and Grandpa wouldn't mind sitting with them. The kids had a blast and were so happy they finally got to do it. :-)