(Joshua on his first day of school)
Though my house is still very disorganized - I believe I have finally emerged from the sea of moving boxes and can actually sit down and write about our new life in Austin. I think all of the hassles of relocating are behind us... it is just the annoying stuff like having to go to the post office three times to get a key to the mailbox (they have cluster boxes here - not mailboxes), getting all of your utilites hooked up....I think we waited on three different days for Directtv to show up - they finally did at 6pm on a Saturday night...needless to say we are getting a few discounts off of our bill, plus just finding a new place for everything. Nothing major just a hassle - however I think we are now finding some normalcy in our days.
I am really liking our new community - Steiner Ranch, it is a master planned community like we experienced in Celebration. It doesn't have the cute small town architecture that Celebration did, but it does have some truly amazing hill country scenery and lake views - lots of natural beauty - something that reminds me of Kauai. Like we experienced in Celebration there are several pools and playgrounds that are either a short walk or drive to within Steiner Ranch. I am totally impressed with the newest pool in Steiner Ranch...between the splash pool, shade covered baby pool, lap pool, and amazing view - it feels like I'm at a Hyatt. I met two moms as I stood around with my jaw open in awe of the place and proudly introduced the fact that I was new in town and couldn't get over the amazing pool and view...turns out they were all new and thinking the same thing! The playgrounds are nice and lots of people bring their dogs so it has made my life easier in the fact that I can now just walk Nala to the playground instead of taking her on a walk and then walking to the playground.
We are starting to meet people and get a lay of the land. People are very friendly and there are lots of moms around so I'm sure things will fall into place. Joshua is loving preschool and would like to go everyday....currently he is there 3 days a week from 8:30 - 2:30pm. The most amazing thing is that he actually participates in the naptime at school...this kid has not napped since right around the time that Noah was born!! We told the teacher that he probably wouldn't nap and he would part of the non-nappers since he is in a mixed age class....then he proudly told me he had napped on the first day! As much as I enjoyed having him home full time him going to school has been beneficial to both of us - he's just one of these kids that really enjoys learning and having his independence and I'm really thankful for the 6 hours a week I now have to actually get something accomplished since Noah naps form noon - 2pm.
As much as we are enjoying exploring our new community, the downside is I'm not really digging our rental home. Yes I know "its just a rental" - but really I wanted to find a rental home that we could stay in for a year or two. I just didn't want to have to move again...even if it was a mile away! However I'll be lucky if I make it the year in this house. The home is only two years old and it is bigger than our Florida house so it has some positives....it is just really basic and lacks any personality to it. There are so many amazing and cute homes in the area and unfortunately this isn't one of them. It is not very inviting on the outside...I don't pull in the driveway and go "ahh...I'm home". However "its the people not the house right?" and we will make it work. Poor Mark he had the task of securing us a rental...and somehow I knew based on my history of generally returning most of his major purchases for me - that maybe him picking out our house was not the best idea. However I give him credit - he got Joshua into a great school and he chose a really awesome community. We'll just have to work on the house bit. 
Here are some pictures of the pool - they aren't the best pictures but they showcase the view a little bit.
