Goodbye Wood Court

Our house on Wood Court - we lived on the first floor

I haven't been doing much blogging since our move at the end of March. We decided to buy a house just after the new year and closed on February 14th (Happy Valentine's Day). It's quite funny that we decided to buy a house in one the worst Chicago winters on record, go figure.

As you can imagine, the past few months have been quite busy. Before moving into our new place we decided to renovate the kitchen and one of the bathrooms, as well as tear our a lot of paneling. It was a big job and we are glad we had very capable contractors taking care of everything. We also had my parents in town for a few weeks before and after the move to help us settle in. They were SO helpful and we are grateful for the time they spent with us. We are really pleased with the progress on our new house and while we still have many projects to tackle, a lot of the big stuff is done.

Even though we are loving our new space, we sure do miss our old house and neighborhood. The house was never much to look at from the outside but we made it our own and have wonderful memories there. We moved into this house just before Cate was born and moved out when Lizzie was 7 months old. I will always remember hosting the extending Burgon family for Thanksgiving and cramming them into every corner of our house. It was cozy but it was fun. We also had our first family Christmas here, and even though the kiddos were sick, we had a good time being together and starting our own traditions.

While living on Wood Court, we were also blessed to surrounded by the best neighbors. Shortly after Cate was born, we received meals from a few different families. The same thing happened when Lizzie was born and we are so grateful for the kind people that reached out to use during those times. Our neighbor Angie would always bring goodies for the girls and was always very generous in sharing her plants for both our yard and garden. We were surrounded by many kids, including Jane's best friend Peyton who we miss dearly. It was so fun for Jane to have a friend just two doors down.  During the warmer months we enjoyed seeing our neighbors, impromptu play dates, sidewalk chalk, running in the sprinklers and mid-day picnics. It sounds kind of magical and it was.

Just around the corner was a fabulous park where all of the neighbors would play. It was a perfect place to walk and spend an hour or two with the kiddos. During the summer we enjoyed pizza in the park with our neighbors and over Labor Day weekend we gathered for a neighborhood block party. I learned so much from the kind people that surrounded us and hope to extend the same friendship they showed us to our new neighbors.

With all of these changes we have experienced a range of emotions, but we are extremely grateful for our new place.  We look forward to making new memories with our family and look forward to making this house a home.

**In a few weeks I will try to gather some before and after pictures of our new place to share.