The sad thing is, while this summer was really busy, there's not a lot to show for it. K got her driver's license, which is terrifying, but she's been a really good driver. She also got a job at Lagoon, which has been a lot of fun for her. She's working in their landscaping department, and has really loved learning how to work with plants. It was a lot of weekends though, which made camping difficult.
Further complicating our usual camping plans was my work. I love my work, and this summer was truly spectacular for me. I worked very hard and sold a lot of houses.
After Ragnar was over, I fulfilled a lifelong dream and FINALLY got a tattoo. It's on my foot. Each flower symbolizes the birth month of the people in my family. The sweet pea on the top is for April, which is for S, Z and me. The blue flower is a delphinium, which is July for K. The violet is February for J and M. I expected it to hurt a lot more than it actually did. Healing was the worst part- as tattoos start to heal, they itch. That itchiness drove me crazy! I found that if I put an ice pack on it, the itching wasn't nearly so bad.
We also bought a new car- a 2013 Mazda 3. We were able to pay cash for it, which was really exciting. We've paid cash for a car before, but that car was under 3k, so it wasn't nearly the accomplishment. We were going to sell the Honda Civic, but it turns out that my Expedition is so expensive with gas that it's cheaper for me to have the civic around for when I'm not hauling millions of kids.M took summer school for math. So while he's still in 9th grade and attending the junior high, he goes to the high school for his math class, which is nice to give him a little extra challenge.
S finally got her two front teeth to start coming in, which has been really different.
Z is still obsessed with minecraft, legos, and more recently, Portal 2.
We also recently made a major life decision- we bought a new (to us) house on a whim. We've been toying with the idea of getting something bigger since, well, almost immediately after buying this one. We were waiting to pay off debt, and waiting for the timing to be right. I found a home that has been foreclosed on TWICE in the past two years. From the sound of it, it's had some rough times the past few years (meth test came up very mildly positive, but well below any state standards). While it's not significantly bigger than this one by square footage, the floorplan better utilizes the space. Plus, we'd have a garage again, a master bathroom, AND each of the kids would get their own room. However, it's in terrible shape. But, for the price we paid, we can make the repairs that it needs, then move in, then sell this house. Of course, we'll be trying to market it during the worst time of year for that. Oops! The new house will need all new flooring, new paint everywhere, some drywall repair, a couple windows replaced, new appliances, countertop and we need to add a window to K's room. Because it was kind of spontaneous, we bought it a week before J leaves for Europe for two weeks. He's been working so hard and stressing out trying to get as much done before he goes. I think he also feels bad that he's leaving for PARIS while I have to deal with the smelly house. As time goes on, I'll post some before/after pictures.
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