August started out with a fun family gathering at the Ranch!
Always so fun when we can get together with cousins!
Grateful for summer sunshine...
In Mid August we went over to the coast for a few days...
Burying the boy...
(I love it when I catch them looking like twins...=) )
Escaping to the beach was just the little getaway our family needed! We were smack dab in the middle of purchasing a home during this trip, and it had been A PROCESS. It was so nice to make time for a vacation in the middle of that chaos.
Enjoying our last few days in our old house...
I will always be thankful for that rental home! It was a big blessing to us the two years we lived there. It was so comfortable and we made some great memories in that home and on that property.
I loved so much about it, especially the way the street was basically a flag lot/dead end. We could just let the kids play out there freely without any worry for traffic and such.
That being said, it was a huge relief to buy a home in the end of August last year. The rental was always meant to be an in between for us, and we were ready to put down some stronger roots. We kept waiting for the housing market to go down...and it just kept going up instead.
We were semi-content to wait it out in the rental home, hoping a great house in our same area would pop up on the market... but then the landlords were wanting to raise our rent, and we decided that was the push we needed to move forward with purchasing again.
It felt like home prices were still high, but it was time to stop paying rent.
(It felt like it was high last summer, and it's CRAZY to me that it was even higher this Fall!!)
Anyways, we are so very thankful we were able to buy when we did.
And?
We absolutely LOVE our new home!! Like, really, REALLY, Love it! It ended up being everything we were looking for, and more.
Sparkling cider toast in our new dining room after we got the keys!
The only room we painted was the laundry room, that connects the garage to the house. I wanted a happy, sunny yellow to greet us as we came and went.
Sis earning her keep...
Sept 2019
Four fingers up for the first day of Fourth Grade!
School started just a few days after we moved in, but thankfully we were staying the same school so it was only a minor transition for all of us.
Our house has a large empty lot across from it where the kids loved to play with neighbor friends...
LOVE being an aunt!
Oct 2019
Soccer continued through October...
The kids and I visited the pumpkin patch one day after school...
Halloween 2019 brought us Rey and a rapper again =)
Nov 2019
More cousin time!
A rousing game of Clue with our sweet friends...
Dave channeling his inner Ace Ventura.
Amiright?
Aunt Mem and Uncle Tom came to visit for Thanksgiving!
Blessed to be able to visit family for Thanksgiving!
Sis was learning the family stuffing recipe...
We were able to see so much family!
SO FUN!
DEC 2019
Astrid was quite content with our holiday decorating...
So was our baking...
We made it to Zoo Lights! My very favorite Christmas tradition...
(It should be clear by now that I'm a complete sucker for traditions.)
We are fortunate to celebrate Christmas many times over with different family members!
Christmas service at Church; remembering the reason we celebrate Christmas at all is Jesus, the greatest gift of all, being born...
I would call them "framily", but Dave hates word blends and I am going to print this blog out for family memories and I don't want to be TOO annoying, so I will refrain.
Anyways, we went to their home for Christmas Eve fun...
Ubiquitous Christmas jammies in front of the tree pic...
#everysingleyear
All tucked in and ready for Christmas morning!
These next two pics are a little blurry, but I love the moment they captured! Happy kiddos on Christmas morning is just about the best thing ever. Especially when they are so thrilled that they hug you so hard they knock you over...
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