Living in the Little House. Or maybe I should call this “chronicles from the Little House”. Anyway, I was a tiny bit nervous about moving back to our little house (moving from a 3600 sq ft.house to a 1400 sq ft. house is a big adjustment!), but so far I’m actually loving it! Granted sharing one tiny bathroom has been the biggest struggle, but everything else…..no problem. We were even able to fit all of our stuff into the Little House (with a few of our larger pieces of furniture being loaned out to my mom……like my long dining room table, wicker patio set and our sectional couch).
Moving from the country to the city has been a big environmental change. Every time I hear a car door slam I involuntarily look out the window to see who has stopped by for an unexpected visit only to see that it’s the neighbor arriving home from work!
For the kids the change has been pretty huge. We’ve had several conversations about “Stranger Danger”. On Tuesday Jeremiah and Natalie came into the house carrying a child’s army style coat. They said a lady stopped while they were playing in the front yard and said to give the jacket to their mom. They had no idea who the lady was or why she gave them the jacket, but they said they had a nice long conversation with her……oops…….never thought about the constant movement of people in a neighborhood verses the constant movement of the breeze in the country! We never figured out where the jacket came from and I was so weirded out by the whole situation that I put it in the trashcan on trash day.
Speaking of trash that’s another big change……in the city they pick up your trash EVERY week! On Thursday four or five garbage trucks lumbered down our road. I’m just unsure what 2 or 3 of those trucks were actually collecting, but I must admit it’s nice not having to take a trip to the dumpsters every few days. Let me tell you……Thursday is the best day of the week for the kids…..they LOVE watching those garbage trucks and dash to the door every time they hear the “basura”. Yep, 6 years ago Carlos loved the trash trucks too and that Spanish word is still used in our everyday conversations.
Since our dryer needed a different type of electrical cord, I have been using the clothes line to dry our clothes and I love it! Growing up we hardly ever used our dryer except on rainy or wintery days and even as a young girl I liked hanging out the clothes. So I am enjoying the extra time outside and a (hopefully) lower electric bill. The only down side is a lack of clothes pins and the ginormous piles of laundry that our family generates. So I’m re-thinking my one-day-a-week laundry day especially since it takes most of the day for the clothes to dry and I only have enough pins for 2-3 loads of clothes…….yes, we have about 6-7 loads of laundry every week.
Yes, this is Jadyn having a big ol cry fest in the middle of street!
I have also come to the conclusion that my kids are total rednecks! Crazy things think that they own the street and find it perfectly normal to ride their scooters down the road barefooted! They are definitely enjoying having more pavement to play on……since our old driveway was gravel the only place to ride bikes and scooters was the deck…….not very spacious. Natalie and Jeremiah have tried riding every wheeled “vehicle” in the shed down the driveway and road. Jeremiah learned the hard way that wagons do not make sharp turns very well…..poor kid flipped himself right out and that was the end of riding the little red wagon. The favorite riding toy is the skateboard……Natalie and Jeremiah BOTH sitting on it flying down the road……did I mention barefooted?!?!? Crashing doesn’t seem to deter them very much since they’ve hit trashcans and curbs multiple times and still love riding that skateboard down the road. Ben pretty much sticks to his scooter.
But it’s not just the kids who are enjoying the extra pavement. We have taken walks together as a family almost every night this week……love sidewalks. This afternoon we walked to the library and checked out a few books and walked home.
House of Smooches 