The Andersons Grow Up Overnight!

The past two months have been months of major change around here. Mid August while on vacation in Utah we purchased one of these little beauties.
Here she is: the newest member of our family.
It's true all you disbelieving friends that thought we would never make the plunge to mini-van status.....We own a van and we love it so much!
No more backbreaking bending to load up and buckle three kids into the backseat. Mike and I actually can say, "boys buckle up," and they can, because they can reach the buckles.
Oh the simple joys of life.

If that wasn't enough excitement for a while, we got home and on Labor day decided to buy a house. Gulp! It was never really in the plans to buy a house. People who know us, know that we are slow decision makers. Very slow. Purchases this big I expected would take us months to settle on, but somehow in one week it was done. Wow! we are still catching our breath.

How did this happen well...Our lease on our rental was up on October 1st. I wasn't thrilled about staying were we were. Our little house worked for us for this past year, but we needed and craved something more. Our boys needed room to play, we needed room to put stuff away, we wanted a street where boys could ride bikes etc... so Mike and I started looking for other rentals. We wanted to keep Will in the same school and Mike's commute to work is about as good as it gets not living in the city, so we started our narrow search only to be disappointed again and again. We craved a neighborhood with families, In my dream world I would love to be able to walk to and from school with the boys, we wanted space and a big yard. All this was a tall order, especially for rentals. We'd find a house for rent that might work, only to call and be shocked and horrified at the price. I consigned myself to signing another year lease, hoping by May we could maybe find something else. Then the Friday before Labor day, I took the boys to the park, our little park a couple streets over. It is right next to the neighborhood pool that we spent every summer afternoon swimming at. I've often admired the homes across the street from the Park. They have big backyards, are close to the park and pool and are about a five minute walk to the back entrance of Will's school.
Well this particular day, on the way home from the Park, I noticed a family was moving out of one of my "dream homes" I got up my nerve and pulled a very non-Anneish move and knocked on the door to ask if they were selling their home. Come to find out they were in a lease to own that wasn't going to work out, they gave me the names of the owners and well they were motivated sellers.
We feel so blessed. Buying a home made me a little nervous, because I don't want to be here forever, and the option of leaving when we want to and need to is nice when you rent, but this felt so right. I really feel like we have been directed to this spot and that Heavenly Father is mindful of our needs and desires.
The home needs a little work, but it was a perfect price for us in a perfect spot and how could we resist when it has a front door like this

And a slide off the deck like this

And big trees perfect for rope swings and a tree house.

And for bonus it has one of these in the driveway.

And if you look just up the street a way, you can see the neighborhood pool and park.

And I'm just a little excited about all the fun things we can do to this old house.

I've started painting like a mad woman.

We have now become the new home improvement do-it-yourselfers.

When we told some good friends about our major purchases they said, "Wow, it's like the Andersons grew up overnight."

It kind of feels like that.

Come visit, we'll give you a paintbrush :)