Newness

Well, we did it! We moved to Athens, GA! We could not have done it without the help of Natasha, Walmir, and our neighbor Craig in G-ville and my parents in Athens. A thousand thanks yous!! And now, we are basically moved into our new place, and our home is ready to be rented. Actually, I think Shawn said it looked nicer than it did when we moved in! All good things! As you can tell by the plethora of exclamation marks, all of this makes me incredibly excited. I cannot believe I am going to be going back to school and teaching college students. Everything is falling into place, and I couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunities we have and our amazing family. There is so much to catch up on, so (surprise, surprise) here comes the list. Enjoy the pictures of our new place, too.

1. In the past two weeks, the air conditioner has broken down twice! Twice. I like it hot, even really hot, but it was too much. Fortunately, our home-owner is great, and he is working on a long-term fix.
2. Riley has started swim lessons at the YMCA. She loves it, too. She's been working on her strokes, diving for rings, swimming through hoola hoops, and having a ball. We are so proud of our little fish. Her coach said she's never seen a kid hold their breath for as long as Riley can.
3. Next to us, there is a rooster and a herd of dogs (okay, four). While Shawn and my dad were moving the furniture in, two of the dogs welcomed themselves into the house, too, and started licking a sleeping Riley. They are sweet dogs, but a little overwhelming for our little ones. And the rooster starts crowing at around 5am. That's fun.
4. We've discovered some great playgrounds so far and a community pool right down the road. This weekend, we're going to check out a baby and kid fair and the farmer's market.

Okay, Adrian is waking up from his nap, so time to upload some pictures. More updates to follow!

**A couple quick notes about the pictures...the outside home and pool pictures are from Gainesville. I took the kids for a quick swim that final morning before we piled in the car to drive up to Athens. The inside home and pool pictures are from Athens. The shelves are my recent purchases from Ikea. Love, love, love them. And the Keurig machine was a going-away/graduation gift from Caroline. Best appliance ever!! Thanks, Caroline!