well, that was unexpected

Before we moved, as part of the sale, the previous owners told us that they had contracted to fix "the basement window issue." They told us how much they were paying for it, which was a lot, and we thought, "Wow, that's a lot to pay for a window! It must be something really special." And then we forgot all about it because there was a lot of other stuff going on.

So imagine my surprise when I came home from picking the boys up from school yesterday to find two Bobcats in the side yard. No people, just the Bobcats. But then a few minutes later, two giant trucks and a whole crew of workers showed up. Turns out the "window issue" wasn't the window itself, which had already been replaced, but the whole yard! It wasn't graded properly, and there was no drainage to speak of, so all the water was going against the foundation of the house and making its way through the weakest spot (the window). So the crew spent yesterday afternoon and all day today digging up the side yard, digging a trench and laying a drainage pipe all the way out to the pasture, and re-grading the whole thing so that water goes away from the house. Phew! Nothing like a major construction project to liven up the end of our first week here.

this kid

Despite having initially been the most reluctant member of our family, Henry has really gotten on board with the moving thing. He has worked SO HARD the past few days! We're really impressed. Yesterday morning, he spent a few hours with me and Avalon cleaning the old house and getting every last thing out of it. He found a rack of cassette tapes hiding in Mike's closet and got really excited because he thought they must be original Nintendo Entertainment System games (obviously he's never seen either of these things). 

For such a YouTube addict, it's been hard being without internet (*shakes fist in general direction of CenturyLink HQ*), so he's been happy to accompany me to the grocery store, where we could get coffee and take advantage of the free wifi so I could download work files and he could download ... videos about Minecraft, or whatever. Funny how much you don't realize you use internet until you have to go without. CenturyLink told me it would take a week for us to get a new modem that is compatible with our new service (*insert eye roll here*) but that night I woke up from a sound sleep, realized I could probably buy the modem on Amazon, and used my phone to do exactly that, with next-day delivery. So we're back in business, and I don't have to spend a week working from Grandpa's house. Which is a serious gift ... I love Gramps, but he loves listening to NPR at high volume all day long. (Note: I also love NPR, just not while I'm working.)

Henry has taken to the great outdoors (or our version of it) too. Mike showed him how to use the trimmer, so he's been clearing a path to the side door of the barn, through the overgrown pasture. Yes, we have a pasture AND a barn. We're still asking ourselves how this came to be.  

moving day!

Moving day is finally here! Things went relatively smoothly today, with the exception of a serious screw-up on the part of the phone company that meant I had to spend four hours (!!!) on the phone with them trying to straighten it out. Seriously, CenturyLink, get your act together.

Anyway, we had a surprisingly large crew come and help us today. My parents were both here, and all of my siblings. Bethany and Joe brought trailers over (one of them had been living in the garage at the old house for a week or so, and the boys and I had it all loaded up and ready to go). We weren't even expecting J, but he showed up mid-morning ready to help. Avalon did a ton of lifting and hefting, and Jack even pitched in to help with the blow molds. In the afternoon, Dylan and Cole came by and pitched in a few hours. The boys' favorite teacher, Mr. K, even came by once school was out and helped the boys put their beds together and get their rooms set up.

Everything was moved by early afternoon (though the last few loads just got stored in the garage for now), and the family went home to get some well-deserved rest, but then Lon came back later that evening and helped me set up all of our bedroom furniture, so we're all sleeping comfortably (and well!) tonight. There's still a lot to do, including going back and making sure the old house is cleaned out so we can turn over the keys, but we're moved in!

it's ours!

Closing was this afternoon, and now we are the proud and somewhat incredulous owners of a new house and five acres of land! Pinch us because we're not sure this is real. We went over to the new place just to look around after closing (and make sure the keys worked!), and my parents brought the boys over after school, along with surprise guest Gramps, who toured the place and declared it pretty great with one glaring exception: the tub in the master bathroom is surrounded by slick white tiles, and he rightly feels that it's a fall waiting to happen. We'll have to do something about that; I'll add it to the long, long list.

Anyway, here's a sneak peak of our pasture and front porch.

we're getting so close now!

The closer we get to moving day, the more chaotic things get around here. There are boxes everywhere, and my office looks like ... well, like this:

(picture with employee of the month for scale)

We can't even wait! T-minus seven days until closing...