3 years already.

Last weekend marked our 3rd anniversary of buying and moving into our home. We celebrated - most appropriately - by checking into a local hotel. I don't expect you to remember it like we do, but we spent the entire month before we closed on our home living in various hotel rooms around Las Vegas. Yes, we were homeless for 4 solid weeks. It was quite the adventure. These are some of the lessons we learned.

One NIGHT in a hotel is so much more fun than one MONTH. We checked in after Daddy got off work, picked up some greasy food to eat by the pool and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It brought back some fun memories of warm summer nights long ago...

Eating out nowadays is WAY more expensive than it was when we were homeless. Three years ago, our boys literally shared a single happy meal at McD's (which is exactly why we decided to collect all 18 of the Star Wars bobbleheads.) Now, each of our kids need a full-sized adult meal to keep their tummies satisfied... you better believe I am including Simon in the bunch. He is often eating before the prayer is said and will continue to shove food in his face long after the rest of us are full. It's pretty disgusting... and amazing!

We owned the pool in the late hours of the evening, watched a fabulous episode of America's Funniest Videos, slept relatively well crammed in the same room, enjoyed the continental breakfast in the morning, hit the pool again, buddied up for a few intense chicken fights, did a little school shopping and were thrilled to come back to our home sweet home on Saturday afternoon.

The picture below makes me laugh.. Ben is drowning, Aaron can't see and Zack & Luke's bones are showing because they are so skinny...

I tried to recreate this gem taken in August 2008 during our homeless adventure...

But I never could get the boys in the right position and each time Zack pulled himself up on the edge of the pool, his swimsuit would come down and show his butt. Ben and Luke were quite entertained.. so is the life with little boys. They have grown up so much in the past three years, and yet, they are exactly the same.

The only picture I took in our hotel room was of Zack, who was absolutely ecstatic about the fact that tissues were hiding inside the bathroom counter. He kept taking them out and bringing them to everyone. His enthusiasm for life never fails to amaze me.
Which reminds me..... We asked the boys some of their favorite things about living in our house and these were the only things they listed: We don't get wet when it rains. We can lock our doors so robbers don't get in. (& last, but not least) We can go to the bathroom whenever we want. Apparently, our home is just one notch up from living in a cardboard box.. I love how simply children look at the world. It really doesn't matter where we live, as long as we are warm, safe, and have access to a toilet.

**This Friday night is a lot different than last. Aaron picked up pizza on his way home from work and is now entertaining the kids downstairs. I was able to take a long bubble bath, shave my legs, blog and now I am watching The Man from Snowy River in my bed. Sometimes it's fun to sleep in the same room with your entire family... and sometimes it's fun to be completely and utterly ALONE. I am grateful for my house, my bathtub, my awesome neighbors, the freedom I have to paint the walls, my kitchen were I can cook for my family (when I want to) and for all the memories we've made these past three years. Most of all I am grateful for the people that live within these walls. We have turned this house into a home.