Finally, some improvement

This week I'm finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We're just so close. I think we can get everything unpacked by the end of the weekend (of course that still might be wishful thinking). In other news: Lizzie, Alaina, and I have all slipped and fell on our wooden stairs (poor Alaina tumbled to the bottom). So, love the way they look, but maybe they are too dangerous. . MONDAY - Lizzie was out of school so we took a little break from unpacking to visit George Washington's Grist Mill & Distillery. It was kind of funny to hear Lizzie call to her friend, "Come on Taryn! We're going to learn how to make whiskey!" In the afternoon we finished the girls room, phase one only of course. I can't completely finish it until I get a hold of the quilts my mother and I have almost finished making for Lizzie and Alaina. Oh, and we need to paint the walls, paint their dresser, hang pictures, select a rug, and put together their bookshelf.

In the evening Drew and I "finished" our room! Yeah! We didn't bother to put the bed on it's frame since we're expecting a bedroom set next month. That may seem inconvenient to some, but, let's face it, after sleeping on an air mattress for seven months our regular king mattress resting on box springs seems super luxurious. Incidently, having Ellie sleep in a crib in her very own room instead of a pack 'n play in the master bathroom like at the apartment is also pretty nice.

TUESDAY - More unpacking, but no rooms finished. The highlight was when our friends, the Bowerbanks, came over for dinner. They are our first official dinner guests and it was bittersweet--so fun to see them, so sad they're moving, so excited for them and their upcoming overseas adventure. Also, Tuesday we finally had some trash removal. The night before I was trying to calculate how long it would take to get rid of everything when we were allotted just two cans a week so Andrew loaded up the van and took a bunch of bags over to our condo's trash reciprocal. In other news: Lizzie started soccer, Alaina's hair is long enough for pigtails, and Ellie climbed up the carpeted steps (with a spotter of course)!

WEDNESDAY - I gathered up every home-repair-related thing Andrew has purchased over the years that was still in the package and returned it to Home Depot (and I'm keeping the store credit for myself). . . . Took Alaina to play with the trains at Barnes and Nobel and just like Liz, she played with them in a kind of girly way. By the end of our hour there she had a little family of trains--daddy, mommy, and "Nie Nie" (Lainey). . . . More unpacking and just when I think I've found all the toys I'm surprised by another box or two. The same thing happens with clothes and books--we have way too much of all three.We've enjoyed sidewalk chalk each evening while we wait for Daddy to come home. Last night while we were outside we met a bunch of friendly neighbors (now if I could just remember their names). We are very excited about this neighborhood. Lizzie grabbed her scooter and seemed to immediately integrate with the other children. Meanwhile the parents told us of traditional summer evenings visiting in the street while the children played and of the upcoming Easter egg hunt. I know it's not really as idyllic as it seems to me right now, but it's such a vast improvement over where we were living before that it's hard not to be enthusiastic. I'm looking forward to the holidays here. We have an actual fireplace to hang stocking on and this Halloween I expect actual trick-or-treaters (they will be the first of our 12-year marriage).THURSDAY - Today I'm taking Drew's advice and taking a little break from unpacking (cuz I got a little cranky and crazy last night). Instead I'm trying to catch up on laundry (I totally let it go while I focused on emptying boxes last week). I'm also enjoying some interaction with Alaina. As I type this she's feeding her baby doll named Wally, doing the "open your mouth, here comes the train" bit and all.