making a list (or fifty) and checking off two

It has been a frenzied week and I have some wonderful things to share. I was going to say that our days have been so frenzied, I haven't had time to catch my breath, which is definitely what it feels like, but I am sitting here blogging. So it can't be that nutty, right?

We got a call from LMH in Norfolk last Friday and they have a home for us! Yay! It was my husband's first choice, my 2nd or 3rd or 4th. It is very, VERY small. But it feeds a wonderful school (the best of all of our options), is less than a half mile to my husband's squadron (which means saving $$ on gas, zero commute time, and frequent lunch dates), and is safely inside the gates of the base. Also, there are only 10 homes, all of which are historic brick town homes. The insides have been renovated- granite/stainless steel, ceiling fans, new carpet- but you cannot change anything in order to preserve the original condition. So that's neat. There is a little park at the end of our block (and since there are only 10 town homes, it is a small block and a not busy park). The homes rest under the canopy of beautiful old trees and are backed by a fence and a river. The location is removed from so much of the base busyness and it's a quiet little spot. All things that make me happy. But it's a shoebox. A cute one, but still a shoebox. So we are downsizing.

We have been going through things like crazy, making garage sale piles, goodwill piles, and trash piles. Jeremiah has painted 90% of our walls back to white. BLAH!!! He agreed. I kept hearing him mumble how boring white was as he was rolling on coat after coat. We have been cleaning like crazy. We are listing our house for rent this week, so we need to get it super duper clean so it is ready for pictures and ready to show. If you want to stop by, please do, and know this is what my house ALWAYS looks like.



I've made about fifty lists of things to be done. Christmas lists, project/craft lists, cleaning lists, moving lists. lists, lists, lists. The next month is going to be cuh-cuh-cuh-cuh-raZZZYYY!



I got accepted to grad school. I am going to start in January. Definitely going to be a challenge, but I tend to do best in these situations. Hoping that is still the case. So in January we will say goodbye to our friends and home in Jax, hello to our new home in Norfolk, hello to our kids new school, hello to grad school, and goodbye to my husband. wow. Typing that just made me hands start to sweat. I better go get a washcloth.

I'm back.

Okay, I need to go and cross something off the list before I have to pick the kids up from school. I still have to get presents for baby girl, one for Kaiti, and one for Jack. Tyler is done. And my husband's gift won't be purchased until I get my special paycheck. Does anyone have any great husband gift ideas by the way? He always tells me not get anything and refuses to give me ideas. I really want to get him an ocean fish in kayak, but they are around $600 and I don't have that to spend right now.

I'll leave you with a picture from our recent session with Mason Fotographie! Happy Tuesday friends.