A Beginning

It started when I went to an open house down the street in February of 2008. We weren't looking for a house at the time and that was my first open house. This whim was the beginning of an obsession. I loved the house and had Jack there within a half an hour. Continuing with the Play It Cool philosophy, we had the realtor come look at our house immediately after the open house. We discussed placing our house on the market very quickly, in time for the realtor to show our house during a week we were planning to be out of town. For a number of reasons, that plan fizzled and that house slipped away. But, the hunt was on. And the hunt only intensified when we found out I was pregnant at the end of May 2008. Six people would not fit in our current house and we had to find a new house that summer, I thought. I checked realtor.com daily - sometimes more than once - just in case something new came on the market in the ten minutes during which I was doing something else. I was obsessed. So much so that I decided I needed to "fast" realtor.com for the month of July 08. Meanwhile, we were viewing every possibility in town. Jack had consistently (and rightly) argued that we needed to buy a fixer-upper in order to take advantage of his business and his skill as a builder. Why buy a finished house when we could spend significantly less money and have Jack and his crew do the finishing? But, of course, the nice, finished houses, were infinitely more appealing to me than were the dumps. A couple of the houses we saw made me cry. "Jack, please don't make me live there!"

Somewhere along the line, we began to pay attention to a piece of land that our realtor had showed us early on in the process. We just had not originally been thinking of building, but that option was becoming more appealing as "The House" wasn't otherwise presenting itself. Last fall, we put in an offer on that land. The offer was accepted and we began drawing. We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at my in-law's house in Ohio. Much time was spent and much coffee was consumed with my father-in-law in front of the fire discussing ideas and drawing pictures. It was a wonderful setting in which to dream and sketch. The plans became more concrete as winter turned to spring. We closed on the land in July. Now, as the finishing touches are being worked out on the plans ("finishing touches" which will be tweaked and changed many times, I expect), we are hoping to break ground on our house in the coming weeks. After over a year and a half of perusing, planning and praying, it seems strange to call the imminent dig "A Beginning", but that is how it feels to me. Finally beginning to build the house which we hope to live in together forever.

My excitement is mixed with apprehension, however. I anticipate this being a tough year. Two years. Three? More? Jack's skill as a builder, his knowledge of building products and his crew will translate into significant financial savings for us. But, there is a price to pay for those savings. I've been mentally preparing for "single parenthood" as we plan for Jack to be spending a good deal of his time working at the new house. But, he and I will be working together toward a good goal. If the house turns out anything like the plans (HUGE compliments to my father-in-law for his brilliant work, by the way), the house will be stunning. Well, at least I think so. I am biased though.

So look for building updates soon! Let the adventure begin!

Brown-eyed girls

Seven months

At seven months, Lauren is scooching all around the house. Her three sibling make her very happy and excited. She just recently discovered Cheerios. "Sleeping through the night" isn't exactly how to describe her night time routine, but she's close. Sort of. She charms everyone with her big brown eyes and her toothless grin. Fun times!









Lauren actually fell asleep out in the swing.

Lauren loves her Mama

She REALLY loves me! Even Lauren's daddy can't hold a candle to me. It's good to be so loved. It's exhausting, but good.

Boston

Jack and I were feeling antsy last weekend. We wanted to get out of town. Where to go? At 6pm on Friday night, Jack said, "We could go to Boston." By 7:15 we were packed and on our way.

It was a great weekend. With all of our family living far away, we don't often travel to locations other than their houses and we hardly ever go anywhere "by-the-six-of-us". The opportunity to do those things was nice. We did the typical Boston touristy stuff: Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, the New England Aquarium (including the IMAX movie), street performers near Quincy Market, and a trip on the swan boats in the Public Garden made famous (or at least made familiar to us) by Robert McCloskey in Make Way for Ducklings. We did about as much as four kids age 8 and under could do in 40 hours in Boston. The kids were exhausted. And happy. The spontaneous sprint served to cure our wanderlust and to empty our travel budget. Now, with a sigh of contentment, we can begin fall and all that goes with it. School. Soccer. And, for this year, building a house. Just one question... Can anyone tell me where we pahked the cah? Was it on Chahles Street?



"Too much Boston!"





Boston was wicked hot last Saturday. We picked up real pepperoni, some funky Italian cheese and a baguette in a North end deli and ate it outside while the kids ran around in the fountains. It was sublime. Hot and sticky, but sublime.

Looking back

I was scrolling through the 8,000 pictures I have stored in iPhoto this evening and was struck by this one. This was Jakin's first Christmas play at our old church in December 2004. Almost five years ago. Jakin looks so young compared to the boy he is now. December 2004. We had two kids. Jack still worked for the Navigators and had few thoughts of ever doing anything else. Neither Jack nor I had gray hairs. Now here we are with four kids, a second post-Nav career change and more than one gray hair on each of our heads. Looking at the picture is confusing. It makes me feel old. Well, oldish. Many many MANY people with hair grayer than mine have clucked the familiar admonition at me, "Oh, enjoy this time with your young children! It goes so fast!" Time doesn't always feel like it's going fast when, for example, I'm in the middle of rinsing out puke-laden sheets at 4:30am (as I did just last night). But, I guess I have enough gray up there to acknowledge that all of those folks really do know what they are talking about. Five years ago! Are you kidding me? Just one more bit of whimsy while I'm at it... I really enjoy walking this road with Jack.

Wordless Wednesday