Changin' It Up!

The Short story...

We are moving to Minnesota... NEXT WEEK!!!

The Long Story...

Pete worked for Annnie's for all of 4 weeks before the fantastic company was bought by General Mills.  We have all enjoyed his time with General Mills, but in the back of our minds we knew a move would be upon us at some point.  General Mills is headquartered in Minneapolis, sooooooo we knew Pete would need to spend some time up there learning the ways of such a large company from inside their home ;).  Fast-forward to now, he's been with the company over a year now and we're ready to dive in to everything General Mills- ha!  We are THRILLED that this all worked out so that we could get established there before our big 5 year old begins Kindergarten- and as we hear: this is the best time of the year to move, because Minnesota puts a WHOLE new meaning on the phrase snowy weather!  

We are not as thrilled knowing we will be leaving this place we love so dearly... where all of our babies were born, where we know we've made life long friends, and truly the only place we're ever considered Home for our family of 5, along with our angel babies.  Although the path we are on intends for us to be back around these parts in the future, we know we will be closing the door to our wonderful home next Wednesday and traveling on a new road... full of possibilities, but also a little uncertainty.

Good news: our families rock (when do they not?!)  We packed up for a week of travel, the end of May, to figure out all of this 'change'.  Our first stop- Indiana.  We wanted to squeeze in some family time before the chaos and also WELCOMED the help with our littles so Pete and I could make our first trip together up to Minneapolis to hopefully find a house WITHOUT kiddos!

 

We were able to do some Memorial Day celebrating out in Cambridge City.  Nothing says summer like a cool beverage and the smell of food on the grill, while you take a dip in the pool.  The kiddos loved it, and Pete and I had such a nice time catching up with family and I got to meet my little nephew, Skyler, for the first time.  To say he is precious would be an understatement... cool cat for sure!!

This is about how Harper and her cousins were for the better part of the day.  Whenever these 3 get together you can be assured of two things: they will play hard the WHOLE time AND they will sleep like babies that night... they made GREAT use of Grandma and Grandpa's pool for SURE!!!

  

The little guy with his Daddy and Uncle... such a sweetheart!

Pool time is the best time!!!

 

Maggie was LOVIN' her time with Uncle Andy!!  And Evelyn LOVES the water... she would just prefer for NO ONE to touch her... she just about gave me a heart attack trying to dive out of my arms into open water the whole time!!

...and she so enjoyed watching Grandma with everything... it was the only time we could get her to be still!

After our Cambridge City visit, it was back to Carmel to celebrate Memorial Day with my side of the family.  So fun kicking back and relaxing for a few days....

I think we have another Papa- fan on our hands!

Sweet Girls enjoying time at Nana & Papa's!

{yes, that is a live cat in the baby carrier.  Gracie really is a team player when Ms. Harper is around;)}

 

After a couple 'chill days' Pete and I packed up Maggie for St. Louis appointments.  Nana and Papa were kind enough to watch the other two rugrats and it made doctor appointments with Maggie a breeze- THANK YOU!!!!

We quickly came back to Indy following those appointments, unpacked Maggie, did a load of laundry, and slept a few hours before hopping on an EARLY flight to Minnesota.  We had our bags packed and our fingers crossed that the trip would be successful in finding a house.

We missed our munchkins in the worst way, but we received tons of pictures, showing us they were doing just fine with Nana, Papa, and their aunts, and uncle!!

Harper decided to put on a little make-up all by herself, and Evelyn was eating like a champ- Nana taught her to eat with a fork!!!

Harper got to spend some one-on-one with Aunt Abby getting Starbucks and tackling a summer-reading program in 4 days- ha!!!  Harper LOVED it... THANK YOU, ABBY!!

Pete and I were successful: we found a community we just loved and a neighborhood that seems PERFECT!!!  We put an offer in on a house that will be finished the end of June and it was accepted!!  We are so excited and look forward to closing on it soon!

We picked up our kiddos in Indiana, gave our family HUGE hugs for all of their help, and made the commute back to Arkansas for the last time.  

The last few weeks have been spent soaking up all we love about this area with our fantastic friends... its been so fun!!

We enjoyed a Pate-Lee family fun night of pizza and ice cream, made complete by a 3 mile walk along the Crystal Bridges trail and I knocked off 'walk' the infamous 'Hill' from my bucket list... I had littles with me and a full stomach- I couldn't run it, people... hehe!

  

Such a BEAUTIFUL trail...

Thank you so much for the fun evening, Pate family!!!

We were able to go on a Mommy-Daughter adventure, with Harper's friend, Elise and her Mommy to a horse farm!  It was such a great time: 2 hours spent learning how to take care of a horse, riding, and making them special treats.  Harper had a BLAST!!!

Thank you for inviting us, Elizabeth!!!

 

The rest of the time we've been enjoying the quiet moments with our munchkins.  We know July will be a bit hectic, so time at home has been so nice.  

 Maggie continues to sit up more and more and is eating so well on her own.  She seems to be done with the hitting when she's frustrated (little worried I may have jinxed it saying it out loud- ha:)), and just seems overall- happier.  LOVE IT!!

 

Harper is going through the emotions that seem pretty normal with change: wanting to spend as much time as she can in her house, with her friends, playing with her toys.  She remains our happy, goofy, girl... ALWAYS!

  

And Evelyn is rockin' being 15 months old: she is walking EVERYWHERE, eating everything, and just cut 5 teeth at one time... ya, it was a bit of a long week!  We love her though... she never seizes to make us laugh! 

So here it is, folks.  Forgive my husband, it was raining- ha!  The new Lee residence, coming soon.... with a pretty different zipcode- HA!  Plymouth, MN HERE WE COME!!!!!!