Summer Flies By

Photo journal! Southern Museum of Locomotive  History, train through Cartersville, baby birds on our porch I built a nest for, Mommy and Michael Zoo Atlanta visit. Now, we head to the beach!

Starting to Come Together

Yes, it's finally starting to feel like home in week two. We actually have most of the boxes unpacked, although we still can't find whatever it is we need, and I'm finally hanging things on the wall, which always makes the most difference to me. JD is HOME, changing the feel, mood, and tone of our entire lives. He is sooooo excited about living here that his excitement rubs off on the rest of us. Okay, Michael is totally excited too; it's just me who wallows in details without stopping to look up and recognize the joy of our lives. Truly, there is no question that God has single-handedly paved our family's path to this very house, this very job, this very neighborhood. We are surrounded by rivers, mountains, lakes, camping, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, canoeing, kayaking, and every other activity that my boys love (okay, me too). We are the perfect distance to our families, Atlanta and Chattanooga, and we can still attend our favorite church.

Here are the boys mowing the back yard. Both are enamored with the riding mower.

 Michael made a new friend: Logan, who lives directly across the street. He may be only two and a half years old, but he's already a pro with a four-wheeler and more than happy to take Michael on a ride.

 Practicing with sunglasses

 Sitting on our driveway

 Shopping

 I posted these pictures on Facebook because they're so ridiculous, but here's the backstory. Michael refused to nap, which is becoming pretty common, but then he fell asleep two hours later on our way to the park. Taking him out of the car and carrying him up to the playground where there were plenty of screaming children did nothing to wake him. This hasn't happened since infancy!!

But, I admit, I still gets waves of homesickness for Illinois. I hung up a crystal fan pull yesterday that I took from our old house as a memento, and it brought me right back to Normal and a one-hundred year old house. I lay in bed last night looking at that pull, remembering all the joys of another place and time in our lives.

Moving In

Wow, the last week has been so crazy. Half the time I don't know where things are or what I need to do next. We closed on our new house on Wednesday and moved in on Thursday--a very rainy day. Since then, we've been unpacking! Well, JD left for Virginia for the week on Monday, and Michael and I headed over to stay with Mom (Dad's on a business trip too) this Wednesday and Thursday nights. Like I said, I'm not quite sure what's going on or where we are supposed to be.

 The surrounding Georgia hills.

 Shopping at IKEA for new playroom storage.

 The oldest covered bridge in Georgia is just down the street from us.

We love, love our new house and just need a bit of time to get settled and used to a new place. But I'm looking into preschools for Michael in the fall and continue pursuing jobs for myself. Here are some pictures of the interior of the house back when the previous owners still lived there:

Living Room



 Kitchen (with realtor)

 Master Bedroom

 Finished Basement

 Garages and Porch