Project 365, Week 14

Well, if you haven't heard the news already, we closed on our house!  It feels like we are quite literally "the talk of the town", or at least our little section of it.  People are always excited to see one of these old homes go to a family who will take care of it, as opposed to a landlord who will allow it to become yet another party house in our college town.

We are thankful to have the whole process behind us.  Now we get down to the work of investing our sweat and hearts into yet another home renovation.

March 31

After our Easter brunch, we walked over to the new house (that didn't yet belong to us) and did the egg hunt and gave our family a tour.  

After the discouragement and frustration we'd been through, it was helpful to see how enthusiastic they were about the house and the property.

April 1
It was Easter Monday, so the girls had school off.  Since it was warmish we played at the park and got our first DQ of the season.

 It was also opening day...go Sox!

 Mrs. Claus unloaded the silverware.

 Once Daddy got home, we brought dinner over to the house and celebrated our closing!

April 2

Shaun's had most mornings off, so Aiden and I went over to meet him.  Aiden rode his tractor the whole way (which he took very seriously).  When we rounded the corner, it was strange to see our vehicle in the driveway.

We spent the morning hashing out our bedroom/bathroom layout.  

 Love this little guy so much...and I think he loves me, too.  He tells me about a dozen times a day, sometimes more:

Momma, did you know I love you?

You're the best momma ever!

 April 3
First practice for Little League....Z was quite excited!

 April 4
When you live and breathe The Passion as much as we have, it stays with you for a while.  Aiden (and often the others) act out scenes throughout the day.  Here I caught Aiden flogging Jesus, aka Flat Stanley.

 The good news is our new house is on a huge corner lot.  The bad news is our new house is on a huge corner lot.  :)

We've definitely signed up for more yard work than we've ever had before and, since no one has lived there since August, we started with fall cleanup.  Aiden is by far the hardest worker with the longest attention span.

April 5

2nd Grade was in charge of Mass.

Avery got a special reading part.  She was nervous to be up there all by herself, but she did great!

 Even though we are not Catholic, we've mostly "gone with the flow" of what they do at school.  I actually love the respect and reverence for God and for church they are being taught.

 I spied a cute little first grader.  :)

 Here's the whole lot of them,

 A couple of Avery's fans.

 April 6
I took on the prickers for the morning.  Somewhere in there is a big rock on the corner of our lot that the kids have claimed as their fortress....I'm trying to make it so they can get to it without being grabbed and scratched.

 I went in to check on the kids and they were having a blast playing hide-n-seek on four floors of empty house.  Apparently its better if you're not wearing shoes.

 The last two times we've moved we didn't have kids so what the neighbors were like was not a super important detail to us.  Now...its clearly a different story.

Three kids came cautiously into our yard and introduced themselves as our neighbors.  The girl was 9 and the two boys were 9 and 8.  The kids quickly partnered up and got down to the business of playing.

It was one of those moments I have fairly often...oh wow...I'm a MOM and I'm doing mom stuff like having the neighborhood kids over....am I seriously this old??  They seem like nice kids...its just going to keep me on my toes...and on my knees.  Since we have little girls, everyone is suspect and guilty until proven innocent, and even then not really.

Eventually the mom came over and we chatted easily.  She warned me that they are a very active family with lots of running kids around and that they have a large extended family whom they host often.

Praying its going to be a good fit.  Our houses are close enough that we could have a conversation from our respective front porches, though thankfully there is a beautifully mature hedgerow separating us.

And that was our week...how was yours?  Enjoy the wonderful springtime that is finally upon us!