old fashioned chore

I can't even begin to describe how happy I am in this rental house. The pressure of the house on the market is off. The kids can go outside without fear of being killed by a golf ball. There are wonderful ammenities in this neighborhood, such as a pool, sidewalks, playgrounds, and a pond. The best feature so far, though, are the neighborhood kids. Unlike where we moved from, they actually go outside and play and visit unannounced and stay for dinner. Just like the way I grew up. I wanted that life for my kids, and was so surprised that it was exactly opposite of that in our last neighborhood. The kid across the street has quickly become my boy's favorite friend. In this picture, he and S are learning to snap the ends of the beans off for dinner. They had no idea they were doing an old fashioned chore. They thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Or they would have, if they knew that bread didn't come out of the oven pre-sliced. The "cherry on top" of this chore was that they found an actual worm among the beans. Because the beans were from the farmer's market and actually, gasp, grew in a garden. Not in a can. Sweet boys didn't even know they were learning a lesson.

At dinner, they proudly ate the beans THEY made, and we all decided they tasted like candy. Only better.

"Delightful" summer pasta

It may not look like much, but this pasta is one of the best dishes I've made all week. And that is a week that included grilled ribeye and chicken stuffed with fresh spinach and tomato basil feta cheese.

My 6 year old often turns his nose up at my cooking, and tonight after dinner, he said, "thank you mom; that was delightful." Delightful! What a great word from a 6 year old. Especially when I'm so used to hearing, "ewww, that was yucky." So, I'm officially naming this the "delightful summer pasta." I made up the recipe several years ago, but tonight it was better than ever because I grilled the veges instead of sauteing them. Here's the recipe...

Cook angel hair pasta according to directions.

In the meantime, cut up summer veges of your choice. I used tomatoes, zucchini, squash and onion.

Sprinkle the veges with salt, pepper, a tiny bit of Greek seasoning and olive oil.

Put the veges in a pan made for the grill, and set over the grill on high.

When pasta is done, drizzle with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar.

When veges begin to soften, some of them color a bit and the skin of the tomatoes are blistered, remove from heat and add to pasta.

Sprinkle with feta (I used the kind that has basil and tomato). Serve warm.

Enjoy~

Last day of Kindergarten

Two posts in one day? I'm obviously avoiding packing.

Today was S's last day of kindergarten. I'm so proud of him. We had a luau and award ceremony. He got the award for "most polite." I feel like that is the best award possible! It's our goal to raise polite, respectful kids, so to have him be recognized for that was awesome. Afterward, the teachers and one of the parents approached me to tell me how sweet and polite he is. The other mom also commented on how good all three boys are. What a great morning. I'm really just so proud.

Also, they have 200 sight words to learn in kindergarten and another 200 for first grade. He got all 200 for k and he got 186/200 for first grade. Yes, I'm bragging, but I don't care. He's an awesome kid!

the last mow

This is a picture I took of myself two nights ago mowing this lawn for the last time. Yes, I was drinking a lemon-drop. It was celebratory mowing.

Today is our son's last day of kindergarten, and we begin moving boxes into the rental tomorrow. Wow, it still seems surreal. Living here for 3 weeks after closing on the sale made it feel like it never happened. The movers come Monday to officially get us moved. I'm anxious to get it over with. I'm actually really excited about the new neighborhood. There are sidewalks, playgrounds and a pool. Plus we can ride our golf cart out here (less than one mile) and see our friends when we want.

Here's the rental. It's a great house. Okay, so the smell of curry permeates every inch of it, but I'm gonna deal with that when I can. That will be fun, I'm sure. Anyone have tips for getting rid of the smell?

The perfect rental

The rental market in our town is much more limited than I expected. I gave our agent an impossible list of things I wanted out of a rental. 4 or more bedrooms, a room to do my massages, a room for workout equipment, a basement for storage, a fence and a pool in the neighborhood. And I want it available in three weeks. Oh, and they have to allow my dog. She practically told me it was impossible. Still, she was up for the challenge. I'll be damned if she didn't deliver on every single wish on my list. She even got the price for the exact target I had in mind. She's good; she's very good.
Got the papers signed today and wrote the deposit and POA dues. We are moving in 3 weeks. One week ago today, we didn't even have anyone looking at our house. What a week.

Sold

Over the past two years, I had almost decided I would never be able to see that word on the real estate sign in our yard. Two years. It was so stressful, I can't even explain. During the time we had our house for sale, I got pregnant, had the baby, and now he is almost 14 months old. Having three boys in a house for sale was no fun, to say the least.
I don't want to revisit the whole situation right now. We closed this afternoon, and we are so relieved. We have about 3 weeks till we move. The rental is still in final negotiations. "Onward and Upward," as my husband has been saying all week.