Sorry it has taken me this long to get you an update on our new house.  We are 2 months into the design process with our architect and it is going really well.  We had our latest meeting last week and have finalized the floor plans and the roof lines/shape of the house.  Here is a quick sneak preview of the house for you (this is a very rough draft, but I think you get the idea of where we are going with this!)

We have also decided to try to sell the current house that is on the lot rather than just demolish it.  We think this is a good decision for a few different reasons.  First, it is a much better way to recycle a whole lot more of the house (ie, the WHOLE house), than if we took bits and pieces of it and tried to sell or give it away to various organizations (Habitat for Humanity, Architectural Clearing House, etc...).  And secondly, it is a way for us to make some money off the sale of the house AND save even more money on the demolitions costs (which can be upwards of $50-60,000 for a two story house).  And believe it or not there are companies that exist who do just this.  They come in, find buyers for your house and arrange all the moving/deconstruction of said house.  The logistics of moving a two-storey house are a bit more complicated, but we are confident that we can get this done.

And the bonus of doing this (we hope) is that it puts us in the good, or at least better, graces with our new neighbors.

You all know how much I love this property (and really pushed for the deal to go through) and this point was really driven home to all of us this fall when we went to spend some family time over in our 'new' backyard.  The trees are simply AMAZING at this time of the year and then the HUMONGOUS piles of leaves were so much fun for everyone!  Granted, it took us three weekends to go over there and rake them all up (and there is still more to do), but I think the FUN and future family time in that yard is going to more than make up for it!!  Here are just a few pictures for you to get an idea of what my fall seasons are going to be like from now on.