One Year!

I can't believe it's been one year since I started this blog!! Thank you to all of our friends and family who read it regularly. When I started I had no idea what to expect, 157 posts later I'm soooo glad I did it. I was able to capture day to day things that I know I would have forgotten. I hope you have all enjoyed reading it as much as I have enjoyed keeping it. Here's to another year ahead!

We Got It!!!

So I am THRILLED to let everyone know that we found a house!!!!! I found it last week and absolutely fell in love with it! I wanted a house with character, not a cookie cutter house, big yard, older home, and lots of room. This house has it all!! It was a loooooong negotiation process, this guy didn't want to budge off of his listing price. His agents had to have a stern discussion and basically told him he was nuts to let this offer go. While we were going back and forth we actually had two other home owners call and give US an offer on their homes that we had viewed previously. Our agent said in twenty something years she had never seen this!

This morning we called to give our best offer take it or leave. I was so nervous because I wanted this house so bad, but for a fair price. I knew if he didn't take our offer we'd walk away. This morning Bo and I went for our morning walk and I prayed very hard knowing that if it didn't work out I would know that was God's way of letting us know that He would have something better for us. As soon as we were leaving the park Jarrod called to tell me we got it.

We are hoping to close around April 21st and also hoping the inspection goes well. All I have are two pictures I was able to take off the MLS listing so they aren't that great. You HAVE to see it in person and since we have LOTS of room we are expecting many visitors. On another note...we head to Austin Thursday morning to close on our house and meet the movers. It will be very hard to go back knowing this will be our last time there.

SOLD!

A quick update on our house! Looks like we have sold it. We've had a contract on it about a week, but trying to sell your house with a relo company involved is much more complicated. They have piles of paperwork to fill out, all these special requests, etc. They did the inspection last Sunday and came back with a few minor things they wanted fixed or either cash. Since we aren't there to make repairs we decided to go the cash route. I just got news a little while ago from our agent that they accepted what we offered! So now we just wait for the financing to come together and will hopefully close soon. One thing we are learning is that right now it's almost impossible to close in 30 days. With all the refinancing going on you just can't get the funds as quickly. We would love to close by the 31st, but are thinking it will be closer to April 8th.

With that said...I will be headed out tomorrow with our agent here. She has sent many listings that look great so I'm really excited and hope to find something we like! We only have until May 5th with this corporate apartment so we are very anxious to find out new home! I'll be sure to keep everyone posted!

One last playdate

The Friday before we left Austin we had one last playdate with all of our friends. Bo enjoyed lunch with Mack and RJ (unfortunately the one picture we took didn't turn out). Then later that afternoon we met up with Cheryl, Cameron, and Givanna for icecream. We went to the Arboretum in Austin which has a great outdoor area where the kiddos were able to get down and play.


Bo and Givanna have been together since birth...even before then while they were in our bellies. Cheryl was one of the first friends I made in Austin and the funny part about it we were due only 6 days apart. Bo decided to make his entrance a little early, but it turned out Givanna would come exactly 3 weeks later (on his due date)! They have been such a little pair this past year and we are going to miss them so, so much! Here are some pictures from our last playdate.

WE MISS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

We made it!

Well we made it to Atlanta! We got in around 10:30am yesterday morning. I have to say that Bo did AWESOME!!! He slept a little and then "read" some of his books. I can't get over how well he has done with this whole transition. The most challenging part of the weekend, was the fact that we lost not one hour but TWO!! We went from central to eastern time zone and throw on top of that daylight savings time! I don't recommend this unless it's fall and you are moving to the west coast!! We are exhausted and trying to figure out how the heck to get Bo on his normal schedule.

The apartment is okay, not great but it works. It's a great location and overall it's a nice apartment, you can just tell it's been used for corporate housing. Again...it works and it's temporary. We spent yesterday and today running lots of errands. You forget everything you need when you start from zero...things like toilet paper and paper towels. Tonight my Aunt Amy and Uncle David had all of our family over for dinner. It's so nice to have family here to welcome and help us get settled.

An update on our house...we have a contract and the inspection was done today. We haven't heard anything back as to how it went. Our realtor said "no news is good news" so I hope he's right. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted on what's going on. I won't have access to a computer except for nights and with Jarrod traveling some it will be sporadic but I'll do my best.

On The Road Again...

Well the time has come...tomorrow morning (Sat) we will be leaving Austin at 7:00am. Our flight leaves at 7:00am, we'll be leaving our house around 4:30/5:00am, sounds fun huh? This week has been very busy and many people have asked me how I'm doing. Every time my response was "I'm really okay", that was until last night. Once again...it's something about being with Bo in his room that makes it all hit me. It's something about his first room, our first house, all of the "firsts" that he's done here from crawling to walking to how he loves to play in the cabinets and the pantry. All those sweet little things. Jarrod had to deal with a wife crying most of last night and he was so wonderful and so supportive. I know without a doubt that this is going to be a wonderful move for our family and for Jarrod in regards to his career. I know that God has a wonderful plan for us, but it doesn't make it any easier.

We saw all of our friends today one last time which was fun, but sad all at the same time. Luckily I know we'll be coming back eventually to meet the movers once we close on the house so I'm hoping we'll get to see everyone at least one more time. The rest of today was spent packing and packing and packing...trying to figure out how to pack for two months. We have 6 or 7 suitcases I kid you not!!! I have already shipped over Bo's toys and some of his clothes, thank you to my sweet Aunt Amy who let me use her house as our shipping/storage unit til we get there.

SOME of our luggage, this is missing 2 or 3 bags...I don't think one is under the weight limit!!!



We also bought this handy dandy little thing that you can attach your carseat to. After my last trip with Bo I swore I would not make this trip unless he was in his carseat on the plan and since the company is paying...it's a no brainer. So the dilemma was how to get through the airport with a toddler, carry on bags, stroller, AND a dog!! So this is how Bo will be traveling through the airport...




They also came today to pick up our cars. They will hopefully be delivered in about a week. We will only have one rental so Bo and I better find some things to do within walking distance of our apartment.



We will be living in an apartment in Buckhead, not too shabby huh? If you aren't familiar Buckhead is one of the nicest areas in Atlanta. Honestly I'm surprised they allowed our temporary housing to be there, so I am very excited about that! I will try to update as much as I can. We will not have a computer at the aparment, but when Jarrod gets in at night I'll be able to hope on. Please pray for a safe flight and an easy transition for all of us. Oh, and to top it off not only are we loosing an hour moving to an Eastern Time Zone we also have daylight savings time this weekend so we'll be loosing TWO hours!!! Should be loads of fun with a toddler! I'll be in touch soon!

Artwork

Like I promised here is Bo's artwork from last week! It was a little hard for me writing his name on the cross while trying to hold him at the same time, but I still love it.



And the best for last...tell me this is the greatest Texas momento for us...it's my favorite!

An afternoon at the park...

One day last week we met Michelle, RJ, Joy and Mack at the park. There is this great sand area that they call the "Dino dig", they have fake dino bones buried in the sand along with pails, shovels, etc... This was Bo's first time in the sand and he took right to it. He crawled all in it...I had a 10lb diaper full of sand to prove it! He loved it so much he cried when I picked him up to leave. Guess this means we'll definitely be getting a sandbox for the new house! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of Mack, he didn't exactly enjoy the sand so I figured he wasn't up for a photo shoot!

This is the life! I kid you not this is how RJ drinks all of his bottles...arms back, legs crossed!

Going Away Party

A few weeks ago our friends got together and planned a going away party for us. We had so much fun together, it was a reminder of just how hard it's going to be to leave. We enjoyed dinner and even hit a few places after til we all realized we're old, done with going out, and ready to get in our pjs and beds :)

To all of our friends-thank you so much for everything. We will always cherish the friendships we made while here in Austin and will continue them for years to come. We will miss you all so very much.