Goodbye....

As we settle in here in KC, I am feeling a little homesick for Colorado. We have several weeks yet to wait until we are in our new house. Each day I wonder how we will ever make this new house our "home". We still don't quite feel like Kansans even though we are both from Kansas and at this point, we have lived more years in Kansas than we have in Colorado. So, here is my "Ode to Our Home in Colorado".

Goodbye playroom that looks so ridiculously clean. We spent many hours playing in here but you never looked quite like this. The wii, the Legos, the race tracks, the forts, the crafts. 

Goodbye family room. This room holds so many wonderful memories. We celebrated Colin's 3rd birthday here just shortly after we moved to Erie. Easter mornings were filled with delighted boys digging through their candy baskets. Santa came down that chimney six years in a row despite the fact that my boys were sometimes obnoxious. Although the furniture changed a bit over the years, this is the room where I rocked my sweet boys, bandaged their cuts, checked their fevers and nursed a broken arm, two sets of stitches and one set of staples. This is the family room where we had 312 Friday Family Fun Nights. So many wonderful memories of family gathering for holidays or just for no reason at all. This is the room I will miss the most.

Goodbye Breakfast Nook. You served us well. We prayed over our meals, watched the birds and did our homework in this room. Many mornings we were able to wave good morning to our neighbors in our pajamas and bath robes. We replaced the screen on that well used sliding door once and probably should have replaced it again from wear before we moved. Birthday cakes were celebrated on this table. Colin had years 3-8. Cam had years 2-6. I won't share mine or Steve's but let's just say we aged a bit.

Goodbye Formal Family room. I can't really say that I will miss you except for the fact that you were the only clean room in the house most days.

Goodbye Kitchen. While I did not love you, I did spend a lot of time here. My new appliances were wonderful and the old appliances were never missed. However, I didn't have a lot of time to enjoy the newness. We were just on the verge of remodeling the kitchen and it would have looked amazing when we were finished. In this kitchen there were countless loaves of banana bread and pumpkin bread prepared. It only took me about 2 years to perfect the high altitude recipes. I was so proud of myself. This is the room were everyone gathered during a party. If I remember correctly, our record was 37 people in the house for a gathering. You served us well. Again, not since the day we moved in has the kitchen looked this clean. But clean or messy, the great memories are still the same. This is where the streamers were hung for Birthdays. This is where the cookies were baked for school parties and where many sets of dirt covered hands were washed before dinner.

Colin's room. I know. Hard to recognize. I remember when he was 3 years old and taking naps in this room. I would lay down with him (only for a minute) and fall sound asleep in his bed with him. Trains and legos were built here. Many nights I slept on his floor when he was sick or scared. Many nights of Steve reading bedtime stories and saying prayers. I used to go into Colin's room when I needed to feel peace. Even in all of its clutter, his room just felt peaceful to me. This room calmed me. I think it calmed him too.

Cam's room went through a serious transformation from his nursery to his big kid room. Gone are his sweet Noah's Ark animals. Gone are the hints of pastel colors. This room was Cam through and through. We started with a crib in this room. Cam was just 15 months old when we moved into this house. I still remember crying when we took out the crib and rocking chair from this room. My sweet baby Cam. No longer a baby but he still lets me rock him once in awhile. This room was filled with trinkets, change and a zillion things in between.

Steve spent two entire weeks painting these Batman Lego characters on Cam's walls. Cam has requested a rain forest and Arctic theme in his next room. Good luck Steve.

Goodbye Bedroom. Isn't it ironic that although I wanted this lovely reading chair in my bedroom the entire time we lived in this house, it was only placed there for staging the house for selling? We had a computer desk in this bay window the entire time we lived there. But doesn't this chair look great? I would have loved to sit with my coffee and read each morning. It never happened but it sure looks inviting now.

Ah, the basement. The glorious basement. This was supposed to be the space where we all hung out, watched movies, played board games, held poker nights....Instead it was the place that was wwwaaayyy cold in the summer time and served as a wonderful guest area for anyone to come and stay overnight. It served its purpose well enough even if we didn't use it everyday. It was an awesome space and probably sold our house for us.

The basement would not be complete without the bar. Behind those cabinets there are about 14 bottles of liquor..none of them full. Enough said.

Goodbye backyard. Although small, you were mighty. You took a beating from my two boys and anyone else that trampled on your grounds. Often there were four children and at least one dog running back and forth. Many dinners were served out here. Many beers were consumed out here. Many smores were made out here. Many laughs were heard out here. Although I could not grow a garden worth a darn in the yard because of all of the trees, I still loved this back yard. The boys had outgrown the space but when you have great neighbors that share their yard too, it became all the space we needed.

Goodbye Cottonwood trees. You won't be missed at all. We do have trees in our new yard. However, they are not Cottonwood trees. They are not close to the house and there will not be nearly as many leaves to rake this fall. Yippee!

And the most difficult of all....goodbye neighbors. That gate between the fences....we had to fix three times in the five years that it was used. We installed it a year after we moved in. That trampoline was a magnificent signal that someone was outside and ready to play. When those blinds opened in the morning I knew I could tell my kids, "The Lee's are awake. Let's give them a few minutes to get up and around before we bombard them with a phone call for a play date". Many beers were shared over this fence. Many stories were shared in laughter and love. Tears were cried. Hugs were given. Celebrations were cheered. I get more homesick looking at this house than I do looking at my own. Knowing the character of people that live here...we know those friends will be unmatched.

 Goodbye blue house on the corner with the trees and the playhouse in the back yard across from the dirt ball fields (that's how we would describe our house to anyone that needed directions to our place). Goodbye block parties in Wiggett. Goodbye Santa that comes by on the firetruck each Christmas. Goodbye Halloween nights that surpassed all others. Goodbye impromptu walks with neighbors and play dates with friends. Goodbye Erie. You will be missed.