Here we are...

...in our first house! [not sure when I'll get around to taking pics of it, but picture a cute little yellow rambler with shutters and flower boxes and a porch bench. Okay, no flower boxes and porch bench yet, but that's how I envision it in my head].

Over the past couple of months I've been too happy/nervous/excited/tired to put words to our whole first time house hunting and buying experience, BUT it's finally all over with (who knew it was such a time consuming process?!), and here we are all moved in (not all un-packed, but all moved in...thanks a TON to my uhhhh-mazing family + movers, definitely recommend hiring movers!).

The home that we chose was move-in ready, is located in a very convenient location, plus has a fabulous fenced in yard with a totally awesome playset (aka "park" according to our kids), so life is good. Even though we only moved about 20 minutes away from our previous house, we're still finding there's a lot to learn about it, as well as how we live in it. This is why I'm in no rush whatsoever to pick out paint colors or make actual plans for any improvement projects. Even hanging pictures is sounding like a bit much for me right now. This is funny because prior to buying our first home (both my husband and I have been renting for the past 13 years!), I always imagined house hunting and decorating to be so much fun. You know, like it is on tv! Turns out it can also be hard, tiring, and stressful. Maybe my tune will change next season [spoiler alert: I know it will], but for now I'm happy to just relax for a bit even if that means living with some tacky wallpaper (did I mention our home was built in 1987? Pretty sure that was when wallpaper was at its height).

Another big reason why I don't want to even think about home renovating stuff is the time commitment. Our kids are where we're at right now. Plain and simple. And since free time is something we have so little of, we don't consider home stuff to be a priority over things like family outings, potty training, enjoying our baby, or any other real life stuff. That's not to say there won't be any DIY, decorating or renovating posts, I'm just assuring you they won't be the point of this blog {as if this blog has any point. Remember when I once did a taste tasting of Kettle chips for like an entire summer?}.

Speaking of real life, here's my latest story that happened to us just the other day....

After dropping off my oldest at preschool, I had a couple of quick errands to do with my younger two. First was to run to Kohls. G was doing a really good job of staying right by me but all of a sudden when I looked down, I noticed he was barefoot. Yep, in the middle of the store. I then looked a little further down the aisle and spotted his socks. I kept walking hoping his shoes would be somewhat near but no luck. I then asked G where his shoes were but all I got was a confused look on his face. Uh oh I thought- those were Nikes!!!We can't lose Nikes!!! I then kept looking all around him, and even back-tracked a bit, but they were no where to be found. I tried talking to G again...."Grant, you can't keep taking off your shoes. You need to wear shoes." He then runs off so I'm thinking- good, he remembers where he left them.No, he just came back with a pair of baby shoes that he was now trying to stuff his feet into. Oh, that Grant.

I then tell him once more that I need his help to find his shoes when just then a lady comes up and says "Excuse me, did you loose a pair of gray children's shoes?" "Yes!" I practically yelled while frantically looking around to see if and where she had them. "Oh, I just turned them into Customer Service" she said. "Oh, thanks" I replied. So much for running in and running out, I now had to go to the very back of the store (why are customer service desks located in the very back of the store?) and wait behind 2 other people so that I could fetch my shoe-less child's shoes (remember, they're Nikes). As I waited, I wondered if it would be okay for me to politely poke my head over the counter to simply request the shoes....after all, they are our shoes. But, instead I waited. For those of you who have shopped at the Kohls in Logan, you know how they conveniently have their toy section right next to their customer service area. So, to pass the time I okayed G to play with some of the toys for a bit. Well, I guess playing with toys that are all packaged up isn't much fun, and before I could stop him....you guessed it, G opened up the packaging (he's a quick one!) to one of their extremely over-priced toys. There goes -$13 on a stupid Spiderman + motorcycle toy that's only about 2" in size. Anyway- when we finally got to to the front of the line I told the lady that we'd come to claim that pair of children's Nikes. "Oh!" she exclaimed as she scanned judged us up and down. "I wondered what little boy was walking around without any shoes on!"After hearing that, it was all I could do to lift up my adorable son and plop him on the counter. I wanted her to get that we don't really care about shoes and neither should she. I then promptly put his shoes back on, told her thanks, and walked off. As we're leaving she calls out "Make sure you keep those shoes on!"

So glad we now have our own backyard where we can do whatever we'd like....

and where shoes are optional. 

Like I said before, life is good. ;)


p.s. I just hit 500 posts on this lil' ol blog o' mine! Crazy to think I've already been blogging for 4 whole years now. I'm still so thankful to have found such a fulfilling place to share my thoughts, learn so much from others, and reflect on life....year 5 here I come!