Here we are!
Yes, they really call themselves Michiganders here, and we've been informed that if you say the "t" in Canton (the city we live in) everyone knows you're an outsider.
What....adventures the last few weeks have brought our way, whew!
So, the drive to Michigan went really smoothly. The kids were amazing, and we had a great visit with my brother Spencer and his family in Colorado along the way.
(See their blog to get the details on the visit, our pictures of that are on Rob's lap top still. Just click on Sassy Anderson's in our Savvy blogs list).
We had some surprises when we got here, like stuff in the house, carpets not fixed and cleaned, our truck needing to be unloaded in only five hours, the fridge had to be brought up from downstairs, and Lolly getting APPENDICITIS and having emergency surgery putting her in the hospital for Mother's day. Yeah, it was an adventurous week for sure. We are truly grateful for our new ward (who brought meals, unloaded our truck last minute, vacuumed the carpet, tended kids, and were amazing in every way, and that my appendix didn't rupture in the middle of Iowa on our way here!
We're also grateful for new friends and for parks! WE LOVE PARKS! These are pictures of the "Play Cafe" when we were invited to meet there with some of our new neighbors. We have one member family down the street with a five year old girl, and a four year old boy who Ellie are Ryan clicked with immediately and they have been to play at there house half a dozen times already. Our playroom is finally in order so we can invite them to our house this week.
This is Trevor's "Cheese." I don't say anything, he smiles like this when he can see a camera in sight. I can't get a normal face on him in pictures anymore. I'm sure he'll be a ham just like his siblings.
We're also a mile down the road from a huge "castle park" that is by the library, a fishing pond, a splash park, an indoor pool (complete with water slide) and a running trail. We are excited about that! We've been there twice just this weekend.
Another adventure was finding furniture! We were sleeping on the floor when we moved in, eating on a folding table and chairs, and without a single couch. One crazy part of that was finding a steal of a deal on craigslist for a bedroom set for Ellie. Rob picked it up and crammed it into the van to find that is stunk like smoke! (We wouldn't think a little girl's room would...) So we had to scrub it twice with pine sol, once with baking soda, and air it out in the sun all day. It smells fine now, and Ellie is loving it. :)
Rob and Ryan were able to go camping with Father's and Son's last weekend, and they had a blast! They said it was gorgeous! When Ryan got home he said, "There were lots of boys at boys camp!"
PHASE ONE of house set up is complete (a.k.a. no more boxes in eye sight...unless you open a closet). We haven't hung pictures yet, but I thought I'd update on our progress since this has been the last few weeks of our lives.
Our winter sanity...the basement playroom. Come play with us!
The front room, we found all our furniture used on Craig's list or at a clearance center not far from our house.
Check out this sweet office! We were so blessed! Our last thing to find was a desk set up, and we'd been watching craigslist. Rob found a random hutch (the one along the wall on the right) listed, and found out a real estate office was closing one mile from our house and had not listed the desk yet. It was just what we were looking for.
Ellie and Ryan are ready for church, and sitting on Lolly's new dream couch. It has a hide-a-bed purchased just for you! Come on over!The kids were asleep, and our bedroom set hasn't come yet so our mattress is on the floor. Pics of the upstairs are yet to come....stay tuned.
This is our neighbor's swing, I do like how the connected backyard makes for a tight knit neighborhood, they are wonderful. We are excited. There are four families with a five and four year old both! Amazing huh? Ellie already has two kids to ride the bus to kindergarten with.
Thanks for all the phone calls and prayers! We can't do anything simply we just have to go all out and pack major stressful things on top of each other in our family (like car accidents while finding our house and appendicitis while moving into it, sheesh!). We have learned that no matter how crazy things are they can ALWAYS get worse! We are grateful for everyone who has blessed our lives through this big move, it's made all the difference. Thanks bunches.
