impressions

A few things, and I promise I'll get some pictures soon. The house is gorgeous. Anyone here who's heard that I hadn't seen the house before we bought it was shocked, shocked I say. (Less so in Prague, where everyone understands the distance and the jetlag and the kid watching.) Nathan did a fantastic job. The downstairs is perfect for entertaining, or just for letting kids run around. Wood laminate or tile everywhere. Big and open and unbelievable storage in the kitchen. Also downstairs is a bedroom, which will be Nathan's office. It's off by itself, so he'll be able to work comfortably even when we're having a dance party or screaming our way to bed. Upstairs is also great -- plenty of rooms, a massive playroom above the garage, and nice bathrooms. Coming from Europe, where built-in storage is an anomaly, I'm loving closets, and utility rooms, and pantries, and cabinets. The house is almost completely done in bright colors, which I like the idea of, but a lot of the colors just don't go well together, so we'll be doing some repainting pronto! We want to get it done before our shipment arrives from Prague. I was planning to repaint the kids' bedroom (M and V share) since it's purple, but I actually love the color. It's OK for boys to sleep in purple, right? I'll put up Star Wars posters on the wall ...

What else? Our pool is cute, pint-sized. Perfect for the kids to paddle around in, and we've been having lots of fun. I'm hoping to do some shopping really soon to get the last of the summer items in shops. We need extra bathing suits, shorts, and pool toys. First, we've got to get our cell phones worked out and get cars. Nathan got us set up with cell phones yesterday afternoon, but we don't have coverage in the house, so we're going to have to utilize their 30-day return policy and hope they don't kick up a fuss about it. This move-in has been quite an ordeal. So many things are quick and easy, but an awful lot seem to be very painful processes. For instance, I'm looking forward to having my own car, but I hate car shopping. Gives me a headache.

We made it to the library yesterday, to much rejoicing from the kids. I swear they wanted to bring everything home. We are nearly equidistant from Carrollton's two libraries, so we'll be able to give them both our love. We visited the newer one, at Josey Ranch Lake. The selection is great, the kids get a free new book for completing the summer reading program (I got a paper for Eliza too, is that wrong? She reads more books than anyone in the house, and they have board books in the give-away bins :) People were so nice! Seriously, this just isn't good training to make sales people nice, these library folks actually want to help. Inconceivable! And they have a cool self check-out. M is going to love learning to do that himself. E did not like the check-out because she had to let go of her book for a minute. "Doda", meaning Dora. Rapidly becoming an obsession.