Another thing that's kept us busy-- we visited North Carolina twice.  During the first visit, we planned to find a rental and check out schools for Genevieve.  We did find a school for Genevieve but we found that the town homes we were looking at weren't going to be available by the time we needed them.  So we abandoned that plan and looked at a couple of new construction neighborhoods. We fell in love with one but didn't make a move at that time.

Enter the second trip to North Carolina. That trip was to interview with Genevieve's school and make a final decision on the house. Its price had increased several times so we knew if we really wanted it we needed to act now.  Thankfully we did as its price increased a 4th time the next day!  During this trip we also found a preschool for Nadia.  So, we found a house and enrolled both girls in school. Now all we need is to find a place to live.  Soon! And I should also mention that we haven't closed on the house so we'll be praying that all goes as planned!

Please note this is the model home.  Ours is not this fancy. ;)

In between the two NC trips, I went to Texas for my niece's graduation.  That was a fun trip and I got a chance to try my hand at family photography. I couldn't bring all of my lenses since I was traveling solo with Dax, so with my 'small' lens in the bright midday sun, I did the best I could! It was a joint effort with my sister and we made a great team and pulled it off. Random note: I love that while we're all wearing white we all accessorized so differently that our personalities came through. :)

Now it's on to Dax's dedication this weekend. It'll be very low key- yummy brunch, a few signs, maybe a banner, balloons, and colored table cloths.  That's it. I promise.  The fact that I ordered this custom printable from A Meek Boutique as a tiny bit of decor is making me feel better about the situation.

After that it's helping my Mom-in-Law plan our going away party in conjunction with planning an early birthday celebration for Nadia and Dax who turn 4 and 1 on September 3rd and 4th.  I'm going with a camping theme and am excited to throw one more big bash before we go.

T-shirt from Roots of a Flower Etsy Shop.

And that's it.  I hope to be able to squeeze in lots of time with family and friends over the next 5 weeks. We've built a pretty good life here and on some levels it seems crazy to leave it. There are a lot of reasons we've decided to relocate but a primary one is that this area just doesn't support some of our goals in life.  In order for me to stay home with the kids,  invest in a Christian education for them, and live in a house that's comfortable for a family of five, something had to give.  Throw in weather, my mom (who will be relocating with us), and a few more factors, and it really made sense.  We will be sad to go but have peace about this next step.  It's something we've literally dreamed of since we moved here in 2003 so to see it actually happening is very exciting.  It's going to be a pretty big adjustment though and we'd appreciate your prayers for this new adventure.

I have three kids, all in different phases with varied needs, personalities, strengths, and weaknesses. They exhibit all of the normal behaviors for their ages-- attitude, bickering, not picking up after themselves, lack of self control, etc. Juggling that was starting to feel overwhelming so I decided to get more intentional in my parenting. When a close friend/mentor suggested Parenting on Purpose, I was all over it. While my kids have some of the best qualities (you can read about those here and here), I know we can do a better job training them to be respectful and responsible. Today I'm sharing what I liked about Parenting on Purpose and how it's helped our family. 

I've talked about money before. Though it's been a while, you're no stranger to real-life talk around here. This year I'd like to share more life, in addition to parties and home decor. The first topic on the docket: the first step to becoming debt free.

I should clarify that we are not truly debt free- we have a mortgage. However, we have zero consumer debt, school loan debt, car note debt, etc. And it feels good. We had 50K in school loans (YIKES) and paid mine off after taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace. But we slowed down when I quit my job (and then had a 2nd baby and then had a 3rd and then sent the first two babies to private school...). But now we're on track and I'm sharing my struggles (they're real) and some tips if you're on a similar journey. The first step to becoming debt-free was to stop overspending. Duh right?! I'm going to be vulnerable here so let's just declare this a judgment-free zone mkay?