I know we're halfway through September, but I still wanted to post these pictures from August. This post is extra special because this was our last month in Seattle. I didn't know it would be our last month in any of these pictures, but I am thankful for all of these wonderful memories. The kids and I are doing well in MN. We are really missing Joe, but thankful he's coming to visit Saturday- Wednesday. Mia is doing great at school and we are all so excited to pick her up every day. We are all totally over the 30 min drive to school, but are thankful that we'll be a little closer once we move into corporate housing on Friday.

The much anticipated Amazon Family Picnic actually happened on July 31st, but I wanted to include it.

This is such a fun, family friendly event that is fun for all.

The kids looked so cute in the Amazon hats that were handed out.

I will definitely miss our neighborhood Starbucks that we could walk to,

our neighborhood park that was always full of toys to play with,

and a backyard that was perfect for digging.

The annual parade and neighborhood festivities made our neighborhood in the city feel like a small town.

These are such sweet memories with such sweet friends.

In August we also had an Olympic themed play date that I decided to do at the last minute. 

Thankfully, a lot of friends were able to attend with only a weeks notice.

We had so much fun decorating flags,

competing in our own Olympic games,

and eating a yummy lunch.

This month also included swimming,

bike riding,

water play,

and walking/biking

to dinner.

We also snuck in a trip to the zoo and got to feed the birds.

Maxwell was obsessed with the tapirs

and everyone loved the carousel.

Cheers to a great month! 

Cheers to great friends! Cheers to Seattle!

to Minnesota. 

Here is the timeline of how this crazy life change came about!

The kids and I went to Colorado August 19-25 to visit our dear friends. We had an absolute blast and it was absolutely adorable to see all of our 9 kids together!

 While we were in CO, we found out that Joe got a job that would relocate us to MN. This was such exciting and overwhelming news. 

Moving to MN wasn't really on our radar for the near future but we both had a peace about moving to MN at some point in our lives. We thought this would be in 2+ years. The Lord had a different plan.

When Joe saw this job opportunity that would enable us to move back to MN, while still working for Amazon, it seemed too good to be true.

I didn't tell the kids while we were in Colorado because Joe wanted to be there when we told them the news. We did however decide to change our flights so we could go straight to MN to house hunt.

We spent August 25-29 in MN searching for a house. Joe met us there and we all flew back to Seattle together. Thankfully, my family watched the kids so we could plow through tons of homes and found several that we were interested in.

August 30-September 2 were our last few days in Seattle. We were able to say goodbye to a couple friends and had one last visit to our favorite park. The hard part was that we didn't know that these would be our last days in Seattle because we decided to head to MN the night before we left.

Since we signed a purchase agreement on a house, we were able to enroll Mia in Kindergarten. We knew we would have to embark on the 24+ drive (so I would have instant access to my van) in the near future, so we decided just to go for it so Mia could be there for the first day of school.

We left Seattle around 7pm on Friday, September 2 with the hope that the kids would sleep through the night. I was terrified, Naomi was sad, Mia was super excited, and Maxwell had no idea what he was getting himself into. Since movers will be packing up the house, I just had to pack everything that the kids and I would need for the next month. Joe drove out with us and flew back to Seattle on Wednesday, September 7.

Life on the road...

We spent one night in a hotel, which is pretty good for a 24hr + drive.

Most importantly, we made it to MN on Sunday, September 4, for our amazing little lady to attend the first day of school on Tuesday, September 6.

Mia's first day of kindergarten.

She did amazing and loved every part of her first day.

Afterwords, we celebrated with ice cream.

Naomi and Maxwell have been enjoying their time together while Mia is at school.

But, they LOVE picking her up and are so excited to play with her after-school.

Naomi and I have also started home school preschool, which is something that we planned on doing this year prior to the move (more about that later) and the kids and I are currently staying with my family until we move to corporate housing on September 16. We will be in corporate housing until we close on our house the second week of October. Joe will be coming back and forth between MN and WA until the movers come and pack up our house. It's been a complete whirlwind with a lot of ups and downs, but we are so excited for this next adventure.