Our house and Chris's car are both on the market now, Sara Lee pays for a car and all of the gas now (wahoo!) so we are getting rid of his Pontiac.
I am a little sad to put the house up for sale, just as we were starting to feel at home, but I am excited for new adventures in Minnesota too.
We have the house listed for $279,900, but the realtor doesn't think we will get that much. It is a four bed two bath rambler (they call it a "ranch" in Iowa), 5 years old, on over a half acre, with about 4,000 square feet total but the basement is unfinished. It has been a good home, we have been blessed. I would love to find something similar in Duluth. Hopefully it will sell, even though we have a buyout it would be nice not to have to use it. I took some photos on a rare day when it was all clean so the realtor could put them on the internet, so here are a few...
We will miss this place, lots of memories.
Solei is just as upset about leaving Iowa as she was leaving Utah a few years ago, poor kid. She has determined that by leaving messes around the house, nobody will buy it, but what she doesn't realize is that it makes me want to leave sooner because I am getting tired of cleaning up after her! :)
Sierra seems to be handling the idea of moving better but I know she will miss Shanna, they are always solving mysteries and telling me fantastic stories which they insist are absolutely true ("Really mom, it was on the internet!")
Caden seems excited to move, he didn't like his teacher much this last year and the schools here only have one recess (lunch), so hopefully things will be better suited for his active personality in Minnesota.
The other two kids don't understand what is going on yet. We'll see how they do.
Chris is enjoying his new job and really likes Duluth too. He wasn't there much this week in all his travels, he did go to Fargo though. I have been thinking lately how blessed we are to have him for a husband and father, he works so hard to provide us with a good life and has done so well. I am really proud of him and he makes me want to be a better woman too.
Yesterday was busy and fun, Chris mowed the lawn while I made banana bread and took it to the neighbors, then he took the kids to the church to clean there while I cleaned up at home. They stopped for ice cream on the way home and then later he took them to the driving range to teach them to golf. The kids were really enjoying time with him again.
That evening Chris and I both went rollerblading on the river trail for our date night. Right as we were coming down the last hill, I took a nasty nose-dive. It had gotten dark and there was a pile of sand (probably from all the sandbags) right at the bottom which I didn't see until it was too late. I tried to land in the grass but my left hand and right elbow took a pretty good hit. My ring finger was so swollen that Chris said we were going to have to cut my ring off, luckily we didn't though. I am pretty bruised and broken up, and stiff. The tables were turned this morning and the kids were helping me get dressed for once...
Well, that about sums up our week. We are trying to plan a last minute trip for Utah this week, we will see if we can manage it...
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