Our Plan Worked

Chris's brother and his brother's girlfriend thought we had invited them to live with us simply because they needed a place to stay until they could buy a new house.  Little did they know our ulterior motive.  We hoped if they stayed with us, they'd see how great our otherwise over-looked West 7th neighborhood is and they'd buy a house near us. 

At first, they placated us by looking at a house or two on our end of the city - but only after they struck out with the houses on the market in their preferred neighborhoods.  Meanwhile, while on a house search that took them to all corners of the city and even to some neighboring suburbs, they played with our kids at the park around the corner from our house, settled in at nearby coffee shops to catch up on work, made the short commute to their respective jobs during a late-April snowstorm, ate at local restaurants and drank at local bars, took evening walks along the same streets I push the kids in the stroller and basically made themselves at home here in W. 7th.  It appeared like slowly our neighborhood was becoming theirs too and I was sad for the day they would eventually move away. 

Then a house two blocks from ours went on the market.  Andy and Danielle saw the listing even before I did and requested a showing.  They toured the house the first day it was on the market.  They said they felt a huge relief practically upon entering because they knew their exhaustive house search had come to an end.  This house was "the one."  They closed and moved in a month later. 

The kids are going to be frequent visitors to their aunt and uncle's new house.

Our plan worked after all. 

This Is Me....

This is me being told I'm going to become an aunt.



Yes, on or about August 17, the Partenheimer family is going to get bigger.

On Christmas Day, I Skyped with my side of the family back in New Jersey.  I thought we were going to fill each other in on our Christmas mornings, but I was going to learn there was bigger news to share.  Scott and his wife, Stevie, had broken the news at our family's Christmas Eve gathering the night before and apparently they had spent dinner concocting their plan to surprise me.  They decided to videotape my reaction, which is how we have this still shot. 

I've always thought I could see a pregnancy announcement coming, but no, not this one.  They totally had me.  They always said they were going to wait a few years to have kids, so thinking that I was going to become an aunt any time soon was not on my radar.  So to say I was surprised - and delighted - is an understatement.     

My little brother is going to be a dad.  Wow.  More so than becoming an aunt, that will take some getting used to.