The final night of Hanukkah was last night, so we couldn’t figure a better way to celebrate than to postpone it to this morning. We invited my parents over for breakfast and to light the final set of candles when Ezra was awake and attentive (sort of) instead of late in the evening. There is something quite magnificent about a fully lit menorah…

In year’s past a trip up to the mountains has been common enough that it was particularly blog-worthy. This year, however, between a growing kid and a new house, the trips to the mountains have been able to be marked by the fingers on one hand (and you don’t even have to use your thumb or middle finger). Ahna had worked an early day at the start of the school year and therefore had been able to exchange those hours for Friday off. Turns out that it worked out better than we could have planned a few months ago, with so much to do before heading out for Christmas. I took the morning and went up to Arapahoe Basin and made some turns for a few hours, including a few runs with some good friends that I ran into in the parking lot. Ahna took the afternoon to take care of a few things that were on her to-do list. Productivity meets necessity meets a day off.

Let the events begin.

Sunday brought along a nice interlude for Ezra: Olivia. Olivia is a daughter of a friend who came down and spent the mid-day hanging out and playing with Ezra. The two of them played in Ezra’s new playroom for the better part of 4 hours, with a lunch break sandwiched in there. While the two of them hung out, Ahna and I worked on the kitchen…and got it completely set and ready to go. It was a lot of fun to find new places for things and to set out the place with space as an actual option…not to cram as much stuff into a corner as possible.

After spending 24 hours in the new house, all of our dreams about what this place will bring to us have come to fruition (we will see how those fare over the course of time): Ezra is loving the new space. We are loving the new space. The opportunities to all be together have multiplied exponentially by having a more open floor plan. The kitchen is great. The garage and basement are great. The bedrooms are great, and the master bath is perfect. So far, so great.

The interfaithness of our house took center stage tonight as we hosted a candle lighting and music fest celebrating the third night of Hanukkah. After a quick bite to eat, the three of us headed out and got our first Christmas tree in the new place. We were able to set it up and decorate it with lights before calling it a day. PS – some trees don’t fit into the old school tree stands – even 6ft ones. And sometimes you are lucky with the local hardware store only has one tree stand left, and it happens to fit your new tree with the only-slightly oversized trunk.

I suppose that you figured out by now that they lack of posts in the past few days is directly proportional to the amount of time carrying boxes from one house to another. We moved! It’s about 98% done…just a few things to still pick up at the other house and a bit of cleaning to do before calling it all good. It’s a really nice thing that we have no time pressure to get that stuff done, so free time over the next week will be spent at the old place.

Quick digression to Friday night: the first night of Hanukkah. We spent the evening down at my parent’s house enjoying a meal of homemade latkes. We were joined by Bob and Leslie (neighbors of my parents) and enjoyed a lot of good conversion, excellent food, and gift giving. Bob and Leslie brought along a new menorah – a fire truck – and it was joined by two other family menorahs to create quite the light display. The new fire truck menorah is great….partially because it’s a fun part of a fun holiday, and mostly because it’s a ladder truck.

Ah, Saturday. The day of the big move. Let’s keep this simple: we have amazing friends that brought amazing amounts of energy. Troy, Joe, Jason, , Mike, Geoff, Justin, Jennifer, Tori, Tom, and Mom and Dad all worked their butts off to move us to the new place. We were expecting to be able to move just the big pieces in the few hours that we asked for. Instead, we were able to move almost everything. It was great. We spent the better part of the evening doing what people do when they arrive at a new place: unpack.

For the past couple of days we have been going in the house using the front door, then unlocking the garage door and raising it manually. When we left, we would pull the car out, close the garage door, lock it, then go through the house and out the front door. I am quite certain that you are familiar with the routine of life with a manual garage door opener.

Enter the electronic kind. It’s been a long time since we have not had an opener. It’s been an equally long time since I realized how much something as simple as a garage door opener makes you feel at home. Going in and out of the front door all of the time brings a sort of ‘visitor’ quality with it. Being able to pull into the driveway, hit a button, and park inside – it’s nothing short of special privilege that only the homeowner gets to enjoy. Smiles all around.

The move is going steadily. More trips to the house today, but they have been a little tempered since Ezra was part of the cycle back and forth. Things will heat up over the next two days, with the big move happening on Saturday.

Here’s a picture of Ezra hanging out in the new place…

Okay, it’s a little more than that.

I have to explain why there has been a relative lack of updates recently. Although there are several reasons for this, most of which we are choosing not to discuss on the blog (don’t worry, we are fine), a primary reason is that we have decided to move. We needed a complete change of scenery, a new vibe, a new lifestyle, and most importantly a larger house. So we are picking up our things and trucking a half mile down the road.

The reason that this has been a hinderance on the updates (other than the obvious need to pack, need to find financing, need to close, etc) is that this has all gone down in the last 4 weeks. From ‘oh, let’s look at that house’ to closing has taken a whopping 3.5 weeks – and that includes the Thanksgiving holiday.

We closed on the new house last Friday and are in the middle of two homes right now. We are slowly packing and getting small stuff moved over to the new space, and will have the help of friends this upcoming Saturday for the big items. This past week we painted the basement and added temporary paper blinds to the house so it’s move-in ready.

The house itself is a brand new place with 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a great room, a bonus room, and a 3 car garage (Read: room to grow. Although there are only designs on that for now, nothing solid). We are really looking forward to the space that it will provide Ezra, as well as the ability for us to be able to do things like cook without having us on separate floors. We love the townhome and adore the space, but the layout (3 different floors) is really troublesome and difficult with a child.

So far Ezra loves the new place and is often seen running at full speed all over the place. The first signs of wonder surfaced last night when he went to his bookshelf in his current room – all of the books have been packed but the shelf remains – stared for a moment, turned, then asked “book?” It’ll only be for a couple of days…

We’ll update you as to the progress of the new place as we settle in. If you would like our new address, please send us an e-mail and we’ll get it right over.

Hard to believe that it’s already been a year.

December 7, 2008, Tim Abernethy was on duty as a Houston Police Officer. During a ‘routine’ (I hate that word) traffic stop, things turned really ugly and Tim was murdered by the person whose car he pulled over. He lived his life selflessly: serving his country in the Navy, serving his neighbors as a police officer, and serving his family as a father, husband, son, brother, and role model.

Tim: we miss you and promise to never forget your sacrifice. Your life serves as a daily reminder of what we should be doing to better ourselves and how to be better members of our community. We will never, ever forget.

I have the luck of being at work over this weekend and during this latest snow storm (they are saying 10-12 inches by Sunday’s end). One of the guys that I work with asked about capturing the snowfall in the flag lights with a photograph. Having no idea how to do this, a few quick attempts were made with surprisingly interesting results and I quite like them….