Old Friends & New Family

We have started to feel settled into our new house. Nearly all the boxes are unpacked and Jason put a large amount of things into the attic this weekend which has cleared up some more space. Hopefully next weekend we will work on getting some things on the walls and then it will really start to feel like home! Truthfully, I don't think we could be any happier with our home and neighborhood. We took a really nice walk all around the neighborhood on Saturday and all the neighbors out were so friendly--which Jason loves (for those of you that may not know, my husband has a hobby of being friendly with strangers). It's been a great fit so far!

Aspen definitely loves her new house too. She has her own playroom now with all her toys which is great to keep seperate from the living room. She has been really into dressing up lately. I'm not where it came from, but I was a huge fan of playing dress up when I was a kid, so of course I started to pull out all kinds of fun stuff. 

Here she is heading up the stairs to show Daddy her outfit she picked out. Plus you can get a nice view of stairs :)

I had to the side view of this costume--fairy ballerina princess??

On Wednesday of last week I had an great treat and last minute surprise. One of my dearest friends from college, who was one of my bridesmaids in our wedding, came to visit. Bevin never had met Aspen so it warmed my heart they got to hang out. My maid of honor from my wedding, Pam, was there too, so the three of us were having a great time!

Pam, Aspen, and Bevin

This morning we headed over to my sister-in-law Jennifer's house to visit with her husband, James, Aspen's cousin, Jessica, and our newest family member, Janette Amber Moore. I had visited Janetter in the hospital and then a couple of days after they came home, but this was the first time Jason had met his niece. She is so tiny and having a toddler you completely forget they used to be that size. It's was great getting to spend time with the Moore's.

Aspen was checking Janette out and I asked her if she would give her a kiss...she happened to agree and I thought this picture was really sweet with Baby Janette...



And of course the girls got to play together which was fun. It was funny because Aspen was being a little 'sassy' with Jessica. Jessica was very interested in trying to play with Aspen and hug her, kiss her, etc. and Aspen was very much not interested. Then we leave and since we got home every other thing out of her mouth is, "Where's Jessica?" or "Where's my best friend Jessica?" Cracks me up.



Have a great week!

Enjoying the new backyard

When Jason and I started to look at homes to buy Jason was really pushing for us to get a pool. I took some more conviencing, mostly because I wasn't sure if we were really "pool people". What does that mean?!? Literally we found ourselves at our old community pool everynight they were open this summer. That seems pool people enough!

One of my request if we were to get a pool was to still have a backyard for Aspen and Bella to frolic around in. That was a huge selling point on the new house. We have a great large yard section next to the pool and then a huge side yard along the house.

Section of yard next to the pool.

Our side yard



View of the pool from our porch.


 Aspen and Bella enjoyed running around and playing in the beautiful weather we have been having!



Blowing bubbles--she was getting pretty good at this :)



Bella running around playing frisbee.

This was right before Aspen's newest favorite dance move, "the out of control spin". I know I'm bias, but I'm also a dance teacher and this girl definitely inherited some grace and style when it comes to dancing :)

 

We ended our play time with Aspen chasing me and Bella around yard yelling, "I'll catch you!"

I'll try to keep sharing more photos of the house as things get more unpacked. I'm actually really impressed with how well we have done since we have only been here for a week. It definitely already feels like home!

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday was quite the eventful day in our family. My sister-in-law had her second daughter yesterday afternoon. I drove down to her house in the morning to pick up her oldest daughter, Jessica. Aspen and Jessica had so much fun playing yesterday and Aspen even woke up this morning asking, "Where's Jessica?". It's so cute to see the cousin love!

Jason's parents came into town to help Jennifer out with Jessica and the newborn. When they got into town we gave them a tour of the new house and then went out for dinner down the street at our new local Tex-Mex restaurant, which was really good! We had to hurry home to get Aspen ready to go trick-or-treating before I had to head to work.

We weren't sure what to expect in our new neighborhood for Halloween. In our old hood we would get barely any trick-or-treaters every year and just ended up with a bunch of extra candy. On the drive back from the restaurant our neighborhood had transformed into a Halloween madhouse! It was so exciting to everyone out in their costumes runnning door to door.



Practicing her "Quack!"

This was Aspen's first year to trick-or-treat and she was such a pro. She would say, "Trick-or-Treat!" and said thank you after she got her candy. She would even give a good quack and waddle if asked :) She was definitely making a great impression on some of our new neighbors. 

I have to say that she was the cutest little duck ever. So many people kept thinking she was a little boy, I guess because most little girls dress up as princesses, but I figure she has the rest of her life to be a princess. I can't wait to see how this neighbor does up Christmas!!