Aidan is 11!

Happy 11th birthday to my biggest boy! We've got a LOT of changes and transitions happening in our family right now, not the least of which is us moving (our last night in the only house he's ever know is on his birthday!) and starting 6th grade in August at a brand new school without any of the friends he knows from elementary school. But I'm proud to say that Aidan is handling everything like a champ so far, and setting a great example for his brother and sister like always. I love this handsome fella with all of my heart!



And now I'm going to start what I hope will be a nice new birthday tradition: an interview with the birthday boy. I think it'll be cool to look back on his answers to see how they change over the years. Makes me wish I'd started it sooner! Though I will say that he's certainly not long-winded like his mom...:) I had to dig for a few more details here and there.

• How old are you?   11
• What is your favorite color?    Sky blue
• What is your favorite book?    Divergent
• What is your favorite food?    Pizza
• Who is your best friend?    Will
• What is your happiest memory?    Going to Great Wolf Lodge with my family
• Why do you like being a kid?    Because I can have fun
• What is one word to describe yourself?    Awesome
• If you could be any animal, which one would you be?    A Lion
• What’s your favorite thing about school?    Reading
• What makes you laugh?    My brother
• What do you want to be when you grow up?    A Businessman
• What do you love most about your brother and sister?    They are awesome
• What is your favorite thing to do with your family?    Watch TV
• What do you think you will be doing 10 years from now?    Working
• What advice would you give your parents?    Do your best!

Mom's note: we certainly don't spend all of our time watching TV, but we've found some family shows we like watching on the weekend (The Amazing Race and Once Upon a Time are two that we really like).

Adventures in moving

Back when I last posted in March, we were still in winter hibernation mode and getting stir crazy. A few weeks later, that quickly turned into full on house-hunting mode, and we've been busy buying, selling, purging and packing ever since. But I really want to document this crazy and exciting time in our lives, so I'm going to (do my best to) post more about our adventures in moving.

It all started in early March, when we were waiting to hear back on our lottery application for the charter school we wanted Aidan to get into for 6th grade. We always knew that 6th grade would be a deciding year for whether we would HAVE to move in order for Aidan to be in a good school, because the year-round middle school we applied to (in addition to the charter school) is by lottery only, and unfortunately our base middle school was never an option we'd consider. We did get in to the year-round school, so we knew we could stay in our home, but the ball got rolling anyway.

Adam and I have always known that this home wouldn't be our forever home. It's in a prime location for us in a great neighborhood (aside from the less than ideal base schools), but we wanted more. More space, more storage, more insulation (one bedroom is almost unusable in the winter and summer!), better kitchen (holy hell, how have we lived without a kitchen island for 12 years?!), you get the picture. We love our home, but there are a thousand nit-picky things we wish were different. Building a home is something we've always talked about, and the timing was right to start considering.

So the tour of a million and one model homes began, and it was fun! For me and Adam, at least. The incessant house touring definitely got old for the kids pretty quickly. :)



We really got a sense of where we wanted to be, what was available, what we could afford, and what our must-have features would be. By April, we were officially under contract to build a home with Meritage. We had to move quickly to take advantage of builder incentives (free solar panels!) and get the lot we wanted, which was pretty intense, considering the huge expense of a new home. After going through a roller coaster of emotions more times than I can count, we ultimately couldn't be more excited about where we're moving!

Of course, the whole selling our house thing is a whole other story...