first week of school, furniture shopping, two weekend festivals

 last tuesday was the kids' first day of school. they were pretty nervous to enter a new type of school (middle and high), in a new city with no one they know. i don't blame them! but they put their bravest faces on (so did i) and they headed out the door. 

azalea walks half a mile to her school and ashford is taking a school bus for the first time. 

the first day flew by for me! it was nice to be able to focus on work and some move-in tasks with thatcher. he still has a couple weeks until he starts his new job. our sectional couch got delivered in the morning, which was exciting! 

the living room is dark, but we're working on that. the black "rug" is just a moving blanket :) 

the kids got home in the late afternoon, and the consensus was their days went well overall, but they were both exhausted from all of the new logistics and people. i'm so proud of them! in the evening, ashford had a zoom piano lesson with his teacher in seattle and my friend em stopped by after work to see our house. 

wednesday after the kids headed off to school, thatcher and i drove down to burnsville to go to a couple furniture stores. we found a dining table, a console table, living room rug, end table, and bench for by the door. success! things are slowly coming together. 

we only took some of the items home right away.

after dinner, azalea and i went to my cousin jenna's to watch the latest episode of 'the summer i turned pretty' with one of jenna's friends. it was a fun night and such a novelty to be able to do something like that now. 

thursday morning my mom stopped over to see the furniture updates. i worked and did more unpacking (when will it end?!). thatcher rented a u-haul and drove down to burnsville to pick up our dining table and console table. it was really heavy, so thatcher's friend jason came over to help us get it in. 

it has a 'live edge' which we love about it. this room will get painted soon.

friday morning i met up with my friend sarah m for coffee. we hadn't seen each other in 7-8 years, so it was really nice. i met her through blogging in 2012 but she actually went to the same high school and college as me, just 3 years ahead. we did more unpacking and arranging of rooms. after azalea got out of school my friend karen picked her up and took her out for ice cream to celebrate, which was so nice. then she stopped over to see the house. after dinner, my mom and john stopped over and brought warm apple crisp. the way to my heart! 

saturday morning my brother stopped over to see house updates and then the kids, he, and i went to the 'greek festival' at st. mary's church (where we had our wedding reception). we used to go to it when we lived here before. there is food, dancing, craft booths, etc. we got gyros for lunch and i ran into an old acquaintance, which was fun. 

in the afternoon, i took azalea shopping for more stuff for her room. she finally found bedding she likes :) then we all headed to durant and cheryl's for dinner. i'm not sure when the novelty will wear off from being able to see our family whenever we want, i hope it never does. then they came back to our house to see house updates. lots of that last week :) 

sunday morning azalea and i picked up my mom to head to the 'fall into the arts' festival at centennial lakes. i had never been to this one before, but i love art fairs. it was a really pretty spot for it.

in the afternoon thatcher met up with a group of old urban studies friends. we made dinner and finally set up our tv and caught up on some youtube series' that we all watch together. 

onto week 2 of school!