Goodbye North Aurora!

Hello again! And my apologies for yet another blogging lapse! You'll be pleased to hear I have no further complaints regarding our unsold house in Illinois. A nice couple from Chicago got an amazing deal on our charming little abode and we closed one month ago. Done deal. I don't really want to talk about the almost $90,000 we lost in the process, (it kind of taints my good memories of a very special place) so we'll just say that things didn't turn out exactly as we hoped. Our final departure was bound to be rough...I still can't talk about walking out of William's room or taking down his swing in the backyard without crying. I know how every room in that house feels, at every time of day, in every season of the year. Knowing those walls contained our most important conversations, heard our loudest laughter, and were shelter for our saddest tears made leaving hard. It's best our goodbye was swift...one good cry and out the door. It's still weird to think of someone else cooking in "my" kitchen, soaking in "my" bath tub, sleeping in "my" bedroom...but the exciting news is that we're moving on. Finally.

With that chapter officially closed we've picked up the pace on our remodel at hand. Time is still our biggest problem, but we try to use every spare minute to do something house-related. Unfortunately, those spare minutes are hard to come by. Jason usually ends up at the house after kids are in bed, working until midnight or later. I don't think I've introduced our "new" house yet, so let me give you a quick tour:

Big problem...I have to feed a family of 7 out of this teeny kitchen. There's no eat-in space, so we'll be "dining" in our dining room for every meal...sounds like a lot of work to me. I'm banking on peanut butter sandwiches outside during nice weather.

The only bathroom in the house...ouch. And how lovely it is.  I refuse to share bathroom space with 6 boys, so we're squeezing the smallest kids bathroom you've ever seen between the bedrooms upstairs and one more in the basement. A girl's got to have something to herself when so outnumbered!

Kind of nervous about the built-in. The triplets are a three-man wrecking crew...I might have to cover this with something protective for a year or ten.

Mark my words...someday Jason and I are going to have leisurely coffee and conversation on this sunny porch.

William's little bitty room. Jason has to duck when entering, but kids don't need a lot of space. I think it's "cozy."

Three cribs will fit just right.

From the looks of the sign, we'll have owned this house for 2 years yesterday. Found out I was having triplets October 18th 2010. Bought the house exactly one month later. TWO YEARS later...we're ready to get going. Best laid plans, right?

As you can see, we have our work cut out for us. These pictures were taken pre-gut (all rooms are now down to the studs), so it's current condition is slightly less "livable", if you can imagine. We think there's lots of potential...let's just hope we can bring out it's best now that we have the green light. We won't exactly be "home" for the holidays, but we're expecting to be moved in by spring, at the latest. I have tons to tell you about the kids (it's been 4 months since I've mentioned them!), so I promise there will be further updates this week. Until then, look out East Street....here we come!