Firsts.......

Well, the first week in the new house has passed now. Here's a recap of some of the firsts we've had during the first week in our new home!

Kiddo's first chore in the new house: picking up sticks in the front and back yards so I could mow the jungle that was our lawn. She did a surprisingly great job!




The first time the living room and dining room (pictured below) hardwood floors saw daylight in 44 years, following the removal of that heinous, mauve carpet you can still see on the stairs...



First Sunday Night Nachos (a Mr. & Mrs. Smith weekly tradition) in the new house. The first actual meal I cooked on the stove was macaroni and cheese for Kiddo, not counting reheating pizza and other meals sent over by lovely friends. Haaaate the new stove/oven, and the range hood fan is horrendous - though I did almost convince Kiddo the "fan" is actually a hive of bees sucking air up through straws because the noise is that loud and buzzy - but they work well enough so we're living with them for now - we'll see what we do about appliances when we get to the Great Kitchen Renovation this fall.



First exploration of the new neighborhood! Kiddo had a half day on Monday, so she and I went scootering and walking around the nabe, meeting several lovely neighbors (though alas, none were the Jackman family like the dream I had a few weeks ago) in the process.



(To get back to our house, in case we were at all uncertain where home was, we just had to find the pile o' ugly carpeting and padding that was awaiting collection by the garbage man. The morning they picked it up and carted it off was a great joy to us, but caused great dismay to the chipmunks who were merrily setting up a home inside some of the rolls...

)

The first time Kiddo wore this new outfit, because we had a few days of crazy hot temperatures, like midsummer in mid-spring! Kiddo is doing her big, jazz hands finish here to a song she was singing ("No One Loves You Any Better Than Your M-O-double M-Y" as recorded by John Lithgow). Now, I had asked her to stop on our way out the door that morning to drive to school and give me a smile so I could capture her cuteness. Being my daughter, she can't content herself with a quick smile for the camera, and instead must launch into a full-on song-n-dance routine.



The first grilled dinner, done for the first time on the new grill (our old one, which was little more than rust molecules held together by a thin residue of Delicious Meals Past, died when Hubby tried cooking on it last weekend). This was followed by the first eating on the back patio, which was lovely despite a few bothersome moments due to bite-y gnats and no-see-'ums. Once the boxes have moved off the lanai and the lanai furniture arrives (we're getting my late grandparents' set that my parents have in storage at the farm), we will be able to dine alfresco but not be bugged by bugs, which will be delightful. For now, the lanai is primarily enjoyed by the boxes and Crazy Cat goes crazy watching all the wildlife in the back yard.


(No, this picture wasn't at all staged, really. Why would you even think that? ;) )

From earlier today, the first ice cream of the season! Okay, actually this isn't ice cream, but rather Abbott's Frozen Custard, which Hubby has always sworn is better than any ice cream in the world. Kiddo didn't disagree, exactly, either....



The first feeding of the ducks on the Erie Canal of the season, which also occurred earlier this afternoon:



So, we have gotten a lot accomplished already (and by "we" I mean "mostly Hubby because he is absolutely amazing at the amount of stuff he can accomplish in a short time and I'm seriously in awe") and we have a lot left to do. There have been a few surprises along the way, like discovering the return air ducts that should draw air out of our bedroom and Kiddo's bedroom instead don't connect to anything and are drawing air out of the space between the floor and the ceiling. That'll be a several hundred dollar professional repair job next week, which has pushed the carpet installation out by a week, which pushes the "getting the office and family room stuff moved out of temporary spaces and set up properly" project out by a week as well... but we're persevering, enjoying the neighborhood (it is SO much quieter than the old neighborhood, which we never even thought was that noisy!) and getting settled in, removing the Eau d'Oldster and replacing it with Eau d'Fresh Paint (Soft Linen and Garden Moss are the first two colors going up, we've yet to settle on a shade of pink for Kiddo's room and haven't even given any thought to the bathrooms yet) instead.

Hope everyone else is enjoying a paint-fume and wallpaper-removal free weekend, especially those of you celebrating a long, holiday weekend. If you want to see photos of the renovation, Hubby has started a blog to document our progress and I would be happy to point you that way; just send me an email and I'll give you the link! Alternatively, I've been posting pictures on Facebook, so if you aren't one of my Facebook friends and want to be, you can see all the photos your heart desires of the house project there as well - just friend me, baby!

More to come, with Kiddo's birthday, kindergarten class field trip to the zoo and birthday party all in the coming week!