As with everything Jody and I do, we looked and looked, researched and researched, hemmed and hawed before we made a decision. We must have looked at the model home that we finally settled on at least a dozen times. It was at the point when all other houses began to be compared to this one model that we knew we had found “the one”.
I also remember very distinctly the first night we moved in. Jody was on the couch in the living room and I was in the front formal living room. Jaden was only about 4-5 months old at the time. Jody and I looked at each other and said “Oh my good this place is huge!” Now we have 4 of us and two dogs here and it has gotten so much more crowded.
There are kids constantly coming and going here, especially on weekends. Jaden and Jaime and all of their friends end up in our pool. Our front door is like a revolving door on most weekends with kids coming and going - running home to get their bathing suits, or a change of clothes.
I will give Jody the credit for the pool – it was all his idea and I am happy we put it in when we first built the house. It does sit unused for half of the year, but come summertime it is a source of entertainment for the kids for hours on end. It is where both of our kids learned to swim at a very early age, and they are great swimmers.
Sometimes when we look around the house we wonder if we will be able to sell it and move… ever. But, in all reality I really love it here. It is where we have raised our children for the past 9 years. We know the houses flaws and cracks and we know it is getting older and we need to start putting more work into it to maintain it. It is smaller than we would want right now, but when all is said and done, I still love it. And besides, don't we all need a little more work to maintain ourselves these days?
Our house it has a crowd
There's always something happening
And it's usually quite loud
Our mum she's so house-proud
Nothing ever slows her down
And a mess is not allowed
Our house, in the middle of our street
Our house, in the middle of our...
- Madness
12 days and counting!