Our 1st month back in Virginia!

 We said goodbye to our home in Elkton, MD. (well, the kids and I said goodbye, Daniel was still there for a couple of days.)

 we slept on the floor of our new home after a 6 hour drive.

 except for Jacob, somehow he got to sleep on the air mattress by himself.

 Emily slept on the air vent.

 Night number 2, we have beds! And Zach has the cat.

 This could quite possibly be my favorite picture ever. I was so thankful to see my bed all put together (and the bedskirt has JUST NOW been found, a month later. maybe it'll get put on the bed tomorrow.) I guess I was thankful for my elliptical too. :-) 

 our tiny living room. slightly different now with tables where they need to be and the tv on a tv stand instead of an old sewing machine base. but still tiny.

 you can only imagine the fun i was about to have.

 Ringo was so glad to have his couch back.

 Carol Lee donuts. yum. this has become our new favorite place to go after church.

 only difference is now the boys are in Sunday School after church so it's Daniel, Emily, and I going to get the donuts (but yes, we get some for the boys to enjoy too!)

hanging out at the duck pond at VT after we ate our donuts.

 

 that afternoon the boys  met their new school principal and we got to tour the school.

 Ringo discovered Jelly Bean's cat bed.

 Jelly Bean is still sleeping with Zach.

 Daniel started his new job. (by the way, he loves it)

 catching the monkey :-)

Ringo decided he could fit on the cat bed.

 first day at the new school! 

 after their first day. They loved it.

 Emily's room got curtains. still not 100% happy with it but it'll do for now.

 boys are at Sunday school and the girl is holding the donuts!

 and taking little nibbles out of each one!

 We got snow!

 Look out!

 Trying to make a bigger snowball than Jacob!

 Our home in Christiansburg, VA until we find our forever home (hopefully in Blacksburg)!

 We joined a new cub scout pack and already worked on a service project, litter clean-up!

 We all got to wear these lovely flashy vests.

 Even Emily and she let everyone know she was not happy about it.

 Lucky scouts! Ice cream after litter clean-up.

 Zach wrote a little story/letter to his classmates at his old school. They sent him the sweetest video ever.

We went to The Homplace for Sunday dinner. YUM!

Emily climbed in a box.

That was a super brief overview of our first month back in the great state of Virginia. We're excited for the new adventures ahead.

Our last New Years Eve get together with some great neighbors and friends was a fun sendoff for us.  Here's a quick glimpse of how our day went. . .

 The moving truck and trailer showed up around 8am to load everything onto the truck. (they had been there the day before to pack everything.) Some 10 hours later they were finally done and our NYE fun could begin.

thank you, Zach. 

We had a great time. There were A LOT of tears and a ton of hugs. It's so hard to say goodbye to friends that have become part of our family.

We've already been back for a visit and birthday parties and look forward to more visits, both here and there! 

(and maybe now that we're getting settled in I'll get back to blogging more frequently!)