Sounds like an adventure!!! I don't have any big advice for you except to really embrace the journey. For the house - think neutral! :) I don't know anything about Denver, but Colorado is beautiful. Where are you living now?

Wow, congratulations, very exciting. Also Yikes with all the work you need to do and quickly.

Sky

Thanks so much Roguevalley. Embracing the journey is well put, I need to calm down a bit and focus more on the good stuff :) Did I mention that dh will be gone for 3 weeks out of the next 6 weeks? LOL, that idea is not calming me down one bit!

We're in the southwest now, but both of us are from Colorado and happy to be going 'home' - except we've never lived in the Denver area.

I got agita just reading your post -- but congratulations! And you know you have the best team imaginable here wrt designing to sell :) (I don't include myself but the wonderful folks here who are so astute and clearly-focused in their suggestions)

Yikes is right Sky. Plus I have 3 young boys. I don't know how I will do it all. Can one of you come over and help? ;)

Thanks flyleft, I agree about the wonderful people here. Funny how this is one of the first places I turned to with my panic :)

I'll probably start posting for some help early next week. I don't have any time to waste.

I'm a list person. I can only imagine all the lists I would have going to keep me focused! I agree, Colorado is beautiful and congratulations on going 'home'. I won't be much help on the staging, but I can cheer you on:-)

LaFonda, I welcome all the cheering I can get! I'll sure need it. I'm a list lover, too (sometimes I think dh would like to divorce me because of my lists, lol). That's what I'm doing right now - going through each room in my mind and making lists in NotePad. It's going to be difficult to prioritize and be realistic about what can be done in the 3 weeks dh is home as well as what I can do on my own.

Bright spot - you all can help me find our new home and then help me decorate it!

This is both terrible and wonderful.

I've been through having a house barely out of the demo stage and had to be on the market in a few weeks.

Crazy.

Colorado is beautiful. Those mountains!

Chicory it's good to know that you're still around to tell the story :) Seriously, it's comforting to me to know that someone else has managed something similar.

Hopefully soon I'll get that Colorado Rocky Mountain high feeling!

Check out the Buying & Selling Forum re: areas to live in Denver -- they are a pretty active bunch these days.

I am from Denver-actually Englewood! I would be happy to give you advice. The Cherry Creek School District is one of the best! Of course I am biased since I went there! We lived in an older neighborhood that now many people are going into and completely remodeling. It was very centrally located - close to D.T and the ever growing Tech Center. My old neighborhood was off University Blvd. and Hampton Ave. Littleton, Highlands Ranch are nice also. I personally like the older homes that have now been completely updated. Let me know if you have any questions!

Denver proper has many beautiful neighborhoods, including Park Hill, Crestone, Mayfair, Lowry and Stapleton. As far as schools go, my kids went to Cherry Creek schools and I have to say that they were no better/worse than Jefferson County and Littleton schools. It all depends upon the principal and who teaches your kid, IMO.

Light rail comes up the I25 corridor so your husband could commute easily from the south end, where CC and Littleton are.

Good luck with this latest adventure.
Diane

I lived in Denver a few years; we were in Greenwood Village. I had no kids with me but from what I was told the area was desirable because of the Cherry Creek school district. I was friends with a few girls who had younger children.

It's hard to beat that Denver weather. Good luck with all this !!!

Thanks very much for the information about schools and communities to check out. And thanks especially for the good luck wishes :)

Gracie, I like older homes too. And dh wants one that needs no work, ha ha. If it's ok, I'll pm you on Sun. or Mon. with some questions.

I love Denver. Lived in Longmont when I was a kid, and then on the Western Slope in the Aspen-Glenwood Springs area right out of college. Lucky you, you get to live in the city with my absolute favorite bookstore ever, the Tattered Cover in LoDo. :-)

Sarschlos, I spent many summers swimming at the pool in Glenwood :) It's a beautiful area. The painting over my fireplace is of a family cabin in the mountains there (my Tinman fireplace thread is on here somewhere if you want to see).

I love to read and can't wait to check out the Tattered Cover!

My husband and I are currently building a home in Evergreen, CO very close to where the town of Conifer is right off 285. We have three young boys (almost 7, 5, and almost 2 yrs). Schools were of great importance to us and we visited a few elementary schools in the Jefferson County school district and were very impressed. Our kids will be attending Marshdale Elementary this fall.
I am a city girl (grew up in Staten Island, NY) and my husband grew up on 2 acres in Rhode Island. Evergreen seemed like a good mix to us. It took us over two years of visits out there to decide that Evergreen was the best place to raise our family. The community is wonderful and the accessibility to Denver is about 35 minutes from where we are. And the skiing is closer to if you live there...70 miles to Breck! There is a brand new gorgeous shopping center less than 5 minutes drive from my new home with a great Safeway Supermarket and the kids school is less than 5 minutes from our house. There are beautiful brand new soccer fields right next to there school. We'll have 6 acres from the kids to play on at the end of a cul-de-sac.
You should check it out. Not one person that we have spoken to over the past 2 years has said anything negative about Evergreen/Conifer. I've been told by so many people that it is the best place to raise a family.
Good Luck to you and who knows...maybe we'll meet someday when our boys play soccer against each other or something like that!

If it helps, this is a link to the Colorado Department of Education's School Accountability Reports:

http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp

Thanks for that link Sovra, very helpful.

Alliern, Evergreen sounds so beautiful. My boys are 10, 7 & 4 and I know they would love all that space. Thanks very much for telling me about it - I plan to check it out online tomorrow :)

I have a close friend that lived in Highlands Ranch for many years. They liked the area but didn't like being on top of their neighbors. They also recently moved to Evergreen. She's a teacher and very picky about schools. Both her boys are elementary age.

Have you checked out City Data dot com? It's kind of like THS. Mostly helpful people to answer your questions about different areas of the country.

Congratulations on your news!

ladynimue -- We moved to CO in March of '07, so we've practically been here a year! We love it, and our sole regret is that we didn't move out here earlier. (We were in San Francisco, CA before.)

I've a 3.5 and 1.5 year-old, and schools determined where we were willing to live (and, of course, price!). We lived in an overpriced ($2M) house in CA with horrible, dreadful schools, and we thought it was insane! (that "normal" houses cost that much but had crappy schools) Absolutely, Cherry Creek 5 School District has fine, fine schools. Our budget (our max was $1M) dictated we look in Greenwood Village and the lower-priced houses in Cherry Hills Village. My husband hated both areas, which is fine. They are very homogeneous (as in caucasian -- we are a multi-racial family), conservative and religious (mostly of the Christian faiths -- we are not). Didn't work for us, but it clearly does for many other families! (Think Junior League.)

Instead, we are up in Boulder (which is about thirty-five minutes north of Denver), and Boulder Valley Schools are excellent. (Plus, my husband works in Boulder! It's also funky, still pretty homogeneous, but ultra-liberal and secular -- which mostly describes us!)

Golden, which is west of Denver (and lots of folks live in Golden but work in Denver), is also lovely and has good schools.

There are so many positively charming neighborhoods in Denver and if we didn't care about the schools (either for our own children or for resale purposes) we could've had a wonderful time househunting there! However, you're still lucky: if you narrow your search to Cherry Creek 5 and / or Boulder Valley School District you'll still have a ton of choices.

If you're interested, this is how we determined our house search: we first used the above site (Great Schools) to look at the factors which are important to us and we winnowed it that way. When we came out to CO for our sundry look-sees we'd visit the schools (elementary, JHS and SHS -- I left no stone unturned) and meet with the administration and then visit some classes. All three schools (elementary, JHS and SHS) had to meet our criteria -- if one of them was "so-so" then that whole neighborhood (which feeds into that school) was crossed off our list.

We liked using recolorado.com, the Boulder Remax site which has everything listed on the MLS and realtor.com in our house hunting. In Greenwood Village, we liked the schools into which zip 81011 feeds.

If you do look up in BVSD, there are many towns which feed into it (not just Boulder, which is more expensive than the surrounding communities): Superior, Louisville, Lafayette and Broomfield. (But be careful about Broomfield as it also feeds into other school districts -- make sure to only look at houses which feed into BVSD.) Your money will go much further in these communities than in GV, CHV or Boulder. I would not look at Longmont (I think someone above mentioned it) -- it smells bad (lots of animal farmland which means stinky manure), doesn't hold its real estate value and is a bit down market. But if your husband is working down at the mall it's dubious you'd want to live that far north ....

I feel for what you are going through now -- the remodel and the rush move. But I can absolutely promise you that CO is a wonderful place and you are going to have no problems finding a good house to fit your family's needs and budgets.

I'll be thinking of you!

Well, to be fair, I said I lived in Longmont when I was little. It's been, ahem, a few years. :-)

My daughter lived in Evergreen until four yrs. ago (2 kids at the time) and I went out there to visit a couple of times, beautiful area. Her children went to a Charter School while there so I can't say how the public schools are. I know they were sad to leave and now are in Knoxville and like it there too. (moved because of job change) I only know that I thought the scenic views fabulous, the Denver airport absolutely great and I hear the skiing is the best! My very best wishes to you all.

Cherry Creek School District is very good. The people in the area are very warm and accepting, not at all snobby! Children get an excellent education and a nice prep for college. How wonderful to be moving back to your home state. Good luck!

I have nothing to add in about living in Denver except congrats!

But I did want to add that BEFORE you start racing around trying to finish all your projects that you get some realtors in to tell you what HAS to be done and what can be negotiated w/ buyers. It is very possible that you won't have to "finish" everything. Kinda like a new build where the builder lets the buyer pick their finishes. You might not get tip-top dollar for your home, but you will have the peace of mind of not sweating to get everything done.

Myself-- I would rather not have a seller rushing and putting in quick fixes or less expensive items in their hurry to finish. I would rather go into a place and pick my own stuff. In fact-- I would buy an unfinished place like yours OVER another where I would have to re-do.

Just something ELSE to think about!

Wow! Hey, don't know if this will help or not, but it might be to your advantage to have it all not done. After my MIL passed away and my husband was trying to sell her home without any success. One of the realators turned the heat off and the pipes in the kitchen burst. We had to gut the entire kitchen-floors, cabinets, appliances everything. we proceeded to take the house off the market. After taking it off the market, we got a call the next day wondering why we had done that. They were even more interested in the house knowing they could do whatever they wanted in the kitchen with the allowance included in the price of the house. House then sold immediately. Maybe some unfinished work may work to your advantage???? I hope so!

Wow, it seems as if Evergreen and Cherry Creek are very popular. I looked at some of the homes for sale in Evergreen and the views are outstanding! Possibly not in our price range though, and maybe too far to commute... how does that work when you don't live near the rail system? Do you drive in and rent a parking space?

Thanks for all the really great links and information RMKitchen. Boulder has always had a reputation for being more liberal minded and health conscious. I've always thought of it as a college town but it sounds as if it's becoming more family focused. Quality of education is so important and one of the reasons we want to leave here is the sad state of the local high school. It's scary to think of my kids going to school with these gang banger wanna be's that invade our small towns. We also feel that this community is too conservative and judgemental for our comfort.

Very interesting that a couple of you think we may not or should not finish out the remodel jobs. The market we're in right now is very interesting. We had a couple of big companies move in and most of the new buyers work for them. Many come from CA where the housing costs are outrageous, and they've driven up the sales prices on the older homes here. We also have some new builds going up. So our competition will be new homes with 300-500 less square footage, and older homes like ours - most of which have not been updated. Rental homes are in short supply and homes for sale usually go quickly (if not priced too high - many here are in no rush to sell, such as the older retired folks).

First, I made a mistake in the zip code of the schools we liked: it's 80111. Sorry! (elementary: Belleview, JHS: Campus, SHS: Cherry Creek)

Let me rephrase: while Greenwood Village and Cherry Hills Village were not the right fit for our family, we do know people who live there (and who love it) and we really like those people. I did not mean to imply that GV and CHV were snobby and judgmental (although I do believe in general they are predominantly [socially & politically] conservative) -- those (snobby & judgmental) traits can be found any- and every- where, I'm afraid. And in both GV and the unincorporated parts of Englewood (again, zip 80111) you can find a good four or five bedroom house in the $300K - $500K range (or more or less, of course!).

T Rex, the light rail system linking GV (near Denver Tech Center -- see here for a map, Belleview or Orchard would be your stops if you lived in GV or unincorporated Englewood) to downtown Denver, is relatively new. It's also great and handy, and more and more of Denver itself is clamoring for it (but fighting a lot of NIMBYs). I cannot speak for Evergreen (as I know nothing about it) but Golden and all the communities up the 36 (Boulder Turnpike) and I-25 have park-n-rides. A good friend of ours (who lives in Broomfield, in the BVSD part!) works in Denver and he rides the park-n-ride bus everyday and loves it! It deposits him close to his office and he gets the commute where he doesn't have to fight traffic, he can read or daydream or, more likely, snooze. It also takes him less time to commute that way than it would to drive himself.

So don't let the lack of a nearby light-rail deter you from any neighborhoods.

Before our first look-see (in 2006) the last time I'd been in CO was as a little girl when my family drove cross country. I didn't know it at all and, like you, assumed Boulder was just a hick college town. Boy did I have to eat a big plate of humble pie! Back in the '90s there was a large infusion of (monied) high tech which is partly why Boulder real estate is so expensive (not California expensive, but not Kansas priced either). Plus, IBM has been out in Boulder (the Gunbarrel neighborhood) forever (okay, longer than I've been alive!). While I would not call it cosmopolitan we are delighted with the diversity of thinkers we've met here. People from the four corners with fascinating stories to share and, in general, midwest friendly and open and accepting. (My husband would be considered middle-of-the-road liberal and is a vegetarian; I would be considered fringe and am a vegan, but I drive a minivan and my big outing of the week is Whole Foods! [I'm being facetious -- my big outing is driving back-and-forth to nursery school. Ha ha!) We've faced (that we know of) no prejudice (as a multi-racial family -- I'm white and my husband is Japanese): if anything, people are really interested when they hear me speaking Japanese with my small children or see us out as a foursome (although they often erroneously assume we're from Hawaii). There are some folks here in Boulder who are quite proud of themselves for living in Boulder ... that's what I meant about snobs being everywhere. (and in all fairness, I wouldn't doubt if there are some things about which others find me snobby, and that's okay -- to each their own)

To risk sounding (more) gauche, we ended up spending a bit more than half our budget (our house was in the mid $500Ks), so just because we'd budgeted $1M didn't mean we spent it! (although by the time this remodel is done I'll be feeling as if we'd spent it all [only joking]). Absolutely, we could have spent considerably more. Absolutely, we could have spent considerably less but, like Goldilocks, this one was "just right."

Discussing the 'right' community fit for a family can be difficult, but it's also so very important when you're considering where to raise your children for many years. The place we live now has turned out to be a bad fit for us, socially. The locals here simply don't know where or how we fit in with what they know/are used to. Our 10 yo has begun to find it very hard - he is turning out to be kind of 'geeky', into science and the like. We're hoping a larger population will allow him to meet more like minded kids and encourage his interests.

Just to give an example of how we don't fit in here - We are 'older' parents and we've only met ONE other family like us, our next door neighbors who have a child the same age as our youngest (they also have two grown children). I'm a bit tired of being mistaken as the grandmother of my children ;) A recent conversation went like this - "You're grandkids sure are well behaved." Thank you, but they're my children, not grandchildren. "Oh...even that little one? Yes, even the little one. And then they walk away, not knowing what to make of me - a mother of young children at my advanced age, ha ha.

I had to laugh at your description of a big outing! It's so true that it's funny. Mom's spend their time driving kids around and a trip to the grocery store can be the highlight of the week, lol.

I guess I have to eat humble pie when it comes to Boulder, too. My dad wouldn't even consider allowing me to attend college there because it had such a party reputation (early 80's). And then it became a destination for what we called "granola's" - a sort of bum, a younger person who wanted to live on the 'fringe' and take it easy (think ski bum). Talk about being judgemental! LOL

Housing budget is a big issue for us. We bought in a 'Kansas' type market, but will make out like we're in a CA market once we sell (we may live in one of the last hot sellers markets in the country!). The problem is that we have made all sorts of long range plans based upon having our home paid off in a very short time. We have a lot of decisions to make when it comes to deciding how much to spend on our new home and how much, if at all, to change those long term plans.

Just to add, I know in Evergreen and Conifer there are park-n-rides too. It depends on where you live in Evergreen, how far of a commute you'll have. Because it is a "mountain" community, it could take you anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes just to get to either I-70 or 285.

Two websites that I found very helpful for information are:
www.city-data.com (denver forum) and www.cohomefinder.com
You will never have an agent call and bug you about home searches that you do and you can seach a gazillion ways for a home...by neighborhood, schools, etc...

Keep us updated!

We've lived all over Denver and have friends in all of the places (south denver, evergreen, boulder, etc.) that have been mentioned. We love Golden. We lived on Lookout Mountain for a while (similar to Genesee)...houses are like what you'd find in evergreen but an easier commute. We now live in the Applewood area of Golden and love it! Our local elementary school is amazing (Maple Grove) and the houses are a little older with some character. Housing prices are reasonable and the commute to Boulder, Denver and Tech Center is all reasonable. Another good elementary school to look at in Golden is Kyffin -- the neighborhood nearest that school is known as 6th Avenue Estates...a mix of somewhat newer homes, but a lot of custom homes too.

ladynimue -- I, too, am an older parent! (I had my eldest at 34 so I'm now 38.) I don't know where you are (and I'm not prying -- please don't read it that way) but 'round here, "older" is normal. The other mothers with whom I spend the most time all started in their mid-late thirties / early forties. One of my friends is going through perimenopause and she lets us have a good laugh about having within the past few years finished nursing and now hot flashes! Another just turned 45 and is pregnant.

I do not think you'll be odd woman out here, ladynimue. Based on my experiences both in living here plus when we were househunting and the parents we met then, you should fit right in!

I also wanted to tell you how phenomenal we are finding the medical community(-ies) to be here. Our "home" hospital in CA was Stanford -- a v. (internationally) well-regarded hospital. Well, they certainly failed my younger (now 20 months) son. He was ill from birth on, and his pediatric team kept brushing us off, blaming my concerns on my PPD. ("You worry too much." "You need to calm down.")

We moved out here (to CO) and within a fortnight had his well-baby visit. I started my spiel about his issues when the ped. immediately stopped me, saying "something's clearly not right here." Finally!!! After we got to the root of it, I became crazy-angry, both with the Stanford pediatricians but mostly with myself. (Mother's guilt -- I should've somehow divined what was wrong with him or somehow persevered with others, which I realize now. But at the time, with a two year-old, PPD, an ill newborn and selling our house I felt lucky to feed my older and nurse my younger without crying hysterically.) My younger son is part of the Child Find program (it's federally mandated, locally funded); it helps children with issues (whatever they are) get better. He has physical, occupational and speech therapists who all come to our house every single week.

I'd say within two months of that well-baby visit he was enrolled in the Child Find program and progress was underway! (He's now doing great -- not yet caught up, but moving apace and, more importantly, he's healthy!!!) I mention this because good friends of ours back in SF whose son is on the autistic spectrum are on a two year waitlist to see a speech therapist (through the same program, different name there). If we'd had to wait two years goodness only knows where we'd be! (Clearly we'd just do it privately but you get my point.)

Also, about three weeks after we moved out here I came down with Shingles (although we didn't know what it was at first), centered in my inner ear. It paralyzed my face and that's what got me to the MD tout de suite. I didn't know an MD, just called the local hospital, explained my symptoms and they responded with "how quickly can you get here?" Within thirty minutes I was seen and within ninety minutes I was having a CAT scan (to rule out stroke or tumor, although they did discover I have Grave's Disease, another thing about which I'd been complaining to my Stanford MDs only to be told "yeah, everybody's tired all the time -- it's called 'motherhood.'").

Later that day they determined it must be Shingles (although I didn't yet have any blisters). Because of it paralyzing my face my eyes were in trouble (Shingles can cause severe and permanent damage to the eyes): the MD's office called the MD's personal opthamologist (I mean the one she goes to see) and had them see me that day as well. I'll tell you, I have never felt so cosseted! (and my MDs office also made an appointment for me with my MDÂs endocrinologist  again, I didnÂt have to worry about "who should I see?")

Whenever I recount this story to any locals (meaning folks who live here in CO), to a one they say "I know, I get superlative care here, far exceeding whatever I received where I lived before." My son's progress and the immediate and thorough care I received are merely two examples.

I just wanted to tell you another thing we love about CO. If solely for my son's sake I am forever grateful we moved out here. But the truth is, we love all of it!

-Brooke

I'm sorry to have 'abandoned' this thread so abruptly. I caught some awful cold and two of my kids have it as well. I sent one back to school today (only because they are doing testing this week), but now I think the 3rd is coming down with it. At least I'm starting to feel human again :)

Dh is working out of town again this week but I've been copying the pertinent information everyone's been giving so I can refer to it again and also show dh. Thanks to all of you, when my dad emailed with several housing leads in Aurora, I was able to tell him that area isn't an option for us due to the higher crime statistics. Our families are very excited to get us back to Colorado and their enthusiasm is both charming and annoying (each of them promoting areas closest to where they live, lol).

Alliern, thanks for those links. That citi-data forum should be very helpful. Dh's new HR department should be helpful when it comes to finding a buyer's agent and house hunting, but I need to get an agent out to our house pretty soon (as soon as myself and kids are feeling better). I'm very confused, keep going back and forth, on what we should do with the house to prepare for sale. We did put a lot of things in storage last weekend, stuff like my area rugs and some antiques, extra furniture. Mostly stuff that I really don't want strangers possibly damaging.

Jen_fl, thanks for the additional information on schools in the Golden area. That area's looking like a real possibility for us.

Brooke, the story about your son is both heartbreaking and inspiring. I can just imagine the frustrations you felt as a mother. How irritating to be brushed off as a worry wort emotional woman. Really! I'm so glad that both you and your son are getting such exceptional care now, and what a blessing the move to CO has been for all of you :)

Our middle son was born in a small rural town in CO. He had problems and was life flighted 2 different times to the Children's Hospital in Denver. I too, was impressed with the quality of care and with the resources made available to the parents (like the room provided for me, and the nurses who would come get me in the middle of the night so I could breastfeed).

I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to moving to an area with more 'older' parents. There's nothing wrong with young parents but we're at different places in life and it'll feel so good to meet others who understand what we go through (like toddlers and menopause or retirement and college at the same time, all that good stuff, lol).

lady,

Again, we have something in common. I had my last child when I was 39 (she's now 5). My dh is almost 10 years older than I and he has the same problem of people calling our kids his grandkids. The area we live in has very small classes in the schools. That is good as far as learning, but I hear it has caused some social issues. My ds is in the 1st grade and doing well, but we're watching to see if there are any problems to see if we need to move him to a private school. I really hope he will be able to continue to go to school where we live so he can grow up with his classmates and friends. Kids sure do change how we live in so many ways :-)

I went to college up there and lived all over that area. I like the 16th st mall, you can take the light rail which btw there are free parking spaces around where you pick up the various buses and light rail. If you take an express bus like the one that goes from 16th st to Boulder it is a very nice bus, kinda greyhound style with mostly tech workers, very quiet and comfortable. I've commuted by bus all the way from Nederland up in the mountains above Boulder to Denver and it was a pleasure. The real estate is very expensive though. Probably forget Boulder even though if you can afford it it's my favorite place to live there. I have a good friend who lived over by the museum (27th and St Paul) kind of a transitional neighborhood but affordable.
That light rail is nice but Littleton/englewood is expensive too. If you got a place around where my frind lives you'd be like 5-10 minutes from the mall. You can go right up 16th for a bit, go up st paul 10 blocks and that's it. They don't have any problems there. I figure there are homes for 100k or less in that area. I mean if you have the money then there are lots and lots of safe family oriented neighborhoods with really nice balanced people but the high price is what keeps the riff raff out so...Othewise I don't know. Aurora, Thornton and Lakewood are the working class areas and I wouldn't want to live in any of them. Check that area I mentioned out. There's a nice bike path right off the 16th st mall too. It's a fun place you'll probably like it. 2nd highest pollution in the country next to LA and it can be kind of stinky when the pressure pushes the pollution down (lots of big oil refineries and a dog food plant so mix that up.) You can go right up into the mountains though via Boulder I'd suggest canyon rd to oh I think it's the rosevelt national forest, take a right when you get to Rollins pass, not a lot of people use that area. You can take that all the way up to Yankee Doodle lake where an old railroad used to go thru, now it goes thru the mountain down at rollins pass to Winter Park. Oh yeah, you can take that train from the station at the 16th st mall to Winter Park for I think like 10-20 bucks. If you go to the top of eldora there is a cabin you can stay in for free up there. Highly recommend it. Have fun and tell us what you decide.

La_Fonda, I just now saw your post. I was only 38 when our last was born ;) I do have the consolation that dh was mistaken for grandpa long before I was mistaken as grandma - and it bugs him more, too (so of course I tease him about it all the time, lol). Our classrooms have no more than 18 students and we LOVE the school - I'm most nervous about finding new schools that are at least as good. And I too hope my children (after we move) can stay put with the same home, friends and classmates.

Coyle, thanks for all that really great information! Really neat about the cabin on top of Eldora.