Whew! It's been a while!

Wow! It has been over three months since my last post... but at least I have a good reason for the absence. The end of April found our family preparing for another move - this time from Mississippi back up to Virginia. After leaving Mississippi we took a small detour down to Florida to visit some dear friends in Gainesville and then on to my parents house for a visit. By the time we made it to Virginia it was already the end of May! June was full of unpacking, settling, and learning our way around our new town. July has been full of swimming lessons, summer (home)school for Bella, and lots of good books! We have been doing the DoD summer reading program on the naval base and I have really seen my girls become avid readers. Although the boys are not reading yet, they love to be read to, and are always asking for Jake and I to read books to them. It has been great.

I will say that our transition with this move has been the most adventurous journey we have had to date. Bella arrived in Virginia with pneumonia, which eventually made its way through all the children plus Jake. We had a fiasco coordinating the delivery of our goods with the acquisition of our rental home. We lost power for 4 days from the freak storm that hit between Ohio and DC, right in the middle of an intense heatwave. And right after that storm I headed on a last minute trip to Ohio after my grandmother passed away. I am hoping that the craziness will slow down and life will be just a tad bit less adventurous for a while.

I will be posting some of the more major happenings in separate posts, but here are a few snapshots that occurred in the past few months...

The girls finished up their spring softball seasons:

Jake and the boys were tuckered one day. I love that Will is sleeping with his gun. And that they are on such a 'manly' pillow. Grin. 

Jake and I attended a Dining Out right before we left Mississippi. With our house completely empty I opted to get my hair professionally done. In true southern style, the hairdresser teased my hair a bit too much.

It turned out alright, but it was somewhat on the 'too-tall' side for my taste.

 I actually tried to pat it down throughout the dinner.

 Even so, by the end of the night it still had plenty of fluff! True southern style, for sure!

One rainy day, Will kept looking out the window and Jake captured these shots. I can't decide which one I like better, but I do love the reflection in the bottom one. 

Reading in our new house during the power outage:

It's nice to be back in Virginia. We love the area we are in and look forward to a couple good years ahead!