our soon-to-be abode!

Phew! We found a house! After an excruciating, oh, seven or eight days, we didn't think it was possible, but on the seventh day, it was good!

In all seriousness, it felt like we looked forever and had exhausted all possibilities. Keep in mind that we've been perusing the internet and driving through subdivisions for about a year, now, keeping an eye on our price range and watching for just the right place to open up.

Things did not look good for a while. Needless to say, the price range of the market out here is quite different--higher--than Missouri. That took some adjustment, and then we had to let go of our desire for a ranch with a finished basement unless we wanted to raise our price about 200k more, which we didn't. So once we adjusted to both of those things, we were on our way, but anything we liked that fell into our price range was not in the right school district or something similar.

I can be relentless and obsessive, however, when it comes to something like this, and knowing the neighborhoods that we'd like to live in, I was just driving around constantly. It worked. This house was for sale by owner and did not show up on our realtor's listings, so I sent it to him. Thank goodness! We close on September 22nd.

So I stalk the place, driving by about three times a week, wondering at the possibilities and

imagining scenarios. How long will we be there? Who knows, but there's a great chance that both of our kids will leave for their first day of kindergarten from that very house. We have had the bikes in storage for a year, so hopefully they'll both learn how to ride their bikes there. We will go trick-or-treating this very fall in that lovely neighborhood, and for who knows how many more years?

Admittedly, I am personally quite excited to exit this apartment and have elbow room, to get back my stuff that's been in storage, and to feel like we can finally start living in Colorado, now that we've been here a year. But I'm most excited for my kids. Aidan, who remembers everything, forgot that she owns a bike. I guess it's just been that long since she's seen it. They will have a backyard to play in and tire in and about three times as much space to roam around inside than we have had for a year. Aidan can help me water flowers again, and Taylor can pretend to mow the yard with Daddy. When it gets cold, I can actually tell Aidan yes if she wants to go outside and play in the snow.

I'm not sure how much Aidan remembers of our last house in Missouri, but I know Taylor doesn't remember it at all. So I'm not really sure they actually get how cool it will be to have this house, though we keep telling them. For now, I'll just keep imagining the activities that will take place and the possibilities, but in one month, I'll be able to share them.