My husband started a You Tube channel and here is us live and just telling it like it it’s:
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Starting the 7 Month RV Life
So we did it…up and left our beautiful, spacious, grounded new home and moved our family of four (+Gilmore, our dog) into an RV for 7 months. Monday morning we up and left our house, in shambles might I say, around 7:30am to make it to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for Natalie’s follow-up appointment.
Shaun took his job out on the road and is vlogging about it if you want to follow my man, Shaun Hamman , on Facebook and see video footage of some of what’s below and what’s to come?
*This is going to be a brutally honest account of my side of this adventure so far so be prepared.
Sunday – Day Before Departure
Let’s begin on Sunday. I woke up not feeling so hot because of a fun concoction of horseradish cheese, veggie pizza, and wine the night before. However, after a few hours after waking, hydrating, and snuggling the girls on the couch, was still not feeling well to my confusion. There was no time to not feel well, it was 16 degrees out and I had to start packing up the RV. Shaun and my stepdad were outside in the cold most of the day doing the grunt work of getting the RV and truck ready like superheroes. Hours later and I still didn’t feel well, was exhausted, and oh did I mention it was my birthday, but NOT up to celebrating. I had not slept well in a few days so just chalked it up to that.
I needed a good night’s sleep. Sounded easy having been under the weather and going all day long but it didn’t come so easily. Natalie was not feeling well either. She woke up right as I fell asleep and threw up. Right back to bed we all went and half an hour later as I was starting to fall asleep again, she threw up again. I had her sleep in my bed so I could keep an eye on her and that helped me sleep for a few hours. In the middle of the night I woke up in sweat soaked sheets and anxious tightness in my chest. That was the end of sleep for me. Those feelings and the added growing more anxious over knowing that my alarm was going to go off at 5am and the clock ticking closer and time to sleep being lost.
Monday – Departure Day
Morning of departure day comes and we all wake up bright and early and leave in a mad rush to make Natalie’s appointment. The anxiety follows me along our commute to Philly. Then Natalie and I go into her appointment and we hear her doctor give her the green light and say she’s healing great and I feel some relief. I instantly think that the green light from her doctor was what all the worrying and anxiety were about and I’m fine.
We get back in the car and I’m feeling a bit better. With a pit stop at the RV dealer because Shaun couldn’t get the furnace to work, yup and it was 18 degrees out. They said it was going to take two days for it to be shipped. Shaun, with his brilliant mind, asked if they could take it out of another RV so we could get on our way. They did it! We were back on our way.
At this point I am still feeling a bit uneasy and anxious. It dawns on me finally (mainly because my BFF pointed this out) that the fact that we’ve up and left the comfort and security of our home in our safe town and all that is familiar to us has led to this feeling. Especially after some really special farewells (pix below). How could I be so stupid as not to anticipate this feeling? Sometimes reality just sneaks up on you and bites you in the butt and this was one big shark bite out of my ass.
We were taking our time and moving along fine with an anticipated overnight at a Walmart along the way and make it to Louisville the next day for Shaun’s conference. We experienced some disconcerting shimmying going down a large hill. I thought we were overweight and being completely unsafe and then couldn’t get that thought out of my head of course. Panic begins on every downhill from there and builds.
To add to that awesome feeling, about an hour before we were going to stop for the night it started snowing but not too bad so we figured we’d go another 15 miles to the next Walmart. About five miles later it was a full-on freaking snow storm. Low visibility, roads covered, slickness starting, and me completely having a full on panic attack. My chest froze up, my arms feeling cold and tingly, my stomach a rock, my breath only coming in short bursts, and tears full in my eyes. I am not prone to feeling this way. Once in college during finals, when Shaun and I split for a bit while we were dating, with my Postpartum, and that’s about it. For me to be having these feelings for a few days and then to go into the debilitating feeling of panic was very out of context.
Shaun was so confident and calm for the first 7 miles of the 10 left to go. Then it got worse and the hills were giant and then it happend, Shaun also got nervous. His nerves are rock solid so this made my nerves hit the next level. Finally after a very slow and treacherous drive, we could see the Walmart sign. It was like a beacon of safety. After parking we ran into Walmart to use the bathroom, walked Gilmore, turned the heat on and was safe and breathing again. Shaun and I just sat there in silence recovering from the journey while the girls were excited to have time to play and move around.
Tuesday – Day 2
We wake up to a parking lot filled with snow. Shaun told the Walmart manager that we were hunkered in and not going anywhere for the day and they were beyond gracious and understanding. It’s freezing out, 6 degrees, and there’s snow covered roads so we were not risking it. All night I spent full of anxiety with only short bouts of sleep. I really thought that I would be exhausted from the trip but the worry of the roads, if it would happen again, what could happen next, and so on kept cartwheeling around in my brain. This feeling followed me well into the morning.
Mid-morning Shaun walked into the RV after his morning call for work and a few other calls and said to pack it up, we are going. My body froze. I was not going anywhere again in that weather, in that truck that was not handling the size and weight of the RV as planned, and with my babies in danger. Ready to pick up my phone and call my mommy to come and get us (yes, I am not ever above calling my mommy to save me), he said he spoke to the Ford dealer and we’re headed that way. Long part of this story short, we dropped A LOT of money on an upgrade and left with an F 250 diesel and most importantly the feeling of safety.
It was still snowing a decent amount, however the roads where we were were finally well maintained and I can honestly tell you that I had so much less anxiety. Shaun and I finally felt safe and ready to proceed with our trip. What a great blessing and relief to have our family safe and ready for the junket ahead. With a few stops at Sheetz along the way we proceeded. We stopped at a Walmart again that night because we were delayed by the truck buying process and then Wednesday morning we proceeded to Louisville, Tennessee.
Wednesday
Arriving safely, we all ran to the showers excited to refresh, change, and chill out. Shaun went off to his conference for work, I finally had the chance to make our bed (Shaun and I had been sleeping on the couch because we didn’t feel like opening the slide for our room), unpack/settle, and the girls were so excited to have some play time.
Road schooling Day 1, and an extra day of work added on from the longer than planned trip, has begun! We are hunkered in because when the Hammans arrive to Kentucky where it’s usually 50 degrees, it’s a high of 10 degrees for the day. Heat on, NJ winter clothes on, and some massive chill time was what the second half of our Wednesday consisted of and we couldn’t be happier!
Day 1 of Roadschooling
Gilmore wanted to learn too
Thursday
I am so thankful to report that we are safely, a bit more warmly, snow-free and enjoying Road School Day 2! Shaun went off to his conference again and the girls and I are enjoying another day of life as it normally is at home. After our schooling it’s going to be a movie and popcorn kind of day and I couldn’t be happier.
Summary of This Week
The beginning of this trip SUUUCKED! I wouldn’t wish that feeling or what happened to us on anyone, especially a mother of two precious children. We are all safe now and ready to continue this trip! Will there be more moments that I want to run home to my mommy, yes. Will more anxiety come with the unfamiliar places and schedules, most definitely. Is it all going to be sunshine and roses, no. 
Is this going to be one kick ass adventure that my family will have amazing memories from forever and ever, YES! And that’s all that matters! And that I have my new RV coffee maker up and running
Here are three panoramics of RV interior…enjoy!
Master bedroom
Kitchen
Living Area
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Hope, Peace and Love
Welcome to 2018 with A Cup of Heather! Thankful for starting this blog and getting to share with all of you!
Our family
My BFFs
∧ Party on the top ∧ ∨ Christmas morning on the bottom ∨
Love these moments
Matchy fam
My cup overfloweth!
Our Christmas was nothing short of magical. All of our people came for our annual party, we attended an awesome Christmas Eve service at the church we’ve been attending since our move, and Christmas was so perfect with our family and watching our two little blessings enjoy the day. Post Christmas I surprised the girls with a going away party with their friends from their old school. Rollerskating, donuts and friends = fun!
We also had a great, chill, and most yummy New Years Eve with some of our besties, who is also a ridiculously kick butt chef, Chef Sam!
So we are post move, mostly settled (some minor things always pop up as it does with all homeowners), post Christmas, post New Years, and pre seven month RV trip. You may ask, what are you doing with your downtime? <Insert evil witch cackling laugh in response to “downtime”> During our time in-between major life events, our eldest daughter, Natalie, had major surgery one week ago today.
Natalie was diagnosed with minor hearing loss by accident while they were trying to see if her speech developmental delay was due to physical issues. Long story short, they’re not related. Her speech therapist at her old school was a blessing to our family in so many ways. She exhausted all of her insane amount of talent and tools and told us to pursue an ENT to scope her, again, to check her soft palate. We did as recommended and following her third and painful, and as Natalie calls them “annoying”, unsuccessful scope later and I dropped Natalie off at school after that appointment and went home and ugly cried for a long time.
I was so frustrated for Natalie and the fact that we live in the New York area and couldn’t find a doctor to give us the answers we needed or, at the very least, not waste our time. After seven years of speech therapy, three speech therapists, 5 ENTs, 4 painful scopes, we decided to go to the best of the best, to the ones with the answers, and went to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. I was done with the nonsense!
After going on the CHOP website I smiled after two minutes because they had a whole clinic devoted to what we thought Natalie might have, Velopharyngeal Dysfunction (VPD). Even the secretary knew what I was saying. It was like angels singing and I was finally feeling like I wasn’t losing my mind. The downside, it took four months to get an appointment because the clinic only meets once a month. When we did go, it was WELL worth it!
They had answers for everything, everyone was friendly and warm which made Natalie feel good, they knew what they were doing, no questions went unanswered or were even met with a pause, and everything they were doing was explained to all of us. Before we left the team met and reconvened with us and we had a plan ahead of us that we felt confident with and made full sense. We were on the road to recovery!
One adenoids surgery (to get them out-of-the-way for last weeks surgery only), one crazy blood work/pre-op appointment where Natalie’s heart rate wouldn’t get to normal from nerves and took two hours, four days of knowing the surgery was not pre-certified by the insurance company until we knew it was (aka the day before scheduled surgery at 1:30pm), one wake up at 3:30am to make our 7:00am arrival time, and a 9:00am, hour and half surgery later and here we are.
Natalie’s VPD surgeon, Dr Oksana Jackson, is so confident and knowledgeable that the moment they wheeled my baby away on the table, I didn’t worry that anything would go wrong but just shed tears wishing I could be with her. The overwhelming amount of joy when Dr Jackson walked into the waiting room a long hour and half later and told us that the surgery went as expected! Post-op Natalie took a bit longer to come too than last time and was in a lot more pain. The days following were much harder than we expected also. Natalie is a big eater and the extreme pain of swallowing was getting in the way. It was sad and exhausting watching her struggle so much. She smiled through it all!
Post-op Day 2
Honored to be her Mamma <3
As of yesterday she really made quit a big turn in her recovery and thankfully is down to one pain med, finding eating a bit easier, and smiling even more. The soft food diet for three weeks is getting old quick, especially being a big eater, but she knows as long as she follows it she’ll heal faster. My rule-follower is right on track to recovery and, to her dismay, back to homeschooling. (Check out my new light fixture…love!)
We are keeping busy the past few days getting ready for our seven month road trip!
I even cracked the Instant Pot out of the box to get acquainted before the trip. Apparently it is the answer to all RVers prayers.I am also super excited that along our way, we get to celebrate Shaun’s 40th and my BFF, Dani’s, 40th together! Hammans + Pieklos = LOVE!
T-Minus FIVE days until we are on the road!
Are we packed? No
Are we organized? No
Have we started getting ready? Yes
Are we going to have memories to last a lifetime? Yes
Will there be Target and Camping World stores along the way? Yes
Well then, I guess we are ready to go!!!
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. (1 Peter 3:15)
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1 Amazing Announcement & 1 Amazing Week
This week has been chock full of goodness, business and cheer! We had our last Brownie meeting with Brie’s troop, attended Natalie’s BFFs birthday party, saw Santa on the fire truck for the first time in our new town, went to the Nutcracker Ballet with Mushy (my mom), went to celebrate Christmas with my dad, stepmom and sister Melissa, and last, but soooo not least, met my new niece Madelyn!
Nutcracker Ballet
Monday we went to Natalie’s pre-op appointment at CHOP. We had to wait four months after having her adenoids out to make sure she healed properly, get her last scope to make sure everything is where it should be and decide which procedure she needs, and officially schedule her Velopharyngeal surgery for January 3rd. Natalie hates, hates, hates getting scoped so she was nervous about her appointment but excited that it was the last one. She did amazing! As for her surgery, she’s not excited, but happy that this is the last step. There’ll be one follow-up appointment two weeks after but then she should be all done with this and potentially speech therapy too.
In two days we have our annual Christmas party so I can’t sit here and chat all night unfortunately, gotta wrap, prep, list…so maybe I’ll get down to the nitty-gritty and let you know the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT?!?! Here’s a hint…
The Hamman’s home for 7 months!
Drum roll please (bddddddddddddddd), in approximately four weeks, we, the Hamman family, are leaving in our RV and traveling around the USA for SEVEN MONTHS! Shaun is going to visit clients for work, the girls and I are going to home school and we are going to see this amazing country we are so very blessed with.
We are going on an ADVENTURE!!!! So stayed tuned, don’t forget to follow my blog, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, etc… so you can find out what we are up to!
Merry Christmas from the Hamman family to yours!!!!
The winning tree
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It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
This has been a spectacular week! Not a lot of house stuff but a whole lot of fun and some good R & R! Last weekend we had our first snow and it was magical. The girls played in it all day, lots of Christmas crafting and baking, we went to a Christmas tree festival, and visited an artisanal holiday bazaar with lots of local food and handmade goodies. We finished decorating the tree and did a lot of chilling out with the seasonal colds settling in a bit too. Note: House pics at the bottom finally!
Playing in the snow
Baking cookies
On Wednesday we had a very special surprise, our niece Madelyn was born! She is our daughter’s first first cousin and they’re over the moon for another girl in the family! We all can not wait to meet her, hold her, and smell that new baby smell.
Also on Wednesday we had another reason it was a special day! We went wedding dress shopping with one of my two sisters. One dress shop helped us determine more of the look she was going for, then we stopped for lunch, and then went to the second dress shop. With tears in my eyes she tried on the most beautiful, perfect, gorgeous dress! It was such a spectacular moment and so special that the girls and I got to share it with her. (no pictures not to ruin essence of surprise)
With Shaun traveling this week we had a special sleepover with my other sister. We shared a special dinner I slaved over, watched Polar Express, and snuggled a lot. Good times!
So many wonderful memories, specialness, and holiday goodness happening right now it’s making me all warm and toasty inside. As the season approaches, I want to share one idea my family does every Christmas morning. It is called the First Gift of Christmas and the link brings you to the full article for more details. Before anything else happens in our family on Christmas morning, we take time to do this and it makes us stop, reflect, and really remember the reason for the season.
I took some pictures of our house…the parts that are photo ready. Note that there isn’t anything on the walls on purpose. I don’t like to commit to hanging things until we are 100% sure and it takes a loooong time for us to do so. But I’m totally digging just enjoying our new paint colors on the walls also.
Kitchen
Family room
My fav new pieces we’ve bought for the house
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Missed a whole week…first fail
Me, the girls, and Mushy
I just realized today that I didn’t post last week. Non-stop action packed fun, that’s what’s been happening! Ok so there’s been some fun but a lot of schooling, organizing, unpacking, cooking, and general momming. Again, I have to ask, why are the boxes multiplying? If you saw how much I threw out, donated, and sold, you too would wonder how I am still unpacking. We even had a dumpster for two weeks.
With the holidays upon us we have really been trying to savor this time with our little ones while they’re little and not stressing over house stuff. That being said, the day after we savored, there’s moments of insanity and throwing boxes out of the garage door in an “effort” to organize. Our annual holiday party is approaching in less than three weeks and all of our guests are family or like family so much that I am in no way worried that they’ll judge what our new home looks like. However, I would like them to walk in and love it as much as we do! I’m so excited for all of those people to be with us celebrating (extra so for ones who moved away and we miss so much).
Homeschooling is still going splendidly thank God. The girls are still loving it and I think I am still doing a great job of helping them. We added Bible and Geography to the subjects they are learning. We eliminated as much Science as they were doing. Occasionally I’ll throw in a fun science project but what they were doing was not necessary. Natalie keeps insisting that she wants to continue homeschooling next year and start fresh in middle school/6th grade. I guess I’m doing something right?!
In the past few weeks we had lunch with Santa with some of our besties, went to Rockefeller Center with Mushy (aka my mom), cut down our Christmas tree (not completely decorated), met more nice neighbors, mailed our official letters to Santa and Christmas cards, welcomed back our Elf on the Shelf, Sprinkles, had a Junior Girl Scout meeting, playdates with the girl’s new, sweet neighbor friend, donated to a local foundation and two families in town, surprised the girls with Annie tickets with Mushy, and more!
It’ll probably be the day before our Christmas party that’ll be the day I finally take some good pictures of the house to post for you all to see. If it gets hectic, you might just get to see a whole bunch of pictures filled with our loved ones having a jolly time…bonus for everyone!
During this season I hope that everyone is taking time to give a little to those less fortunate, those who serve our country so we can have our freedom, and those who just need a little cheer! Enjoy the little ones, enjoy the elderly, enjoy the happiness from those who don’t always have it and enjoy enjoy enjoy!
Lunch with Santa
The winning tree
Rockefeller Center Lego Store
American Girl NYC
Revolving door fun!
Waiting for Annie to start
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One Day To Just…
Thankful on Thanksgiving!
Let me preface this post acknowledging that I live a very American-Dream like life. But…yup here’s the but…I would just like one day to just sit and be. You feeling me moms out there? Sitting, drinking copious amounts of coffee, snuggling my girls and dog under the blankets, reading a little, taking a too long hot shower and just being. We’ve been purging, packing, in limbo with the closing, living out of boxes, moving, reflooring, painting everrrrrything, still semi-living out of boxes, attempting unpacking, and it’s never ever ever ever ending.
Today is Thanksgiving and today of all days I shouldn’t be whining like a toddler. I am beyond thankful this year for my incredible family, my new, lovely home and what is to come in the year ahead! This weekend I will continue to enjoy our home by finishing painting the girls closets so we can unpack their boxes. Shaun will install all the new moldings so we can then put the furniture where it should be. We will unload the bins and bins of RV stuff that are in the garage and should be in the basement. And on and on and on…
We are so blessed to be able to move into our home and be able to make all of these changes but it’s a bit more overwhelming and time consuming than I ever dreamed. Shaun’s grandmother said to me today that moving is exhausting and would be if you moved just across the street. Truer words couldn’t be spoken!
Along with trying to assemble a life in our home, the girls and I are homeschooling all morning long. Normally they’d go to school and I would power through getting stuff done around the house and errands but it’s a group effort to do those things now which is delayed by about 3 hours of learning/teaching. Thankfully the girls have expressed how much they are loving homeschooling, phew! The only thing that they miss is seeing their friends every day. I get it, because I’m missing my day-to-day life a bit too. It’s an adjustment and a short life phase. Next September they’ll go back to public school and we’ll be right back into the life we had this past September and those before it. I’m sure when that happens we’ll all miss homeschooling lol. Double edged swords we so often carry.
I know that once our house is settled and we get into more of a rhythm of our new day-to-day we’ll acclimate. With the holidays coming, my absolute favorite time of year, we have a lot of fun to look forward to. Our annual Christmas party, a few shows my mom and I are surprising the girls with, a Santa lunch, opportunities to help others, Christmas service, Christmas music and more. In our new home, it’ll be a magical time most definitely.
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Not Settling
Don’t let the title of this blog post confuse you. We are positively settling, but not for less, just into more. This house is so warm and already wrapping its arms around us in a way that is hard to imagine anywhere else. Although a bump in the road, the delay in closing and life in boxes longer than anticipated, has really been a blessing by pushing me into a place of contentment at closing time, which was yesterday.
Throughout the week I can’t say I felt as much complacency as I do now. After Natalie, my oldest, was born I experienced some severe postpartum. After Brie, my second, was born I had it again but was slightly more prepared. This move has made me feel like my first postpartum in some ways. The feelings that progressed were unexpected, intense, numbing, and ultimately confusing.
Just me & my girls
After we slept in the new house for the first time I didn’t feel any different. It was a similar feeling to waking up in a vacation house. The boxes stayed packed and we were living out of luggage in the days following because the rooms weren’t painted, the closets weren’t finished, and the floors were not completed. Some great news for everyone reading, the floors are finished! The master closet is also finished! And we are working on the painting epidemic but it’ll happen along with a lot of electrical work. With a lot left to do and we are all thankfully comfortable with a slow settling, we haven’t had anyone over yet and probably won’t for a few more weeks. Just us living and melding into our new space.
In my life I have not moved a lot and so I connect myself emotionally and physically to my home. Our last house, was all our daughters knew, the place our second daughter came home to from the hospital, where our first daughter was potty trained, the place they both learned to swim, every room filled with firsts, some lasts, and a lot of in-betweens. It’s a chapter in our life that has happened and we’re supposed to move on from. Not easy! There’ll be times in the future where Shaun and I will say “remember when” referring to memories in our last home like it was yesterday but the girls, being still so young, won’t remember and these thoughts throw me. The circular motion of bleakness to excitement haven’t stopped for the past week. I hope that the girls’ best and more memorable moments are to come, in this house, and last with them forever.
Family room and kitchen floors during reno, post, and pre-cleaning but still gorg!
Tuesday I started homeschooling the girls. The one major lesson I have learned already is that we have to set boundaries during our homeschool time. Such as, I don’t answer the phone during this time. Monday we played hookie while the floors were being finished and we got errands done, like cleaning the old house and returning our snowboard equipment from last season. Tuesday after homeschooling we caught up with some friends (picture below) at a Girl Scout event at Curly’s Ice Cream. As you can see below, they had so much fun! We are now three days into homeschooling and we are loving it! The decision not to start the girls in a new school mid-year and to live out my dream to home school them seemed to just fall into our laps with our move timeline.
The girls are still involved in their regular gymnastics class, we’re checking out our local library (which we didn’t have one of before) and so much more is keeping us in tune with the rest of the world. We women in my family normally hibernate come cold weather so our slight exclusion from the world is not abnormal for this time of the year anyway. Honestly, everything couldn’t have fallen more into place thank God.
Here’s pictures of Day 2 of homeschooling…in pjs!
Brie 1st Home School Day
So, to summarize my chaos of feelings, it’s all bittersweet. The good memories, neighbors/neighborhood, life we had in our old house was beyond amazing and beautiful. However, our new house, home, is nuzzling us and bringing us a different kind of joy. Our family is growing in time together and different kinds of experiences with a future that is so wide open and promising!
Our neighbors (Whitney, top left, was 9 when we moved in and now she is 16; Cole is 14 yesterday and was 6 when we moved in; Natalie, bottom left was 2 and 3/4 when we moved in and is now 10; Brie was 4 weeks from being born and is now 7+)
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Long Live the Valley of Empty Boxes
The key to it all!
We have officially moved in! We are sleeping, eating, waking up here and all. Thanks in part to my high caffeine intake provided by San Fransisco Bay Fog Chaser coffee, it’s happened! Once the coffee maker changed addresses, then we were officially home.
It’s happening!
The floors were done! I know you’re happy that I’d stop talking about them now lol. However, we’ve decided to keep the footprint of the kitchen for a few years and have the cabinets painted. So now the flooring, as of Monday, will be throughout my entire house YAY!! So, the glass half full, there’ll be one more floors post.
The painting downstairs will begin in about two weeks. Shaun started painting the girls’ rooms. I, with Shaun’s help, painted the master closet and the new closet system is going in this week. Shaun is finishing up the flooring on the stairs. I am still figuring out where I want all of the furniture. Settling never felt so good!
Thank God for NJ Teachers Convention because the art studio by our new home is having half day art camp and the girls are super pumped to go. During those few hours, I am fitting power box emptying time in, probably clothes because I miss my clothes. We packed most of our clothes about a month ago before the closing was pushed up almost three weeks. Since, we have had limited items that have been washed a lot since, choices will be very welcome. Now that the girls are going to be homeschooled we’ll have A LOT of time together but time to unpack by myself is going to be time well spent.
Homeschooling the girls has always been a dream of mine and I can’t wait to get started. My favorite hashtag is #noschooliscool because I love having the girls with me! It is going to be priceless, quality time together. The girls and I are making excessive lists of topics we want to learn, science projects we want to make, outdoorsy activities to keep us physical, and more. The lists just keep growing and expanding and it’s so exciting!
Last breakfast in BT
Last public school day of the year
I do have to say that I am already missing our home, friends, neighbors, and general everyday regular life. On the flip side, I am loving our new home, looking forward to walking the sidewalks, enjoying the view of the beautiful surroundings out of my kitchen window, shopping the local farms, and more! It’s such a change of scenery but totally loving what we are enveloped by. I also found an amazing coffee shop called The Coffee Potter! They make my coffee to perfection and that’s no easy feat.
We are all sharing much love of the office space. The girls and I love when Shaun is home so much and this space will allow him to work at home with more ease! Even if he’s busy working or on the phone, it’s just better having him share space with us. We will also be able to do lunch together, take early morning walks together, and more often than not be together for dinner.
We are truly four solid corners that completes the square shape. The feeling of goodness, happiness, and an exciting future is definitely in the air and I am so excited for it!
Cheers!
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Drawing to a Close, Closing That Is
Reno in process
Wood floor everywhere
This has been the biggest reno week I have ever experienced in one of our homes. I’m sore from head to toe but also equally excited for what’s to come. Making this house our forever home and a home we are proud of is my driving force. Last weekend we ripped up the rug on the stairs and hardwood flooring in the foyer and dining room. The worst part was getting it all, nail, dust and splinter filled, from the house to the dumpster. Hands, arms, shoulders, everything hurt!
Snippet of the flooring
Wednesday the floor dudes started installing my beloved flooring, Cali Bamboo Antique Java from Lowes (no payment taken for the endorsement). Here’s a snippet of what’s been started. Shaun has been a godsend going from eLend to the new house and back to our house for days. We also picked paint colors for all of the bedrooms, family room, and dining room (the current color is visible in the pictures above, just ugh!). The kitchen will be renovated at a later date so the floors in the kitchen and family room will stay for now since those rooms flow together. Forward thinking genius moment, we purchased enough of the same flooring we are putting down now to cover those rooms too so they will mesh perfectly.
On top of that, we also bought mass quantities of white paint to cover the dark moldings and the built-ins. This is going to unequivocally change the downstairs rooms because every single one of the moldings are super dark. Then the light fixtures will be replaced, or in the bedrooms case be added since there aren’t any. If you could see the dining room fixture, you’d know why this is third on the priority list.
The girls are enjoying their extended time in and around town. We had our trunk or treat, Halloween festivities at school, Halloween on our street (which is a BIG deal!), girl scouts, and more. They were excited to have more time at school (they’re still young LOL).
2017 Trick or Treating in BT
I think we’ve hit the point in the changeover where we are no longer more sad to leave then we are to move. We’ve reached a juncture where we love where we live and do not want to leave but are more apt to go and start our new chapter. I think part of this transition is that we are ready to not be living out of the literal box, ready to be settled into our new home, and excited to be in the place we’re working so hard to make home.
The movers come next week and we will finally move into our new home and start our next chapter. I will post a lot of before and after pictures in the weeks forthcoming. My hope is that by the end of November we’ll be unpacked, painted, finished with some of my projects, and decorated a smidge. It’s essentially like starting anew with regards to decorating since I’ve rid of so much and am not rushing buying shtuff (not a typo but two words joined together) to just fill the spaces but want to really find things we love when we do and do without until then. It’s going to be ongoing and a huge work in progress. It’s going to be a fun trip we are on! So happy we took the leap!
Here’s a picture of one of the things I’ll really miss, my favorite tree in our yard in Fall.
Fall on The Lane
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