A New House, A New School, and A New Life?!

My Tiger Cub!

Home from school. She is adorable in her uniforms.

John and X getting ready to try some skating.

Addie watching Daddy and X skate. She was not a fan of doing it herself.

All ready to skate.

part of the backyard. (Yes, we have a lot of red clay. :( )

The back of the house. I love that we have a back deck.

One side of the house.

The front of the house. See my rocking chair? I can't wait for it to get cooler and then I will be spending a lot of time sitting there. :)

The past few weeks have been almost heavenly. Yes, we have been super busy and swamped with work, but yet there is a peace filling our home and we LIKE it!

We knew our summer was going to jam packed with activities and places to be then we added a move to a new home into the mix. What were we thinking????

2 years ago my mother and my niece moved in with us and after a few months it became very clear that we needed a bigger house. We found a 6 bedroom 3 bath house close to my job in Mableton, GA. It was a great house and we have so many found memories of that place. It was really hard to make the decision to move. But, with my mom and niece moving to Seattle, WA there was no need for such a large home or such a large rent payment every month. We decided it was time to down size and found a nice 3 bedroom 2 bath home in a great neighborhood in Dallas, GA. But I don't think it is just the house that has made life more enjoyable, I think it has to do with us getting to spend more time as a family.

Before the move, it was a rare occurrence to have the whole family together in the evenings or weekends. John worked far from home on a different schedule every week. He tried so hard to get a regular schedule but it always seemed to change once we got use to it.

Now we live very close to both of his jobs: Sears and the church. I, however, must travel to and from work, but at least it is a set schedule that doesn't change.

Even though I must leave the house by 6a.m. and don't get home until 3:45ish, we are still getting lots of family time and time with our children. It use to be me and Xavier together and then Addison and John together along with Grandma. Now I am getting to spend more quality time with my daughter since she has started preschool at my school. John is now in charge of getting Xavier up and off to school as well as being here when he gets home. Their relationship is starting to grow leaps and bounds.

With John being so close to Sears and not working as many hours, he and I are getting more time together as well. Once the kids are in bed, we have been watching movies or sitting and talking with one another. Before the kids go to bed, (weather permitting) we will either walk around the neighborhood or sit on the front porch and let the kids play. It has been fantastic!

Xavier's new school is even keeping us busy. Their PTO is super and has a whole year already planned out. I think there is an event almost every week. Xavier has started Cub Scouts and since he is a Tiger Cub, one parent must attend meetings with him. John and I will be taking turns depending on his schedule. But this is yet another opportunity for us to share as a family.

David and Rachel have also been a tremendous blessing. They volunteer to keep the kids for us and even hosted John's birthday dinner.

God has his plans and purposes for our lives. He is certainly blessing us and we couldn't be more grateful.

On an end note, I have posted some pictures of the outside of the house and some random ones from the month. There are also some from the photo shoot with Mandy Henry.