Bye Brisas, Hello Tarwater

Jeff and I struggled with this decision so much that we almost settled on a house we didn't love just to keep the boys in their school district. So glad we didn't do that!

Once we found our new home, we knew the boys would be changing schools. :( This is truly heartbreaking for us, as we've built a real family at Brisas. Connor was there for a couple years as an infant and for the last 4 years. Bear just started there this year for kinder. Some of our closest friends teach at the school or work for the district in another capacity. I'm involved in the lowest level possible, but still able to say I'm involved. We hate that we'll be leaving their school, but we just weren't able to find anything in their school boundary and we really want them to attend their home school. I want the kids down the block to be the same ones they have class with.

Their new school is awesome - ranked very high and it's only like 12 houses away so they can walk to school. If we were to keep them at Brisas, we'd be looking at about 20-25 minutes to drive them to school - as if mornings aren't already crazy enough, let's add in a commute. 7 miles doesn't seem very far, but in our town you'd pass like 6 elementary schools in those 7 miles. Plus, since I work from home 90% of my time, I'm driving them to school at 730, home for a few hours to work and then headed back to get them around 230. That's silly.

So they'll finish out this year as Brisas Geckos and next year they'll be Tarwater Toros!

The boys were immediately excited about their new school which surprised us. They are stoked to be so close to their new school next year. I don't think it's really sunk in yet that they'll be the new kids next year. Connor will be 100% fine - he makes friends everywhere he goes. Bear may take a bit more time to adjust as he's slower to warm up - plus we'll have to explain to everyone that yes, his name is Bear.

We've promised them that we'll stay in touch with their friends from Brisas and we really will. We've become such good friends with so many of the parents and some of these boys have been friends since they were infants.

Connor and Aidan bff est 2007

I think that their transition is going to be so much easier because they are already good friends with all the kiddos in our hood. I didn't know that kids really knocked on our doors to ask if the boys could come out to play. TO PLAY!? We love it. The kids play football outside, ride bikes, play video games, whatever. On our cul-de-sac there are more than 20 kids - mostly boys - ranging from toddler to teen and most are right around 4th/5th grade. We're thrilled that Connor and Bear will start at their new school already having dozens of friends. Such a relief.

That's it for now - next time I'll fill ya in on the work we've done to the new house!!