Moving is hard. Some days are harder than others. So many people have said, “Aren’t you so glad to be back home” and they are sincere and glad that we’re here but the hard thing to explain is that moving to Chattanooga did not feel like a move home. For the past {almost} 10 years our home has been in Jackson, New York City and Nashville. When we left Chattanooga we were kids and now we’re not only adults but parents!

So, it feels like we have moved to a new city. And with that comes figuring out a new routine, finding a new church and making new friends. And some days it is easier to sit at home and mope about not having a routine, church and friends! This past week was especially hard for some reason. I think it irrationally had something to do with the fact that we have sold our house! Great news! But as we move towards closing my very last “tie” to Nashville is going away. In my mind the fact that I still owned a house there made it feel like I really hadn’t permanently moved. It is taking some adjustment but I think for the most part we are all doing ok. {I may be having the hardest time!}

It is amazing that we have family so close! I have taken advantage of dropping one or both boys with grandparents or great-grandparents in order to run errands quickly, take one to the doctor or go out to eat. It has given me a little flexibility in what I am able to pursue just for fun – for instance, on Tuesday afternoons my Mom and Dad come over and watch the boys until Bill gets home so I can leave and go to clogging class. {Side Note: I graduated from the beginners class!}

Will has quickly learned that he can now ask his grandparents “Can I come play at your house?” Can I spend the night with you?” and they usually agree. He thinks it’s the best!

So, as we enter this new chapter in Chattanooga I am looking forward to this new routine {which includes lots of fun things like gymnastics, running and clogging}, investing in our new church through a small group, Bible study and Awana and hopefully making some new friends! And of course, spending a lot of quality time with our families because you never know when you might move again!

We are trying to get most of our October activities in and one day last week we spent the morning at Coolidge Park.

We set out and walked up to the Walnut Street Bridge where Will found this huge do statue. I had to lift him up in order to give the dog a high five.

Will loved walking across the bridge!

We had about an hour to play before the carousel opened so we went to check out the blue rhino statue. Will was more interested in the pebbles.

We rode the carousel about 100 times (it only cost $1 for all 3 of to ride)! First Will chose a horse.

Thomas really liked the carousel ride.

Will thought it was so funny that the ostrich was wearing a hat.

Thomas also enjoyed riding in the chariot.

Mr. Toad was his favorite and he rode it several times.

We ate our picnic lunch and then Papa showed up.

The boys rode the carousel one more time with Papa.

Will and Papa enjoyed an ice cream treat from Clumpie’s before we walked back “home” across the Market Street Bridge.

It was rainy last Tuesday and we had spent all day Monday in our hotel room so we put on our rain jackets and ran a block over to the Creative Discovery Museum.

Will had so much fun! This kitchen area was awesome,I think he would have played in here all day. After he organized the fridge he baked me some cookies.

Thomas and Will both enjoyed driving the car.

They have a fun water play area with lots of boats, cups and a big boat that has several fun learning stations and a slide.

We also spent a good while digging for dinosaur bones. I remember this was my favorite part when I was little! I wanted to get in and dig too but I didn’t want Thomas to eat the sand

Friday the boys and I went to the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Thomas in front of a train – Will couldn’t stand still long enough to get a picture!

There are several train rides around the station and Will wanted to ride ALL of them.

We took the “train” ride and learned all about the history of the Chattanooga Choo Choo and Chattanooga. Will loved sitting by the window and holding our tickets out for the Conductor to collect.

Thomas enjoyed the train ride too! He fell asleep about 5 minutes into the 20 minute adventure

If you look close you can see the Conductor or as Will would say, Mr. Ductor. You can also tell we are the youngest on the train by about 1o0 years

On the return trip the Conductor asked for all the kids to come up and help him by ringing the bell. Will acted shy and wouldn’t sit close to the other kids! He rang the bell a couple of times and thought it was the greatest.

Our first house. The place where we……

…. moved in with only an air mattress and a couple of suitcases.

…. prepared for and anxiously awaited the arrival of Will.

…. learned how to take care of a baby and marveled at how wonderful he was.

…. celebrated a first birthday.

…. discovered how awesome snow is.

…. got into a little bit of trouble.

…. had a lot of fun with special friends.

…. built a special workroom with secret closet access.

…. had our first, first day of school experience.

…. prepared for and anxiously awaited the arrival of Thomas.

…. took a chance and completely re-did our kitchen.

…. became brothers and best friends.

…. our family grew, matured and thrived.

This house has become our home.

It took me 9 years away, 7 years of marriage, living in 3 cities, 2 kids & owning 1 house for something other than Chattanooga and my parents house to feel like “home.” And now Chattanooga will be home again.

In 3 short weeks we will be moving to Chattanooga as Bill has been offered and accepted a job at a digital marketing firm as a Digital Strategist. We are super excited! We are super sad. It just depends on when you ask and who is asking. We truly love our community of friends and our church family and will miss them so much. But we are excited to be close to our families – especially while our kids are young. The next 3 weeks are going to fly by and we are going to squeeze in as much fun & friend time as possible. So if you’re interested in dinner, the zoo, the playground or storytime let us know so we can plan a date

Will had a great time at “camp” last week! They went camping at Chester Frost park where they played in the sand, swam in the lake and played on the playground for hours. They went swimming with Didi. And they went to a Lookouts game where they ate hotdogs, pizza, peanuts, popcorn, and ice-cream. Will also made it home with a baseball bat, a foam finger, baseball cards and an autographed baseball. Here’s a few phone pictures from the “awesome” week!

This Christmas we got to spend an entire week in Chattanooga with our families. It was a fun week full of Christmas celebrations and just having fun! The celebrations began on December 19th when we celebrated with Will in Nashville and ended with the big Dixon celebration on December 26th. Below are a few (50!) of our pictures from the week. I hope you enjoy!

Will and I had a staycation last week. I guess it wasn’t technically a staycation since we went to Chattanooga! We had a great and fun time. We started the week by having a Father’s Day cookout with the Dixon family. We had a fun time eating, playing with babies, playing cornhole and riding the Trikke. And Will spent a day later in the week with Nonny and PawPaw. No pictures from the Dixon party Anybody else have any?

Papa gave Will a flat-top – complete with Krew Comb.

Honey gave Will some chocolate pudding “to eat!”

Will had fun playing at the toystore downtown. Here he is riding an air pogo.

DeDe took Will on his first carousel ride. He loved it! He even knew how to hold on correctly.

Taking a second ride with Mommy.

Playing in the water fountain. This is a scream of delight!