Onwards and Upwards

The kids are doing great. Me? I keep waving at strange people who I think are our neighbors. I have this card in a frame (which I can't find, but is in some box) that says 'This way ahead, looking back is no longer an option." Still it seems to be I am the one who is slow to adjust.

We have met two families in the neighborhood. One directly across the street with an adopted daughter a year older than Annie. The other kiddy corner with an adopted son from Guatemala who is three. It made explaining E-man very easy. He asked the one woman for a drink of her water before even saying hello. He almost tackled the other little boy playing soccer. But both families seem very nice and I can't believe there are three of us with adoption stories in one block.

We are moved in, somewhat unpacked and loving our house. The move in went a lot smoother than the move out. We got three random guys who were strong and quick. It was raining but everything was unloaded and in our house in under two hours.
My Dad couldn't wait to mow the lawn and E-man followed him around with an empty fertilizer thingy. (that is an official word)
The toilet overflowed on the second day and instead of saying 'pee in the yard' or 'go to the neighbors' I said use the bathroom downstairs. We have TWO bathrooms, we are living large. The house is awesome, perfect for us, way out of our price range if we wanted to buy it. (if that was even an option). I said to Scott I thought you were going to get us in an area we could afford and he said, yes, but I thought the commute from Iowa would be too far. I get it...big city...big price tags.

The neighborhood is beautiful with lots of trees and extremely hilly. It is very humid here, which I knew it would be but you forget what that means. E-man has his own room which is working out remarkably well and the girls are sharing but loving have their own pink space. Scott and I have a room where all our bedroom furniture fits. It's unbelievable, no one has to put a dresser in the basement.

Yesterday we went to a lake in my sister's neighborhood, enough of the unpacking, we all needed a fun break. We visited the elementary school which is K-6 and it seemed nice too. They have a Spanish Immersion program so they said they get a lot of kids from outside the neighborhood. We still are looking for a soccer league for E-man, a community pool, and we'll scout out the church tomorrow.