A little distraction is a good thing!

It has always been a dream of mine to raise my children in a neighborhood where kids run around and play together, families hang out together, and where community spirit abounds. Our current neighborhood is nice enough, but it is mostly comprised of empty-nesters and retirees. And since I was pregnant with Austin while we were having it built, I had NO idea how much STUFF children accumulate, and we didn't design our house in the best kid-friendly way. Fast forward five years, and we have simply outgrown the functionality of our home. It doesn't have sufficient storage space, the laundry room is more a "laundry closet", and we would love to have a basement for all the kid stuff.

Our lot is great; we have a 4-acre fishing pond directly behind our house, we have lake access to "the big lake", and we can put our boat in at a boat ramp very close by. We've loved all the wildlife we get to see: deer, blue herons, Canadian geese, hawks, ducks....and yes, even snakes! It's very private and serene.

But for at least two years we've been thinking/talking/wishing about a neighborhood that is 2 miles from Austin's new school, and in which Austin's best bud Jay and his family purchased a lot several months ago. A lake lot was recently put on the market within the last couple of weeks....SO....drumroll, please!!....we signed a contract on it this weekend!! YAY!!! Of course, we can NOT do anything until this adoption is completed - - to do a change of address on the mountains of paperwork we completed would be disastrous - - but it has been a great distraction for us to look at house plans, talk about what's important for us in the new house, and to NOT THINK ABOUT THE ADOPTION PROCESS!!! It's the next best thing to a beach trip!! :)

Shawn is still working from home and trying to take it easy. He's feeling okay, and I'm just looking forward to him feeling 100%. We've had 3 days of pretty much solid rain (which we desperately needed!), but I think we're both getting a little cabin fever. I've at least made it to the gym with regularity and run errands, but it's been a lot of time within these four walls. It's supposed to rain again most of tomorrow.....thank goodness I've got plenty of Fall Festival stuff to work on!