Busy, busy, busy

This week is going to be a big one. We close on the house on Tuesday which means that it's finally ours and we get the keys and everything! I'm sure we'll spend the afternoon there exploring every nook and cranny and making plans. On Wednesday the builders start. I assume they'll begin by knocking down the kitchen wall. It's going to be a messy job and I'm so glad we don't have to live there at the same time.

One of the things I've missed about homes in Texas is the open-ness. English homes are built to be easy to heat with each room separated from the other with four walls and a door. Some modern homes are built in what they call "American style" but we've always liked living in old houses. It can be cosy with lots of small rooms but I'm looking forward to our big open plan living/dining/kitchen ground floor in the new house. The house itself is about a hundred years old so it'll still have all of the character details that I love (including 5 fireplaces!) but it'll have a lovely flow of space too.

On Thursday Toby starts Year 2. I can't believe my baby boy is going to be in the second grade already. I still remember being in the second grade! It should be an easy transition back because he has Mr Wilson again this year. Year 2 is a big year though because the children take their first SATs. It will be nice to get back into a routine and to see all of Toby's school friends. I'm planning lots of coffee mornings at the new house.

I still need to find a decorator and sort out a carpet runner for the stairs. That's something else Jason and I have always wanted - stripped wood stairs with a stripey carpet runner and proper stair rods. I think it'll look really nice when it's all done.

We hope to move in at the end of September. Then Jason is running the Chicago marathon in October. We had planned for all of us to go but I think it'll just be too stressful to try and take the children so close to the move. Tobes is going back to school, Rosie is potty training and starting a new playgroup and we're moving house... they're little heads might explode with all the upheaval. Even if they were OK I think my head might explode!

Once we move we've got Halloween to look forward to, which is a big deal in the new neighborhood. Then Rosie's birthday party which looks like it will be a ballerina or princess themed bash. Whatever the theme there will undoubtedly be lots of pink. Then Bonfire Night and Thanksgiving with our neighbors. Very wierdly the Dad and I were at UT at the same time and he grew up in Fort Worth. Now we'll live three doors apart. What are the odds!