Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Settling In

Saturday was a big day - moving day and Keziah's birthday all wrapped up in one! It was a successful day and I couldn't believe how much we accomplished with everyone's help. I was expecting to still be living amongst boxes for another week or more, but most of our things were unpacked and organized by the end of the day. We were able to relax a bit and enjoy a birthday supper for Keziah.

Here's the birthday girl acting like a goof:



Everyone waiting for dessert in our updated eating nook. (Click here and here to see what it looked like the previous week.)


Ice cream cake from Dairy Queen!


Keziah blew out the candle before Erik even set the cake down. And then she just stared at it.



The kids are enjoying the new house. They seem excited about their new bedrooms and have been sleeping well. For some reason, they are actually sleeping in later than they did before. Wake-up time used to be around 6 am and now we're getting up at 7! I really hope this continues!

They've enjoyed watching the activity from the front windows. In our last place we never had windows facing a street and the only exciting things to observe were squirrels and the odd stray cat :) Now we can see cars and the garbage truck and the maintenance men with their cool leaf-blowers! The kids spent about 30 minutes watching them blow leaves yesterday which is 30 less minutes that they were whining and/or fighting :)

Here are the kids enjoying their new (unorganized) play area. We definitely need some shelving to make this space more functional, but it's nice to have a place for all the toys to live.


Our "backyard" may not be huge, but the kids have been enjoying it. We've had unusually sunny weather this last week or so. We have to get outside when it's sunny because the rains are always sure to come!


Delair Park is just down the street from us and it's a great park. The playground is perfect for the kids - easy enough for Keziah to maneuver on her own and still very fun for Micah.



There is also a walking trail that links to another smaller park.


Micah's favourite part at the smaller park is this cool digger machine. Erik played with it for the first time the other day and was quite entertained :)


A sunset view from the park:


There is still lots to do around here - organizing, paint touch-ups, cleaning, etc... But the house is very livable and it's been fun settling in. We've been pleased to discover that our neighbours are very friendly and welcoming. It's also been an adventure driving around Abbotsford now since we live on the complete opposite end of town. We are figuring out new routes to drive to places and also discovering what kinds of things are close-by.

I didn't want to post any official before/after pictures of the place yet since I feel like things need to get organized a little bit better first. Hopefully I can get them up soon though!

16 comments:

Jen Glen said...

Congratulations! What a big change for you guys! I really hope we get a chance to see it next summer! I thought that picture of Erik on the digger was rather funny as I have a picture from our honeymoon of Craig on a similar looking digger! I remember him enjoying it as well! Two peas in a pod!

The Keowns said...

we got one of those cool diggers at our park too! the kids always fight over it.
the paint color looks SO much better!
i remember when we moved to this house how fun it was to learn the neighborhood.

Melanie said...

I can't believe you are still blogging during all this! That's fantastic.

I called you yesterday to see if we could bring dinner and see your place, but then Easton got sick again so I figured I would leave it. We would love to drop by sometime soon. I'll call you again!

Trev and Rebekah said...

I'm glad you are feeling settled. And yeah for an extra hour of sleep in the mornings too!

Anonymous said...

wow! your place looks good and it's good to hear that you&the kids are settling in so well!
we were watching the man blowing the leaves as well...teresia was well entertained and i could get some cleaning done...maybe i should call them to come to our street again...or i should find a way to get as many leaves as possible to our street....anyway..
enjoy your week!

leslie

p.s.: you should write down what you're dreaming in the first week, because all of it will come true one day:)

derek salmon said...

Happy 2nd Birthday to Keziah :)

yes, the kiddies are getting big, good thing with baby 3 around or on the way!

the new place looks great. i hope you get all things organized to your liking soon. it must be so nice to start fresh. thats how i'm feeling about moving downstairs here. we got some windows put in on zeke's birthday, the rest are coming next week. but anyway, its totally uncluttered downstairs so we can just bring essentials down. i'm actually excited to have Christmas down there, i just need my new front door put in first!

hope to see you all again soon :)

kelly ens said...

so great that you're in your new place! We'd love to bring you guys a dessert at your new place - it's been a while since we hung out. Can't wait to see the new place :)

Sarah said...

Congrats on the new place! It already looks quite organized. Yeah to owning your own place!! And Happy belated Birthday Keziah!

patti said...

hope you're enjoying your new home! have fun organizing and getting settled.

Lori said...

glad the move went well...:)

Amber said...

i've been thinkig about you jamie...hope you are feeling well & have enough energy for all that is going on in your life. remember to take care of yourself too :) xoxo

KDees said...

YAY! Congratulations on feeling settled! I'm so glad enjoying your new place and all that goes along with it!

Vanessa said...

Congrats on the move! Looks like you guys are settling in well!

Kathy said...

Hey Jamie, great to hear you're almost all moved into your new place...I loved the yard at your old house is the new one just as geogeous??? Was the other house too small for your growing family?? or why did you move??? I just love to move, I love a change every 2 or 3 years or so....We've been here for just over 2yrs, almost due for a move..lol..
Kathy Lindsay

rachel joy said...

Hi Jamie,
How great that you got so settled in right away!
I fixed the link on my blog, you should be able to see my pictures now, just have to scroll down to find them.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jamie! Yeah for the new house....we are moving in two days and admist the chaos...I am jealous you are done and can get settled, we are moving and then moving again in 6 months...what fun..NOT!
JANELLE WIENS