See you later Charlotte and Savona Terrace...

In just seven days, we will be on our journey to our new/old town of Richmond, VA.  We are excited to introduce the kids to the hip, historic town we love.  We are also looking forward to what the Lord has in store for this next chapter in our lives.  This major move will not be without challenges.  We are: leaving our dear family and friends; leaving our beloved Eternal Church; downsizing from our dream 5BR/4BA home to renting a 3BR/2BA where the girls will share a room; and countless other things we haven't thought of yet.  The thing that is keeping me from tearing up is knowing we will be back regularly to visit.  We aren't really leaving, we are just saying "see you later". 

In addition, it has been a multi-year sanctification process where God has been speaking to me about needs vs. wants.  As I have been cleaning out closets, giving things away and selling others, I have actually enjoyed getting rid of the excess by paring down to the things we love and need.  I am excited about setting a new baseline for our standard of living.  We are now able to establish a budget based on Eric's salary instead of trying desperately to pay for our existing expenses every month.  Thank the Lord our house sold so quickly.  We will truly miss it though.  It has been such a great house in which to raise our family and a wonderful neighborhood full of special friends and neighbors.  I love that our kids were welcomed into the homes of our neighbors, establishing bonds with friends that will not be forgotten.  Just think, Rylie and Laine have been friends for half their lives!  Madelyn and Joey met and became fast friends when they were 2 1/2 years old!

Below are some photos of our front yard and back yard with the beautiful fall leaves in all their glory.  Good-bye sweet home, be good to the new owners.

Fall Festivities

We go to the same place every year for pumpkins.  It has been fun seeing how the kids have grown over the years.  Nevertheless, it has proved exceedingly difficult to get them to pose in cute pumpkin photos so I let them do what they wanted this year.

My small group + Madelyn after our awesome accessory swap (Seriously, ladies out there, you need to do one!  Free necklaces, purses, etc!)

We celebrated Kai's 4th birthday with a Superhero party!

Emma and Rylie help the little ones make masks

Super Kai loved sharing his special day with his friends (favors were personalized notebooks where I created a superhero name and personality for each child--that's that Laine and Rylie are looking at)



Happy Birthday, Super Kai!!  We love you!

For Halloween, Kai was Super Man (with a surprising gangsta attitude here), Madelyn was Taylor Swift (wouldn't wear our long blonde wig) and Rylie was a champion gymnast (she reminds me of Nastia Liukin)



The kids' friends Joey, Kendall, Calleigh, and Leah



Rylie, Laine, Madison and her friend, and Kendall