Where is my routine?

We just moved to our new house two weeks ago today, to be exact. Everything went well with the closing and moving, yada, yada, yada, but I feel like it's taking for-ev-er to make this house feel like our home. It's not just painting over the bear, moose and tree stencils (no joke!) that the previous owners had in the kitchen or all the other little projects that we want to do, it's figuring out our routine and identity in this house. We're carrying on with life like we have been, but we have to think a little harder about where we put certain things or where to get groceries when the co-op is now a 20-minute drive across town and not just a 20-minute walk away.

Sigh.

Or, getting to know this community and the kids at the various parks and figuring out the best route to the library. I saw some bumper stickers the other day on a walk that said, "Secure Our Borders" and "John McCain for President." It's a good thing to have differing views, right? This is another adjustment from our previous neighborhood, which was 110% Obama.

Sigh.

We are happy and doing very well. Ben loves his new yard and the parks that are within spitting distance of our house. We walk frequently to our library and enjoy evening walks on the greenway that goes through a nicely sized patch of prairie restoration. We will have "front row seats" to one of the biggest fireworks shows this weekend. According to our neighbors, our neighborhood buzzes with folks from all over town to see these fireworks since they shoot out from the largest city park nearby.

The neighbors are very friendly. Everyone has a dog (except us... which I'm hoping to change). We are doing much more in our house and yard and feeling like a "normal" summer. Can't complain! All I need is for that sense of routine to settle in.