Up and running

And I'm back! We finally have internet again. You'd think it wouldn't be such a difficult thing to get set up, but for some reason it took a whole TWO weeks to get figured out! At least we have cable now (came as a package deal- something I was initially against, but have been loving) which has provided me with hours of internet-less entertainment!

Updates will be coming in the next day or two. But for now here's a pic from the first day back in our old place (before our stuff arrived). Source of entertainment- a good rain storm (we've been getting a lot of these lately) and a bag of popcorn! Awesome!

Life as of now

Our stuff arrived a week ago. We still don't have internet yet (I'm posting this with the faint signal we're getting from someone else) which is a little annoying with all the posts I have yet to finish, and pictures I'd love to add. But we are moved in! It feels good. It was actually super nice coming back to our same place- makes putting things away that much easier. I feel like we have more space too. With Spencer not in need of an office anymore, the third bedroom is now solely Madilyn's. She loves, I love it!

Spencer's been back to work for a week and a half and couldn't be happier (or busier). He's got his own office now (with a window overlooking K and Connecticut!) and a blackberry=official grown up status! He would contest that. The days have seemed a little longer for me, probably since this week I was focused on getting unpacked, while entertaining my overly dramatic three year old (more to come on this), and cleaning up after my crazy one year old. I'm not yet used to being without Spencer all day long. I know I shouldn't complain about his work hours (I realize many see their husbands a lot less)- since they're bound to get longer, but it's been an adjustment. We drop him off at the Metro about 8:00am and pick him up at 7pm (I know, a totally normal work day. but remember we'd been on "vacation" as a family for 6 weeks before this).

I have so much more to say and tons of pics to post, but this will have to do for now.

We're home . . . literally

We got back Sunday night. It was quite the trip (more coming on our travels later). My cousin and her family lovingly offered us a place to crash (thanks Jenna and Jason- you guys are the best). Then Monday morning the house search began. Talk about exhausting!! We'd been looking at places on craigslist the past few weeks and had several appointments lined up. We turned an application in on a cute little house in Rockville- lots of space and a fabulous yard (play structure and all). We were excited about it, but still not sure since two other families had also applied. We then spent our afternoon looking in Alexandria, Virginia. We found one place in Alexandria that we thought would work for us. But truthfully, something just didn't feel right. I felt rushed and a little sick to my stomach thinking about the amount of rent we'd be paying every month for places we weren't totally sold on.

Monday night we got back to my cousins (and might I add what troopers the girls have been through these long long days and hours and hours spent in the car) and read an email from our old landlord saying she just received a call from the realtor who was processing our rental application on that house. She asked if we were moving back to the area and if we'd be interested in moving back in. She mentioned how she'd rather rent to us than anyone else and would be willing to bring the rent down "considerably". At first, we were not too wild about moving back to our old place (there is just something exciting about moving into a new home, the feeling of a fresh start...).

We decided to call our old landlord anyway, just to see what she had to offer. Her offer turned out to be an offer we couldn't turn down! She lowered our rent by quite a bit. In comparison to what we would have paid had we rented the house we were interested in, we are saving $600 a month! Muhahahah!! Now we can really put away a good chunk of change so we can buy our very own house in a year or so (and hopefully a bigger car too, which we desperately need!!) We got the keys this morning and officially unpacked our car for good. Our storage company is moving all our stuff back in on Saturday morning.

To make a long story short, WE ARE BACK! It was quite bizarre returning to a home we thought we would never return to, but we feel we made the right decision. We were really happy here for 3 years. This is the only home Madi and Elle have known and we made so many great memories here. And we are excited to make a few more!! So... we are happy, we are richer, and we are so glad we don't have to walk through another rental property... hopefully ever again!!

Along the Road

We've been gone for an entire week now and have stayed in 4 different places. A detailed report of our travels will be posted once be arrive in Virginia next Sunday- I just couldn't let the blog go undocumented. We left San Antonio on Friday (after a fabulous visit with the Brewers), and are now enjoying labor day weekend in beautiful Austin, TX with the Oyler family. We've eaten more than our fair share of BBQ (Rudy's and The Salt Lick to name a few) and are loving spending time with dear friends. Some of our labor day fun has included: paddle boarding on Lake Austin (Spencer & Chad), kayaking Lake Austin (all of us), playing at Zilker park, wadding in Barton Springs, relaxing at the pool, celebrating Ryann's 30th birthday (today), and staying up late playing games. Good times!

We head up to Dallas Tuesday morning, then onto Kansas on Wednesday, and arrive in Virginia Sunday night. We're still searching for a place to live- but that's a whole other story. SO much to look forward to!