The Times They Are A-Changin'

Well, we've been in this house for almost 7 years and will be moved out by the end of this month. Read that sentence again...yes it happened that quickly for us also. This came as a surprise to us two weeks ago when our landlord stopped Tom outside on a Sunday afternoon and told him we'd have to start looking for a new place to live. We're pretty much the ideal tenants, but unfortunately his family is having some major issues that apparently will be resolved if his adult kids move back in with them. Yes, I am annoyed and bummed that it wasn't really our choice to move out of here. But, it's his house and he can do with it as he pleases, it just sucks that we had to find something so quickly because of their emergency. The day we found out we drove to Granada Hills and looked at 2 houses. If it were me by myself I probably would have signed a lease right then and there. Not because I loved, or even liked the place, just because I was stressed and didn't want to be homeless. Since Tom is pursuing his illustration we felt like it would be beneficial to be down near LA more. We looked at probably 25 houses from here in Simi Valley down to Montrose in the last two weeks. We decided that Burbank, Glendale and Montrose would be good options for us, and we happened to narrow it down to 3 homes, one in each city. We officially signed our new lease for the house in Burbank last night. We couldn't be happier with our decision. The house has almost everything we were wanting and is less than the other ones we had narrowed it down to. It's a duplex, but definitely feels like a single family home. It's in a quiet residential area, but still very close walking distance to a large library, 3 parks, the bank, stores, restaurants and coffee shops. It's only 4 miles from the LA Zoo where we have a family membership for this year. Plus, we're only about a mile and a half to Tom's parents house and 2 of his sisters. We are so sad to leave this house, but knew it would happen someday. It may as well be now since we're getting more and more cramped with all of Jack's things. I'm looking forward to having a separate room for Jack, as well as more storage space inside the house. At our current house we've been spoiled with a 2 car garage which will be downsized to a 1 car garage in the new place. We're overwhelmed, but kind of looking forward to getting rid of things that we don't need.

Right now they're doing some work on it: painting, replacing the toilet and screen doors and refinishing the original hardwood floors. We should be able to start moving in on Saturday the 19th, but don't need to be out of here until the 1st of April. We're planning on making this a pretty gradual move. I can't tell you how many times I've cried about leaving this house and all of the memories we've had here. One thing that I've had to keep in mind is that although we've built memories here, we'll take those memories with us and build new ones in the new house. Now that we actually have a place that we're excited about it definitely helps though. Pictures to come soon. As long as I remember that I even have this blog. :)

It's a New Year!

Man, I am slacking. I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted on here! We had an awesome Christmas and a relaxing new year's. Christmas Eve we went on a hike up Rocky Peak Trail here in Simi. We had amazing views at the saddle which is where we stopped and turned around. Tom says it's about 5 miles round trip. It was more of a climb than I expected which meant I was tired and cranky, but when we got to the top and got this amazing view, it made it more than worth it.

View at the saddle of Rocky Peak Trail in Simi Valley

Nursing my boy at the top

After the hike we spent Christmas Eve with my dad and stepmom and her family out in Santa Clarita. It was more low-key than past years, but it was really nice. Christmas morning we opened gifts at our place before heading to La Cresceta to have lunch with Tom's Grandparents. After that we headed over to Burbank to have dinner with his other grandparents. It sounds like a lot, but actually was very relaxing.

Christmas Morning at our House

Reading his new book with Daddy

All these new toys and he goes back to his giraffe!

I can't believe the munchkin is already 6 months old! It's true what everybody warned me about, it goes by way too fast! Here's our sweetie in his monthly photo shoot. :)

6 Months old on Christmas Day!

Loves feeding himself :)

We're heading to AZ on Thursday for my Mom's 50th birthday party! I'm so excited to see them again as well as the rest of my family. Tomorrow is my Mom's and Tom's birthday and Thursday is actually Kari's birthday! It's a very exciting week for our family. :)