"Normalizing"

We are getting a little more settled, though still not quite in a "routine." We closed on the house a little more than a week ago, and we received the first shipment of our household goods last Thursday. As these were the things we had in storage here in the U.S., there is a lot of furniture, but only one bed. There are also no dishes, so we can't quite live in the house yet. We have, however, succeeded in opening all the boxes except one, and all but about ten are unpacked! The rest of our stuff is due to arrive from Norway in a little more than a week. It will still need to clear customs, so who knows when it will actually be delivered.

Sidney is doing well in school. We had a conference with her teacher last week, and she is doing quite well academically. Her only real issues are talking a bit too much (really?!?) and not walking quietly in line in the hallway. She also tends to get off task (another big surprise!) and needs a little re-direction at times. She still loves reading and has also developed a nice interest in science.

Kimber is beginning her planning for her trip to Norway in mid-October. She will probably be leaving about the time our stuff gets delivered and unpacked. Oh, and we bought a bag of cherry tootsie pops for you, Gwynne!

We spent much of yesterday buying cars. We were able to find a used 2011 Hyundai Sonata Limited at a local Toyota dealer. It is a very nice, comfortable family car and easy for Kimber to drive, as the seats adjust nicely for her. We also found a 2008 Toyota Prius that will be my car, or the car we use for local family trips so as to save on gas costs. We will post pictures of the cars soon.

Now that we are a little more settled, I will be doing a little job-searching. I probably will not start working until we are in the house, but I can at least get the license transfer stuff out of the way.

On the relaxation side - we've made a couple of local forays recently. Last weekend we took Sidney to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We had a nice time, and Sidney really enjoyed the Butterfly Conservatory. Today we went for a walk down to the Water Wall, a large fountain designed in the shape of a half-circle wall about 30 feet high. Unfortunately, the water was off for maintenance, but Sidney found a few little friends and they all kicked a ball around the field.

This week will find us getting things put away in the house, as well as an actual full work-week for Kimber. We will also pick up the Prius tomorrow night (we could only pick up one car on Saturday because one of us had to drive the rental car.) It has been a little cooler, so perhaps we will also add some pictures from a walk around the new neighborhood in the next post.