On one hand, it would be best to have a routine established so that you won't be TIRED the first few days. On the other hand, there are some of us (ME INCLUDED:rolleyes:) who would stay in bed until we knew we had to get up.

I wish we had done this when we moved several years ago. We bought a nice home that was at the top of what we were willing to pay, but without knowing much about the community. We would like to sell now but the market is ssllooww. If we had it to do over again, we would rent a little while until we had investigated more. The wooded lot sounds nice but you can find a house in time that doesn't need work right off the bat. I think the perfect house will come if you are willing to wait a little while.

I would cook all the ground beef, chicken etc. ahead and put in the freezer. You could also cook breakfast items ahead and freeze--like pancakes, muffins etc. Homemade chili with dried beans is cheap. The potato bar is a good idea. Have fun and enjoy the togetherness. The more you do ahead the less stressful it will be!

16 yo ds 15 yo ds :cool:

My 16 yo ds is reading 2 biographies:one on Theodore Roosevelt, one on Shaun Alexander. 15 year old son is reading a biography on Johann Sebastian Bach. (can you tell I assigned them to read a bio?):)