Back in November of 2012 (like the olden days.) we started doing some work on this house. (Here’s the tour of the house when we bought it in April 2012.)

During the craziness that is remodeling, another Kia car rolled up and joined the party in our driveway.

The inside of our house mirrored the chaos on the outside and I kind of just hid in the corner while a crew was working, Oliver was puking and I was trying not to faint (low blood sugar …)

It was a special time. The laundry monster was screaming, too.

It was a hectic week – the one before Thanksgiving – and when I wasn’t making decisions about where my laundry room was going to be or what kind of trim I wanted; I was tending to a sick kid, often two of them, on little to no sleep and trying to keep my body working.

I didn’t really get to enjoy the car. It was pretty, that’s for sure. And fast. Aaron took it to work a few days and completely fell in love. He figured out how to get the bluetooth working and would call me just to see if I could hear him. Can you hear me now? (moves around in the car … repeats.) He’s adorable.

Thankfully, we made it through the basement remodel. The day after we finished painting – I hosted the Holiday Open House.

And the dust settled, I got sick – I think, I’m pretty sure. There was sickness all over the place for a while and maybe it was just exhaustion – but we moved furniture around and celebrated Christmas and made trips and trips and trips to the Goodwill drop-off zone. Video games were played, carpets were vacuumed, cookies made. We even went to Great Wolf Lodge somewhere in there. Days blur together, experiences stand out. And this house is becoming our home.

I ended 2012 in the bath at home, the kids were tucked in and Aaron was able to go to a Party with friends – but I needed to be alone. The end of a very difficult year for me (us), it just needed to hold my hand on the way out. I couldn’t dance and drink and forget how far I came for the night. I needed to stare it in the face, I needed to write my way past 2012. I needed to move on.

Changes are happening all over, still. We finished the basement (mostly) but just started the basement bathroom – when this project wraps the basement will be complete. But the frames we hang will change, the cars we drive will break and go fast or sit in our driveway, the dust will swirl endlessly. Until it stops.

And then we’ll sweep the floors and clear the cobwebs, fluff the towels and replace the soaps.

And it will all change again, anyway.

You can keep up with the changes via Instagram and Flickr.

(Huge thanks to Kia for lending me another amazing car for a week to try. Or for Aaron to try and me to drool over. That one trip to the store though, that was epic.)