A Long Time Coming

We're all moved in! It feels amazing. Now when Nate is working in the basement, he sometimes forgets that we're all upstairs instead of on the next block. That must have been what happened last night when he used the oscillating saw at 9:45 pm.

The move went super smooth thanks to lots of wonderful people: my dad and Uncle David, who were here bright and early Sunday morning with a truck and trailer; my mom and Marcia, who took various grandchild combinations many days and many nights; sister-in-law Georgia and soon-to-be-brother-in-law Pat, who hauled our stuff, hung closet rods, installed window latches and trim; cousins Anna and Matt, who hauled stuff, filled nail holes in trim, made kambucha and roasted veggies and hung shower curtains and painter's tape; brother-in-law Toney, who cleaned loads of trim, mowed our lawn, hauled boxes to the attic and entertained our kids; high school friend Brigid, who volunteered to haul our stuff and unpack book boxes so we could take the boxes back to the rental house and use them again. Thank you all! We couldn't have done it without you!

Nate is staying true to his commitment of "happy wife, happy life" and interspersing my do-to list with the things that are actually a high priority. For example, today he hung the spice rack and the knife racks, and yesterday he hung a closet rod in his closet, which are all things that do not need to be done ASAP, I know. Oh and the best surprise was when the pantry shelves got boosted to the top of the priority list on July 4th. Who needs fireworks when you can organize your pantry?

The missing shelf will be a butcher block countertop

The real to-do is fairly daunting, but when we're too tired to carry on, we just have to remember 2 or 12 months ago when things were a lot different than they are now. The next big projects include bathroom vanities, upper kitchen cabinets, back deck flooring and stairs, kitchen island and peninsula  butcher block counters, painting the upstairs doors white, touching up the upstairs trim (needs nail holes filled and top coat painted) and...what else? There must be more. Oh, the garage, landscaping, siding and driveway. These last two items are added for moral boosting (kind of like adding something to your to-do list that you've already done), because we've actually hired someone to do them both. The driveway will hopefully be done in a week or so and the siding will likely not be done until the fall.

Open shelving, giving an industrial look, until Nate builds the upper cabinets

So far, we love our new range

Louisa learned what "alphabetize" means today when she put the spices in the rack

Love that we can use the gate Nate built when Lou was 6 months old

Where all the teeth get brushed until Nate builds vanities for the upstairs bathrooms

The kids already love their play room. The sink box is a definite plus

The kids are sleeping as well as can be expected. The girls are happy to have their bunk bed back and Peter has been amazing me at his ability to sleep without a door on his bedroom (it's being painted). The attic, which will eventually be a great play space, is off limits because it doesn't have a banister yet. I thought Peter would be shaking the baby gate all day long, but he actually doesn't seem very interested in going up there.

I thought I would want to quit my job once we move in so that I could just stay home and organize, but I'm quickly learning how little I can get done with the kids (ehhem, Peter) around. My goal for this coming week is to get out and do things with the kids instead of staying home and pretending like I'm going to accomplish anything house related. It's been a long time coming, and I still need to be patient with the finishing details.