It’s easy to remember the anniversary for the house, since I signed closing papers on Halloween, but holy cow the last five years went by FAST! With the way the housing market has changed, I feel so grateful we bought this house when we did. It has not always been easy having a mile long DIY to-do list, but it’s so satisfying to look around the house and feel proud that we have been able to make it our own! This year was the year of outdoor home improvements, namely with adding a deck and shed. We love having a place to enjoy the yard (and a space to corral the clutter).
Building the deck was a beast of a job, but somehow it all came together with some help this spring/ summer. We always envisioned adding a deck when we bought the house and it’s lived up to our expectations. It’s nice to be able to walk out the backdoor and have a place for Nadia to splash in the water table, throw a ball, etc. We enjoyed having dinner on the deck a few times and will certainly enjoy more of that next year!
Remembering Some of our Top Five Moments
Favorite Memories
Not necessarily in a particular order, but Daniel and I both agreed on these moments as feeling special, so here are in chronological order.
Celebrating Our First Christmas
I bought the house on Halloween, moved in Thanksgiving weekend, and the house was very much not “settled” by Christmas time, but we put up a tree and had recently painted the living room. That year we didn’t travel to Daniel’s family until after Christmas, and I remember spending a quiet Christmas morning before going to my parent’s house. It was a few months before our wedding, and it so special dreaming together about what our life would be like.
Our wedding day
I guess this is more of a special memory for me- as Daniel wasn’t at home and we slept at a hotel that night- but I have such good memories spending the morning of our wedding getting ready with my friends and family. I remember my nieces and nephew running around the house as the ladies got dressed and then walking up the driveway to get in the limo. Felt special to make that memory here!
Bringing home Nadia
It’s so cliché, but despite months of pregnancy it’s just hard to feel prepared coming home with a baby. I remember Nadia screaming as we took a picture at the front door- and taking inside the pink balloons my parents dropped off earlier. Once inside there were various elements of being in labor a few nights prior– candles around the bathtub and bedroom, a plate with a mostly eaten PB&J, and last minute items taken out of the suitcase. That afternoon, I remember laying in bed, staring at Nadia, crying. I wasn’t sad, but in awe. After a long journey to conceive, I was finally at home with my healthy baby girl. Our lives changed forever, in the best possible way.
Sledding with Nadia
This spring we had one final snow day very late in the season. I think the forecast called for a dusting, but we got about four inches instead. We had a blast pulling Nadia in her sled up and down the hill. She was laughing and had such a good time. I can’t wait for more snow days in this house!
Trick-or-Treating
This year we took Nadia trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. Last year we dressed up and took an early walk, but at the time Nadia wasn’t walking and really was too young for candy. Nadia had so much fun learning the routine of walking up to a house, ringing the doorbell, and saying trick-or-treat. It was so fun seeing other families out walking with their kids and getting to visit neighbors. Nadia’s favorite items were a glow sick, goldfish crackers, and apple sauce.
Remembering Some of the Weirdest Wildlife Moments
I think it’s universally understood that if you don’t live in Richmond Southside, you probably don’t like Southside! One patient at work was surprised to hear that I live in Southside, saying something like “but there are so many bugs and animals there.” While, I do love our home, I was not prepared for the volume and variety of wildlife that we would see. Most days a large family of deer walk through our backyard while they drink from the creek and eat all of my flowers. A few times each year we see red neck woodpeckers, and occasionally we see eagles, coyotes, owls, etc. Mostly, it’s fun being so close to nature, and yet in the city limits, but there have been a few totally crazy incidents.
Snake
Snakes really creep me out, but slowly I have gotten more adjusted to the occasional snake siting while gardening since it’s a fairly frequent occurrence at this house. One evening, I was in the basement getting ready to walk upstairs, when I realized the cable line to the TV was moving. Disgusting! Daniel didn’t believe me initially, but of course realized that our black cable line doesn’t move. I don’t know what I would do without Daniel, he managed to trap the snake inside a plastic tub and release it outside. The next day at work, I told my boss and she said “And you’re not selling your house? How can you live like that?” and we both laughed.
Hornet
Daniel was working in his office in the evening and began to hear a loud buzzing sound and then sees a huge (1-2 inch) hornet fly into his office. Somehow I got dragged into helping and decided the safest thing to do was to wear my puffiest winter coat for protection. It literally took an hour of turning off lights, using a flashlight to lure the hornet outside, spraying it with wasp spray, and several rounds of losing the hornet only to realize it was hiding in various corners. Eventually it landed on the curtain rod after being hit multiple times by “instant kill hornet spray” and Daniel was able to open the window and shake it outside. It took a long time to settle down and sleep that night!
Frog
Many of you know Nadia was due 10 days after her due date. At least a week past my due date a frog came in through the backdoor and we chased it around the basement but never managed to catch it (later we found it in a mouse trap, poor thing). That night when I went to bed I though “What a fun story- I’ll tell the baby we chased a frog around the basement the night you were born.” Of course, I didn’t go into labor for several more days. It was a wasted frog tragedy!
Biggest Wolf Spider
I got home from work to start a load of laundry before getting Nadia from daycare, when I saw my life flash before my eyes. Well, not exactly, but I did see a spider that was at least the size of a baseball (including legs)! I screamed so loud the spider ran out of the hallway into the closet and I ran upstairs. I called Daniel on the way to daycare and asked him to take care of it when he got home. Imagine my surprise when he told me “I didn’t see it.” I’m pretty sure I said I wasn’t coming home until that spider was gone, and sure enough he found it. This spider was so big that you could hear clicking sounds as it was walking and when Daniel tried sweeping at it with the broom, it didn’t run away, but fought back! He got it out of the house by running it outside while it was climbing up the broom to attack him.
Wren
One night after Nadia went to bed I looked in the hallway and realized a bird was flying through our hallway. Of course I got Daniel and we spent a long time chasing the bird– it landed on several perches (lamps) around the house, and we kept opening the door and gesturing with a broom. Eventually we didn’t see or hear the bird so we figured it must have left and we decided to go to bed (triple checking Nadia’s door was closed). The next morning we went downstairs only to realize the bird was still in the house- eventually the bird got the memo and went out the back door.
So it’s been a lot of good times and some very weird times these last five years. I’m proud to say we now have a quarterly service package with pest control, so hopefully the critter stories will be more sparce for the next five years. One can dream right?
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