The Move

The move went fairly well.  We got practically the entire house packed up, boxed up, and ready on time.  Practically a miracle as Scott was gone the 3 1/2 days before the move.  But somehow we got it all done.  We rented a budget truck and had somewhat of an adventure getting it into our driveway in Waltham.  We had massive help from family, friends, missionaries, and other ward members old and new who helped with the whole process of babysitting, loading, and unloading.  Thank you everyone!!!  We couldn't have done it without you!

Homeowners

Well, it's official.  We closed on our house yesterday, so we are now homeowners.  Or home borrowers as Scott likes to remind us. :)  It has been a exciting, yet very busy process!  Overall the boys have been hugely cooperative and were excellent through all of our meetings, house showings, etc.  Perhaps largely because our excellent realtor brought her husband along to all of the house showings to babysit so that we could see the homes.  Major bonus!

We were looking for a 3-4 bedroom house on a non-busy street, with good sized yard.  And I think we got it. :)  Certainly not perfect, but it is much bigger than we've had, and will be a great house to grow into.  Mostly we're excited to be building some equity instead of throwing away rent each month. The house is in Billerica, which is a little further outside of Boston than we live now.  More north.  But it's not too bad of a commute to Scott's job in Lexington, and was one of the places with some more "affordable" housing in the area.

Here is a picture from the front of the house. It is a split entry, with a walk out basement.  I'm not gonna lie, I have made fun of split level homes my whole life.  Hated them.  But it turns out they're fairly practical, and I think it will work well for us!  Pride swallowed.  We love it.  It was built in 1983, which is pretty much brand spankin new for Boston.  I can't tell you how many homes built in the 1800's come up when you search! 

These next few pictures were taken from the online listing, so the previous owners stuff, etc, is in them.  

We love the lot!  We are at the end of a dead end street, so it is very quiet.  The property is .91 acres, and there is plenty of  open space and trees around the perimeter.  Alan will tell you that his favorite thing about the "blue house" is the woods.

There is a big family room downstairs, in addition to a big bedroom, some storage, bathroom and laundry. 

And here is the kitchen.  It is huge!  Tons more cabinets than you can even see in this picture.  Definitely a  plus!

The upstairs has this living room area, three bedrooms, and a bath.  You can also walk out from the kitchen onto a beautiful deck that goes into the backyard.

This is Sonia, our wonderful real estate agent after the closing.  She is seriously one of the nicest people.  Always brings gifts for the boys, etc.  At the closing, the seller's agent asked how we knew each other, because we were obviously more than just agent and client.  Haha.  I just told her, no, Sonia is just way too nice. :)

We stopped by for a minute yesterday evening after the home was officially ours.  The first thing on our to buy list: baby gates. :)

Alan immediately found a baseball that was left behind.  And a mud puddle.  And he threw the baseball in the mud.

That was before he just started throwing mud.  All as we were unpacking a couple things.

Yup, I think he feels right at home.

And so do we.  

We're excited.  Ask us in a year.  We might have a different story.  Now we just have to pack.... :(

Art in Bloom

Last Monday  for Family Home Evening, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts to their Art in Bloom exhibit.  Admission was free that night, and in addition to the regular artwork they had floral arrangements inspired by different paintings scattered around the museum.  It was quite an adventure to find parking and then find the museum after we did find parking. :)  But despite the time and temperment setbacks, we still had a great time and the boys were pretty good, all things considered.

Here is the MFA.  We now know what it looks like, and where it is, and will hopefully be able to find it next time.  Poor Michael and Sarah waited forever for us to get there.

So this picture is kind of dark, but the size is still impressive.

Gilbert Stewart's unfinished painting of George Washington.  There were so many classic pictures in the American History section.

Keeping entertained...

Here is an example of the floral artwork.  It is kind of hard to see, but the colors of the flowers in this arrangement mirror the fruit bowl in the painting.  Some were more abstract, but I could see the inspiration for this one.

Looking at a snowy view of the common

This was another one that was easy to see the resemblance between the inspiration and the flowers.

We only got to see a fraction of the museum, and will have to go back on another free night to check out more.

But I thought would also include some pictures of a previous Family Home Evening, in which we had our own version of art in bloom...

James's first attempt at popcorning proved pretty successful.

Alan now loves taking pictures.  He took this picture all by himself.  Not bad, huh?  (Believe me, they weren't all this good.  We had plenty to choose from:)

In addition to camera man, he was a pretty determined artist this year.

And quite proud as well.

Perhaps it was not quite tasteful enough to make it in the MFA,

but it was a lot more tasty. :)

Moral: Have Family Home Evening.  It's great. :)