The Move Is On

Quickly, before class:

We closed on our house last Friday, in a series of transactions that involved four parties and three properties (we were party #3). Amazingly, all went smoothly. We got keys to our new place on Monday, and started moving some things in on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I have to proctor and help grade a huge calculus test Wednesday and Thursday, but then I don't have class on Friday, so we can do some more. Saturday our friend Justin comes at 8am with a big truck to move furniture and we spend our first night at the new house, Sunday we deal with loose ends, and Monday the buyers of our old house get possession. It's too bad we couldn't have done all this over the summer, but we're glad it happened at all.

We've already begun to meet our new neighbors, and they're all very nice. There's a pile of young kids on our street, too.

We'll get some pictures up of the new house sometime soon, although our digital camera is kicking the bucket on us.

Last night at dinner Abby said "I smell like I'm full."

Until later...

School and Stuff

It's September; it's time for school (except for Jake).

Ferris started first, before Labor Day, and things are going well. I'm applying for tenure this semester, and my committee already recommended me for it, so I should get it. It's mostly just a change in status at Ferris, as promotions aren't tied directly to tenure. It does mean that there are more committees I could serve on.

Millbrook started the day after Labor Day for Lisa and Annika, who is now a full-fledged full-time first grader. She's doing well. Abby started preschool the next day. She'll have two years of it, since she's only 3, and a young 3. We debated whether or not to start her, but the preschool teacher was all for it, since she's a girl (they handle this stuff better than boys) and since Millbrook is a very familiar place to her. She's actually the youngest in her class by 6 months, and almost certainly the youngest student at Millbrook. So far so good, though.

The hardest part so far is the commute for Lisa and the kids. Annika has to go to school every day, and thus has spent a couple nights a week at Grandma's house to lighten the driving for everyone, since Lisa and Abby only go Monday-Wednesday-Friday. Getting both girls up really early those days is tough - Abby is usually a disaster, although she's fine by the time school starts.

Of course, all of this will be remedied once we move! We're a week from closing and two weeks from moving in. It will lengthen my drive but certainly improve things for Lisa and the kids. Annika will even get to ride the bus, and she's excited about that.

We actually looked at our new house again today, as the sellers are selling much of the furniture that's currently in there. We bought a dresser, but mostly it was fun to see the house knowing that we'll be there soon. The couple selling the house was there, too, and it was fun to meet them - they're excited to be selling to another CRC Millbrook family, and it was good to get some inside info on the house, like where in the basement's drop ceiling the shutoffs for the underground sprinkling are hiding. We're only the third owners, after the first two owned it for 11 and 25 years (it was built in 1971).

That's where we are now! The packing has begun, the pool table's been somewhat disassembled, we've started changing addresses and calling utilities, and our riding lawnmower is for sale. Until next time...

Progress

Yay, we bought a house! Papers are signed, and inspections are starting. If nothing goofy happens, we should be moving the last weekend of September. More on that when we're actually in...

Otherwise, wedding season is finished for us. I can't possibly do justice to Greg and Katelyn's wedding in a few minutes, so I won't start. I'll just say that it was a really good time. Last weekend, though, we went to cousin Heidi's wedding, which had some of the best wedding food I've ever encountered. Annika danced until we left. The weirdest moment for me was being on the dance floor with my daughter, my aunt, and my mom while they were playing Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Jake went with too, of course, and in the span of his 5 month life, he attended 6 wedding showers and 3 actual weddings. That will probably not happen again.

Off to class!

Hunting Houses

But first - a couple days ago we hit the 1st anniversary of the purchase of our minivan. The same day, the odometer hit 18,000. Them's some crazy miles. We'd like to avoid doing that again, so...

We officially made an offer on a house today! We've already received a counter-offer, so negotiations are ongoing, but so far everything has been positive. I almost hesitate to write that, since we've had two houses the past couple weeks that we thought were going to be "the one", only to have them go down in flames (not literally). We're hopeful that the third time will be the charm and that we'll be moving by the end of September. We'll let you know, so you can help us move (bring boxes and any pool table levitation devices you may own).

Meanwhile, school starts for me tomorrow, and then Lisa and the girls start right after Labor Day. It's a busy and crazy time. And six days until college football!

Stories

Parenting Event 1:

Monday I was home with the girls and on the phone with someone from a potential mortgage company. Abby started wailing at one point, and I asked Annika to check on her. That went something like this:

"Abby, what's wrong?"

Pause, more crying.

Angrily: "Abby, what's WRONG?!!"

That didn't help. Eventually, I got her on my lap, still on the phone, and she started drawing letter A's on my paper. I continued talking, and then it happened: a disturbingly warm sensation in my lap. Now, if I'm on the phone with someone I know, I go into action immediately and try to do something, but I'm already embarrassed about dealing with a fussy kid while on the phone trying to have a serious financial conversation, so I don't, and - yes, indeed - Abby just pees all over both of us. I managed to finish the call a few minutes later, but had to endure the disgusting dampness for a few minutes. It was very, very gross.

Parenting Event 2, same day:

I'm in the basement while the girls are upstairs playing, and I come up to find them playing with water in the bathroom. That's mostly OK, but then I notice that Annika has my cellphone. I take it away from her with some words about how it's not a toy and water could ruin it, while she just looks guilty. That would have been the end of it, but she couldn't resist telling me "I was using it to take pictures." So, we check her photos - there's one of Abby washing her arms, and then one of the toilet in mid-flush. So, I ask "Did you flush the toilet just to take a picture of it?" Her answer: "No." Clicking to the next picture, taken immediately before the flush picture, and there it is: Annika's poop, with used toilet paper, in the bowl. That's number two for the day (get it?).

The same day, some cat yarfed in the basement, too.

On a non-bodily function note, Annika also used "air-quotes" while speaking that day too. I'd never seen that before.

Until the next one...

This Post Has Nothing To Do With Soybeans

A few more summer events...

Lisa and I had our 11th anniversary (so we've now been married half of Greg and Lizzy's lives) and actually managed to do dinner and a movie (with a stop in between to feed Jake). We saw the Bourne Ultimatum, which was excellent, and hit the Olive Garden. At this point, there's nothing more enjoyable than going out for dinner without kids.

Jake got his first ear infection, and we discovered his first allergy - after the doc prescribed Amoxicillin, Jake broke out in hives, so we ceased that medication immediately. Lisa's allergic, too, but neither of the girls are. So, we switched antibiotics and took care of it. Not soon after, though, Jake got what the doc described as some viral infection that made him break out all over. We thought it might be heat rash, since it's been so warm and he lays on his back so much. Obviously, the doc said otherwise, but it didn't prevent Lisa from going to Chicago with the kids and her mom, so I had three nights at home by myself (with three cats, and our friends' dog for one night). With the prime opportunity to watch some movies at appropriate volume levels without concern for sleeping children, I watched the entire Matrix trilogy. I almost went for The Lord of the Rings but opted for shorter movies.

Also, the online summer class I was teaching is over, so we have a week's worth of emptiness before Greg and Katelyn get married and then school starts to kick in. Lisa and the girls don't start until after Labor Day, though. Abby's going to start preschool, too, at the ripe age of 3 - she'll have two years of it that way, but she should do fine, for less than three hours, three days a week. Millbrook is already a very familiar place for her, too.

Meanwhile, there's been some . . . progress . . . made on selling our house, but I don't want to jinx anything so that's all I'll say.

Finally, some brilliant words of wisdom from the Matrix movies:

"Some things never change." Pause. "Some things do change."

Wow, what pure enlightenment. Let's blow something up!

Summer Swimmin'

Our summer has featured lots of swimming for our girls - at Long Lake, Rockford Middle School (swimming lessons), the Groenenbooms, Aunt Lizzy's apartment, Aunt Jen's apartment, a teaching colleague's house, and my Uncle Andy's house (I think that's all of them). Annika has turned into quite the little trout, and can almost swim without any flotation device. When she is wearing one, though, she doesn't have any inhibitions - she and I were trading cannonballs off the diving board at Uncle Andy's house the other night. Her diving board (jumping board?) repertoire also includes "the pencil", a full twist, and the "pencil with a twist" combination (degree of difficulty 2.1). Meanwhile, Kainan, age 7, was easily outdoing both of us with dives, flips and twists in every direction.

Following Katelyn's shower at Uncle Andy's a few weeks back, Jake even got into the action, floating (literally) quite happily in the hot tub (at a warm, but not hot, temperature).

Also, our house continues to ride the real estate market. While we had nearly two months of no action at all, in the last few weeks we've had a number of people look at it , we had an open house, and one semi-interested party has asked some questions. We haven't seen any offers yet, though, and the start of school is on the horizon. We'll see...