Well. We have been having a very exciting time here, or at least, very exhausting. We have officially moved into the new house, praise the Lord! We never would have made our deadline without support from both our church and local communities.
A few days after moving in, we got our first guests! Our good friends the Swartzentrubers were taking a family trip out West, and we never would have forgiven them if they hadn’t come to see us. We had a lovely time, and they helped us put up some fencing, which was a HUGE help since the animals pretty much have free rein around the place.
It was interesting for me (Elsie) though, because I managed to get tonsillitis while they were here, and couldn’t speak at all for two days! It ended up being quite funny, though, because I could NOT make myself stay out of the conversation, and would burst in trying to get my point across with hands flailing, and expressions on my face that I didn’t know I could make! I may have to call them sometime in the future to let them know that I CAN talk (too much, sometimes), and I’m not quite as crazy as I seem.
Anyway. Get ready for a boat load of pictures. We didn’t get very many pictures of the actual move, because we were too frantically busy moving. So here are a lot of random pictures, not necessarily in order.
Book boxes ready for packing in Dad’s office.“Helping” mommy packMoving is fun when you’re 2!The old kitchen, partially packed.Empty rooms look so oddThe flooring crew! The flooring guys that we hired were late, so Dad, Janna and our friend Matt did some of it themselves.After the floors were down Mom and I used an oil and stain mixture to finish them.Aren’t the finished floors lovely?The family room upstairs will be a favorite place for the grandchildren to play when it’s all put together!Caroline was our Paper-Picker-Upper-In-Chief while we laid the sticky tile flooring.While Matt was here he and Dad put in a bunch of fence posts.Mom and I laid a bunch of railroad ties down as a fence base.We borrowed the mini excavator from a neighbor. It’s a lot of fun to operate, and I’m still trying to get Dad to buy one for me!Dad put together all the plumbing in the milk house. It works like a dream!This china cupboard is just too cute!The new kitchen!We STILL don’t have drawers, doors or shelves in our kitchen cabinets, so boxes it is!Betsy was thrilled when she “fit” into this dolly stroller. (Look at her chubby little legs!!)The Swartzentrubers! (Minus their son, Stan, who had to fly home early.)Davy was very excited to have so many people to play with!Let’s just say that our little redhead hasn’t gotten a tan yet.Bobby and Stan making yummy things on the grill.Mr. Swartzentruber and some of the girls putting up a bunch of rail fenceNot quite the whole crew, but as many as we could get together at once!
Well, I warned you there there were a pile of pictures, and I think that this post is about long enough. So here’s one more picture of Mom’s longhorns.
The Jolly Jumble 