We now have one mortgage - and Spring is here!

Wow. We never could have anticipated all of the difficulties and complications inherent in building a house. It's been a very long process spanning nearly three and a half years from the purchase of the property till closing, and now it's done. And do we love it? Oh, yeah!

Our closing happened on March 5 (last Thursday). It was an email from the bank with a subject "the message you thought would never come." And it was so true. After all that time, the fact that it was finally going to happen was very hard to believe.

The first thing Brent and I did after the closing late on Thursday was buy wine. We were sitting in our banker's office and could see Holyfield Winery right across the street. And it had been a while since we had felt comfortable spending on a luxury like good wine - and it is good. We bought 6 bottles!

It was an awesome day and to top it all off it seemed like Spring started right then! The temperatures have been in the 50's, 60's and 70's ever since.

So, of course, we've spent every spare minute outside - like every other person :-)

The boys got to meet some of the neighbors. 

We started landscaping the front walkway.

And we put up some birdhouses that had been long-buried
in our Shawnee garage. We hope the wrens and bluebirds find our home inviting too!

 It feels like the whole world is celebrating with us. Even our neglected collection of Amaryllis bulbs seem to know it's time to smile.

Brent's giant red Amaryllis with an amazing 3 flower stalks (one isn't open)

I've started posting on Instagram, too. What a fun way to connect. I'm "gardenrambler" and you will see a lot of the same photos I post on the blog - but not so many words :-P