I warned him

I noticed this little guy as I was pulling out of my driveway one morning

I stopped, snapped a picture and suggested he may want to get away now

He stubbornly held on to that mirror my whole drive

     all 6 minutes of it: yay for a short commute

Well, congrats!

Hope you enjoyed the ride

Cause now we're gonna go play with some toddlers

Bwah ha ha

Parked my car and began wondering how I could get him in the building

     cause you know touching it would not be an option

Yay for a slight tendency to live out of my car 

     and finding an old coffee cup in the back seat

After a bit of shrieking, jumping and perhaps dropping him on the ground

It worked!

We made it in the door

     and it was fabulous

45 minutes of watching and wondering and examining with magnifying glasses
Noticing his eyes, his legs, his tiny mouth
Hypothesizing as to how he can walk on a stick upside down
Wondering why he keeps walking away from us and back towards the teacher
     I dunno toddlers, maybe because you are so excited you keep shouting at him
     Hi Praying Mantis!  Come here!  Wanna see my magnifying glass?!?!
     I think he's just a bit terrified

I love being the teacher who takes advantage of ordinary moments like this
I love my kiddos and their burgeoning self awareness and experimentation with friend making
     and introducing themselves to the praying mantis  "Hi I'm Susie!"
     and wondering why he didn't respond
     and then speculating as to the last name before naming it after a favorite friend

oh the projects

It's quickly becoming clear the dirty little secret of home ownership

There are always projects to be done

Someone may have suggested making a list

Someone may have thrown an itty bitty tantrum and declared

     We will live here forever!  We don't need a damn list

Grateful for inlaws with awesome tools like powerwashers.  

Watched Jesse for a few moments then decided it looked like fun

He wouldn't let me use it near the house

Apparently I did it too slowly and someone was feeling nervous I would damage the side of the house

Love the immediate results- wooo hooo clean deck!

But then, a tiny bit of dirty grime flew up and hit me in the face

I realized I was covered in tiny polka dots of dirty grime

and just like that I was finished

4 people, 8 hours and our flower beds look fantastic

We filled up 13 bags of lawn "trash" 

And created 3 distinct piles of kindling for the fire pit

Who knew their were rocks hiding under the ivy?

Up Next:
Sealing the deck
and Painting the basement
Wonder what else we'll stumble upon

A few of my favorite things

Hello swinging on the front porch, watching a storm roll through

why yes, that is a citronella candle

the mosquitoes are attacking. 2 candles, lots of bug spray 

and I still get new bites every day sigh

Hello sunlight streaming into my bathroom

first major project: ripping down the glass shower doors

best decision ever, so much grossness lived under there 

Hello lovely view as I drink my coffee

still don't know what kind of trees those are

still convincing Jesse not to taste the berries for "research purposes" 

 Hello Washer and Dryer!  My new BFFs!!!

it's been a long 3 months of hang drying clothes

Hello soft clothes that snap back into place after drying

Hello ingenuity (following the cursing) of an electrical plug that is 3 inches too high

Hello sunglasses!  Who put you in the medicine cabinet?

living in that awkward place of some stuff here, some stuff there

some stuff disappeared

with each box unpacked it feels more and more like home

Hello Monday!

Excited/nervous for the first week with a full roster

     12 toddlers are a whole new ballgame after only having a handful on any given day

Excited for completely more house projects (laundry!!!)

     and having a whole day on Friday to spend in my house

Excited for more visitors

     loving showing off my home

Linking with Lisa to start the week

In Hindsight

After a weekend spent cleaning and cleaning and cleaning, I'm so glad we didn't buy a fixer upper house.  That being said we invested...

a day steam cleaning the carpet in one room (Granted, its a biggish room, with lots of nooks and crannies making me grateful the cleaner came with hand tools)

a day scrubbing grout- cause ewww...7 magic erasers later and the heebie jeebies are gone

a day working in the yard and did not get the grass mowed or the landscaping weeded

     however, we did pull out the ugly satellite dish, and create a big giant burn pile- yay

a day scrubbing down walls and cursing renters who put nails, hooks and staples into old fabulous wood trim

a few hours beginning to scrub down the kitchen at which point a certain someone (me) gave up after dog hair was found inside the fridge

I have never been an animal person and I'm pretty sure this experience is confirming that 

This whole owning a house thing is a lot of work

but I love, love, love it!

I'm grateful for...

the Lice Center of Ohio and their free head checks: even teachers.  Such a relief to know my kiddos (and me) are lice free
     especially when a certain toddler now knows if she claims her hair is "itchy" she gets to avoid 
     nap for a few more minutes


texts that say, stop by after work for some boxes
     and confidence in driving my car full of boxes.  If I can drive across country without being 
     able to see out my mirrors, a 5 mile drive across town aint no thing


the entertainment provided by my facebook friends
     it amuses me to see each side of the political spectrum represented so passionately


the double hug:  first just a regular hug, then a tight extra squeeze from a classroom alumni

a man who kisses my cheek and whispers I love you as I'm falling asleep
     even if it does wake me up for a bit