{SQT} We Bought the House!

1. Saturday

Hockey, ice skating, music lessons . . .

2. Sunday

Splitting Masses because the littlest boys caught a cold that then ran through the house, but not too badly . . .

3. Monday

Orthodontist . . . girls got haircuts . . . music lessons . . . contractor making repairs at our current home . . .

Little brothers waiting while big sisters got haircuts

4. Tuesday

We hired babysitters to stay with the children, who were thoroughly entertained as always by playing piano with them and trying to figure out their card and magic tricks, plus playing board games and dancing in the rainstorm. I love these babysitters who don't even want to use screen time.

Chris and I went to the closing appointment at the attorney's office and all was cheerful and free of hitches. Then we took advantage of having babysitters and went to lunch at a fancy restaurant to celebrate, where afterward we were delighted to learn that our Realtor had secretly called and picked up our tab!

Our first humorous mishap of the day is that a summer thunderstorm of magnificent proportions swept in when we were intending to take the children swimming in our new pool. The rain was so heavy that we were blinded!

Our second humorous mishap of the day was in trying to enter the home. The sellers had left all the keys inside the home and would give us the garage code when the purchase was final. However, the garage code would not work (as we stood in the deluge) . . . because the power had already been turned off! My husband had to call the electric company and convince them to turn it back on, even though it wasn't scheduled to be turned on in our name till the following day.

Finally we were inside the home (and dry) where the first thing my husband did was walk through the house blessing each room with holy water and blessed salt and to hang up a crucifix.

Then the children ran around screaming in jubilance for about two hours. We ordered pizza and finally did allow the children to swim briefly when the storm broke.

Pool fence to be installed within days

Meanwhile, a little drama had occurred outside during the storm. When we first arrived at the house, there was a teeny, tiny fawn on the front lawn, who got spooked by our van, but all he did was wobble beneath a different bush. He wandered and hid around the front yard for a couple of hours, clearly having been separated from his mama during the storm. Later, we spotted the mama doe beyond our back fence looking for her baby! We didn't know whether to intervene somehow--how? catch the fawn? Finally, we heard a big crash and somehow the two were reunited (how did mama get the fawn over or through the split rail fence?) and they ran off to safety.

5. Wednesday

Chris at the new house all day monitoring utilities being turned on, painters setting up, Chris calling me all day with consultations about paint colors, carpenter hanging two doors, electrician completing his work . . .

Music lessons . . . packing boxes . . .

Ending the evening with our first whole family swim at the new house, then little ones utterly melting down from exhaustion . . .

6. Thursday

Hired movers to move over our playground equipment, all outdoor furniture, and garage contents . . . me packing up the garage frantically fast to keep ahead of the movers . . .

Walked over St. Francis ourselves . . .

Our Lady's statue placed front and center to remind us daily of our goals on this earth . . .

Cracked sink at current/old house replaced . . .

Pool fence installed . . .

Completed my annual chore of getting out all the board games and putting away properly the approximately zillion missing game pieces that I collected over the year off the carpet and put in my Lost Game Pieces Tupperware. Now the games are packed up and ready to be moved!

7. Friday

Measuring lady creates floor plans of our current home for listing for sale . . .

Plumber makes repairs at old/current house . . .

Negotiated some panic moments with the painters who have been working for days and have days to go . . .

Mother's helper with me all day (does my grocery shopping for me!) so I can pack more boxes . . .

John painted our new-to-use table and chairs . . .

All in all, this has been one week of blessings beyond what we'd imagined, fatigue, big dreams, frazzled nerves, graces from God, and friendship.


For more 7 Quick Takes Friday, check out This Ain't the Lyceum.