January: We started getting serious about finding a new house. The house we lived in was nice, and we loved the neighborhood, but we decided it was time to move on. I also decided to resign my teaching position, which was a really difficult decision.
February: E had to go to Austin, Texas, for work so Baby C and I tagged along while Miss A and Little J spent some quality time with my parents. We had a great time in Texas, enjoying some warm weather, excellent BBQ (The Salt Lick was my favorite) and American history with visist to The Alamo and LBJ Presidential Library.
March: Annabelle turned 5 and had a Frozen birthday party with lots of friends at the YMCA. She also got her first haircut.
April: Early in the month we spent Easter with my family, and later in the month visited E's family to celebrate his niece's First Communion. The girls loved having so much cousin time! We also looked at houses and met with realtors.
May: As we continued looking at houses, I got a little frustrated and finally contacted a builder. I sent an email laying out what we were looking for, and got a quick response from the builder. We continued looking at existing houses and had a few meetings with the builder and lot visits.
Miss A graduated from preschool!
The first day to last day comparison is almost too much for me, even now!
June: We decided to build a house! We spent a lot of the month deciding on the exact floor plan we wanted and started thinking about what else we wanted to do for the interior of the house. We also met with the builder's realtor to make plans for selling our current house. We celebrated Father's Day with a fun outing to the Taylor's Falls area.
July: We spent a lot of time getting our house ready to sell and at the end of the month it went on the market. We also spent a week at a cabin with my family.
August: We started the month off with Baby C's 1st birthday! We had a great party celebrating our baby girl with family and friends! Late in the month we found out we were expecting Baby #4! That's right... a big secret I've been keeping for many months. More to come soon! We also broke ground on the new house and dove in the decision making.
September: Right on September 1st Miss A headed off to Kindergarten. It was exciting and a little sad all at the same time. She has done amazing so far!
At the end of the month we got and accepted an offer on our house. We continued with many, many appointments to pick out everything for our new house.
October: We worked on packing, making selections for the new house and helping Miss A adjust to Kindergarten. It was kind of a blur of a month. I have DITL notes that I'm hoping to get typed up sometime soon(ish). The big girls were Anna and Elsa for Halloween and Baby C broke out one of our old favorites, the octopus.
November: Little J turned 4, and we celebrated with a butterfly painting party with a bunch of her friends. Just before Thanksgiving we moved in to our new house and closed on our old house. We actually closed on the new house on Little J's birthday. To say our Thanksgiving week was crazy this year is an understatement, but we were so happy to be moved! I have a draft started about moving, but it makes me tear up ever time I work on it, so that may take a bit longer.
December: We had visits from family, the girls were in the church Christmas program and we celebrated Christmas with family and as a family of 5 at our new house. The month was full of unpacking, organizing and getting settled in our new house.
We rang in the new year with close friends, a great start to 2016!
