Sunday, October 27, 2013

Park Time

Last Monday was a beautiful day.  Hannah didn't take a great nap so when she woke up early I decided to take advantage and go to the neighborhood park.  I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately so I grabbed the camera along with snack so we could play for a long while.  The kids had so much fun.  Luke was finally able to make it all the way across the monkey bars on his own.  He was very proud of himself.  

Thursday, October 24, 2013

10 Things About...

Since life is a bit crazy around here and I've been wanting to do a blog post about a few things, I'm just going to list what's going on with each of us right now and that will cover it all in one post.

So, 10 Things About...

Hannah
*She was 22 months old on Tuesday.  I'll say it yet again--time goes by so fast!!!
*School has become much easier and the info note that she brought home Tuesday said she is loving school.  Hooray!
*Buttons, buttons, buttons!!!  She is totally into buttons.
*About 2 weeks ago she started saying, "Uke, Uke, Uke."  Hannah is finally saying Luke's name (he loves it!).
*Hannah loves playing with Duplo Legos.  She has even been caught sorting them (a trait her brother did all the time).
*She loves to wrestle and play with Luke and Dad.  It scares me a bit still but she laughs and squeals with delight.
*Hannah loves to go bye-bye.  She is constantly asking, "Shoes on? Bye-bye?"  
*Hannah has discovered Frosted Mini Wheats.  She insists on "ereal" every morning for breakfast.  She does a great job of having a bowl with cereal and milk. 
*Reading has become a favorite activity.  She is particularly fond of books with noise, flaps or something that moves.
*Hannah loves to sing.  She's been learning lots of new songs from school and it seems she is singing all the time--Ring around the Rosie, Frere Jacques, Twinkle Twinkle, The Clean Up Song.
*An extra--Hannah loves to help!  She starts the dishwasher, helps me change the laundry, helps LJ set the table and will do most tasks you ask her to that involve helping.

Luke
*Finding LJ's halloween costume this year was a bit of an ordeal.  He wanted to be a dinosaur specially a brachiosaurus.  Well, there isn't a brachiosaurus costume available anywhere.  Thankfully it wasn't too hard to convince him to be a pteranodon.  We ordered the costume online and it came last week.  I wish it was just a tad bit bigger but we're going to make it work.
*Luke has had lots of questions about moving, the new house, what we'll be taking, why are Troy and I doing so much work, why does the house have to be perfect all the time, etc.  I'm glad he's asking so much.  I take it as a sign that he knows what's going on and is processing it all.  I just pray that when it comes time to move the transition goes smoothly.
*Beads, beads, beads!  Luke is completely into making creations out of perler beads (the kind you melt with an iron).  About 2 weeks ago he started making Christmas ornaments and hasn't stopped.  I love his creative, crafty side :)
*Luke has become a bit more social since school started.  He is always asking to have a play date or when can he see so and so.  I'm glad he's branching out a bit more.
*He loves going to school.  
*Luke doesn't like to get up in the morning.  His alarm goes off at 7:45 and I go into his room about 8 to drag him out of bed to start getting ready for the day.  This doesn't look too good for the future.
*The boys in his class at school like to play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on the playground.  Luke joins in and has fun but when I ask him if he'd like to get some turtle toys for Christmas he says no.  He just wants Legos and beads.
*Luke seems to be getting more picky about food lately especially fruits and vegetables.  It's a rare night that we don't have to tell him repeatedly to eat this or that off his plate at dinner time.
*Luke has also been writing a bunch.  For a while he was writing stories and sounding out words on his own and now he's been asking us to spell the words first so he can write them correctly.
*Luke is most excited about having his own art room at the new house.  There is a window-less room off the laundry room with a built-in desk, shelves and a huge closet that we've told him will be his art room.  
*An extra--About 3 weeks ago LJ said he'd decided what he wanted to be when he grew up.  So I asked him what it was and he said an artist.  I asked what kind of artist and he said a drawing artist.  :)

Troy
*There were over 700 lay-offs at Troy's company about 2 weeks ago.  During the re-org Troy was moved to a new group--the Eastern Division.  It's a completely new area for him so he's been learning a lot.
*To go along with his new position, Troy has been reading a bunch of papers about Eastern Appalachian geology.
*Fantasy Football has not gone well this season.
*Troy is super excited that the Chiefs are 7-0 this season and that the games are available to watch here.
*Troy is most excited to have more space, a hot tub and an office away from everyone at the new house.
*Troy is dreading packing the garage.  I would be too.
*He has been playing with the kids every night after dinner.  I love to watch them interact.
*Troy leaves the house in the morning no later than 6:15.  He is a morning person for sure.
*He has been getting home around 5:30 or a bit earlier for a few months.  I really love that!
*Troy goes to sleep in about 5 minutes.  He does so much each day it doesn't take him long to be out and snoring.

Amy
*Packing, packing, packing.  I am into packing.  Maybe "into" implies some sort of like of which there is none.
*I was able to go on a scrapbook retreat last weekend.  It was great to get away from the stress of moving, etc for a while.  I completed 36 pages!
*I'm glad that fall has arrived and it's not so hot outside.
*Every night before I go to sleep I get on Pinterest for a while and also play Sudoku.  It really seems to help me relax and go to sleep faster.
*I got my driver's license renewed this morning.  The picture is awful!!!
*I haven't been reading much lately.  The last book I finished was an Inspector Gamache novel by Louise Penny.  It's a series and they are fantastic.  I'm looking forward to another one coming out hopefully soon.
*Maintaining a well cleaned, picked up, show at any time house is hard work!  I appreciate how nice the house looks but I'll be glad when it's over.
*Moving still doesn't seem completely real to me.  The huge for sale sign in the front yard, boxes in our garage, maintaining the house for showings, etc just hasn't sunk in yet.  I'm not sure if it will be completely real to me until we are actually in the new house.  Even picturing life in a few months seems surreal at the new house. 
*We've really been watching our budget and I have to say I've enjoyed figuring out some new recipes and cooking more.  We were probably eating dinner out 1 or 2 times a week before and now that's down to maybe 1.
*And now I'm off to pack, pack, pack :)

Sunday, October 13, 2013

Big Changes....

Three weeks ago the possibility of writing this post was non-existent.  In fact, I would have laughed and told you that you were crazy if you told me what we're doing around here.  

So, what is this big change and what are we doing around here????  

Well, we're moving!!!!  

That means we're packing and cleaning and organizing and cleaning and packing and going a bit crazy!

It all started when we decided that putting in a pool was a bit more expensive than we wanted it to be and that one option was to move to a house with a pool.  I objected strongly!  I'm not much on big change.  This was about 2 months ago.  

Troy eventually convinced me to just look at houses online with pools.  I wasn't impressed in the slightest.  I told him that for me to even consider moving the house would have to meet a lot of requirements because I wasn't just moving to get a pool.  So we made a list.  It was long because I'm picky and I know what I want in a house.

I still wasn't really considering moving but a few other factors came into play and so we looked online again.  And there was a house that I liked.  Troy liked it too.  The web page sat open on my computer for about two weeks.  I would randomly look through the pictures and think about it.

Finally, Troy said that we needed to decide if we were going to go for putting a pool in here or move.  I said that I wanted to go see the house and see how I felt about even looking at houses.  I felt like I would be able to judge whether or not I really wanted to commit to moving by looking at a house.

We decided on a Sunday night that we would go look at the house.  I called a neighbor friend that is a realtor on Monday.  I told her I wasn't really even sure why I was calling her and that we weren't sure what we were doing but we wanted to go see this house.  She laughed at me and said we'd take it one step at a time.

So on Tuesday morning, October 1, we went to see the house.  And we LOVED it!!!  As we were walking through it I kept telling Troy that I didn't want to like it so much.  I truly didn't want to like it so much but at the same time if we were going to move I did want to like it as much as I did.  It literally had everything on my long list of requirements plus some extra things that made it that much better.

My List
*Obviously, the pool
*More backyard for the kids to play in (even with the pool)
*Trees
*At least 4 bedrooms (it has 5)
*Gameroom
*Office (that's not next to the front door)
*Storm shelter
*Hardwood floors
*Gas cooktop
*Good storage
*Dining room that isn't "open"--I don't care for the posts or only different flooring seperation of rooms

Extras it Has
*Double oven
*Raised vegetable garden with a sprinkler
*Hot tub
*Backs to a golf course
*Central vac system
*Sunroom that's perfect for a playroom for the kids off the family room
*A window-less room off the laundry room with a built-in desk that's perfect for LJ's art stuff
*AND MY FAVORITE: A craft room just for me

We left the house sort of in a daze.  I couldn't believe that the first one we looked at was it.  It really freaked me out.  We decided to go back and look at it again later that day with Dad and Frankie to get a second opinion and make sure we weren't crazy for liking it so much.  They liked it just as much as we did.

Troy and I talked about so many options Tuesday night.  Neither of us slept well.  I woke up and decided it would be a good idea to see a couple more options just to make sure.  Troy obviously missed a bunch of work Tuesday so I went to see two houses Wednesday morning by myself.  Neither one even came close to comparing.  Wednesday night we talked through all our options again and didn't sleep well.  Thursday I went back to see the house again by myself--I really wanted to be sure.  

Thursday night we went through all the paperwork to make an offer and also paperwork to get our house on the market.  After going back and forth several times on Friday, we got the word about 6:30 that they accepted our last offer!  We were shocked and stunned and in disbelief.  

That was 10 days ago.  Life has been crazy busy since then.  We've worked super hard to get our house ready to go on the market; the plan is for it to be listed on Thursday.  We're praying that it sells quickly. We close on the new house on November 14.  That's just a month away!  I am still having a hard time believing it!