A Fall of Firsts

In the past week or so, we've had a lot of "firsts" around here.  To begin with, the twins had their first day of school, entering first grade (see KLC's blog for pics: http://hootnhowl.blogspot.com/2013/09/first-graders.html). On her post, you'll also notice that we also had the first visit from the Tooth Fairy to the family, whose going rate is $1 a tooth, by the way.

And, just this past weekend, we got to celebrate Iver's first birthday.  It's hard to imagine that it has been a full year since the little pumpkin came into our lives.  I managed not to get any good pics from the party where Iver got his first taste of cake and ice cream, but I think we'll be able to find something decent to post from the day.

Up next?  Our first double mortgage!  OK, that's not really the news.  Our next big thing is that we're closing on a new house next week.  It's not too far from where we live now, but it's slightly bigger and on a quiet street.  It's a mid-century modern house in great condition.  KLC and I got to meet the owner and his daughter accidentally when we went to look at the house (it's a long story but basically we thought there was an open house, but there wasn't.)

After looking at many houses over the past several months, there was something about this one that just clicked for us.  The owner has been there for the past 50 years -- yes, you read that right -- and it is a truly loved family home.  (As an example of how meticulous they kept the house, the dishwasher from 1972 in the kitchen still works.  I'm happy any time I can be introduced to a working appliance that is older than me.)

Alas, the dishwasher and the rest of the kitchen need some updating, obviously, so we will be embarking on our first renovation.  Unlike other handier members of my family, we won't be doing any of the work ourselves.  Rather we have hired an architect and will be getting a general contractor to do everything we can afford want done before we move in.  So even though we will close on the house in just a few days, we'll be staying in our current one probably through January and then putting this one up on the market.  The housing market in our part of the Seattle has been really good lately for sellers, so we're knocking on wood that this keeps up through the spring!