Last-minute Prep

We leave in the morning for the airport. I have one huge suitcase packed with all of our clothes. It's probably more than 50 pounds, but who cares. Either way I pay more--for more weight, or another suitcase, which is just one more thing to have to handle. Anyway, I also have a small carry-on suitcase, a backpack, my purse, and the boys each have a backpack. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but thank God there are Targets in Florida!

Tonight during bath, Seth wanted to try out his goggles. I ran and got the camera because he looks so hilarious in them:

Can't wait for our trip to begin!

Entertaining

I'm a day late and a dollar short on wishing Ed a happy Father's Day on my blog, but hopefully, his actual Father's Day was at least a little pleasant and relaxing. He got to sleep in while I took the boys to Home Depot at 8:00 a.m. to get his gifts. (Nothing like waiting until the last minute! But Home Depot at 8:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning was SO worth it! Hardly any customers and employees offering assistance everywhere we turned!) We stopped and picked up bagels and lox for him on our way back, and then left him to enjoy his bagels, coffee, and newspaper on the back porch in peace while the boys and I had breakfast at a local diner with our neighbors. I think we ALL enjoyed the morning. And I hope that Ed knows how much we love him and appreciate him and that we think he is a hella awesome father! (In fact, Seth repeatedly tells me that Daddy is the best. Go figure!)

After our leisurely breakfast, it was time to get busy, as we hosted Ed's whole family for a cook-out on Sunday afternoon. There were 18 adults total, and we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had baked beans, potato salad, fruit salad, ceaser salad, and chips on the side. Everything turned out really well, even though I forgot cheese for the burgers and the watermelon that Ed's grandparents brought. Oops! Fortunately, the weather was okay--cloudy, but no rain, and comfortable enough to sit out on the back porch. Can't ask for much more than that!

On Saturday night, we also entertained. We had our good friends over for dinner and it was really nice to catch up with them. They have two daughters--one is William's age, and one is almost 18 months. They are both gorgeous and adorable and spending time with them gives me a teensy tiny twinge of wishing I had a little girl. But it's only teensy tiny. I think I'm a much better boy Mom. Although William, unfortunately, was not on his best behavior while they were visiting. He's been totally flipping his lid lately, so we're trying to get a handle on it. But sometimes you'll have that. It makes me feel doubly guilty about all the times I've flipped my lid, because of course the more he sees me fly off the handle like that, the more likely he is to fly off the handle. But I told him that we can both work together to not get so worked up and angry.

So basically, that was our weekend. On Thursday, the boys and I leave for Florida for a week of "relaxation." I'll get my girls' weekend while my sister and nieces take care of the boys. They are super excited about riding an airplane and seeing their cousins and visitng the beach. I'm super excited about girls' weekend and playing on the beach with the boys and spending time with my sister and brother in law and nieces. After a week, my mom will drive the boys and me to Charlotte, NC, to visit with her and my brother and Ed's sister and brother in law and the boys' cousins. Ed is meeting us there, we'll celebrate 4th of July there, and then we'll drive back to DC. I have a feeling I'm going to look forward to getting home! In the meantime, I have a lot of organizing to do before we leave. I'm hoping I'll get at least one more blog post in before I leave. And I'm hoping to blog a few times while we're gone. But if none of that happens, I'll see you when we get back!

The 'Hood

I know I've said it before, but we LOVE our neighborhood. I don't know that I can really call it a neighborhood when it's just a street, but it's so much more than I had even hoped for. Everyone is so friendly. And the fact that there are families with young children is icing on the cake. But what is really awesome is how quickly we've developed a relationship with the other families. Before we moved, I would hear people talking about how they hung out with their neighbors or had dinner with their neighbors and I would feel so wistful for that kind of relationship--for real friendships rather than polite acquaintances. I know that it's only been a few weeks, so I shouldn't make a lot of assumptions, but so far, I feel so comfortable with the other parents on our street.

The weather has been really nice, and just about every night when we get home, we've been hanging out with the other parents while the kids play and ride bikes. It definitely affects our routine in terms of when dinner gets served and when the boys get to bed. But the boys are expending so much energy in the evenings that they are sleeping better than ever before. And they LOVE it. Our next-door-neighbor is Charlie and he is 6 years old and he and William have become buddies. William adores him and Seth adores his older brother Jack, who is 9 years old. Tonight, after we finally got the boys inside and in bed, we heard a light tapping on the front door. Charlie and his brother were in the front yard in their pajamas catching fireflies and they wanted to see if William was awake. Since William was, in fact, awake, and Seth was too, I let them go outside for a few more minutes to watch the fireflies and the bats. William was SO excited.

Earlier in the evening, another neighbor and his son (also named William, age 3.5) came over and hung out on the patio. It was really nice talking to him while the kids played. I ended up serving them all dinner on the patio (the kids) and we didn't come inside until 8 p.m. But we were all having such a good time. I guess I didn't realize how much I've been craving this kind of social interaction. Even Ed--a true introvert--is enjoying the socializing. (Although the chaos of coming home and having 6 kids instantly want to come inside your house to play with your toys before you've even set foot inside your door can be a bit disconcerting.) Bascially, we are in our element, I think. And I'm so thankful that we chose THIS place. I have to give Ed the credit for holding out and biding his time. I was pretty put out at times during our whole search process, but in the end, he was right. Of course, when we put down our offer, we had no idea if ANY kids lived on the street. So we got lucky, for sure. For that, I am very grateful!

Awesome Summer Weekend

Our summer is off to an awesome start. We marked several things off our list this weekend--we made pudding pops, went to the pool, and explored two local parks/playgrounds and part of the W&OD trail. I was also very productive, managing to get laundry done, sweep, vacuum, mop a few floors, clean a bathroom. Ed got quite a bit done on our patio. (Progress to come on my Decorating Challenged blog!) And I even got to relax a little bit on the back porch. And I almost forgot--we had professional pictures taken of our family around the Capitol. I had purchased a Groupon last summer for an hour-long photo shoot, so I finally cashed it in. I'll get the proofs in about 6 weeks. Can't wait to see if he got any money shots!

The pool was tons of fun for the boys. I was having a dilemma about where to swim this summer. The local neighborhood pools are pretty pricey--several hundred bucks to join, and then several more hundred bucks for the summer. And on top of that, most of them have long waiting lists anyway. I got on two waiting lists, but in the meantime, since our weekends are always so packed, and we will be traveling some, I was trying to figure out how often we'd actually have a chance to go to the pool. There's a regional group of pools that charge daily, or you can buy a "bounce" pass for the summer and you can visit any of the pools whenever you want. I decided to hold off on the bounce pass this year, and just to pay the daily fee if/when we make it to the pool. Although I would love to be able to spend every weekend and every evening at the pool, it's just not practical for us. The advantage of joining a pool for the summer is that even if you just make it to the pool to swim for 45 minutes, you don't feel like you're wasting you money, unlike paying daily. When we pay to go the pool each time, I want to make each visit worth our while and stay as long as possible.

Anyway, we visited the regional pool near us and the boys had a blast. There was a wading pool and a separate pool that ranged from 2 feet to 3.5 feet (perfect for little swimmers), and then a full sized pool with lap lanes. They also had a big splash pad. It was fun, but crazy crowded. There's another regional pool near our old place that's similar, but it has a sand area that William LOVES, so I think we'll go there for our next pool outing. That pool didn't seem to be nearly as crowded, either. On days when I can manage to leave work a little earlier, we'll try some evening pool time at the closer regional pool.

Besides the pool, our other big venture was exploring two neighborhood playgrounds and part of the W&OD trail. William rode his bike and Seth rode his scooter. I pulled the wagon, knowing how quickly little legs get tired. I must say that venturing off of our quiet little street into the greater neighborhood was pretty stressful for me. First of all, the street that we have to cross to get to the neighborhood parks is crazy busy, and there's a light down the block, but even that intersection is a bit hairy. Once we crossed that street, we were in a really nice residential area, but the streets are a little bit hilly--enough that Seth would go careening down a hill, looking completely out of control. I was terrified that he would crash into a parked car, or a car would turn a corner and crash into him. It was definitely a challenge to navigate the streets and sidewalks with both of them, but I think they both ended up having a lot of fun. We found a creek that William really wanted to explore more. And we found two playgrounds--one with a sandbox. And the paved trail was fun for Seth to ride with his scooter. He didn't have to worry about cars as much. Although there were a ton of other bicyclists on the trail who often had to dodge Seth.

The trip back home turned into quite a workout for me. I ended up with both boys in the wagon, with Seth's scooter, and William's bike towed behind. (By sticking the front wheel in the caddy at the back of the wagon.) Remember the hills I mentioned? Yeah--that was fun. But really, it was fun. The whole weekend was awesome, and I realized for the umpteenth time how happy I am that we made this move. I love our house and our neighborhood, and I think that the beginning of summer is the PERFECT time to move!

Summer To-Do List

I've gotten started on our Summer to-do list. I can't believe that all of June and the first part of July is already accounted for. But that's the way it is. I'm keeping our list simple in the hopes that we can fit it all in. And I might be adding new things along the way. Yay for summer! (Although wow--it's HOT already. Yikes!)

1. Go to the pool as much as possible!
2. The boys learn to swim
3. Make pudding pops and homemade popsicles
4. Join library summer reading program
5. Go to the farmer's market as many Saturdays as possible
6. Explore the parks in our area
7. Explore the W&OD trail (maybe go bike riding)
8. Take the boys bowling
9. Go to the beach
10. Go to Great Wolf Lodge
11. Go to a minor league baseball game
12. Stay out late one Friday night to hear the Army band on the U.S. Capitol Lawn, or attend local concert in the park on Thursday night
13. Go canoeing
14. Plant some vegetables
15. Try making different flavors of homemade ice cream

The Home Tour

I finally downloaded my pictures of the new house, but I know that part of the reason I've been putting it off is because I'm not particularly happy with how things are arranged or with what we own, and I'm impatient to make things look better. But my problem is that I lack three things: time, money, and vision.

So, as we've all been reminding me (including me), I need to take things slow and just focus on little bits at a time. I also need to get Ed on board with what little vision I do have, but that's a whole 'nuther story. Anyway, I've started another blog to try to help me stay organized and to keep track of the changes we make. I won't promise that the blog will last long, or that I'll update it very often, but maybe it will help. I actually started it weeks ago, when we first bought the house, but I wasn't quite ready to go "public" (with all ten of you, lol) until now. Anyway, here's a tour of the house as is right now on Working It Out, with a running commentary on things I'd like to change. I plan to flesh all of that out on the other blog (called Decorating Challenged). I already made a master list of things I want to do and buy for the new house over there. But I think it will help if break it down room by room and get more specific. So look for that!
Back to the present.
When you walk in, you see this. (It's a terrible picture, but it's all I've got. If you go to the other blog, you can see the house the way it looked before we moved in.)

Looking the other way, you see this:

I bought the basket for shoes and the door mat a few days after we moved in. I looked for a bigger basket, but ultimately, I'd like to put a bench there, so that basket will do for now. We'll also upgrade the door mat when we find something we like. I can't tell if the stair runner is black or dark blue, so it's hard to figure out a color scheme! I'd also like to paint the wainscotting and trim white, and choose another color for the walls--maybe soft gray.

Anyway, moving on. The first door to the left is the study/guest room.

It's orange. We will definitely be painting it. Soon. The room also needs a rug and some side tables for the sofa. Here's the view looking towards the door. Note that Ed would like a new desk. That was the desk that he used as a kid!

Here's one more view of the room. Note the ginormous plantation shutters on the windows. I'll get a bit more into those in a moment. Also note the ugly couch that we would like to replace with a truly comfortable sofa bed, since this is the official guest room. Who knows when we'll be able to afford that!

So moving on. To the right of the front door as you walk in is the living room. The house has a living room and a family room, but we opted to use the family room as a playroom. So the living room is our TV-viewing area. The only problem is that it's small, and with the piano in the room, it's too small for our couch, entertainment center, and other seating. I'm definitely struggling with this. We will likely get rid of the entertainment center, which will save some room, but it still doesn't allow for a good configuration. I really want the couch to be across from the TV, not perpendicular to it. It's also a challenge because the path to the kitchen is through the living room and dining room, so I don't want to block the space all up with furniture. I'll go into more detail about my design dilemma and various options in my design blog. For now, here are pictures:

Looking from the front door into the living room:

The view from the dining room:

Another angle:

As you can see, I haven't even bothered to take down the previous owner's valences. As for the plantation shutters, I want to get rid of them. They're nice, but they're too big and they really block the windows. Plus, I can't open them up with the couch in that position. Other things I want for this room (other than to figure out a furniture arrangement) are a new rug, end tables for the sofa, light, simple curtains for the windows (simple panels with a decorative rod across the top), a potted floor plant of some kind, and I want to turn the coffee table into an upholstered ottoman. I've been thinking about a gray/yellowish-gold color scheme.

Moving on, to the dining room, view from the living room:

We moved the table over to one side of the room to leave a path to the kitchen, since this seems to be the route we take the most from the front door. (You can also go down the hall and into the playroom.) This also leaves some room on the other end of the room for the piano. I would like to move the piano there, but Ed is a bit resistant to the idea. Give me time! Here's where it would go:

I also forgot to mention that we decided to put our kitchen table in the dining room instead of the seating area in the kitchen for now because a) the set is a wee bit big for the kitchen space; and b) while the kids are young, their toy kitchen set fits in the space nicely, and it gives me some extra room to do laundry. So here's a picture of that part of the kitchen, looking in from the dining room:

And here's a shot of the laundry room and pantry, at that end of the kitchen. both closets have bi-fold doors.

Here's the kitchen looking the other way. Although I'd ultimately like to lighten up the color of the cabinets and walls, it's not a project I'll tackle any time soon. I would like to replace all the gold pulls for brushed nickel ones, though. I also plan to replace the blue scatter rug. I may use a second runner that matches the one on the left. Right now it's in the hallway, but it's really to short for that.

So now we get to the playroom. The only thing I want to do in there for now is to lose the plantation shutters and add some panels with curtain rods. I also need to decorate the mantel and put some more art on the walls. (Obviously, we need art everywhere!)

I look forward to eventually turning this into an actual family room.

Also on the first floor is a full bathroom:

It's a bit dark for my tastes, but it's kind of low on the priority list. Eventually I'd like to remove the wallpaper and lighten it up a bit.

There are two other spaces on the first floor that we adore--the front and back porches. We need to buy furniture for both. For now, we put the camping chairs on the back porch, and also put the boys' playhouse there. Here's a picture of the back porch the way the previous owners had it set up:

So much potential! We already love the porch, so I can't wait to really fix it up!

So that concludes the tour of the first floor. I'll have to come back for the second floor another time.

I know, I know

I desperately need to update my blog, but we've been so busy! And I had a cold last week that pretty much wiped me out. Excuses, excuses, I know. And I don't have any pictures today, either. But suffice it to say, we're getting settled. We spent more time with neighbors this weekend. On Friday night, our next-door neighbor Charlie came over for movie night. William was ecstatic. Charlie also came over on Sunday afternoon for a little while. On Sunday evening, our other neighbors (across the street and a few houses down) invited us over for dinner so we trooped over there with beer and wine and brownies and the boys had a blast. They have a 3.5-year-old boy and a 14-month-old girl (who is absolutely precious!), and we're all in a similar place in life so it was really fun to get together with them.

In the meantime, I'm not sure if I've mentioned the fact that my office is being renovated this summer, so we're packing up to move out of our space on Friday. We'll be in temporary space until after Labor Day. So no sooner had I unpacked all the boxes at home then I had to come into my office and pack everything up. Ugh. I'm soooo tired of looking at boxes!

So other than "settling in," there hasn't been a whole lot of new stuff going on at our house. I tried to install a corner tension rod shelf in our shower and it didn't go very well. Ed took a hack at it and got it in, but it's definitely not rigged the way it's supposed to be. This does not bode well for my grand DIY plans in the future. (I want to add decorative picture frame trim to the dining room walls, and I want to make an upholstered headboard for our bed, and I want to turn our coffee table into an upholstered ottoman.) Who am I kidding, though? When will I ever have the time for DIY projects? At this point, I don't know when we're going to do all the painting!

So for now, progress is slow, but I need to just stay focused and try to do little bits at a time. Ed is planning on painting when I take the boys to Florida at the end of the month. We're starting with William's room, Seth's room, and the study/guest room. Hopefully Ed will be able to do the boys' rooms while we're gone. But that means we have to pick out colors for them, and paint. So I need to get it together. Like I said, focus! I'll try to be better about my updates, too. Lots more to say about the boys, as always!

Unpacking . . . Unpacking . . . Unpacking . . .

Actually, we are COMPLETELY DONE unpacking. Can you believe it? It helped tremendously that Ed's parents kept the boys until Sunday afternoon. The move went really well and we are pretty much settled. Still lots of decorating and arranging to do, but that will come with time. For now we're just living with it for a while, and working on priorities.

As for the new house we LOVE it. For the most part, all of our stuff fits in the house. The playroom is a little cramped, and the living room needs some very creative thinking, as our piano takes up a huge chunk of space. But I'm loving my kitchen. And the bathrooms and closets are super roomy. (Too bad we can't fit the piano in one of those!) We're especially loving our porches, and I'm thinking that acquiring porch furniture might move to the top of our priority list.

As for our neighborhood, we REALLY LOVE it. Everyone has been so friendly. One neighbor brought us homemade chocolate chip cookies. Another neighbor brought sparkling cider. There are several families with young kids--mostly boys. The family next door has a six year old boy and a nine year old boy and a beautiful yellow lab. The six year old is a grade ahead of William and goes to William's school and will ride the bus with William. There's also a 4.5-year-old boy across the street, and a 2.5-year-old boy a few houses down. And there are two girls, ages 8 and 10--potential mothers' helpers. We spent Sunday late afternoon on the front steps talking to the grownups while all the kids played in the yards and in the street. Our street is a dead end so there isn't a lot of traffic and the people who live there are used to driving slow and watching out for the kids.

Our commute to work has been awesome, too. But I think that's because it's a holiday week and traffic is light. We'll see how it goes next week. But I'm pretty sure it won't be any longer than my old commute. And if it stays the way it's been so far this week, we're looking at 30 minutes door-to-door. And that's with two lanes closed on Constitution Avenue, which I drive down to get to Capitol Hill.

So that's how things are going. I have some pictures that I took during the move. But I'm tired and I think I'm coming down with a cold (which William and Seth have, too). So I'll try to do a pictures post tomorrow. My only disappointment so far is that despite the porches and fenced-in patio, the boys still insist that I come outside with them. I know that one day, they will not want me anywhere near them, so I should cherish this time. But oh-my-God-the-neediness-makes-me-want-to-tear-my-hair-out. Not to mention the fact that I HAVE STUFF TO DO! So as I'm working on making them a wee bit more independent, I just grit my teeth and remind myself (over and over and over) that they're not this little forever. It helps.