The new house. Well, the clean parts, anyway.

Word up, yo.  It's been a while.  In all honesty?  All the scrubbing, vacuuming, organizing and de-junking I've been doing daily has been taking its tole on me...and then when I get on my computer, I've only got the energy to read the stuff of others.  The gist of the last few weeks is this:  The kids love the new house.  In fact, Riley told me today that she feels like we've always been here.  That she's SO at "home" here.  Even more so than at the "old house" as it is now apparently referred to.  And Cole loves having his own room when he needs "time alone".  Which happens to be quite often.  This year and last, Cole received the "most sensitive student" award.  When he is sad, everyone knows.  The sad part is, he gets this from Jeff and from myself, so the kid is really screwed.  But, we are trying to go about this the right way:  which I think is, encouraging him to feel the way he needs to, but to sometimes let it blow over, and wait to be distraught in private.  I think this will help him in his day to day.  I can see him being a VERY easy target on the playground and hopefully, we can avoid as much excess pain as possible.  And Sydney?  Well, never has she been happier.  I mean, it was touch and go for a while...not a lot of sleep, and new surroundings and different smells and people and hours.  But now I think we are all just feeling really, as Riley says, "At home".  And Sydney goes out in the backyard and smells flowers, and swings, and jumps on the trampoline.  It's amazing having such a great yard.  Back and front.  It really sounds like I'm bragging.  And I'm trying not to, because that's not the way I want to tell you about it.  I just love it.  Jeff loves it.  Our house still needs a lot of work and we have the next few years cut out for us, but we really have so much to enjoy, too.  And the excess space?  Well, we've acclimated quite nicely.  Big thanks to Bob and Maida and Kory and Amy and Muff and Chris (Alphabetically).  And my mom and grandparents.  And my sister-in-law Gabby.  She's a whirlwind and an amazing cleaner.  You guys helped us so much, and I really appreciated it. Whether it was watching kids, or actual moving or cleaning, you saved me a lot of work and worry.  You all enabled me to go to bed at like, 2 am instead of NEVER.   So, without further ado, some pictures: (But you need to realize that my photo taking skills are nil.  And there are a lot more picture-worthy things as well, but I'm too tired to take some more.  And to appreciate the true grandeur, you need to come on over and check it out yourselves).  :)

The Kitchen

The Entryway/living room

The Master Bathroom

Part of Jeff and my closet

The family room

So, the kids rooms and the play room and their bathroom and the yard(s) and so on and so forth are still a bit rough, and I can't bring myself to post them yet.  But for right now, this is what you get.  Maybe I'll get more soon, but I'm feeling good that I finally got a post on my blog.  Maybe I'll start blogging more often again.  Who knows?