New House and all the help we had!

On February 13th we closed on our new house!  It was a year long process from when we decided it was time for us to start looking for a new home and to sell our home.  That is an incredible story in itself that I need to write out someday! 

Mom, Aaron, Abby and Liz split up the time and watched all the kids for us so that Jarrod and I could be here Monday-Thursday morning without having to worry about kids either being here and stepping in paint trays or worry if they were doing okay in Potsdam.  What a blessing to know they were loved on and taken care of!  In fact, they were super sad that cousin time had come to an end on Thursday!

Lots of snow that day which made for some pretty pictures!

Jarrod and I, after trips to Lowes and Sam's Club, started in on the first project!  Painting the Master Bedroom! We finished rolling around 10pm that night and called it a day

Ryan set up scaffolding and went to work painting our 17' high entryway!

Mom cutting in-did you know she's amazing at this?!

Justin arrived and went to work with Jarrod changing out the three toilets.  Nasty job and of course he jumped right in with no complaining!

Carmen and Tiffany rolling the living room

Kevin set aside a day to come help cut in many rooms!

More progress on the entryway!  Ryan and Jarrod tag teaming to roll it to get it as smooth as they could! 

No big deal...just a plank across scaffolding and a ladder to reach the wall!

I love this picture.  My mom and two older brothers, all working together to help us out!  

Aaron arrived Friday evening and cheerfully went to work bleaching and scrubbing the Master Bath floors by hand!

Friday night around 10:30.  Everyone cleaning out paintbrushes or grabbing drinks before starting another round of painting before moving day!

Changing out hardware-cool shot with the blow torch!

My Dad jumped in and did everything from fixing a problem with the hot water heater to measuring for towel hooks!

My Dad, rolling the front living room

And my mom, cutting it in!

MOVING DAY!!

The kids looking out first thing in the morning to their new backyard!

We had some excitement right in the beginning of the day.  Jarrod, Aaron and Phillip had left to load up a trailer load so that when everyone arrived at the house, we had a load already here.  I was upstairs cleaning when the kids ran up shouting that Liliana was locked in the bathroom.  Pocket doors are new for us and someone had accidentally locked the door and then shut it.  I tried picking the lock with a bobby pin and a few other things before I sent Jadon to interrupt Ryan and see if he could help before I just unscrewed the handle!

And of course, he was able to get it open!

What we found when the door was opened!

The inside team waiting for boxes

The outside team bringing stuff to the door!

Snack break!

Kara, Anne and Ana stripping wallpaper in the girls room in between trailer loads!

Tiffany graciously keeping the kids entertained so I could direct where boxes were headed

Jon emptied his trailer for us to be able to move!  What a blessing so we didn't have to rent one!  He was also the foreman who directed loads going to and from the trailer.  Trust me, every moving day needs one!

Mom and Megan helping to get the kitchen unloaded

Aaron, Jarrod and I painted the girls room and finished up about 11pm moving day night.  My Dad worked hard in this room to get all the wallpaper off before he left for the night!  

A total of 13 rooms were painted from Monday night-Saturday night!


We had a LOT of help and are so thankful for it!  A HUGE shoutout to Ryan who came on Tuesday and worked till Saturday- and everyone who knows Ryan knows that it was done well and he worked hard.  He wanted to bless us and help us be able to move in and feel settled with as little to do as possible before the arrival of the new baby!
Also, a big thank you to my mom who arrived Tuesday-Thursday and did a TON of cutting in!
Side note- we all ended up having a cold that included coughs, aches, headaches and stuffy/runny noses.  No one complained and everyone worked hard through them.  We started our days early and didn't wrap up most nights until 10:30 or later.  We were sleeping on sleeping bags and making do with what was here in a house that wasn't furnished.  None of that makes working hard to get a house ready for moving day WHILE having a cold any easier!  But there were no complaints!  Ryan and Mom kept up a steady pace and we are so grateful at everything that was done!

What a blessing family and friends are!  We could not have done it without all of the help we received!!!