Saturday, March 23, 2013

Getting Settled!

The Leonards are in a new house! It is so exciting!!! It is WONDERFUL to be on this side of the move! This time last weekend was COMPLETELY insane..and this weekend it is just slightly crazy. We are really settling in to our new life in Cumming and enjoying exploring the new house and back yard! We are so happy to be the four of us in a new home!

Last Thursday was one of the more physically and emotionally draining days we have had together. Steven and I have both had our fair share of hard times, but moving our family and all that comes with that was tough! It all really started at 4:55am when I walked into Total Fitness for my last cycling class. The gym has meant so much to me and I dreaded the last class. Stacey had my bike all decorated and a card from the trainers! A balloon and everything!!! Lauren rode beside me in class and had a playlist just for me... TEARS. Gracious.....The movers came to Vinings Vintage around 9am and we spent the ENTIRE day helping movers get our stuff in to TWO trucks. YEP...we had one truck scheduled and five guys... they had to send for another truck. 1.5 hours later the truck got there and we got it ALL loaded. We pulled away from the house for the last time (TEARS!) and headed to Gainesville. Steven picked up the kids at Woodchase for the last time (TEARS! I had already cried the whole way to work on Wednesday morning just overwhelmed by it all.. I told him it would be better if he got them!) SO...two hours of traffic for both of us later we got to Gainesville and crashed with Poppa and Nunno! (Did I mention that both cars were so full of stuff we didn't have the option of leaving one car somewhere in Atlanta because neither of us could have fit...) Friday morning we headed to Atlanta for 2.5 hours at an attorney's office closing on both houses. We met the new people moving in and met the really great guy we bought the new house from and it was fun!
We got out JUST in time to meet the movers at Buckingham! One of the trucks broke down on 285 on the way to the new house...They finally got done around 8pm and we had our first beer on the deck (the weather was amazing!!!) Saturday went pretty well...I moved around boxes while Bubba and Steven went to get everything out of our storage unit.. MORE STUFF!!! Sunday was when things got really interesting. Steven ran into the kitchen yelling that there was water in the basement! WHAT??!! The main level bathroom (with the door conveniently shut at the time) was overflowing..the toilet...all over the floors.... tub full.... of SEWAGE?! OMG!!! We called every plumber we could find and no one could come on Sunday. So we turned off the water and did our best with no water for over 24 hours. Ugh. So... Monday (like something out of a movie) around 5pm (MUCH LATER THAN OUR SCHEDULED FOUR HOUR WINDOW) a plumber shows up... he starts with the bad news...all within about an hour of the kids coming home, friends being over, painters running around...oh and tornado sirens going off!!! They told us it would cost $5,000 and they would need to tear up the front yard. He described the hole to be about the size of their van. So.... a small freak out later... at 11pm we decided to cancel the service and get another opinion. 8am (may I mention on time!!) another plumber comes out and says our lines in the yard are fine and we don't need to do anything! Are you serious??!! BUT that our bathroom is damaged. So..another call and an Emergency Water Remediation company comes out... they rip out the hardwood floors, sanitize everything and set up blowers and dehumidifiers. (fun huh?!) BUT during all this we continued to work and unpack boxes..slowly we were getting settled!
Today is Saturday and we had such a great day at the house. It was just the four of us and we played and unpacked and hung pictures and mirrors. We had happy hour on the deck and enjoyed the new house! We are really happy with everything (despite the sewage!) and can't wait to make so many memories here!

We had SUCH great help with family this week! We are truly blessed and appreciate it all! Poppa and Nunno kept the kids over the weekends while we got our stuff in the house (and unexpectedly dealt with a plumbing issue!), Grandbubba came up to  be such a help with Steven on so many things, Nannie came up and completely took over unpacking the kitchen, Neese and Mimi came up to help with the kids, unpack and clean...and Poppa came to help with lots of projects and hanging pictures on the wall! It was just amazing and so happy that we got to share this with family and friends! It is a VERY memorable experience! What did we know 9 years ago moving out of apartments just the two of us! What a change!
The other fabulous part about this whole experience is that Elizabeth, Chris, Morgan and William are moving in around the corner in 11 days! We could not have made that up! How fun!

I didn't do a great job taking lots of pictures of the progress because it has just been insane with people in and out of the house and a little overwhelming.. but here are some pictures from this weekend! We had the outside and a good bit of the inside painted, new carpet put in...and a large sewage clean up! :)

Lots more pictures to come.. but here are a few! We still have a long way to go and lots of boxes in pictures but at least a quick update!

March 14, 2013 - Bye Bye Vinings Vintage!

August 2004 (who are these kids???!!) 


Happy girl loves playing with her baby dolls on the stairs!

Sweet girl loves the new house!

Guest room on the main level (with a deck)

Living room 

Walking in the foyer

Dining room

Living room from the kitchen

Kitchen

The pool from the deck!

Side yard

House and deck with new paint!!!!

Another shot of the pool!

Happy hour on the deck!

3 comments:

Dixie Delights said...

That is SO exciting (pluming drama aside). I cannot believe how much you've done in a week - you are fast!! xo

Whitney said...

Ditto on how much you've unpacked in a week - you are awesome! Can't wait to see it all in person - and take a dip in that gorgeous pool! Whoops, I've already invited myself over. :)

Amanda said...

Ummm, I am coming to visit! :)
CONGRATS TO THE LEONARDS!!!