Moving Day and Getting Settled

We moved from our townhouse into our new place this weekend. I'll let the pictures tell the story...


Most of the after pictures were taken right after we had moved in, so there's still a lot of unpacking and arranging that needs to be done. We're really grateful to everyone who helped us get the house ready! We love our new home!

Thanksgiving Fiesta!

Our Thanksgiving this year was a little non-traditional, but definitely memorable! Tara was hosting the feast and Andy, Jess, & Josiah had made plans to drive up for the weekend. Well, the morning of Thanksgiving, a couple of the Hayes' boys came down with the Chicken Pox! (They had all been vaccinated, but somehow they had the Chicken Pox.) So Andy and Jess decided not to come, and we decided not to risk it either. What a sad, disappointing day!

I still wanted to eat a traditional turkey-and-all-the-fixins meal, so we drove up to Mt. Sterling to go to Cracker Barrell--along with everyone else in the surrounding counties--the wait was close to an hour! We couldn't wait that long with a hungry mommy and 1 year old...so we drove back to Winchester, and went to the Mexican restaurant! :) It's our favorite place to eat, and it was not crowded at all! In fact, we were the only patrons in the entire restaurant! The food was muy delicioso, and Noah had the whole place to run around in.

Though I would have much rather had Tara's turkey and trimmings, we made the best of things and had a Thanksgiving meal to remember! (On our way home, I was fortunate enough to get a piece of pumpkin pie at the Frisch's drive thru...yummy!)

Operation Christmas Child

For the past few years, my parents have gone to help process the shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. They shared a video with me that I would really love to show on our blog...

Hey, Daddy! Guess What?!?!

We found out some exciting news today!

Since Noah just started walking, I thought this would be a fun way to tell Jeff.

New House Progress

I haven't really given an update on our new place in a while. We worked diligently to get the entire inside of the house painted...Thanks again to Tammy and Tara for helping us get the painting done! Then this week, my Uncle Danny drove down from Indiana to help us get our flooring installed. He worked very hard to get the laminate in the living room and hallway, and tiled the master bathroom, guest bathroom, kitchen, and utility room. It looks fantastic! I'm so excited to see it all come together! Hopefully, we'll be able to move in soon!

I'm so thankful to have such talented family members who have given their time and efforts to helping us get the house ready!

A New Neighbor

Our next door neighbor, Rachelle, already had German Shepherd named Lady, and recently decided to add a Golden Retriever to her family. She got a little girl dog, and named her Lucy. Lucy is such a sweet girl, and Noah loves getting to play with her! The first pictures are from the first time Lucy and Noah met, and the last few are from a day when I dog-sat for Lucy. It was a beautiful day, so we took Lucy for a walk.

Though it may look like Noah was screaming in terror, he was actually laughing and having a really great time!

Hey, Lucy, let's go in here!

Peeking over the side of the stroller to watch Lucy...

Ummm, could you not lick me, please?!?!?!

He's Walking!

Today, one day past his 16 month birthday, Noah decided to walk! I was talking on the phone, and I looked over to see him standing up in the middle of the living room....and then taking off across the room! He's been cruising around holding onto things for several weeks now, and I knew by the way he could support himself that it would be any day. Jeff was over at the new house doing some work, so I called him right away to come home and see what Noah was doing. As soon as Jeff walked in the door, I told Noah to show Daddy some walking. Noah stood up and walked clear across the living room to get to Jeff! He was laughing and grinning the whole way--so proud of himself! Here are a couple clips of the little guy in action...