March sure was a busy month for the Tennesons! We decided to put our house on the market and search for a new home closer into Madison City. While we were in the process of getting our house ready, the girls and I were unexpectedly in a car accident that knocked us down for about a week. Thankfully that’s all it took to get back to feeling [almost] normal and we were able to get back into a routine. Our families and friends were incredible during this time and we couldn’t be more thankful for their help and support!
The biggest thing that happened in March is that we SOLD our house and had an offer accepted on a new one! Everything is moving along as it should, and if it continues to do so, we will close on May 2! Our new home is a new construction that should be done within the next few weeks. We had not planned on doing a new construction home again, but this one absolutely caught our eye and stole our hearts. We can’t wait to get moved in, but we know we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, as April is lining up to be a super busy month as well.
Today I will share with you a bit of the past month. Even though it was very busy, I actually don’t have many pictures to show for it. It mostly consisted of 1) getting the house clean and in order to show, 2) laying around on the couch, recovering from a concussion, 3) making the most of the most perfect Spring Break weather anyone could ask for, and 4) going to softball practices and Raley’s Opening Day at the ballfield.
Spring Break was a little odd for us because we actually stayed at my parents’ house all week. They were on vacation in Italy, and we were dog sitting for them, but since our house was still on the market we figured it would be easiest to just pack up a couple suitcases and stay at their place for the week. This prevented us from having to load up the dogs and clean up every time we had a showing. Also, this is the house I grew up in, so it’s basically home away from home.
As I mentioned before, our Spring Break weather was absolutely perfect! It was high 50’s – low 60’s and sunny all week long (my dream weather!) We spent a few days just playing outside at the house. The girls love playing outside at Mimi and Papa’s house because they have much more toys and much more space to play. They have a swing set, plus we’re able to pull toys out into their driveway and they have a ton of space to run around and do their thing. We don’t have that at our house right now so we all tend to get bored quickly. I’m very excited that at our new house we will have a lot more room to play outside!
We always enjoy play dates when the girls are not in school. It gives them a chance to run off energy with their friends, and it gives me time to socialize with mine. We met my friend Maegan and her kids at the park one morning, and my friend April and her kids at the Botanical Garden another day. The garden has a really neat Chinese Lantern show going on right now, and the kids enjoyed looking at all of the different exhibits. They are lit up at night, which we would really like to go see sometime this spring!
We decided to make an impromptu trip to the Nashville Zoo and asked our good friends Maegan and Addison and their family to come with us. I think the fake animals at the garden, along with the perfect weather, gave me the urge to go to the zoo. The girls all had a great time together looking at animals and eating Dippin’ Dots. At one point the big girls (Raley and Ann-Elise) decided to ride together in one stroller and the little girls (Audrey and Ryleigh) rode together in the other, and their conversations are so stinkin’ cute! The things 5 year olds and 3 year olds talk about is hilarious.
I think the girls could have stood here and watched the flamingos all day. They were definitely putting on a show! They are so entertaining to watch – dunking their heads in the water, stretching their necks up as far as they’ll go, making noises as if they’re singing, stretching their legs out like an arabesque – I can see why they’re my girls’ favorites (and they’re becoming mine as well). Audrey is so excited to get a “fingino” bedroom in our new house. (Side note – I hope she calls them finginos forever.)
The other big thing that has happened in the past couple weeks is Raley’s first season of softball! They had their Opening Day this past Saturday, and that made for a busy, but fun day at the park. I’ll admit, I was dreading it a bit because it was going to be such a long day, but we actually had a great time! My sister came up from Prattville and stayed with us so that she could see Raley’s first games + she was a huge help with Audrey that day! Raley had to be at the field really early for pictures, so Kayla Beth took Audrey to the playground for a little bit while I stayed with Raley and made sure she got where she needed to go.
The entire league did a short parade through the park and onto one of the fields before the game, which seemed like a little much if you ask me, but I think the girls liked it. Then they had TWO games! Why 5 and 6 year olds played two games on opening day, I don’t know. By the end of it Raley was worn out, but I do think she had a good time, and is learning with each game she plays. I’m proud of how hard she tries out there!
Audrey is such a good little cheerleader for big sister! It’s the sweetest thing. “You can do it sister! Great job Raley!”
I think that sums up our past few weeks. I’m definitely looking forward to moving, but I’m not looking forward to all the things that come along with it, like getting utilities set up, packing, UNpacking, etc. I’m super excited to get in there and get everything organized and decorated how I want it. I’ve already got a vision for this house and I can’t wait to share it with you when it all comes together. It’s sort of ironic that I just decluttered and “KonMari’d” this house, got it organized and made a specific place for everything, and now we’re moving. The best part about that though, is that there is so much less stuff to pack and move! Plus I think I’ll be able to keep things organized when packing, which will make it easy to put into it’s place once we get into the new house. Maybe I’m a little too ambitious by thinking that will happen, but it could!
I need your thoughts on something – The way our new house is laid out, our TV is going to have to go above the fireplace. If your TV is above the fireplace, what did you do with your cable box, game console, etc? I do not want them just sitting on the mantel. There are two windows on either side of the fireplace that are set back in a little alcove (photo below). I thought about building window seats on each side. What do you think? Any other ideas that would be easier?
I hope you all have a great rest of the week!
Is it possible to make a little door on either side of the fireplace to hide the cable box, etc? Keeping all the wiring hidden. We have our cable box in a cabinet next to the fireplace and it doesn’t impede the remote use.
I thought about some sort of cabinet! The tricky part is keeping it from blocking the window and making sure the remotes will still work. I think we’ll be able to run our wires through the wall. It seems like they already have it set up to make it easy to do that, which is nice.