Calling Card: Grunert family, at home

I've been very productive in thesis-writing this past week. I am, however, behind on blogging!

We're also behind on mowing but guess what? We live in Southern Colorado, where this is all the growth we can expect after two months of not mowing:

We continue to love our house; it's just big enough to have room for us, and small enough to be cozy.

Koopa thrives! On plenty of puppy food, two walks a day, multiple play sessions a day and a whole lot of love. 

I cannot overstate how much good he does us all.

After the first week of both kids in school came to an end, we hit up the zoo to celebrate (using the heck out of the zoo pass we were given!).

Look, a pair of lemurs!

These guys were gathered round to look at the picture of themselves I had just taken. They stared at my phone a long time while Jon took their picture.

Do you guys see the size of this bat?

I like the painted dogs better now that I have a canine at home. They seem friendlier and smarter all of a sudden.

lounging lions

And now, dear readers, I would like to tell you a story.

Our back yard, as some of you know, is composed mostly of part deteriorated slatted patio, and part dirt (with a few pleasant looking weeds). I've been saying for a while that I want something for the kids to play with back there. I don't think the space is big enough for a playground. I've been hoping that someday we might build or buy a playhouse.

A couple of weekends ago, I was walking in the neighborhood with Miles and Koopa and what should I see but this sight?

 

 Neither Jon nor I carry cash, but I felt we needed to stake our claim to this dream come true right away. I asked Miles if this house was worth $10 to him, and he agreed that it was. Home he went for his piggy bank. We came back just in time; someone was just pulling up with their truck to buy it while Miles was at the door, giving his dollars to the surprised seller. 

Next, we had to deal with the problem many of you had probably foreseen: how to get this edifice down the street and into our yard? The sellers had no help; they barely managed to drag it around to the front of their house and were without suggestions for us. We know exactly three families on our street, and only two of them well enough to knock on the door. With the help of our elderly next-door neighbor, the selller's husband, and the ever-shirtless guy up the street (father to four children Miles like to play with), we got this little house onto a wheeled platform that Shirtless Guy owns, supported it on all sides, and walked it down the middle of Macnaughton Road. It was just as awesome a scene as you imagine. 

The house now occupies a lot between our house and the neighbor's (since we can by no means fit it through the gate into the backyard! details!) and is pleasantly situated on some mulch, beneath a couple of fruit trees. And Miles calls it home.

A homeowner at seven. Not bad, right?

We continue happily in our new routine, walking Miles to school in the morning...

Driving Adele to preK...

This is the second way they've been misspelling her name. We're being patient.

...and then I return home and get to work.

I've written about twenty pages of thesis so far, and I'm comfortably keeping up with my other coursework as well. What a relief! And what a gift.

Can I be a grad student for a living, please?