It's Ours!

As of yesterday afternoon we are officially homeowners! It feels great to know that everything went through and that it really is real! We are so happy to be here! The moving truck doesn't arrive until tomorrow so we're still at the hotel through tonight, but the boys and I got to spend the morning at our house. I brought some activities to work on (thanks Jayne!):


and then the boys were more than happy to explore around while I took care of some business:


every nook and cranny...



the boys instinctively knew that we couldn't move in before an inaugural wrestling match took place:

Of course we still have a ways to go before we are all settled in, but I look forward to it all and to really making the home ours. For the first time in my life I finally feel justified investing in some actual decor! Things that match and coordinate! Whew -- I'm starting to feel a little dizzy!

Just a random afternoon

Daniel dressed as a pirate and Joshua playing with transformer Jazz

And yes, that is a parrot taped to Daniel's shoulder that just couldn't keep itself upright long enough for me to take the picture -- darn.

The suspense is terrible...

... I hope it will last.

What's causing the suspense? These:

And what are these? For those who don't have little boys, or weren't kids in the 80's, they are:

1) Transformer toys based on last summer's movie Transformers.

2) Vehicles that can be transformed into robots. If there's something better designed to attract boys under 12, I don't know what it is.

3) "Move toys." Since I'll be taking the boys on two long car trips on our move up to Portland (San Diego to Oakland and Oakland to Portland), I thought giving them new toys to handle in the car would help them deal with a total of 18 hours of driving. Since Leslie is expecting, she'll fly the two legs of the trip, leaving me without an assistant to help keep the boys happy. The boys agreed that move toys were a good idea.

This weekend they picked out the "move toys" they wanted, with the full understanding they wouldn't get to play with them until we were actually in the car on our trip. For two days now, though, Joshua has begged me to hold and look at the packages. He's quite good about not trying to open it now, or even pester us to let him open it now. It does make me feel a bit bad to make him wait though, when I see him stare longingly at the package, notice each feature of the packaging, and read the words on the back over and over. Will it be an amazing culmination of anticipation when he finally gets to play with it, or will it be an anticlimactic letdown? If it's the latter, I'm sure I will pay for my mistake in the car.

We actually got three Transformers, including the one they didn't choose but I got because it's actually a bit hard to find in stores. I'll save it for later. "We could just open one now," suggested Joshua. "Then we'd still have two for move toys." Daniel had an even better idea: open them all now and get two more for move toys. If you'll forgive my choice of words, I am, uh, toying with the idea of having a set of move toys for each trip.

That probably won't be necessary, because I've also started "move kits", or packages of snacks and trifles to occupy the boys. At the grocery store, the clerk held up one of the two Batman Pez dispensers and asked, "Are you buying these for your kids?"

"We're going on a long car trip," I explained. "If those things occupy them for an hour, they'll pay for themselves." You see, I'm not buying Pez dispensers. I'm buying peace, tranquility, and time. And maybe a little love :).