Time Flies

Oh where, oh where, did the summer go?

We spent a lot of the summer camping, riding dirt bikes, and settling into our new home.

And to send the season out with a bang, J and I took the boys on a SURPRISE! trip to Disney World.  Up until the very last minute we had them believing we were going on a week-long camping trip. Evan had never been on an airplane and A had only once, when he was 2. So the entire trip was a new experience for them. We had a fantastic time. Pics will be posted soon, after I get J to download them from his laptop.

The boys started school on Monday, the 23rd.  A is now a 5th grader, the tallest in his class: big surprise :), (but he is also the oldest).  E is in 1st grade, and is the tallest in his class too, but he is the youngest.  So far both boys really like their teachers. A made a friend right away, a boy named Blake that is in his class. It is a great relief that he is making new friends, that are his age, and he is happy.  E has a zillion new friends but still plays alone at recess, "Because I have fun all by myself Mom!".

On the home front we have lots of unfinished projects awaiting us, that were set aside so we could enjoy the warm weather. We have a fence to finish building, painting to wrap up, and then a whole list of to-do's. I don't really mind though, while the mounds of unpacked boxes and unfinished items can stress me out, I also take comfort in knowing that it is our house, and we can do what we want when we want. 

In two weeks Jeremy and I will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary. I am so lucky to be married to such a funny, intelligent man who is an incredible father and friend.

J will celebrate his 33rd birthday in September.

E will turn 6 towards the end of September.

And the beginning of October brings A's 11th birthday.

Autumn is my very favorite season.  The cooler weather, the gorgeous colors, the wonderful foods; I can't wait.

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful family and life.

All Done and Just Beginning

Its rather funny that I thought life would slow down and smooth out once we had everything moved to the new house. Last Wednesday we moved the last boxes out of our rental, had the carpets cleaned and handed over the keys. I breathed a big sigh of relief and thought "finally, we can get back to normal!".  HA! Who was I kidding? This may be the end of moving but it was just the beginning of settling in. 

The rental was empty but all that stuff was/is in mountainous piles of boxes in the house and the garage. No parking in the garage for me right now, there is barely room to walk in there. The lower level living area looked like a storage shed. Who knew we had this much stuff!

We spent the weekend trying to make a dent in the overwhelming task of sorting, putting away, getting rid of, and finding STUFF. 

• 8 totes of clothes the boys have outgrown? Really, this is ridiculous. By the time our boys are ready for kids, and if they happen to have a baby boy, these clothes will be outdated. Saving them for sentimental purposes is silly. So I've decided to go through them all, pare them down to my very favorites and use them to make a memory quilt. The rest are going to away.
• 10 boxes of books? While this number blows me away we won't be getting rid of any of them. We read, our kids read, Jeremy and I agree that books are worth keeping. 
• Good china and silverware that we got for our wedding and have used maybe once? Well, we are keeping it but we need to use it. My boss has a saying at his house that I think we need to adopt "Every day is a holiday and every day is your birthday".  There may not be a tomorrow so how very silly to not celebrate each day?

We purchased a beautiful new entertainment center this weekend. We needed a place to put all of our movies and stuff since we are getting rid of the old hand-me down book cases we were using before. And since this is OUR house, where we can stay forever if we like and don't ever have to move heavy furniture again if we don't feel like it, we decided we deserved some grown up stuff. We love it. It is nice to start making our house a home.  I will take more pictures soon and start posting before and afters.

I am aware that no one really reads this. But that is okay, because this is a great place to track and note and reflect. Someday, we will want to look back at these memories and in the mean time I enjoy the outlet for my thoughts and ideas.

Next up.... more boxes, a new fence, lots of weed pulling and come hell or high water, a camping trip.

A Quick Laugh

I know I haven't posted in forever, life has gotten the best of me. I have lots to say just no time to say it. But I thought I'd take a moment to add another E quip. Hopefully I can figure out how to add a spot in my blog to just run a log of the funny things he says.

We were eating dinner last night and had his elbow on the table and was talking with his mouth full. I said to him, "E, don't eat like that, please use your manners". He quickly replied, "Sorry mom, I can't, I left them at school".

A NEW PUPPY!

We celebrated Easter and the beginning of Spring by bringing a new four-legged member into our family.


We already have a great dog, Sidney. She is a 12 year old Australian Shepherd/Blue Heeler that J and I adopted from the Denver Dumb Friends League in December of 1998. She is a wonderful dog, well behaved and quiet.  However, being 12, she is getting older and slower. She doesn't like to play fetch as much and she is tired a lot.

We decided that with our new house we should have a new puppy. We have been looking online at different shelters and mulling over what kind of dog to adopt. We found a few that we fell in love with their pictures but the timing was never right. Then, last week, I stumbled across the website for LifeLine Puppy Rescue. There were 47 puppies up for adoption. J and I found 2 we were in love with. They looked smart and were adorable. The rescue center was only open on Saturdays and Sundays for adoptions.

We decided we would get up first thing Saturday morning and go pick a puppy. We didn't tell the boys, we wanted it to be a surprise.  We started out the morning by getting coffee/cocoa from Caribou Coffee. It was a great treat. Then we went to PetSmart to get a collar and leash for the surprise. The boys didn't catch on, they thought we were just getting new items for Sidney. Then we headed east. The boys thought we were immediately going to Grammy and Grandpa's because Uncle Jason and cousins Jerrick and Joshua were flying in from CA for a week. When we took an unfamiliar turn they were sitting in the backseat begging to know where we were going. When we arrived, there was a line of cars 15-20 cars long. I thought we were never going to get the puppy we wanted. Pretty soon the gates opened and the cars filed in. People parked and then got in line at a rope. When that rope dropped people were running to the kennels and as soon as they saw the one they wanted hands were waving in the air.

I got to the kennel of the puppy that was 1st on our list and raised my hand, I pointed her out to the boys and the man standing next to me very politely informed me he was there first and she was the one he wanted. I sadly conceded. And then in the next kennel I saw her, our #2 choice. A volunteer at the shelter came over and asked which one we wanted. She took the puppy out of the kennel and handed her to me and my heart melted. This was definitely our new family member. She didn't whine or cry or growl or try to jump. She just put her paws on my shoulders and looked at me. And then J held her and his heart melted to.

And the rest is history. She keeps us up at night because she doesn't care for her crate very much, but that is okay. She is a great dog. She loves the boys and she gets along with Sid just fine. She hasn't had any accidents in the house yet. She comes when we whistle. She loves to cuddle and she is so adorable.

Meet Lectra. A 10 week old Red Heeler Mix.  

I can't wait until Friday. When all 6 of us get to go to our new house and start our new life. A new puppy, a new house, a new beginning.

The Next Chapter in our Life

Apparently the moving bug has been the water in my family.  3 of the 4 sisters are in the process of purchasing a home within 90 days of each other.

J and I have been through this process before and we got in over our heads. So here we are, 9 years later, and we are starting over. After 5 years of renting and getting our finances under control we are ready to take the plunge again.

We only looked at 10 houses and #10 was THE House.


While we went into the house with a set criteria of wants and needs we found we had to compromise on a couple of points.

1. I said that I HAD to have a big beautiful bathtub in the master bathroom. Sadly, there isn't a bathtub in the master at all. In fact, it's just a plain jane shower stall with a shower curtain. But BONUS, it does have radiant heat under the slate floor. And there is room to remodel a bit and add a tub later.
2. We wanted a Great Room, with the kitchen, dining and family rooms all open to each other.  We got this, but it isn't huge. Its a modestly sized space, but we will make it work. We have a wood burning fireplace to keep it warm and cozy in the winter. And we have vaulted ceilings tall enough for my super duper huge Christmas Tree we have been moving around for 5 years without a place big enough to put it up (Thanks honey, I appreciate your cooperation and understanding). I am thinking of it as less space to clean and fewer places to accumulate junk.
3. 3 bedrooms was a MUST. The boys are far enough apart in age that need their own rooms. We got 3 bedrooms, but they are not luxurious or huge, Evan's room doesn't even has doors on the closet. But I have plans to make them cozy and fun and functional. Again, I'm going with the mentality that its less to keep clean and less room for junk
4. We really wanted a basement. We wanted storage and room to expand. Our new house has a garden level basement but it is going to be the Master Retreat as the boys' rooms are are the main floor. This is definitely not what I had in mind for our room but the idea is growing on me. And another BONUS, the house comes with a sauna :)

 I find myself a little surprised at the home we chose. It is on a busier street than I had originally wanted, it is older than I thought I wanted, its smaller than I what I had planned on, yet I LOVE it. I can't wait to paint the walls and put new flooring in and make curtains and plant flowers and bushes and meet our new neighbors. I find myself dreaming about arranging the furniture and bbq's in the summer on our 3-tier deck. We are talking about adding a new puppy to our family and I can't wait.  No more worrying about when a lease expires. No more living with someone else's design choices. We have a place our children can call home until they graduate from high school. We can paint the walls whatever colors they want and they can choose their own curtains.I am so happy to turn the page and begin this new chapter of our lives.

Life is Good.