The Pernot Family: Settling In

We are here in our new home. The old house is emptied and ready to close on Thursday. Before we left Rochester, all five of the children came down with an awful virus. We lived in pajamas for a week straight.

She is smiling, but those cheeks don't lie. She was the sickest of everyone.

Joseph had it pretty bad too. He actually fell asleep under a load of laundry.

I decided that once we moved I would probably have no time to clean the car, so we made it out last big project at the old house. The children were sooooo helpful.

Matt spent each night and each weekend packing up boxes and reorganizing for the movers. The children helped out as much as they could.

The back and forth from Syracuse and Rochester really took a toll on us all.

But we tried our very hardest to grasp life and soak in some lovely moments.

Esther loved the packing.

Thomas woke up early on moving day to play with as many toys as he could before they got packaged up.

Our trip to the new house.

When we arrived at the new house, the former owners still hadn't completely moved out!!!! We were confined to a bedroom that was empty until the movers finished the job.

The girls in their new room

One of my favorite parts of the new house is the kitchen. It has incredible amounts of character (and wallpaper that NEEDS TO GO FAR FAR FAR AWAY) and was built for a serious cook. It challenges me to step it up in the cooking department.

This picture was taken as we were still moving in, so excuse the mess. This is also only half of the kitchen. It is so large that I cannot fit it into one frame.

This is the dining room. This floor is over 50 years old. It is tile and absolutely filthy disgusting. I have washed and bleached and scrubbed on my hands and knees, but to no avail. This will go where all the wallpaper goes.

This is the front staircase. I love everything about it.

The children were so happy to be home. When the movers all left and it was just us, the kids ran around and claimed it all.

We still had no furniture, so we slept in a tent in the schoolroom for a few nights.

Some dear friends dropped off breakfast.

Then we went back to Rochester to pack up our old house!

Then back to the new house. Matt couldn't wait to get out his tools and get to work. After living in a hotel, his tools were getting bored and he was getting the itch to start a new project...

First magnet on the new fridge from a dear friend.

When I saw the moving van pull into our new driveway with all our things, I took a huge breath. It finally felt like this was going to happen; like all the drama was almost over.

First gift of the new house was a microwave. I was never so happy to see a microwave in my life!

We celebrated Markie's birthday our first weekend in the new house.

Ellen made the cake, and we still don't understand it.

But it's ok, because she got stuck in a ladder when she tried to use it as a chair.

I love how much her brothers are loving this moment of her being stuck.

This is my laundry room. I think it is my second favorite room in the house. I love the wide plank flooring and I will be even happier when the gasline is run to our house and I can use my dryer.

Here is my current dryer. Yup. There, in the background.
Grandma Schwalm, I don't know how you did this for any extended period of time.

First delivery in the new house! I hung it right next to our front door!

This is how we spend every recess.

This is how we spend Sunday mornings.

This is how we spend that awful time period in the few hours before Daddy comes home from work every night.

This is how I get through every night.
Just kidding.
Maybe not kidding.
This was seriously my 30th birthday gift from my parents...filling up the new wine rack.