Our next BIG adventure!

So - I know many people already know this, but....we are moving! And we finally have some exciting things to share! We bought 8 acres of land in McCutchenville, Ohio. The land has several buildings on it and a huge hill. Tim and I have been talking about building a home for us since we got married and we have been working on the plans ever since, even though we weren't sure where or when it would happen. Once we had our two little squirts we realized we were going to quickly outgrow our current home. Eventually, it made sense to look for a piece of land near our family and Tim's job in northwest Ohio. While I have loved living in Columbus for the last 10 years and there are many things I will miss about it, I am very excited for this next chapter in our lives! We just finalized the purchase of the land a few weeks ago so the next steps are:

1. Renovate one of the existing buildings on the property to become our new interim apartment. (Tim is primarily responsible for this :) ) The building used to be a children's resale business and already had electric, a bathroom, laundry hookups. Tim and many of our family members are working on putting up a few bedrooms, installing cabinets for a kitchen, and renovating the bathroom so it has a bathtub/shower. It is a bonus that we will be living rent-free and so close to our new home, making it much easier for Tim to work on the construction while we are just minutes away :)

2. Move out of our home in Columbus (list it for sale) and then move into our new interim home (see step 1). I have been working very hard to pack things up and my parents have been amazing in that they have taken L&L for the past few weekends to give me some alone time to actually accomplish something! As you can imagine, I get little to no work done running after them! We are planning on moving very soon!

3. Finalize our home plans...they are really close, we just need to make sure have a few final decisions  made. We also want to make it to the Parade of Homes in Columbus for any last minute ideas we might want to use!

4. Break ground and start building!! Hopefully sometime in July.

5. Move into our new home (goal = end of 2013)....Ok so I missed a few steps here, but this post would be too lengthy if I put in all the gory details. I will try to post through the summer/fall updates and pics as we get through this.

I am excited/nervous for everything that is going to be happening over the next 6 to 12 months! It's definitely going to be fun to be able to build our own home, but I'm sure there will be many challenges along the way. I'm staying positive because I know this is such a great thing for our family!

Our new home will be 10 minutes from both Tim and my parents' home, and we'll be close to many relatives. Also, it is 10 minutes from Tim's job. This will be such a great change for him, as he has been commuting to NWO since he moved to Columbus 5 years ago. I know it has been hard at times to make that drive and spend so much time on the road, so this will truly be a great thing for him! I am planning on keeping my current job as an accounting consultant out of Powell, Ohio. I can do my job remotely much of the time, and while I will need to travel back to Columbus for client meetings occasionally, I'm looking forward to having a reason to make it back down here. As I mentioned before, there are many things I will miss about Columbus, so it will be nice to still have it be a part of my life! I'll be sharing more updates soon, but just wanted to finally let you all know some of the details!! I have a few pictures below of our land and interim apartment.

  

Hill on the front of the property

View of the front yard/valley

We have a barn :)

Tall Grass

Home Sweet Home until we build our new house!

Driveway/parking lot by the barn and buildings

View from the top of the hill

View of the entire property from the top of the hill

Springtime Fun!

We have been spending a lot of time outside and with friends lately! I just wanted to share a few pictures and details of all that we have been up to!
Mother's Day
We spent time in New Riegel with both of our parents and families for mother's day. We had some really good food, and got to see our mom's! Also, Tim and L&L were very good to me on my 2nd mother's day! I received several homemade gifts (which I LOVE) and a few charms for my pandora bracelet. I also spent Sunday afternoon with my little squirts...don't know what my life was like before I had them!!

Gifts for Mommy!

My mom, L&L and me

Skyping with Aunt Alicia!

Tim and his mom with L&L 

My special little men!

Visit with the Siebenallers
 Growing up, we spent a lot of time with our cousins, the Siebenaller's. We have 5 kids in our family and they had 4 boys. We have remaining close over the years and now that we are "all grown up" with our own families, we try to get together every once in while, when we can. We are spread out all over the U.S., with Aaron and Angie living as far away as El Paso, Texas. So, recently Angie and Bryan & Kim and kids were in town and they all stopped by to visit! Bryan and Kim have 4 children (ranging from 5 years old to 6 months) and Angie and Aaron have 1 child, Athen, who is one month older than L&L. We don't have a large house, but we do have a swing set, and there is a park in our neighborhood, so with 7 children at 5 years old and younger, it was quite an event. It really is very fun when we are able to get together and catch up. It's amazing how many of us all have kids around the same age! I have some pictures from our get together, and a few flashbacks :)

3 Double Strollers!

All the kids looking!! (this wasn't the first picture we took :) )

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Sometime in the 1980s

Siebenallers & Kimmets

Henry's Baptism & Family 10K
I know there is a separate post  about our weekend together, but wanted to include it in our recent event-filled month with lots of family and friends! It was so great spending time with the Macks and Kimmets in Cleveland, and getting celebrate a very special little boy!

Trip to the Zoo with Grammie
While I have been very busy with work and things going on in our lives, I did take a half day last week to hang out with L&L and head to the zoo with them and my mom. It was so much fun! They loved the animals, especially when we got to see the birds and they flew right up in front of us. There was a lot of warnings to not touch them :) They also really liked the fish in the aquarium, lots of bright colors and they swim right up to you!It was really nice to have a morning out with the boys, but it got really warm out, so maybe next time we should hit a pool!

This one is a great pic! I love it when they hug and kiss!

Visit with Old Friends
My very good friend Josh, that I have know since we were 5 was in town this week! We spent a very fun night together along with my other BFF, Sara, at a friend's wedding. It has been ages since I have gone out and been able to spend time with both of them, and it was a TON of fun, just like old times (which means the next morning wasn't as fun ;) ) We also all got together along with our other college roomie, Laura and had a "kids" party. Laura has a little boy that is the same age as L&L and a 2 month-old little sweetie as well, so we all had a get-together at our house. It's always fun to get together and catch up, and fun seeing our kids play as well!

Now...at the beginning of the night!

End of the night, we are all looking a little tired!

Then....College :)