Many blessings

We officially closed on our "new" house a week ago. We have been excited but also apprehensive because we will be renting out our current home. We have heard many "horror" stories about renters and have had many people give us advice about hiring a company to handle everything for us. We decided to try it on our own at first, hoping that we could find just the right family to take care of our home. I haven't been worried or stressed about it because I've had a peaceful feeling that everything would work itself out. I posted an add a few days ago and we've had many people come and look at our house. Yesterday a family came to look at our home, non-members, but very nice and friendly people. They have 4 young children, one of which is a boy named Mason who is in kindergarten. My Mason instantly befriended him and told his new friend that they were cousins : )  This great family signed a lease with us for 3 years and we are sooooooo happy and relieved!

Many people have asked to see pictures of our new house, which was actually built in 1975, so not really "new". It is on 1.2 acres of land and has beautiful views. This video was made by the realtor, so it shows the house still furnished by the previous owners.

In your opinion, what is the the best toy to have in your collection?

Like many parents we have bought our kids toys that they "just had to have" knowing that a few weeks or may be even days later, it would become forgotten. Over the past few years we have tried to steer clear of those kinds of toys. However if our kids want to save their own money and purchase that 'must have toy' themselves, then that is their choice. Growing up, the favorite toys in our house were wooden building blocks, tinker toys and legos.  But the most often used were the wooden blocks. Now 25 years later, the true can be said for my kids. They are the toy that gets pulled out the most, are always scattered across the boys bedroom, and are the one toy that we can never put in the temporary storage rotation.

For Christmas this year, Gage's Santa gift was a set of 96 large jumbo blocks, that are a mix of lego and block. The older kids asked for electronic gadgets or bikes, toys that don't necessarily require a lot of imagination. While they all loved their gifts, it has been Gage's mega blocks that have been the most played with toy, even with mom and dad.

Gage's Castle 

The boys sharing the double throne mom made