We’ve been busy. I recently had someone comment on our Facebook page, checking in as I’d been quiet for so long. Oops!

Yes, we’re all fine. I’d say things are going a bit smoother than my previous post, but we’re also in this wild season called summer. It’s hard having four kids home all day and trying to work. On top of that, keeping up with the math and English lessons I have planned for Lyuda. Send coffee.

And… on top of that, we sold our house. And just last week, we found our new one. We’re under contract for both, moving in about 7 weeks.

We bought our current house when we’d been married for about 9 months. We chose our house and went under contract on it shortly before we committed to adopting Reed and Lena, and we moved in shortly after we started the adoption process.

It’s been a good house to start… and grow our family in, but it’s time to move on. We tried to sell it unsuccessfully twice before. We even had family pictures taken at our house a few years ago, anticipating a move.

Almost 3 years later, we’re finally moving! Today was the inspection for our current house, and we’re awaiting to hear what they want us to fix. Wednesday will be the inspection for our new house.

We spent much of our afternoon at the dog park, waiting for the inspection to be done at our house.

3 kids. Big sister didn’t want to join the picture fun.

Big sister changed her mind and photobombed.

This was a funny moment. I looked up and counted my 4 dogs. Except I don’t have 4 dogs… I only have 3.

But my brain couldn’t quite process the 4 silver weimaraners in front of me… the kids didn’t even notice something was off. When I did point out the extra dog, they said “That’s Nina!” No guys, that’s not Nina… THAT’S Nina (the one furthest away from the camera).

We all had a good laugh and met this new weimaraner friend. I’ve met many other weimaraners, but I’ve never had one join our pack so seamlessly that I questioned how many dogs I own.

We also had fun playing in the mud.

Back to the house talk– our new house will be a big change, but it should be a very positive one. We’re leaving our small, wonderful city, and moving to a tiny town about 45 minutes away. This will shorten Aaron’s commute by about 15 minutes every day. And while we’ll be living in a small, somewhat rural community, we’re on the edge of a city metro, taking just 30 minutes to get downtown. We’ll have a lot of museums, stores and other resources close by. We’ll be in a great school district that I’m confident can handle Lyuda’s English learning needs.

We’re also gaining more indoor and outdoor space– we’ll have a full acre for outdoor fun. And a finished basement for the kids to be loud, crazy and messy inside. And, we’re going from one bathroom to two and a half. We probably could benefit from 6 bathrooms, but I think having 2 more will help with our school mornings considerably!

The bittersweet part is leaving our friends, and the community which we know so well. Not that a 45 minute drive means we won’t see each other ever again, but it does mean fewer impromptu playdates and bumping into friendly faces at local events.

So, if I’m once again quiet, you can find me buried in boxes, wearing packing tape like a bracelet.