We're Moving!

Things happen when you least expect them to. That is certainly the case for us right now. Our story starts in late January, when we started thinking about putting our house on the market. We had been talking for the past two years about what we should do, whether we should stay in our current home and add on, tear it down and start all over, or move. Each option was good and bad in its own way, but deep deep down, I really felt a calling to be in the community where my kids go to school. Although we love our neighborhood and the area where we live, it's just a weird feeling to have your kids go to school in one place while you live in another. I felt suspended between two communities, part of each one but not fully immersed in either.  In late January, we finally made the decison that we were ready to move to make that happen. We called a realtor and began having the discussion about getting the house ready to show. There was quite a long list of things that needed to be done, many of which were no surprise to me. Replace the paint stained carpet in the basement. Repaint the walls in said basement where kids had drawn murals. Paint the exterior of the home. Rent a pod and do major decluttering and staging. And the list went on and on...

As we packed for our trip up north over Presidents' Day weekend, we were given the option to have a couple take a look at the house while we were gone. At this point, we had literally done not one thing on that list. We were nowhere near ready to put the house on the market. But we didn't want to pass up the opportunity, so we said yes. We headed out at 5 pm on Friday and they arrived at 5:30 pm. On Saturday morning, they made an offer.

This offer was a blessing in so many ways. Not only did it solidify that we were heading to Edina, which I so desperately wanted, it gave us the opportunity to sell our house without having to do one showing, one open house. I didn't do a single thing on that list. The stress of having to get the house "show ready" with four kids was such a big task that I honestly don't even know how I would have done it. I am so thankful that the sale of our house was such a painless and easy experience. And it really solidified that we did have a great house in a high demand neighborhood. We were lucky to bring home three newborns to that house, make some amazing memories, and "live" in every square inch of that space. And now we are ready to pass it on to the next lucky family!

The other blessing that came about because of the sale of our house is that we quickly found a new home. Honestly, if we hadn't sold our house so quickly, we would have missed this one because it would have been snatched up before we would have had a chance. Because we sold ours so fast, we were ready to make an offer the day this one popped up. It is in what I've been calling my dream neighborhood for many years. I always said maybe one day I would be able to live in one of the 550 homes that make up this historic neighborhood, and my maybe is now. Not only that, but it's one of my favorite styles, a center hall colonial. Someone pinch me.

Now, because this home is historic, it needs some work. Ok, it needs a LOT of work. As was the case with our current home, the previous owners have lived in it for over 50 years, and they haven't touched anything in nearly that long. We will have to take one room at a time and make it over to what we want it to be, but that is an exiting prospect because we can really make it ours. It will also need a pretty big addition in the next few years to make it our forever home, which is what we really hope it will be. As of right now, it's almost the exact same size as our current house. So one day, it will be beautiful--just give us a few years to make it so!

We close in mid-April and will move in on April 30th, just in time for the kids to have one month adjusting to their new bus (and me adjusting to not having to drive them to the bus stop. I can just send them outside! Ok, I don't think that will take much adjusting!) I look forward to sharing before and after updates as we turn this house into our home!