House-hunting

Whirlwind week for the PCW crew! Whew.

Last Monday night I dropped Monkey and Roo off for their first ever friend sleepover at our dear friends (and fellow homeschoolers), the Coopers. Josh, age 6, is one of the monkey's closest friends, and we all enjoy his older sister Michaela (9); mother Jenny is a good friend of mine. They kindly and graciously hosted our oldest two for 5 nights so that the remaining five family members could fly east for a Virginia househunting trip. We flew at 8 AM on Tuesday and met up Aunt Katie in Baltimore shortly after landing, over dinner at Chick-Fil-A... She and her crew kindly and graciously hosted Goose and Mouse for 4 nights and 3 1/2 days. At that point, kid-free, HF and I drove south to the Fredericksburg area and rolled up our sleeves.

We spend three days house-hunting all over our soon-to-be-new nearby town, visiting every single listed house with 5 or more acres. Our realtor is friends with a widow who is vacating her home - the house where she got married (right in the front yard!) and raised her family. Though it wasn't listed, he thought it was perfect for us - and he was right. It's a fantastic fit - the house we visited first and last. We wrote up an offer on the third day, and she accepted and signed it the same day. We were ecstatic.

It's a 1916 farmhouse with several updates and additions, and it's on 20 gorgeous acres. Four or five bedrooms and 2 baths, a large eat-in kitchen, a front porch and a screened in back porch... We both love it. It's more than we could have hoped for.

It will need some updating and a few projects - wood paneling and shag carpets to replace; pink bedroom walls to paint over; some flooring to upgrade. But even right now it's a lovely place. Some photo evidence:

Everyone did well in their respective homes during our days in VA, and we're back home at the mircofarm, amidst clouds of paperworks being gathered for our lender. The move is supposed to occur around Jan 4... And it finally is starting to feel like it's happening! Just four more weeks here in California before the eastward journey.