new house, new song

This picture makes me so happy. Happy for many reasons too... some of those reason include all of these beautiful children being so happy, all of them being healthy, and all of them being together. On top of that, they are together not just in any old place, but in our very own (well, rented) new house here in the USA - a good reason to be tickled pink if you ask me! That right there, is our fireplace in our living room! It was the end of June when we got our keys and made our first trip as a family to our new home. The kids hadn't seen it yet at all, so it was extra exciting to them. Although that's debatable, because I was SO excited to see their reactions to their new rooms and all this spaaaaace we were going to have.

So we unloaded our first car load of out stuff, and got to making this place our own! Sander had to go to work, and Elaine was sweet enough to take care of the kids so that mom could help Kate with little newborn Alyx... and so I got to have some very, very precious alone time unpacking and putting our home together. I had a blast, especially when I found out the kitchen featured a built-in stereo (didn't notice that the first time!) with a complimentary Frank Sinatra Christmas CD. Sometimes it just all comes together, you know?

a separate laundry room! HEAVEN!

 Upsides to this house: a bathroom on every level, gorgeous hardwood flooring on all the landings and in the kitchen/dining room, windows everywhere providing us with heaps of natural light, great big open living space, the carpet shows absolutely no dirt... we've been here for 3 weeks now and I still haven't vacuumed. Wait did I say that out loud? Anyway, on with the list: plenty of storage (2 car garage!), cute little window nook in the boys' bedroom, it's right smack next to some wonderful amenities such as the gym we are members of and a beautiful nature park with splash pad+playground, no huge yard to maintain but still a good size outside area, and, of course, the working fireplace. Downsides? Seriously, I'm having to dig deep here. Probably the fact that it's a rental. But that also has upsides, like when something breaks we just call it in and it gets fixed. Our A/C broke down the day we moved (during a 100F+ heatwave, that was awesome) and there was a guy on our doorstep to fix it within a few hours of us placing the call to the property manager.

I haven't taken pictures of the master bedroom or any of the downstairs yet, so that will come... but I think this gives you a good idea of the lovely space we now have to get back to normal life in. As a nice bonus we were able to buy a second car a week after we moved in, so I am now mobile and able to take the kids and myself out when we go stir crazy or have an errand to run. So far the 3 month summer doesn't feel too long and I am actually (huge surprise) enjoying having the kids home and not having to adhere to any strict rules or schedules just yet. We still have plenty of fun! 

Personally I have been having fun again almost every night with my Washburn, and so to conclude this post, here is the little song I recorded last night. Hope you enjoy!