The *BIG* Catch Up Post

As you can tell blogging has taken a back seat for the last few days but I finally decided to update after Julia reminded me. John cleaned up my hard drive the other day so that I could finally download all the pictures from the last week. As you can see, we have been busy. On top of the move, homeschooling has occupied my time. What a blessing it has been so far.... challenging.... but a blessing nonetheless. Alex got into school which I'll save for a post all its own, but Anna took his place at home. So I still have three official homeschoolers.
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Here is what we have been doing the past week.

Two weekends ago Julia helped me pack up the kitchen.

That same weekend I let the kids have friends over for the last time. It was hard to think that my kids would be leaving such amazing friends. I still grieve for them and I pray that they all keep in touch.

Julia also volunteered to scrape the ice in the freezer.

I let the kids eat all the Popsicles and ice-cream that day. They thought I was the best!

I couldn't believe the amount of junk and dust that had collected behind this hutch since I cleaned it only a few months prior. Yuck!

The boys enjoyed all the free space in the old house as we loaded the furniture onto the truck.

John, his Dad, and the boys packed these trucks to the hilt!

Our last meal was McDonald's since everything was on the trucks.

And donuts for breakfast!

Nothing like eating on the floor!

John and I were pretty exhausted throughout the whole move but with family and friends to help out everything got done.

Grandpa drove down one truck.

My Mom reminded me the oher day that an hour before we were set to leave, one of the kids locked two sets of keys in the car. Oh yea, how could I forget? What fun! Good ol' AAA to the rescue!

And here we are at our new home. Rachel found the perfect spot for our big R.

We got all the furniture unloaded in two days.

Eating our first meal together in our new home.

Caleb putting together the beds in his room.

The weather was perfect for moving.

See... everything is coming together. I love the warm colors in our kitchen area.

Almost every box is out of the house since this picture.

It was exciting to cook our first meal.

Since the kids had no school all week, I worked with them at home when we had time.

We had attended a new church the evening before Halloween and they told us how they were having a huge family night which we decided to take the kids too. Paul and Anastasia had so much fun trying on all the different costumes!

William enjoyed going through all our pictures that still need to be hung up on the wall.

On Halloween John carved three pumpkins with the kids. All of them helped out a little which was just enough for them to say they carved pumpkins without it being too overwhelming.

Anastasia couldn't believe how heavy the pumpkin was. When I bought it at the store, four of us guessed how much it would cost and I got the closest! It was over 26 pounds!

Later we roasted the seeds.

Caleb even wore a costume for awhile.

Don't mind me, I couldn't even begin to tell you what I was doing here.

Doesn't Alex look adorable?

Rachel made up Anastasia. Turned out great considering almost everything was still packed.

Annalyn was Belle.

Paul enjoyed playing all the games and getting candy afterwards.

So did Jonny and Andrew.

Anna and Dennis are just too precious in this picture.

Here is our living room or family room or whatever you want to call it. I love this room yet I have hardly spent any time in it yet. Hopefully soon.

Everything is coming together. Yeah!