Park Fun!

I'm on a roll now!  Finally getting all of these pictures sorted out and trying to catch up on here!  We've had a pretty lazy weekend so it's given me some time to look through them all.  I take wayyy too many and I have a bad habit of just picking the ones I am going to edit or use for something and then never deleting all of the bad ones.  Eventually it catches up with me so I am trying to go through and delete the pictures that I don't have "plans" for like scrapbooking or printing.  Yesterday was really gloomy and overcast and perfect for sitting in front of the computer.  I also had some time today because Ella came down with a fever yesterday afternoon so we had to stay home from church today!  Boo! The kids and I were pretty bummed to miss it, but we wanted to make sure the germs stay here.  She still had a really low fever this morning, but you would never know by her actions.  She is still running around and playing hard!  It takes a lot to keep her down!

So anyways, back to my update!  Another thing we are really loving about our house in Wisconsin is the location.  Dodgeville is a really small town and you could basically drive from one side of town to the other in maybe 5 minutes.  It's a great place for going on walks since there are sidewalks almost everywhere and even in places where there isn't a sidewalk you are safe to walk on the edge of the road.  The kids and I have really been enjoying going for walks.  It's still been pretty cool here with weather between the 40s and 50s so the kids just bring along a blanket and snuggle in the stroller.  There is a great playground near us at the park where the pool will be this Summer.  SO excited about being able to walk to the pool and playground a lot the next few months.  We are also in walking distance to the library where Ella and Noah have been going to story time.  So far we have driven over there, but if the weather is okay tomorrow we are planning to walk for the first time to test out how long it takes us.  That is one of our favorite parts of the week!  The story time there is great!  We're trying to enjoy being out and about as much as we can before the Winter hits!!  I know it's going to take us awhile to adjust to going out in the cold and snow.  At least having Ella in school will force us to get out every day!  Noah is also registered for preschool next year twice a week so we will have to be brave!

Here are some pictures from one of our trips to the park a week or two ago.  Enjoy!

Tractor Watchin'

I've said before that one of our favorite things about our house here in Wisconsin is the beautiful view.  We are literally right on the edge of town so we have farm land behind us as far as we can see.  It's beautiful.  I can't wait to see all of the corn out there this Summer!  In the meantime, the kiddos have been enjoying watching the tractor when it comes by to work in the field.  Yesterday was only the second time we have seen it come by so far, but the kids get super excited.  They spent the afternoon out on the deck just watching it go back and forth.  

Gotta love Noah's yucky mouth-full-of-who-knows-what- grin.  

That's all ya'll!

It's a ZOO!

So these pictures are late.  As usual.  But I still didn't want to pass up the chance to share them with you.  I know everyone has been anxious for more pictures and updates and I feel like a total slacker for not posting more often.   There is definitely lots of fun stuff to share, I just haven't been very motivated to get it on here.  I'm trying to be better, but I will make no promises!

My sweet Ella has had a tricky time adjusting to this big move.  It's been tough on this Mama.  She had such a busy social life in Greenville between all of her friends, preschool, and church activities before we left.  She's had some trouble getting used to the transition, but we are starting to make friends and I think she is starting to adjust more to her Preschool class at church each week.  Last weekend she was invited to go out and have lunch in Madison and then head over to the zoo for a friend's Birthday.  She was super excited!!

We ate lunch at a place called Ella's Deli which she thought was super cool!  It was a really neat place jam packed with all sort of trinkets and whimsical decorations.

 We had to bring pics home to show Noey the Angry Bird cupcakes!!  Noah LOVES angry birds.  The Birthday boy's mom is actually a baker and made these herself!

 All of the kids took a ride on a Carousel after lunch :)

Then after lunch we drove over to the zoo in Madison.  It was a really neat little zoo that is free.  Ella has been talking about it ever since.  She can't wait to go back and take Noah.

Settling In!

Finally, the crickets have been silenced again on the blog!  I know I have kept you guys waiting on a moving update for awhile.  I finally plugged my camera in and dumped a ridiculous amount of pictures onto the computer.  My hubby loves when I do that :)

So we're here!  In Wisconsin that is!  Over the next couple of days I am going to catch you up on some late posts (kids last days of school, Easter, ect.)  But I know you are all anxious for a current update so today I will just catch you up on life so far.  

We are finally a descent amount unpacked.  We have all of our living areas done and now I am just spending a little time each day going through the boxes in the basement and garage.  You know the ones....we haven't "needed" them for anything the whole time we've been here....but we might need them..one day...for something!  Yep, those.  Other than that, we are unpacked now! Yeah!

I guess you would call our house split leveled.  Maybe it's just normal and has a basement.  I don't know.  I'm from Florida so I don't know what it's technically called.  When you walk into the house you actually come in on the first floor (the house is built into a hill).  So upstairs on the main level, there is a living room, eat in kitchen, full bathroom, and two bedrooms.  Noah's room is upstairs next to ours and Ella's is downstairs.  When you go down the stairs, there is another full bath, big room that is another living room/playroom, and then two closets.  One is just a small closet with the water heater, ect.  It has a tiny bit of storage room.  The other is a huge room that is unfinished.  It's basically an unfinished basement.  That is my current project.  Getting all of the boxes in the basement organized and getting rid of anything that we don't want to keep.  I did this as I packed, but I never got to the boxes from the attic so I want to go through all of those as well.  

I know you want pictures and I haven't taken a whole house tour for you yet.  I will once we are more settled though.  We are also going to be painting the very white walls that are everywhere.  Just have to decide where to start and what colors we want!

For now I just have some pictures from the move in general.

We had so much help loading our truck up in NC and unloading in WI. The night we picked up the truck in NC, our small group came over and had everything loaded in no time.  They were amazing!  We  probably needed a bigger truck really.  I was so worried it wouldn't fit, but they packed it really well and we actually ended up with a tiny bit of room to spare!

The drive up was soooo long.  The excitement wore off pretty quick for the kids and then the fighting began.  Uhh.. It was a long ride in the van with both of them poking and griping at each other lol.  We drove from I guess 7:30am until 9:00 or 9:30 on Monday.  That night we stopped at a hotel in Ohio to sleep and got on the road again the next morning.  I don't remember specifics about day two.  I think I was too tired to think!  It was something like 6 or 6:30 am to like 6:30pm.  It was brutal.  The drive shouldn't have taken that long, but when you factor in two preschool size bladders and a moving truck that only goes 40 MPH up hill......well,  it makes for a long day.  

At one point the kids were so antsy that we decided to let Noah ride in the truck awhile. 

My little boy, his dog, his Daddy, and a BIG truck.  Too much happiness for words.  He is still talking about it.

When we arrived in Wisconsin,  we were greeted by a driveway full of smiling faces.  They have been wonderful.  They had us unloaded in 30 minutes.  Our kitchen was stocked with staple items and we had a freezer full of meals ready to be put in the oven when we needed them.  That part has spoiled me.  The first several nights I didn't have to worry about cooking at all.  I just pulled something out to thaw and stuck it in the oven!  Voila!  They really thought of everything.

Oh and just by the way...take note of the difference in attire between packing and unpacking.  Shorts and flip flops to long sleeves and jackets ;)  

The beautiful view at our new house is wonderful.  Every one of our bedrooms looks out to this! We also have a sliding door in the kitchen that leads to a deck, too.  Can't wait to get some seating out there!!

Getting comfy..

We had limited cabinet space in the kitchen so we picked up a little cabinet to store some pantry items in.  Here's Randy and Noah putting it together for me.

We got pictures on the walls and that helped it not to feel so white everywhere, but we will definitely be painting the living room soon.  

That's all for now!  Miss you all like crazy!  Xoxo