Verbs

Hello to all! I thought I would take a quick break and update everyone on our progress. Things are going well here in the trenches. :) We are almost completely out of boxes and I am seeing a near end to the unpacking, dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing, sorting and arranging. We have all four bedrooms unpacked and the entire downstairs as well, except for the office. Tomorrow, Dan will be hauling, loading, unloading, hammering, and building all the storage and shelving in the garage and my mom and I will be stocking, organizing, shopping and painting a table. Meanwhile, Ellie will be climbing, running, whining, giggling, hiding, chasing, playing, and pleading to play at the park with all the kids. I hope soon to be shopping, decorating, socializing, relaxing and settling in. OK, so maybe not "soon" but sooner than later, I hope! I have no pictures of the house yet. Sorry. I haven't gotten to that box yet. :) But here are some pictures Philene took on her camera when we came over for dinner the other night. Poor Ellie. She is being so neglected by Dan and me right now because we are so crazy busy. Clearly, she isn't getting any love and attention. It must be miserable for her. Do you think she will be traumatized for life? Hmmmm. Somehow, I doubt it. :) Love to All, Ang

Calm Before the Storm

This was our last weekend in our Milton house. We are totally packed up (cooking is near impossible: we are down to a spork, a can opener, and three paper plates!) and really no longer feel "at home" here. Thank goodness the weather was AWESOME this weekend! We BBQ'd every night and spent most of our time outdoors. Saturday we went to the zoo and met up with our friends the Pine Family and then headed to Dan's parents' house for dinner. Then Sunday, I took Ellie to the farmer's market and park to play. Sunday evening we enjoyed a long visit and BBQ with our neighbors (at least for two more nights!) Steve and Jodi and their two little girls. I felt like this weekend was the last calm before the storm... relaxing and low key. Now we better get ready for a crazy summer! I am SO excited to move into our new house but we have a lot of ideas and plans to make it feel like home and I sometimes forget to be patient! :) Good thing Dan is here to remind me. Repeatedly. :) Some pics from our weekend:

Gabs and Ellie at the zoo

Dante says, "Hi Ellie!"

(I had to bribe Ellie with chocolate ice cream in order to get this picture!)

At the duck pond at Point Defiance Park

Mommy and Ellie show the ducks where to find the bread crumbs

A silly game of soccer/bowling/tag

To Do List

Good Ol' Fashioned Fun

What do you do when you've packed up your entire house and you still have a week to live in it? Well, let me tell you: it gets pretty darn silly. Ellie has converted empty boxes into forts, drawn pictures on all the butcher wrapping paper, and my favorite, invented a "Where's Ellie?" game with Dan. I could try to explain it but the video is so much better. See for yourself.

Milton to Buckley?

Clarification: Yes, our address is Buckley (I know, it sounds way worse than Milton) BUT it is not in the town of Buckley. It is actually on the border of Buckley and Bonney Lake so we are right near the heart of Bonney Lake. We are only 5 minutes or so from Lake Tapps. Yes, we have EVERY major store/gas station/Bank/restaurant etc right there. It just sounds WAY more in the boonies than it is. Although, we do drive past a couple horses and alpacas on the back road to our neighborhood. :) It only takes 20 minutes to get to our Milton house from our new house. It is really close. We are also in the White River School District which is AMAZING! That was one of the major reasons we loved our neighborhood. Ok, just wanted to clarify. Milton. Buckley. Got it.

SOLD!

Hooray! We sold our little house in Milton! As much as I love this home for all the meaningful memories we've made here...coming home from our honeymoon and unpacking our dishes, bringing Jaxie home, going into labor, bringing Ellie home, watching Ellie first smile, laugh, sit, crawl, walk down our long hallway, and have her first birthday...I am SO beyond excited for our new home! I can't believe we found such a perfect fit for us and for such great price! The best part was today when we went to the house and told Ellie it was officially ours. She ran all over the house screaming, laughing, rolling and just absorbing the freedom of all that space! The home is bank owned and vacant so we were able to get some good pictures. We are going to build a deck in back, put in a fence, add some character to the front of the house, and of course, paint. Otherwise, here it is!

22512 Ellie comes down the stairs carefully...don't worry Mema!

a partial view of the kitchen area View of family room from kitchen

Ellie in her playroom/loft

Is she a poser or what?

The happy couple in our new home

Papa Jerry checks things out

Ellie LOVES her new PINK trees!

The neighborhood park on the other side of our backyard

Another view of park (from our patio)

The backside of our house (we are building a deck where the patio is) Ellie signs the papers...just to make sure it's official!

Home Sweet Home! We can't wait! We move out on the 20th of this month (YIKES!) so we have already packed up most of our Milton house. Ellie loves to help me with the move...yeah right. She mostly likes to just sit on the boxes.

Well, that is all for now. It is late and I have more packing. I'll leave you with one more picture...Ellie on May Day (Happy Birthday Dan!) with her handmade May Day basket. Love to All!