Home Is Where You Lay Your Hat.....

It's official- we sold our house in Michigan! Although we were hoping and praying for this day to come, at times we didn't believe it ever would.....part of me thought we'd end up dragging the kids back there because we couldn't sell the darn house. But somehow, our realtor performed a miracle (that and all of our wonderful neighbors and friends have been sending up their own prayers! Thanks by the way!) And, after all is said and done, and after all of the jumping up and down and hugging we did (heck, selling a house in Michigan right now is like winning the lottery!), I sat down and had a good cry :) That's the Charbonneau in me (and darn proud of it, right Jen?!) I got very sad to think that the house will have new people in it that will never know the memories that we made right there........and to think that the girls will never really know the beauty of that little house and the significance that it holds for us. Emma took her first steps right there in the living room, and cracked her little head right there on the breezeway step (woops! sorry emma!) And she said her first word in her bedroom ("book") and watched her first snowfall out the back window. She took her first baby bath on that kitchen counter and unwrapped her first Christmas present on that ugly brown carpeting in the corner. She colored her first wall in the kitchen and sat her first timeout under the thermostat.....and her second, and her 427th....... And yet she'll never remember this house. That makes me just a little sad. And Bela......she'll never have those firsts (except for the bath- she wishes she could forget that one though.....) in that little Linville house. We have a lot of memories in that little house with the ugly flesh colored exterior. Like when the sewer pipes busted a couple of days before Bela was born and poor Braden had to wade in waste and bugs in the crawl space to fix them. Boy did that smell foul......I can't imagine how it was for him! But Emma and I had a few laughs as we sat up in her bedroom saying "pee yoo!" and laughing. And that time I tried to plant a vegetable garden but felt bad for the baby bunny who kept coming to eat ALL of his meals in it....."What if he doesn't have a mom?" I would ask......needless to say, we didn't eat any vegetables that summer, but that bunny ate like a king. Haha, or how about when the power went out just a few days after bringing poor Bela home from the hospital? We wrapped her up in a down comforter and Braden worked like a dog to get the generator running (hmm.....poor Braden is working hard in all of these memories......what was I doing?) And all those times when Emma would mow the lawn with the bubble mower (when there was snow on the ground!). Our neighbors would laugh and laugh.......and I would just shiver and shiver. But that lawn had to be mowed. And all of those times Emma would require a trip outside just to see the little plastic bee in our neighbor's garden.....goofy girl! And the apple orchard we planted.....and then watched the deer eat! Oh the memories........how bittersweet they all are. But as one chapter ends (as my wonderful neighbor Deanna reminds me) another begins. Now we can begin looking for our own house of dreams (right Grandma Cobb? I'm re-reading the Anne books right now!) down here in South Carolina with unlimited memories that will fill it for years to come! And we can officially be the vacation spot now for any family member or friend who wants to drop in......at least we'll have more space than our dinky apartment I hope! Grandma and Grandpa are coming in less than a week and we are counting down the days, hours, minutes...... can't wait! I already told Emma that they were coming, so now whenever she hears the door, she thinks it's "gwamma".

So as we watch Emma throw her dirty little baseball cap (that smells like a gym) in the basket of shoes by the door, we realize that home really is where you throw your hat. Even if it's just a dinky apartment, it feels like home now. It's full of laughs and life and love, and more than that, it's full of dreams.......

Braden and I find this picture of Emma sooo funny, but it doesn't do the humor of the actual bathing suit justice. Emma calls it her "backpack bubble". What a nut! As for the last picture Jamie, Emma's best friend is our cat Scout. And Scout loves her just as much! She actually cries when Emma leaves the apartment (no kidding!), so snapping a pic of them together is really a very easy task. They play together very well (thank God!) and Scout takes a lot of Emma's abuse like a champ! That poor cat has been diapered, fed, dragged by the "collar" (no she doesn't actually have a collar, just neck fur), and snuck up on (Emma thinks it's funny when Scout's fur stands on end) and yet she still adores our Emma. We are soooo lucky!

Emma learned "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" which is about the funniest thing I have ever seen! She looks like a third base coach giving the signal to bunt. Her little hands are flying, pointing to every body part you can imagine, while singing the correct words! What a funny girl!

Niki, keep the dream alive and keep us stay at homebodies feeling like we too are climbing mountains (from our couches with a bag of m and m's in our hands!) Love your trailjournal!