I HATE to move...but LOVE that we're moving!

In just 2 short months, we have sold our house and are in the process of moving! It's hard to believe that our house sold that quickly...we thought that it would be at least spring before it sold. We are planning on closing this Friday and, hopefully, will be at least mostly moved out by then. Because we have nowhere else to go right now, we are moving into my sister's house until IT sells. I HATE to move! Especially with a 2 year old running all over the place!!
There's a small part of me that is sad, because we've lived in this house for over 6 years. I remember telling someone when we bought this house that it would be the last one. Reagan was about 1, so this is home to her. The boys barely remember living anywhere else and this is where Andrew came "home" from the hospital. This is the house where we literally "lost" my grandmama to alzheimers. A lot has changed since we moved into this house! We are active at Brookwood Church, which is an hour from where we are now and we have my grandmama's house. SO, we made the decision to move to Belton. Jeff will still be close to his job and we will be closer to church. God definately has confirmed this decision by allowing our house to sell so quickly. Houses just do not sell in 2 months in this day and time! Although I HATE to move and it IS a little sad; I Am excited about this new phase of our lives. I look forward to our children living where Jeff and I grew up. I look forward to re-connecting with "old" friends. I look forward to Reagan having some little girls to play with. I look forward to "fixing" grandmama's house. I look forward to "going home"! I LOVE that we're moving.

Update

Last weekend, we had our 20th (well 21st, but whose counting) high school reunion. We went up on Friday and camped at Sadler's Creek State Park on Hartwell Lake. That is a great place to camp! That night, we had a terrible storm come through...not fun being in a pop up during a storm, but we all survived. On Saturday, the weather was PERFECT. Everything went GREAT...we all had a good time catching up. It was so nice seeing everyone! We camped until Sunday and then came home. We hope to go back to Sadler's Creek again.
Our second week of school went well. It's still an adjustment, but the kids are enjoying it. K12 is an awsome curriculum! This Saturday, we are going to take the boys to Florida for the Gators game. We are excited about that. It will be a lot of fun! The following weekend, we are going to camp with Jeff's aunt and Uncle (and our adopted family) at Dreher Island. We are enjoying our camper sooooo much. It makes for great family time.
We've had several people look at our house. A couple came tonight...could be the ones! I'll be so glad when we get it sold. It's hard trying to keep a house ready for people to look at with 4 kids.
Check back for updates on house, Tebow, and camping! :)

Three Days...

3 days of school down...overall, going pretty well with the new curriculum/school!

3 days until the High School Reunion...excited about seeing old friends and catching up!

3 people...a couple and his sister came to look at our house tonight. They seemed very interested!

I am ONE exhausted mama with too much going on (like most mamas)! When the reunion is over and we get the house sold, hopefully things will settle down some...but I doubt it!

Happenings in the Neipp Home

On Friday, August 7th, Jeff and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. We dated four years before we were married, so it's been 20 years! WOW!! Now, here we are 4 kids later. We had a great time. Joshua and Ben went to spend the night with friends (thanks, Susan) and Jeff's mama came and stayed with Reagan and Andrew (thanks, Mimi). We went to Greenville and spent the night. It was a nice, QUIET, trip! August 8th would have been my grandmama's 90th birthday. I missed her so much that day and thought a lot about the special memories we were able to make with her last year. She was a very special person and will always be missed!

Next weekend (Aug. 22), we will be attending my high school reunion. I've done all of the planning (the joys of being Senior Class President), so I must admit that, although I'm excited to see people, part of me will be glad when it's over. We are going up to Sadler's Creek State Park in Anderson on Friday and spend the weekend. The reunion is at the Pavillion on the lake. I think that it is going to be a lot of fun. My kids are excited to meet my friends from high school.

Monday (Aug. 17), we begin our new school. We are going to try a SC Virtual Charter School this year. It will all be done online here at home. I'm a little nervous about this new venture, so stay tuned for details!

Camping

On Friday, we went up to Table Rock to camp (for the first time in our pop up). We were invited by some families from Brookwood. Jeff and the kids met two of the families on the family mission trip that they went on this summer. We were so excited that they invited us! There were 2 other families (for a total of 5) who we did not know. Between the 5 families, there were 16 children. What was amazing is that, out of that number, Reagan STILL did not have a little girl her age to play with. She did meet some other little girls from another campsite to play with, and they had fun together. We went hiking, swimming, and rock sliding, but mostly, we all just "hung out". It was so nice to be able to get to know these families better. They were all so welcoming to us and all of the kids played well together. Yet, just another reason to love Brookwood! I hope that this weekend was the start of some friendships that will last a long time.

It's TOO quiet

I never thought that I would say this, but my house has been TOO quiet this weekend! Joshua and Jeff have been camping and whitewater rafting with Boy Scouts. Reagan and Ben went camping at Oconee State Park with my daddy and Becky. Friday night, I got a babysitter and went out with some friends. We went to Chili's to eat and then to see The Proposal. It was SOOO good! Sandra Bullock is my favorite actress. I have loved every movie she has ever been in, even the one or two that have been viewed as "a flop". We had a great time! Yesterday was totally Andrew/mama time. We got up and went out to Emerald Farm. He saw the goats (or cows as he called them), fed the cat-sized catfish, played with Thomas, and rode the train. It was a beautiful morning to be outside. After lunch and a nap, we played in the yard, went to Wal-Mart (just to look), and then went to the park. Last night, I talked to two of my best friends from middle/high school. It was like we have never lost 20 years...it was nice! Our reunion is coming up in about 5 weeks. I have slowed down on the planning, but will pick it back up after next week, when I have all the money in. It's been a good weekend, but I'm ready (and I think Andrew is to) for everyone to come home. The bad thing is that we will wash and repack everything to head to Camp McCall in the morning! Hope the boys have fun next week.

Mama told me there would be days like this!

Do you ever have days where you feel like the best thing for you to do is to go home and get away from people?! Today has been one of those days for me. The kids and I got an early start today, because I had to run some errands AND we were going to get breakfast. It has been weeks since I last went to the grocery store because everyone has been coming and going to much. So, after breakfast we went to the grocery store (Wal Mart). We accomplished paying bills without any problem. THEN, came McDonald's! I ordered a breakfast "meal" that came with coffee and hashbrowns. When I told the girl what I wanted in my coffee, she huffed and said, "if you wanted coffee, you should have told me...I put you down for a coke". I felt like I was in the middle of Bonquiqui and she was telling me "Girl, you gettin a coke". Wasn't that HER job to ask would you like coffee or softdrink with that? Then, I asked for my receipt to which she says "I ALWAYS give a receipt"...to which I proceeded to pull everything out of my pockets and show her I had no receipt! Reagan's pancakes were literally as hard as rocks, so I thought GREAT, now I have to go back and deal with these people again. We got that straightened out and finally got out of McDonalds. THEN, we went to Wal Mart to get groceries and we went to get in line to pay. The girl says "she will take you down there". On my way "down there", the girl turns off her light and looks at me like, you fool, can't you see that my light is turned off. That left me to finding a new place in line! I thought to myself...it is TIME to go home! One more thing would have probably thrown me over the edge!! Why do people have to be so rude? On a good note, we now have food in the house again. It is all put away...I HATE putting groceries up! My house is clean (since we had a man come to look at it last night...YEAH). Tonight, when Jeff gets home, we are going to grill out and watch an outdoor movie (redneck style, of course). Hopefully, the end of the day will be better than the start!