Finally!!!

Mom is home from Italy!

Yes: that is the Pope...he showed up in Venice on Mother's Day and she got swept along in the crowds and ended up in the front row. A Pope hasn't visited Venice in 21 years so this was quite the occasion!

We moved into our new house 2 days after she returned! The wonderful men in our family moved us lock, stock, and barrel. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to James, Mike, Tomo, Kent, and TJ. We quite literally couldn't have done it without you! And my sister rocked with helping me pack! Thank you! And Teagan...well she just brought joy to the experience...and helped put together my new (Ikea) bed while singing, "Can she build it?! Yes she can!!!"

And we~finally~ were able to celebrate the wonderful moms in our little family...my mother, sister, and sister-in-law are. We even hosted it at our new house! Amid some boxes but still homey! Dante has grown so big and Teagan is just enthralled with her little cousin. (OK, I'll admit it: we are all enthralled with him!!!) He, in turn, is fascinated by her and she has the ability to garner a big smile or a laugh from our little man (and from us!).

I just love my family!!!!

Traumatized???

So last week, I mentioned how much Teagan misses her Gramma. Yesterday morning she was asking for Gramma and Auntie M again, which was convenient since Tiff was coming over to help me pack for our big move.

Poor Teag, not only wasn't Gramma here, but the house is full of boxes which was unsettling to her, and (worse!) the sound of the tape gun scared her to death!

We didn't get as much done as we thought we would because Teagan was permanently attached the entire time to one of us~usually me. She had a grip on my pants like you wouldn't believe and hung on for dear life~even though I was also packing boxes! Tiff packed like a fiend while I went through paperwork and tried to distract Teagan. I would leave the room so Tiff could tape up more boxes but Teag would still hear it and start to cry. It was so sad.

Even my collection of seashells couldn't distract her from it all. Poor lil thing!

This was last time:

Such happiness.

This was yesterday:

Having trouble seeing those shells...they are right here:

Her other play things were pictures of the family (see there's Gramma & Kenyan from last 4th of July's White Trash Party), and my chronic pain awareness bracelette...some old shoes....a discarded stationary box. What could be more fun, I ask you?!

And today we are supposed to be at the new house, putting together furniture and hanging curtains...not good, since she has also recently discovered that she is terrified of the drill. Oh dear, oh dear!

Hangin' Out with Van

Had a fun weekend with "little" Van...only he is getting so tall! He is growing up so fast!

We took him to see our new house~he especially likes that the kids will have their own room. That night, at bedtime in our old house, he lamented the fact that he didn't have his own room here. But he very happily fell asleep on an air-mattress in Gramma's room.

 Checking out the new house

That night, Van treated us to a performance of strength and agility~bouncing around from couch-to-couch and fliipping around and doing karate chops, etc. 'Til he literally dropped over with exhaustion.

The next morning, I couldn't find him, and there he was, curled up on the couch, like a rubberband....

Van the Rubberband Man

It's been a while since we've spend one-on-one time with Van. What a treat!

Soooo....

...Mom & I bought a new house! We kept wondering if we're crazy, but have decided we aren't. It's brand new-never lived in-and the builder had just dropped the pricing...so: we bought it! The house overlooks the Snohomish valley with mountain views in the distance.

It's 4 bed, 2.5 bath, private office, formal dining room. The backyard is completed (unlike others in the development) with a finished patio and sod planted in the front and back. The yards aren't fenced, but we have the option of putting in a privacy fence and being the unsocial people that we are, we will probably do so.

The community has a park, which will be great for the kids when they come visit. While they will be giving up their beloved play closet that they have in this house, they are are gaining an entire play room, so I think they'll be ok with our decision!


We'll also have a dedicated guest room...hint, hint.

Teagan loves the house: mostly because it's empty and she can run and run and run.

This is the master bedroom & its sitting room

We sign papers mid-April and can start moving in then...Mom, however, will be in Italy mid-April through mid-May, so we'll do the big move in when she returns.

We are very excited about these upcoming changes and hope to have visitors soon!