New House

For those of you who have been corresponding with me, we just finished moving into our new house and I finally have my internet connection set up. Thanks for your patience while I work my way through my inbox.

The children are so happy to be here! Today they met a little child at the playground (who was there with his uncle, a friend of mine from my childhood) and promptly said, come see our house, and they all walked down the street and my daughters gave Oliver the grand tour. It was totally spontaneous and unexpected. I was stunned. Becca just said, let's go, and off they ran together. (The adults came too, of course.) I had told my daughters that our new community would be full of little children -- and it is -- and they seem comfortable with this idea and excited to make new friends. Yesterday at the pool Natalie swam right up to a girl and said, hi, what's your name, how old are you, where do you live, and then began to play with her. Just like I taught her to. I'm so happy for my girls! We have the beach, the playground, the pool, the tennis courts, the Community House... more fun than a barrel of monkeys. Saturday night was the first night here for the children and we went to the Square Dance at the Comm House. SOOOOO much fun.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. I'm happy in this new house too, which you can always tell by how much I cook. I've been making pancakes from scratch, cooking up pots of beef and vegetable stew and dishes of cheesy cornbread, and roasting chicken (from our local CSA, my first local meat share). This doesn't sound like a lot but it actually is when you've only been in the house for a few days and just unpacked your pots and pans and plates and things. I was thinking I'd be doing convenience foods for a while until I got organized, but I'm feeling like I have the new routines down and we've achieved a semblance of order. Which is not to say that there aren't still plenty of boxes in the basement! And my bed hasn't come over from the old house yet. The girls all have their twin beds set up but I have my sleeping bag on the sofa in the living room.

The children and I began our new read aloud story last night, which is Misty of Chincoteague. Happy and cozy in our new home.