The Wilkinsons: Here are we are

in the new house!!! What a ride is was to get here (and I don't mean the U Haul!) As everyone knows we had more than a little trouble at closing. Two hours before the rescheduled closing (as we were packing the moving truck) the bank called and said they would not be able to close. We had a hectic half hour but our Realtor came through and got us the keys to the house so we could unload into the garage and a room at a hotel so we could have a place to sleep. I guess you could say we were homeless for about 22 hours. Thursday came around and we waited to hear from the bank as to whether or not we could close. They contacted us around 10:00 and we were set to close at 3:00 pm that afternoon. When we showed up to close we discovered they didn't have the deed and so the half hour it was supposed to take turned into almost 2 hours. It ended up OK and we found out afterwards that the foreclosure company and our bank were having so much difficulty communicating our Realtor called a meeting with the bank president to attempt to salvage the deal!! What a mess!

Mimi in the U Haul. It took two loads and a lot of hours...thank goodness Mom came and helped!!

Yes, this is how Junie B rode to the new house, on my dashboard. And yes, I took pictures of her on the dashboard while driving. She actually settled down and enjoyed it (I think...)

The hotel stay was less than desirable (I never sleep well in a hotel) but the hot tub was a welcome treat after that long day!!

This is the surprise fire pit in the back yard. We had know idea it was there as the yard was covered with snow when we made an offer on the house. We can't wait to use it this summer.

This is how the swing set came over and Andrew got a lot of weird looks but the girls were happy to have it back together and in one piece.

Now the fun begins!!! Paint selection has been fun and there are a lot of rooms to paint!! So far we are focusing on the main living area and the girl's rooms.

Mimi wanted light pink for her room. Her bedding is a really pretty light blue and her bed is in Duluth. We also have to paint her bookcase and hang her curtains.

Here is Ellie's purple room. Unfinished of course. She's using Auntie Natalie's daybed but it's still in Duluth . We also have to hang curtains and put up the chair rail that will separate the two colors.

Here is the family room in the process of being painted. Andrew wanted blue gray and Mom assisted by picking out a lovely color called Indian Tears. We really like it, it makes the fireplace really stand out and the black furniture looks nice down there. It's also where the TV will be (is actually).

We had no closet shelves in the three nedroom closets and so we decided to design (we meaning Andrew) it online and get it all cut at Home Dept. It's nice to be able to put clothes away and Ithink this is the first time Andrew and I have actually shared a closet.