Visiting Grandma's new house

Chris had to go to New York on a work trip - his first trip away from home without us since the twins were born. I was thinking of asking my mom to come down and help me for a day or two, but when I called, she had just moved to her new house the day before! I felt like I couldn't ask her to come down when she was in the midst of moving madness, so we decided to come up. I need lots of extra hands in my life, and despite the difficulty of packing up this crew and driving by myself with everyone, it was worth it. We got to see her new place, and I got at least a little bit more rest than I would have alone. The first night the babies were up on and off for three hours in the middle of the night so I was exhausted, and night two, Jane got out of the bed twice and couldn't climb back in so came and woke me up to put her back in the bed, in addition to the babies (only waking up once, though!)... This is just a season of little sleep, and if you know me, that does not sit well. I love my sleep!

First though, we did run by my old, empty house - the one I grew up in! These pictures are our living room, my bedroom, and then my sister's old bedroom that Eleanor tore the wallpaper off of during nap time when she was two!

The rest of our time we spent at the new house. We baked,

played with a few old toys (but new to the girls!),

and had to set some new boundaries. We heard something screeching on the floor and my mom ran upstairs to find Jane about to push or carry (we couldn't figure out which) this stool down the stairs. She found it in my mom's closet and wanted to bring it down so she could get crackers out of the pantry for a snack for Eleanor. There are lots of stairs - some of them steep! I have to keep my eyes open here!

Eleanor's favorite part of the house is this chair lift. It was installed for the previous owner's father who lived here and used it, but they left it in place and the girls love it!

Eric came out after work to visit.

And we did some lots of sitting around.

My favorite part though is the outside. There is a huge yard to run around and a wonderful porch to sit on.

Here's to making new memories in new places. I will surely miss my childhood home, but my mom was bound to move sooner or later. We are excited to see what this next chapter holds for her and to visit along the way.