We're moving!

We're moving. It's official, we got the house and we're moving.

I'm psyched about the house and all the room we'll be gaining but I hate the idea of packing up what's here. I'm a pack rat in some ways. So it'll be more of a purging and packing scene. I have 4-5 weeks to take care of it all but that doesn't seem enough.

The house, here's the official description:

First Floor:

* Foyers - one for front door and one for side/back door

* Double Living Room with large wood stove, helps to take the edge of the gas heating costs.

* Dining Room with slate floor

* Kitchen has counter space for all your appliances and more, extremely long galley type kitchen.

* Office space located at front of the house with view of the street with high speed Internet access and extra phone hookups to enable second phone line for that in-home business.

* Downstairs bathroom is a MUST SEE!! It is as large as a normal sized bedroom!! A hot tub is located in an alcove in the bathroom.

* Laundry room off the kitchen with washer and dryer included.

Second Floor:

* Master Bedroom with built in drawers & cabinets and private bath

* 2 additional bedrooms

* Large sitting area (could also be used as a bedroom/or nursery)

House is over 100 years old and is a typical New England style home. Over sized 1 car garage and shed included; Some yard maintenance equipment is available in the garage. Fenced yard with additional back lot yard. Currently the exterior of the home is a little rough and needs a little cosmetic work, nothing major, just paint and general stuff. The house had an entire new roof installed December 2005 and new gas heating system installed September 2005.

I really like the ground level. The kitchen / dining space is huge and there is about 5x more cabinet and counter space than what we currently have. I have a dishwasher!!!!!! I also love the idea of the laundry room right off the kitchen ... no more yucky basement!

The main bathroom is off the kitchen and is huge! Not only does it have the typical bath/shower unit, sink and toilet; it has a fully functional four person hot tub in an alcove and a fully non-functional (at the moment) enclosed sauna.

The front living room will be specifically set up just as a daycare/playroom and the adjoining office will be my space. Yes I have my own space! A place for my sewing table, daycare supplies, etc, etc. The TV and furniture will be in the larger living room with the wood stove.

Oh, and Chuck has his own space, too. He's claimed the garage, LOL, big surprise.

The outside is nice, too, especially for being in the heart of the city. There is a fully fenced deck and yard right off the slider door in the kitchen. This section of the yard has great thick green grass, but no shade. We will be opening the fence to include the back half of the yard. There there is a great shade tree, but not the greatest grass. Its more typical of an area that has been played on, dug in, and rode all over by kiddos and all that comes with them. It needs some work but, hey I got kiddos, too, so that's where all the sandbox, bikes, truck ,etc. etc. etc. can go.

Upstairs is a little weird. The landing at the top of the stairs is the size of a nursery, complete with a small closet and a window that lets a lot of light in. Unfortunately it is not an enclosed space as all the bedrooms are off of it. The front bedroom is the one Chuck and I will take. We need the space, we have big furniture.

The middle room will be Charlie's (maybe Aydan's, too). It's about the same size as the one he has now but there is not very much light. It also has a full size wall mural of a wooded stream scene which I'm not fond of, although Charlie seemed to like it. I may try to see how hard it is to remove it or paint the room or, who knows, we'll see. The back bedroom (master bedroom) is nice and bright but with the eaves and the built in drawers I think it will just be a little to small for us. It has a private, but small, full bathroom. Hopefully we'll get Jenn to take that room for her and Tessa. Its plenty big enough for them.

The driveway is long, narrow, and sort of straight with a small incline. So, yes we still have a driveway with a hill, but nothing as obnoxious as what we have here in Hooksett. After this past winter here and the amount of snow we had, we're so happy that we'll have an easier driveway next year.

Well that's it for now. I need to start thinking (have to start somewhere) about how and where and with what to start the purge and pack fun.

Weekend update

Saturday ---
Its been a busy long-weekend, but a really good one. Saturday was spent relaxing at my sister-in-laws house. After the 2hr ride down there (of course Charlie didn't nap) we thought it might be a short visit due to Charlie getting cranky/tired. Boy were we wrong.

We arrived just before noon. Both of Chuck's sisters were there working on food prep and we joined right in. Charlie kept himself busy playing with the toys that are kept there for the other kids to play with. Somewhere around 1:00 our niece showed up with her almost 4 yr old son Ryan. Charlie loves playing with Ryan and even though we only get together every 4-6 weeks he talks about Ryan, and Kyra the other 4 yr old "cousin", all the time.

The day was spent BBQ'ing, and letting the boys play together. Later, closer to 5:00 Kira showed up withe her Dad and Ryan's Dad showed up, too. The grill was once again fired up and dinner was remarkably similar to dinner ;-) but just as tasty. After PJ's and good-bye kisses, we finally left MA around 9:00 pm for the long ride home. Charlie was great, especially for a young man who normally takes a 1 1/2-3 hr nap and didn't get any nap at all.

Of course on the ride home we needed to stop at the 24hr Walmart super center to pick up coffee, cream, milk and other breakfast needs because we were all out and at 7:00 am Aydan and Tessa were coming over because Jenn needed to work at 8:00.

Sunday ---
The kids arrived as expected, full of all kinds of energy and ready to play, and we here were exhausted from the busy day prior and not getting home until 11:45pm. After a breakfast of pancakes and sausages for all, we headed outside to play. Right around 8:15am, I had an appt show up for a prospective daycare family.

They, too, were full of all kinds of energy. She's a single mom of 4 boys ages 7, 6, 3 1/2, and 2 1/2. Just the younger 2 will be in my care fulltime. There will be occassional times ie. holidays, snow days, and vacations that I'll watch the older 2. So as I said, the family showed up at 8:15 ... hence the reason we were already outside ... and they all clambered out. Let's see, Tyler (7), Dylan (6) and Aydan played great although the unexpected surprise of "big kids" to play with got Aydan a little over excited at 1st but a few reminders and he was good to go. Austin (3) will be a handful but I think after a few weeks he'll settle in to a calmer groove. He definately has some developmental delays (speech and behavior) that need to be addressed. The Mom has already taken the 1st steps in that direction. She has set up a therapist that will be doing some evaluations on him. I can see that he'll be looking at a spec ed preschool for sure. Then there is Justin (2), and he's just a few months older than Charlie, with and much quieter disposition, too. When things got a little crazy at times, he sort of seperated himself from the others and watched quietly from a distance until things quieted down again ... very much like Charlie tends to do. I can see them becoming friends.

Mom seemed very interested in switching to here for daycare and on Monday night confirmed the plan.

Monday ---
Memorial Day was a peaceful day here. Only Tessa came while Jenn worked. We relaxed, food shopped, played outside and in the evening we built a campfire in the firepit and relaxed some more. It was a nice end to a busy weekend.