Putting Down Some (New) Roots

The thing with any kind of journal is that if you don't keep it up, it's daunting when you finally want to update. I'll keep this in mind so that it's not 3 months in between entries. We had a nice end of the summer, and then I don't know what happened after that. Everything has kind of been a bit of a blur since school began at the end of August. Sofia started full-time Kindergarten and Adelaide began preschool 3 days per week. We squeezed in a short trip over Labor Day weekend to Toronto and a trip with friends to Lake Chautauqua, NY. And we did our annual heart walk.

 

                                                                 Lake Chautauqua

 

                                           

 

 

                                                                         Toronto

 

    

                                                                     Lake Erie

                                                            hanging out around home

 

                  

                                                       Heart Walk 2014

 

 

         

 

I've been surprised at what an adjustment it has been sending Sofia off to school (packing lunches, keeping up on all the paperwork sent from school, getting up earlier to drive her to avoid an hour bus ride, still getting up with Evelyn overnight, usually twice!, and the nightly homework, dinner, bath routines).  It's been a change to our schedules, but the results have been great.  She seems to love school and it keeps her very busy.  I can't believe how much her writing and reading have improved in the 2 months she's been at school.  She is reading so many books on her own and I'm very impressed with her progress.  She loves recess and the playground. 

 

              

                                                Sofia's first day of Kindergarten      

 

  

                                                         Adelaide is soo excited for Sofia!

 



Adelaide is such a little sponge.  She wants to do everything that Sofia is doing, and she can!  She is excited to pick up Sofia's books she brings home from school and read them.  She is very excited with news about Sofia's school day - Mom, Sofia was on PURPRLE today! (the Kindergarten color coded behavior chart) or Marissa shared her snack with Sofia!   Everything is very exciting to Adelaide and she wishes she was old enough to join her big sister at Kindergarten.  She is in preschool 3 mornings per week.  And this big girl is going to turn 4 in 2 weeks!  This girl is going to have to be kept busy in school.  She is a whirlwind.

 

Adelaide's first day of preschool

 

Evelyn is growing.  She is just over 6 months old and she is at a very cute stage.  She is sitting up unassisted now, with an occasional flop backwards.  She is a little thing (long and lean - 15 lb. 14 oz at her 6 month check up), but with chunky thighs.  She is a very sweet baby and likes to observe what's going on.  And there is a lot going on.  She has taken a step backward with her bedtime routine and is getting up twice a night.  It's catching up with me and I'm ready for her to take a few steps forward and start sleeping through the night again. 

 

   

                                                          I love this Hazel-eyed girl!

 

 

 

              Her sisters love "playing" with her - yes, these are underwear on her head. 

 

 

 

Maybe things will improve when we get into our new house and she is in her own room in her real crib (right now in the rental she's still in our bedroom in a cradle, which I think is not ideal at this point).  Yes, our NEW HOUSE!  I'm so excited.  I feel like it's Christmas and I can't wait 3 weeks until we close on it.  After many months of searching and waiting and trying to be patient and not settling, we have found a nice house in a great neighborhood in our desired location.  Somewhere we will live for a long, long time.  We sold our house in June, have been renting an apartment since then, and are so excited to be in our own place again.

 

here it is!  our new house

 

After our months in the apartment, 2200 sq. ft, 4 bedrooms, plus a finished basement sounds like a dream!  Not to mention a few other things that I love - ground floor laundry room, private backyard, and a fireplace.  Now I'm in heaven.  It has some cosmetic updating to do, but I'm up for a challenge and some design updates.  We should be in right before Thanksgiving.  PERFECT!   We literally had been stalking the market for months and when this one came up late on a Friday, I quickly contacted our realtor to see it.  We saw in Saturday late afternoon and by the time we put in our offer at 6 pm there was already another one submitted.  Couldn't believe it.  So the seller's realtor came back to both of us and told us to put your best offers in.  It was hard to come up with an amount that you'd be ok losing the house to, but also if you bought it made you feel like you didn't overspend.  We still offered several thousand less than the asking price because that's what we were comfortable with and I thought for sure we wouldn't get it.  We added a little personalized note to the seller and when we found out the next day that they accepted our offer (even though it was lower than the other bid!), we couldn't believe it.  Neither could the realtors.  We don't know what the other offer was, but I think it couldn't have been too much less than the other one.  Sentiment only goes so far.  These were the original owners of the home and I think they must have liked our note and that it was going to owners that would really appreciate it.

 



On to packing and being settled by the holidays!

 



 

Just love this picture of these little feet