New Year, New Home!

What a whirlwind this holiday season has been for us.  

After going home for Thanksgiving, we came back home to Philly and threw up our Christmas decorations all over the apartment.  It gave our home the feeling of warmth and vibrancy for the coming holidays.  Although we'd be spending the days surrounding Christmas in Pittsburgh, our home felt so cozy during the month of December.

A few days after immersing ourselves into the Christmas spirit, we just happened across a listing for a house-for-rent.  So we decided to have a look (we've been looking at apartments/houses for well over a year now).  We went to view the house without too much hope (our experiences during this time were making us feel like we would probably never be able to move out of our one-bedroom apartment).

Well.  Turns out we LOVED the house.  And.... it was within our price range (!).  AND.... only 3 blocks away from our current apartment!  (IN OUR BEAUTIFUL NEIGHBORHOOD!)

Thankfully, we were one of the first people to view the house... so we jumped on filling out the required applications and everything just.... worked out!  Once we were approved (AHHHH! AFTER ALL THIS TIME, WE'RE MOVING?!  WHAT?!), that meant that we had to take care of things on our end, such as finding someone to take over the lease on our one-bedroom. 

It was quite an undertaking for us, but somehow we've made it through!  We packed up, we advertised/showed our apartment, FOUND A NEW TENANT, wrote up a contract for new tenants to sublease from us, and so on.... and so on.....  

We officially moved into our new house just a few days ago!  It's BEAUTIFUL (beyond my wildest expectations).  And IT'S HUGE compared to our old place.

I just can't even wrap my head around how everything has fallen into place surrounding this whole process.  It's hard to believe that we actually live here now!  I am so thankful! 

Here's a few random pictures of the move-in process.  My Mom & Dad helped me paint the entire first floor before we even started moving our stuff in (a 13-hour process all in one day!!!).  Christopher's brother Jeremy helped with moving all of our furniture, as did Kelly's hubby David (they were amazing!).  Kelly (who just gave birth 3 weeks ago) helped with unpacking the kitchen.  Christopher's folks helped us by paying for the piano movers.  Such an amazing amount of help and love from our family and friends!

Love my silly Momma!

Randomly placed furniture....

Not-quite-3-year-old Lydia decorated the fridge with our magnets (notice how low on the fridge they are).  I love it.  They're still exactly where she put them.  :)

The piano *just fits* where we wanted it?!

Encountering a few small issues (like the box spring not fitting up the stairwell and the legs of the blue cabinet won't quite fit over the vents).... but these things can be resolved!

I can't wait to post more updates on the house as we get settled.

What a whirlwind.

Such a major blessing.