Freebies

After we closed on the house and made the first visit as the owners, I was so happy to find all the neat things the previous owners left for us.

Besides some roses, these festive outdoor lights and a little wooden wishing well

more of the lights and some flower pots

a pretty stepping stone

a basket ball goal (well, I guess I wasn't surprised they left that). My dad pointed it out to Kilian, who shrugged and asked if he could go look for ants in the yard.

and finally, they left a really nice note welcoming us and telling us they hope that we enjoy the house as much as they did. I wish I would have thought of that. I could have made several families feel good, since we've moved out of so many houses lately.

This pretty much sums them up

Recent quotes heard around here:

Camille: ME BYSELF!! BIG GIRL!! - pushing me away so she can climb into the van without my help.

Lucy: Why do I always get hurt? - sobbing after running into a doorknob, then kicking the leg of a chair on her way to tell me about her head injury.

Kilian: You know those numbers that are smaller than zero?
Me: Yes, you mean negative numbers.
Kilian: Yeah - they are kind of zeroish. It's like they are on zero's team.

Since turning two

She's more resourceful

better at dressing herself
... kinda
a veteran of moving
and familiar with a 2 minute time-out

The beauty of an empty box

Ahhh - I love that sight. We haven't seen enough of them though. We are completely in the new house and completely out of the old one, but not unpacked. I think it is the last couple of loads - the awkward shaped things you know you don't even really need - that give moving a bad name.


Well I said I would post some pictures of the new house when I found my USB, and I did!

The front

The other side of the front door
The shelf space below...one of my favorite things in this house. Brad and I are going to fight over this. I want picture frames, lots of our better looking books, maybe some greenery, a clock, etc. He wants to squeeze about 200 theology books - many of which are old books with a library label on the spine (not stolen though), some missing a chunk of the spine, others with water damage etc. His very first load included books to claim these.
Don't get me wrong - I think his books are wonderful, but they are also wonderful on the cheapy fake wood bookshelves that fit in a bedroom...not the first thing you see when you walk in.My helper that day trying out the "bubbly tub".
Another favorite part - a 1/2 bath near the front of the house that I can let guests use without apologizing for pink and blue toothpaste globs everywhere. This texturing and painting had just been done over wallpaper.
and finally - wood floors. I've always wanted these!

The funny thing about the floors is that we don't have a rug or anything yet. All the couches, chairs, coffee table, etc, etc, are all on the carpet in the formal living (with whitish carpet) in the second picture. We also have not figured out what we can put on the feet of the furniture to protect the floor while we look for a rug, so if you visit us you either climb your way to a seat in the front room, or you stay on your feet and help me unpack!

Overlooked

I had a pretty complex spreadsheet going when we were looking at houses. I listed features from size of backyard, to amount of traffic, to kids' closet sizes, to condition of flooring, and on and on.

I somehow forgot to include a "distance to Sonic" column. Sheesh!! Will someone please open up a new one....fast? If not, then the cost of gas will make my occasional (perhaps even frequent) happy hour half-price beverage run not even worth the savings.

F.Y.I. I've found that the perfect way to order iced tea there is 1/2 sweet, 1/2 unsweet. It has to be less sugar than a vanilla Dr. Pepper.

PBS vs. The Commandments

Lucy really likes a good dose of Sesame Street once or twice a week, so we had it on this morning. Kilian was repulsed with this episode. He marched into my room, interrupted my packing and announced that it isn't not a good show for them to watch because they were "worshipping triangles". They were singing songs to them and everything.

More thoughts on moving

Well, I broke in the new house in typical "Lael" fashion. The kids and I took our first small load of essentials there this afternoon, and when it was time to go....of course....I couldn't find my keys anywhere. I was really impressed when I thought about how even I could lose keys in a 99.9% empty house. (still no cell phone).

Actually they were in the pocket on the back of the driver's seat in the minivan. I must have dropped them in there when I got Camille out of her carseat. Only about 10 minutes lost there.

Other notes:

• moving is also good because you kind of get a fresh start feeling. A 2nd chance at New Year's resolutions. New house resolutions?? Maybe I'll make a list while I feel so inspired. It just doesn't seem possible that I would ever let this wonderful laundry room floor become hidden under our mountains of dirty clothes.
• I also love how complete I feel when I find that one missing game piece, or puzzle piece, or little plastic triangle from the shape sorter, or Dora the Explorer shoe...you get the idea.
• finally, it is so neat to see the house at night for the first time. It looks really different from the daytime showing with the realtor. It's also even easier for me to visualize the Christmas tree.

How to pick a new house

According to Kilian, it all depends on the number of flowers around the house, and the neighboring houses. The more flowers, the better odds of catching butterflies, snails, and bugs in general. However, if some of the flowers around a house happen to be roses, with thorns, the house is out of the question. Lucy likes to hop in the bath tubs. Camille likes to find a cabinet to hide in. I personally spend a little time picturing where we will put the Christmas tree. Brad mostly thinks about how much traffic will be going by it.

So, of course the house Brad and I picked has rose bush in the backyard with few other flowers. Our realtor was worried that he'd have to buy Kilian some ice cream or something when we broke the news to him.

I guess I haven't mentioned that we are closing on a house today (it is so late now that it is already Wednesday). We've been packing up around here, and although it has kind of become our July routine - it's still very exciting!! This is our third July to move in a row. Our kids think this is normal behavior - but this move will only be 4.1 miles away.

I've found a few good things about moving this often:
1. We saved our boxes, so now I just go grab one, tape the bottom, read what I wrote in marker before and go pack that same thing in it. Not much thinking involved.
2. It is a good way to decide what should be donated, tossed, etc. It is easy to remember if we ever used any given item in this house over the last year.
3. It is the best way to motivate us to really clean out the refrigerator and pantry!!

We will be giving away all our boxes after this move, and having to think of other motivation to clean the fridge, though. We really, truly, positively intend to stay put now (really...you can believe us this time!)

My USB cord is missing yet again, so I'll post some pictures of the rosebush and other parts of the house when I find it.