We spent Easter weekend up in Cadillac, Michigan with Curt's family. It was the first time we were all together since Christmas. The weekend was a wonderful time with lots of good food and fellowship. We arrived on Friday around dinner time. Curt and I stopped at Betsy's house right away to pick up Ben. I was SO HAPPY to see him! After we loaded up all of his stuff we headed to Tim and Molly's house to eat dinner with the whole family. Then on Saturday, we celebrated the three April birthdays at Mark and Betsy's house. We stayed all day and had a yummy lunch and dinner. On Sunday after church we were able to squeeze in lunch and an Easter egg hunt before heading home. We got home a lot later than we usually do, but it was nice to be able to have a full weekend together.  Betsy decorated her house for a soccer birthday party. Aren't the decorations really cute? The celebration was for Curt's dad, my niece Katie, and my nephew Peyton.  Betsy also made these real...

We finally got the shelves hung up in Ben's room last night. I think he will be excited to see his room completed when we get home with him on Sunday. I'm so thankful the sun finally came out yesterday. I was able to spend a few hours in the afternoon cutting down all of the dead parts of the plants in the front of the house. It took forever, but it looks so much better. Next we will have to tackle the backyard landscaping mess! There was even time for Curt to mow the lawn. Now we are back to rain again today. I wonder when the nice spring weather is going to come and actually stay for a few days?  

I took a few house pictures for those of you that would like to see it. I didn't take any pictures of Ben's room because we still need to hang up a few things, but I will add those when we are done. Moving has been very tiring, but overall things have gone very smoothly. There are no boxes left and just a few details to work on. I feel like I can almost breathe a sigh of relief...almost. :) The front of our new house. It was really windy out there, so I didn't get the best picture. The entry way as you come in the front door. There is a big closet off to the right. The door that you see leads down to the basement. The staircase that you see as you walk in. The dining room is off to your left as you come in the house. We still need to get a dining table, but that might be a while yet. It's not at the top of our list. :) The kitchen The eating area right off of the kitchen. The living room. We painted the living room/kitchen area on Sunday. It wa...

We are working on getting all settled in our new house. I'll post some pictures soon after we get a few for things organized. Yesterday Curt and I spent the whole day painting the kitchen/living room. I had talked myself out of doing it a few times, but decided in the end I would regret not doing it while Ben was away. Speaking of Ben, he is spending the whole week at his Aunt Betsy and Uncle Mark's house. They came down this past weekend (along with Curt's parents) to help us move our big furniture. He was SO EXCITED to go stay with his cousins. He has been wanting to pack his bag all week. I don't think he is going to miss us at all, but we sure do miss him. I've been busy today getting things done in the new house today and it is strangely quiet without Ben. We've only ever been away from him for one night before, so I'm sure it's good for all of us to let Ben stay somewhere else. If you'd like to see what he's been up to so far you can chec...

I've been so horrible with taking pictures lately. We've been so busy every day with house stuff that I don't ever think about getting it out. I should have taken some 'before' house pics, but I even forgot to do that. I did get the above picture of Ben helping with the loading on Saturday morning, but only because Curt said we should get a picture. I promise I'll do better with the blog when this craziness is over in a couple weeks. :) This past weekend my parents came to help with moving the stuff out of our garage and some other projects. We rented a UHAUL cargo van and it was really helpful with fitting all of the boxes/totes in the garage. Curt and my dad made several trips back and forth. They were able to get several things from inside the house too. We all worked together (with the ladder) to load a bunch of stuff up in the attic. The new space is smaller, but we were still able to get quite a bit of stuff up there. It will be much easier when we get ...

Someone was looking pretty awesome in his new shades at the mall today. One more day until we close on the house and the marathon of fun (otherwise known as work) will begin! :)