Good-bye, first house

The boxes have started taking over!

Here...

and here...everywhere!

The walls are bare.

I guess it's official...we are really moving. Tomorrow! I am extremely excited about our new house. Thrilled. Ecstatic. But at the same time, I'm slightly sentimental about leaving our very first house. Here are some things we'll miss...and some we won't.

You were a great starter home.
But it's time to move on.

WHAT WE'LL MISS:
*The tree in the front yard. It's a unique tree and I love it. My grandma told me it's called a Mimosa. It is the perfect climbing tree for the kids.

W likes to hang from the lowest branch

Or hang like an upside-down monkey.


Brandon likes to "surf" on it

Or see how high he can climb.

*Riding bikes down the hill. We live in a great little cul de sac that slopes downward. The kids love to ride their bikes down to the bottom, struggle back up the hill, and start all over again. It's great entertainment.

Weeeeeee!

*The azaleas in the front. I love the way the whole bush bursts with color. This year a late frost killed some of the blossoms.

Here's Whit in front of last year's azaleas.
Hasn't she grown up a lot in the last year?

*The beautiful irises in the backyard

I've never watered them--not once!
And they just keep coming back
year after year. Gorgeous.

*Our cute little veggie plot. We planted our first garden here and I thought we did pretty well--cucumbers, carrots, sugar snap peas, a watermelon, squash, tomatoes. (I couldn't find a picture for proof!)

*Our nice, small mortgage payment. (Andrew will especially miss this one.)

*County taxes. I feel like we already live in the city, but we are technically right out of city limits, so we get a huge break on property taxes. We didn't get so lucky with our new home.

*The comfort and familiarity of knowing all of your neighbors and being the "old-timers" on the block. In the four years that we've lived here, all 16 of our closest neighbors have moved away. I guess that's what happens with "starter" homes.

*Smooth ceilings. Our new house has that popcorn stuff on the ceilings. Bummer.

WHAT WE WON'T:

*Guests having to use the kids' bathroom. Oh, man. I always feel bad when guests ask to use the bathroom. Do you know how quickly a toilet can get befouled when a five year old boy uses it regularly? I'm looking forward to having a powder room in the new house that will HOPEFULLY stay clean--or at least won't be embarassing.

*The sink sprayer that doesn't work. We lived with it that way the whole time we've been here and then it came up on the inspection, so Andrew had to replace it last week. It was one of those things that made us think, "Why didn't we do this three years ago???"

*The ice maker that has issues.

*Lack of garage.

*Pipes that make a high pitched squeal when you take a shower in the kids' bathroom. Luckily this doesn't happen often. (Our kids prefer baths.) It's piercing.

*Upside-down outlets. Yes, all of the outlets in our house were installed the wrong way--with the third hold on the top instead of the bottom. What's up with that?

We're loading up the U-Haul tonight and will be signing all the papers tomorrow. Wish us luck!