My kind of town

We have officially moved to Port Washington, Wisconsin! I can't begin to explain how nice it is to be living in the same house as my husband and be together as a family. Unpacking has been a challenge with newborn twins and a 17 month old running around. Thankfully, we have had a lot of help from our families. I've also started my new role as a stay at home Mom (my thoughts on this require a separate post). We love our new town, we appreciate it so much after living in Memphis. Don't get me wrong, we learned to love Memphis but it definitely wasn't love at first sight and much of the reason we loved it was because of the relationships we had with people.

Below are just a few small things about Port that make a big difference...
-The streets are clean, the trash and littering in Memphis and the South in general drove me insane
-Wonderful schools, I checked all of their data before we even looked at homes in the area and the public schools here rank among the best in the state
-Businesses and people in general are friendly and considerate. In Memphis it was so hard to get a smile from a cashier let alone a please, thank you or have a nice day.
-Safety! I rarely hear police/ambulance sirens and the silence is music to my ears.
-People put carts away at stores. I can't tell you how many dents we have in our car due to the grocery store/Target parking lots in Memphis because people don't put carts away or just slam their door into your car.

I realize that Wisconsin isn't perfect and neither is Port Washington but it is so refreshing to be in such a clean and beautiful place! It feels so good to be back in this wonderful state.

Maritime Festival 

The harbor

Ruder family minus Sully who was being carried by Granddad

Watching Dad go for a morning swim.

The beach that's less than a mile from our house!

Somebody likes grilled cheese and tomato soup just as much as her Dad!

Auntie Pat with Everett

My Mom balancing Sofia and Everett

Our new routine is still being fine tuned but so far weekdays start with Tim taking Sofia for a run to Lake Park while I feed the boys. Tim makes her breakfast and gets her dressed for the day and then he gets ready for work. I usually walk all three kids to the park before Sofia's 11am nap. After her nap we eat lunch and take another long walk (which is quite a sight since I have to push two strollers). Then we usually have snack time and do arts and crafts or read books. One of my favorite times of the day is music time when I pick some random music and Sofia and I dance like there's no tomorrow. Of course our day is peppered with nursing/pumping and feeding the boys but I feed them on demand so we don't really schedule it out. For the past few weeks my Mom has been coming a few days a week to help out. It's been so helpful to have another adult on those days. This week it was even better because my Aunt Pat has been in town from Florida and has been coming with my Mom to help. The days when I'm by myself are good so far but are definitely long and I'm still adjusting to the whole SAHM role.