The Big Reveal

I hinted before on the blog that we decided not to reveal the details about our new house to our kids for lots of reasons. Part of it was just for the JOY of it. It's been pretty hard to do - especially since we've known we loved this place for almost 2 months. We actually blindfolded them and led them to the gate and then let them look.

And run... They were VERY excited about the fact that the house has two stories! They went straight upstairs to check it out and they MISSED what was going on in the back yard!

A POOL! They were absolutely blown away!

Gracie cried great big tears of joy when she saw the Mimosa tree in the front yard. This is special to her because there is a special Mimosa tree in our current house that holds the much beloved Midnight the tire horse. She has been dreading leaving this tree - she took pictures, drew it, pressed its flowers - it has been traumatic. This new tree she has now named Junior and she vows to weed and water it like crazy so that it will grow big and strong!

Of course everyone had to go for a swim. Everyone of course except the dog! The dog is not a big fan of the new house. There's too much activity. Too far to walk. Too many dangers to keep everyone safe from. Too much pressure - her workload has quadrupled and it's just too much for her. She really wishes everyone would just come inside and sit in the A/C.

Daniel started cleaning the pool at 6am! How long do you suppose that will last?

Here's a picture of the outside. There are 7 acres to explore in the back - and room for a real chicken coop and nice garden!

We did a little bit of painting. The house has lots of neat storage cubby-closets.

Daniel's room we painted this nice, deep blue. Oops. I think I might see some spots we missed there.

The girls have a big room to split. They chose their own paint colors. The colors look nice, but Dad commented that it will be like being inside an Easter egg. They like it.

We spent the weekend painting and cleaning. Now comes the task of moving the stuff in it! That's going to take all week - and it was already a busy week to start with. Tomorrow they are disconnecting my Internet and we are going to take our time. I'll take 5-6 days of blogging to get all settled - but I'll be back with lots of pictures! The settling in and redecorating part is my favorite! My goal is to be all settled in by Sunday so we can take a REAL day of rest. Maybe that will happen!