Keep the Faith

Happy Monday!
It is finally here, the week Mason and I leave for our surprise vacation. Okay, it's not a surprise anymore, he knows we are going to visit Julianne and her family in Northern Minnesota. We leave tomorrow afternoon and get in to Minneapolis late. We will spend the night and then visit the Mall of America on Wednesday. This little side trip is why I have encouraged and helped Mason make some spending money (by the way, he made $187!). I just couldn't imagine him in America's biggest mall with no spending money of his own. We went to the local mall yesterday and one of the kids shoe stores had Vans on sale, and for those of you who don't know, Mason loves the Vans line of shoes and clothes. He had planned to buy a pair of Vans when we got to MN, but hey, here we were and they were on sale. I loved watching him shop so mindfully when he was having to spend his own money! He sat for a moment and thought about how much he had made, what he wanted to buy while in MN (specifically, an unlimited ride wrist band for the amusement park) and made his decision about buying the shoes. LOVE IT!! It's moments like these that I feel like I am doing a good job as a mom.

On other important fronts, we found a place to rent! It's less than one mile from where we live now and basically, in the same neighborhood close to town and Mason's school. I am over the moon about what a lovely little house it is. It's a 3 bedroom/2 bath on a lot that is maybe a little smaller than where we are now. It has a deck of the whole back of the house with a portion of the deck covered with a ceiling fan for those warm nights when you want to be outside. There is no grass but other outdoor living areas with rock walk ways, lots of little planters, fall trees, a fig tree, a lemon tree, an apple tree and an outdoor fire pit. Oh, and another perk, it has a hot tub! The kitchen is small, but it is lovely, all white tile with newer appliances. Finally, there is a breakfast nook popping right out of the front of the house, just another fun, quirky feature of the house. Having lived in a larger space, we will have some adjustments to make, but all in all, this is a great place for us to live until it's time to make the big move. I'll send out change of address once we sign our lease and know for sure our deal is done! We also got word that our short sale has been approved and we close on 9/25 - perfect for our 9/15 move in to the new house. Finally, it feels like things are going our way and working out without a continuous stressful effort!

School starts for Mason this week, but he will miss the first four days as we'll still be summer vacationing. He and I will have to hit the ground running when we return late Monday as we will both have to get up early for school on Tuesday. Maybe I will enlist Dave to write next weeks Monday Motivator and share his adventures while we were gone, that might be fun! Have a great week and keep the faith, I know it hasn't been easy, but it sure feels good to have some things start to work out easily.