Surprise!

So Wednesday afternoon last week, my in-laws made the trek from Fargo/Moorhead area to come help me with the kids. Thursday morning, I left at approx. 5:15am (too early) and drove to Sioux Falls, SD to surprise Joel on his 40th Birthday! I finally at approximately 9:45am pulled into his office. Joel was standing out by his truck and he had to take a few looks in total surprise before coming over to see me. Awe...I love surprising my husband!

So then I waited for him until it was lunch time. He had made arrangements over lunch to have me look at the twin home we were renting. Looking at the twin home was difficult for me. It was one more step into reality and what was about to transpire! I am leaving 3500+ sq. ft. of space and moving into 2300 sq. ft. of space. That's some serious downsizing. I'm confident we will be able to do it. We will need to store a few things - things we won't need for the town home, but items that are too expensive to sell and try to re buy when we get ourselves into a single family home again. Don't get me wrong - the town home is nice, it's spacious for a town home. It has four finished bedrooms (a fifth that is unfinished for storage) and three baths. So as far as living there - we certainly will adjust. I'm excited to have a deck - something we haven't had in over 10 years. I am letting go of a craft room area and a back entry. Our current back entry is 13X13 and the town home has 0!! The front entry fits two adults and that is it! Not kidding. You enter the door and can go up stairs or down or out to the garage. Our back entry is something we use every day. It allows us to keep our shoes out of our closets in our room and it allows us to keep all of our jackets in one spot. It's not the end of the world - but it's an adjustment. I'm a clean freak and enjoy having organized space. I think I will be challenged, but I know I will figure it out.

The adjustments will be nothing a year from now, but for right now, they seem like hills to climb! It's funny - I thought I would really struggle with not having a craft room, but my biggest struggle is not having a back entry! LOL!! I will be getting a job when we move and won't have the time to craft like I did here.

Another adjustment is not having a yard. This twin home has no yard and it backs up to a large drain in the cul-De-sac. I'm sure my kids will be creative, but not having 15 acres for them to roam is an adjustment.

After seeing the twin home, I went to check out the mall while Joel finished up work. We then joined up again after work, freshened up in the hotel and headed out for dinner. We ended up at a quiet little pub in downtown SF. It was nice to have a quiet dinner with Joel.

We then went back to the hotel and enjoyed the free snacks and drinks area on the concierge level. Because Joel has been renting for a couple of months - he is eligible to upgrade to the concierge level.

Friday morning Joel went to work as usual and I spent the time waiting for him relaxing in the hotel and doing a little site seeing before leaving.

We then got back home and had a nice pizza party for him with the kids and his parents.

It was nice to get away for over night and celebrate Joel! I can't wait until we can be together as a family again. Yes there will be some big adjustments, but being together again makes those adjustments seems small!