Pictures on the wall

from across the living room

As we are slowly continuing to unpack and settle in, I am still having bouts of disbelief where I find myself waiting to wake from this dream to find we are still living in that tiny apartment with no end to it in sight. Then I wake up and remember there are boxes to unpack and get a brilliant streak and do so. Today I realized that I hadn't really hung any pictures on the wall yet. Sure, I did my postcards in the office, but the family pictures, the ones that declare this as our home, where my family belongs, those were still wrapped and packed. So I unpacked them. Not all of them, mind you, but I made a great start.

Those handprints, by the way, are the kids' prints from their first days of kindergarten. They have the same poem on them and the date and the kids' names. I got frames for them so I could hang them up because they are so precious. The pictures with the circles are their school pictures, starting at kindergarten, with spaces for every year and then the large center is for the senior picture. It's amazing to see how much they have changed over time, but also how much they remain the same.

 I think the pets are adapting to the new house quite well. They both enjoy lounging and going outside to torment the birds and squirrels. Here Paka is watching out the front window to see the mailman as he approaches. You have to look close in the other picture to see Sam, lounging on the back of the couch, waiting for Hubby and I to get home.