Signed!

Never expected the house sale would go this smoothly. We are waiting for something to go wrong, but we signed the purchase agreement on Friday. What a nice way to go into our holiday to Switzerland! Things have been very intense for the past few months, but now we finally get a chance to rest and enjoy.

Naomi met with her friend yesterday, so the girls and I had a nice day together. They had a good week at school and we had report meetings with their teacher and everything is going just fine. Amélie seems to be doing better now after struggling with some immigration issues and dealing with a bad method of teaching math. Naomi fixed that in an hour once she understood the strange way the school was trying to explain addition and subtraction. 

I had an open day at school on Wednesday, and that is always a drag, but it went well and we even had a bit of fun. Happy not to have had one in the past few years due to Covid, and also happy this is my last one! I also signed up for a darts tournament at school. The staff are big into the game. I started playing a few months ago too, and it is a lot of fun. 

My 'Robin Hood' shot. 

The girls were proud of the lunch they made.

Amélie took a picture of a heron flying away from the neighbor's pond.

An Offer

We had a single lady from Apeldoorn visit our house twice this week, around 60 years old. She likes the place and has put in an offer, so we are currently negotiating with her. Sure would be nice if we can get a buyer lined up even if its for a bit less than we think the house is worth. We were hoping for a family to enjoy all the space as we have a big house, but oh well. Not any other interest at this moment, so if we can agree on a price it would take some stress away to move forward with her. 

Naomi's recovery is going slower than expected, so she will stay home for another week. Good to get some rest time as things got a bit busy last week with the two visitations and Ron and Edith also came for a visit on Friday. Timing was not ideal. 

Over the past few months we lost 5 students, but we got our first new one on Friday! Another demo lesson lined up for today. Hopefully we can get back on track here after all the Covid and the big holiday. Great to get one of our new teachers started. She is from Ireland and is living in Argentina. Interesting person to work with!

We made a birdhouse out of some leftover cork. Hoping to wrap our future house in Marquette in cork!

Went for a nice walk on Tuesday.

The bees and the crocus are out!

Abigail participated in the carnival parade. 

Surgery

On Monday, Naomi's hernia operation took place as planned. We are relieved that everything went smoothly and that it wasn't delayed. Hopefully the problem will be solved now. While she was in the hospital Aunt Caryn taught the girls how to make some paper snowflakes. What a cool project! Naomi's recovery has been going fairly smoothly. She still has pain at one of the three incisions, but the other two are quite okay. I guess this was the only way she could get some much needed rest. 

Abigail stayed home from school on Friday as she really needed some rest too. She hasn't been feeling the best lately, very tired and sad. Much of it due to the big transition. Amélie isn't having as much trouble with it, but her behavior has been pretty bad lately. Constantly picking fights and asking for attention. I suppose it makes sense that they deal with the relocation in very different ways.

We also managed to get our house listed. Very strange to have a For Sale sign out in front. The pictures turned out well and hopefully we will get some interest. The market is very unpredictable right now, so it is hard to judge how things will go. 

https://www.funda.nl/koop/vaassen/huis-42017090-hindenhoek-16/

Abigail found another note that Grandpa hid for the girls.

Working on making snowflakes with Aunt Caryn.

It was a sunny week. 

Abigail helped with the laundry. Creative solution!

Another walk in the woods.

For sale.

Pictures

On Wednesday we had pictures taken of our house so that we can list it on the market. It was a very busy day. Claire had some important meetings, so she had to work in the car for the afternoon. The girls went to play at a friends house. The pictures turned out well, even though Naomi was not happy we didn't get a chance to clean the stove properly. 

The parents of one of the girl's classmates just listed a similar house. This means we will have to ask about 10k less for ours. The market is very unpredictable right now, and dropping quickly. If we would have sold less than a year ago we would have asked an extra 40k and it would have been bought instantly. Oh well, house prices are dropping in Marquette too. 

On Thursday Auntie Claire had to leave and we had a really nice visit with her. Yesterday, I started redesigning the house we want to build on our land. Solving one problem leads to another, but, overall, the new design should be an improvement. This is the first weekend of relaxation we have had in a couple months, so I guess it is time to start on the taxes. Naomi has her surgery tomorrow, so it would be nice to have things taken care of then. 

Auntie Claire's mobile office.