Sam's Fam: Home Sweet Athens!!

Well, it is safe to say it has been a crazy couple of weeks for us!! Last time I posted I was introducing our sweet new addition. Now, 2 weeks later, I'm posting about our moving and settling into Athens, GA. Crazy!?!? So the week before we moved I luckily had my mom helping me some. She was a lifesaver. The movers came and packed up the house on Wednesday and then loaded everything into the truck on Thursday. So my mom took the two older kiddos home with her on Thursday. Thomas and I stayed in Birmingham because I had to go to the closing of our house on Friday. Emily was of course sweet enough to put us up for the night! :) Then I closed on our house Friday morning…which was so bittersweet…and afterwards Thomas and I left and started our drive to Athens! We stayed with Josh at the house he had been staying at on Friday night, and then Saturday the movers came and unloaded at our new house. And yes…I am directing and handling all of this with a newborn while Josh worked. ;) Anyway, this first week in Athens has actually been pretty great! We have been quite busy and already started making friends. :) On Sunday my parents brought Taylor and Bryant up to us, and then spent the night so they could help watch the kids while I got the house put together some. Oh, I forgot to mention that poor Taylor was diagnosed with strep throat the Friday she was in Opelika. Poor thing was pitiful for almost a week!! Thank goodness she has been back to herself since about Wednesday or Thursday… So, Sunday and Monday were spent adjusting all three kids to the new house and hanging pictures, organizing the house, etc. Monday afternoon we went up to Josh's office so that the kids could see where daddy works. They had lots of fun! On Tuesday I had to take Thomas to the doctor for his 2 week checkup. All went well and he weighed in at 9 lbs 7 oz. So not back to his birth weight yet, but getting there! We have to go for a weight check this week, and then the next week he'll go back for his one month checkup. On Wednesday we visited the preschool that Bryant and Taylor will be attending starting tomorrow. It went great and Bryant and Taylor did amazing. They both just walked into their classrooms and joined in with what everyone was doing. I am SO lucky to have such well-adjusting, independent kids. And Bryant is so excited about starting his new school tomorrow, and the fact that he gets to go 4 days instead of 2 like at his Alabama school. Taylor will still just be going 2 days. On Thursday I took the kids to Pump it Up. There just so happens to be one here in Athens that is less than 5 minutes from our house. How great is that!?! Anyway, they of course had a blast and got to run off some energy. Then on Friday it was FINALLY not raining or snowing or icing. So we went to the park that afternoon. We actually met some friends there. A friend from Bham connected me with a girl she went to high school with, and we met them at the park. She has a 4 year old girl and 2 year old boy. The kids played great together and it was so nice to talk with another adult. :) And she is also a member of the MOPS group here, which I am going to be a part of. On Saturday we ran errands and spent time with Josh since he was off. That night we had three other coaches and their families over for dinner. It was great to meet some of the other coaches wives and to hang out as families. It was a little crazy though because we had a total of 10 kids, all 5 & under!!! But I think everyone had fun! :) Lastly, last Sunday we visited Athens Church and this Sunday I braved taking all 3 kids by myself to check out Grace Fellowship. I don't know if either are for us, I know we'll visit a few more before deciding. After having the best church ever, it's hard to find a new one. Too bad Church of the Highlands can't come here… :( Well, whew, I guess that is it for now. Sorry for the LONG post, but a lot has happened! Below are tons of pictures.