We've moved!  Believe it or not, the house went through. We are homeowners now!  (well, I guess we're renting from the bank, but that's a minor detail.)

We moved on the 29th of June, a wickedly hot/humid day.  9 People from church showed up to help (or make sure we were really going?) and the van was loaded in about 45 mins.  Nathan's boss came to our new house and helped us unload.  It was mostly John and Nathan and that took about 2 hours.  We then spent several days climbing over boxes and piles as most of our stuff made it's way to its new home.

Side note:  Clean freaks/ perfectionists like us should NEVER buy a house from someone who's philosophy seems to be "close enough."  And, if/when we move again (still waiting for the opportunity to go to NH), we are paying for a cleaning service to get the new house ready for us.  It was "broom clean" as it was supposed to be.  But, oh, yuck!  The kitchen took 3 days to scrub out.  And we just replaced the fridge, it was that bad.

Anyway, I digress...

A few surprises met us here.  Both bathroom sinks leaked from the cold water attachment underneath.  Two weeks of trying to fix it led to a slightly crazy husband, so I called a plumber who fixed it in an hour (it needed a new pipe and soldering).  Peace of mind, worth every penny.

A huge downpour led to an inch or so of water in part of the basement.  This "caused" mold on all the wood that had been put up to finish the basement.  So, Nathan spent a week un-finishing the basement.  Now we have piles and piles of lumber, which we can use for whatever we want.  Desks are first on the list.  Then a table for our giant goldfish, who needs to move off my kitchen counter.  Then... I don't know, but we can build it.  (The mold was mostly from condensation and on the cheap-o doors down there and the paperboard on the ceiling.  Our nice garbage men took them away.)

Almost all the molding in the house is wonky.  Some is big, some is small.  Some is dark, some is light.  Some is missing, some is held on with bubble gum.   A lot of it is cut short. It will all need to be redone. 

Please don't ask about the gutters.  Not now, anyway.  Maybe in a few weeks when I'm feeling a little emotionally stronger.

But we've had fun, too. 

The main floor has central a/c.  Need I say more?

The kids love to tell about the 4th of July, now known as "The Great Spending Spree."  It was the day we bought the lawn mower, the weed wacker, four lamps, a light fixture, a ceiling fan, 4 plants, a dehumidifier, two stand fans, a garden hose, a sprinkler, new cabinet handles (26), light bulbs, another broom, a mop head,... and I'm sure there's more. 

I let everyone pick out the material for their room's curtains.  Lil'Nathan and Mary both chose a mixed blue based on "Starry Night."  Joseph and Charlie chose a print that looks like water (and I had to go to 3 JoAnn's to get enough material for them!)  Nathan picked out a fun sewing print for the sewing/laundry room and a patriotic print for the study.  I just bought two queen sheets with an ivy print for our bedroom.  The dining room has a great fall/sunflower/pumpkin print, and there will be yellow and orange in the kitchen.  The upper bathroom has whales and sailboats, the downstairs bathroom will get Suzy's Zoo and turtles.

Do you really care?  Probably not, sorry.  But I'll post pictures when we're done (and the batteries are charged) and then you'll... no,  you probably still won't care.  Moving on...

Our new ward seems great.  The kids all have friends already.  And joy of joys, this ward has a wonderfully active Boy Scout troop.  In fact, tomorrow at 5:15am Lil'Nathan will be going to Scout camp.  He is packed, ready, a little nervous (I think), and waaaaay excited.  He has a buddy, a bag of cereal, a pocket knife, cash for mosquito netting, and a lot of plans.  Archery, anyone?

Yesterday we took a little break from sewing curtains, visiting Lowe's, and fixing things and went down to join some friends from our previous ward and did a mini-triathlon.  Though, maybe it wasn't so "mini" after all.  I swam the 1/2 mile (really, it took me 25 mins, back stroke all the way)  It really wasn't too bad while I was doing it, though I did come very, very close to fainting after I got out of the water.  (And I did throw up, but that made me feel better.)  When he knew I was not going to faint and could trust me with the baby (about 10 mins later) Nathan went for the bike ride.  11 miles.  The first loop he missed a turn, so it was more like 12miles. (He adjusted the seat on his bike and knew the way, so the 2nd loop was a piece of cake!)  Then he ran/jogged for the 5K.  (I walked/ jogged/ mostly walked about a 1.5 K with him.)  It was actually fun and we would love to do it again next year.

All the participants' kids played at the playground nearby.  Elisabeth made a new friend (a little girl who's been dying to get to hold her for a year now--yesterday Elisabeth finally consented).  Mary was one of the babysitters and had a 2 year old joined to her hip.  Joseph and Charlie just played with everyone until the food came out.  And lil'Nathan crashed with a friend of his and gashed open his eyebrow--much blood.  He may have needed stitches, but we butterfly band-aided him, and it seems okay.  He was pretty proud of his gory Frankenstein-looking injury today.

Elisabeth had a birthday at the beginning of July.  She had a lovely ice cream sandwich cake and she was delighted with it.  She kept kissing it before taking a bite.  Wish I had photos to share, but when we found the camera, all the batteries (and there were 8 with it!) were dead.  Sorry, just imagine a cute, cute baby with Pebbles Flintstone hair, kissing ice cream.  See, sweet, huh?

Two days later was lil'Nathan's 12th birthday.  He wanted marbled chocolate chip cheesecake with an Oreo crust.  So, he got it.  (Yummy!)  

And now it's bedtime.  I'll post again when I have pictures, then I won't have to "talk" so much.