I Be Careful

Both of the boys really wanted to be right in the middle of it all while we were trying to pack. I had to put up these pictures of Andrew on the ladder. The first one is not so bad, (unless you know that we have 12' ceilings.) The next pictures gives a bit more perspective.....yikes! Andrew says, "I be careful."

Chores

(I have been so busy with all of the house stuff that I have to post all of my entries today.)

My mother taught me a lot of very valuable things, but I'm extremely grateful she taught me to keep a tidy home. When I was little she would remind me, "cleanliness is next to Godliness." I'm sure my sisters and I rolled our eyes a lot, but now I can say I'm grateful. I'm beginning to attempt teaching these skills to Andrew, so he has his own chores to do every day. He is in charge of cleaning the sliding glass door(it's mostly his fingerprints anyway) and he is also great at vacuuming the floors. (Doesn't he look thrilled about it in the picture?) ;)

A Contract!

I am so excited to report that we officially have accepted an offer on our house! We have about a week to move out!! Let the chaos begin....
The couple buying our home is moving here from Laguna Hills, CA. The husband just got transferred here to work so they are in a big hurry to get the kids here and in school. So, they are renting our house from us until they sell the house in California. Perhaps it is not an ideal situation for us, but, considering the market, we feel very blessed.
Now that we are about to be homeless, Derek's parents have so kindly agreed to let us all stay at their house for the next few months. We were busy on Saturday trying to organize a plan of attack on this packing situation. Derek made some phone calls and found a big storage room for us to store almost all of our earthly possessions. I, of course, made lists of all the services we need to cancel/change address on/etc. What am I doing typing at the computer?? I have work to do....

A Splash

I guess Saturday was a busy day, cause we also went for a "swim" in the backyard. Yes those are sponges in the pool. It's a great pool game and they are not for cleaning. ;) Thanks Heather for the idea. Spencer likes to suck on them though...yuck.

The Shopping List

I am a list maker!! I have a list for everything, and it seems that is the only way I can organize my brain. On Saturday when I was making a list for the store I asked Derek what else we needed and he said "to sell the house." So being the dork that I am, I wrote it on my list. (This was before the realtor mentioned in my last blog came by) On Monday, they made us an offer! I guess I should have just put it on my list 9 months ago! :P lol
Before I celebrate too much....it's not a super offer and we haven't yet countered the offer so, we will see what happens. But for now, I think I'll go start another list!

Sell This House

We are quickly closing in on the 1 year mark since we put our home on the market. I'm really getting burnt out! If I have to clean this house one more time....just kidding, I like having a clean house, but this is getting a bit old. Today we were having a great Saturday! We got some work done this morning. I cleaned a couple of things and Derek did some yard work and went to the dump with his Dad. While we were lounging in the afternoon (still in our grubbies) the doorbell rang!! (My heart sunk) Sure enough, it was a realtor with clients! Urghh. It is so frustrating that I am expected to have the house ready at all times....yeah right! These people have children...they should understand. The crazy thing is that we want to show the house so it will sell, and we were happy to have them (just not unannounced in the middle of a mess) It turned out that they have looked at our house before, earlier in the week, and wanted to look again! That's terrific! Well, then I looked around me at the mess and in my head thought of a few words that I wouldn't say out loud. Well, they did come in and have a thorough look around the house. Andrew slept on the couch, Derek looked after Spencer and I cleaned. Luckily, most of the house was tidy, so I just had to do the dishes and wipe the counters and make beds. They are a very nice couple and they had a lot of questions so it was good that we were here. So, just like the five hundred other times we have shown the house....now we wait. It's so hard to keep thinking positively without getting my hopes up!

"Cars"

Derek had a flex day today so we had a very leisurely morning around the house. I decided to put underwear on Andrew to see how he would react. (He usually screams out, "I need diaperchange") So...here are pictures of Andrew outside riding his tricycle in his underwear! But he IS wearing underwear!!

This can only end in tears!

Today I got the email of pictures from our sitting on Monday. It was a reminder of the "fun" time that we all had. Here are some of the pictures. The best and the worst...you will see what I mean.

This is Andrew looking at me (so sad)

This is after Derek worked some magic and got a half smileThis is after Derek swung Andrew around in the air and quickly back into position just as the photographer snapped the shot. (The best we could do)

Spencer was happy to get the attention like the hair?
Itchy nose, I think.
My favorite!!

Camera Shy?

Whenever Andrew sees me get out the camera he gets silly! He loves to have his picture taken. In fact, Monday morning he was playing with Spencer and after he had pulled little brother up onto his lap he asked me to take their picture. Well, I was so surprised to hear him say that because I had just scheduled pictures at Target for that evening. I used the opportunity to start talkin' it up! We talked all about how we were going to go and smile and take pictures and help little brother to smile. Andrew was all excited about it. So, I got everyone ready and we were out the door in plenty of time so that no one was rushed. When we got to Target I got Andrew an icee, (the flavor that is white of course so he didn't have red tongue in pictures) his favorite treat ever. We wondered the isles and found some cute shirts for the boys to wear. Then we paid for the shirts and went back for picture time. Andrew had fun playing with the toy in the waiting area. We combed the boys hair and then it was showtime....or should I say war time! As soon as we entered the dark studio Andrew started to wail. After almost 30 minutes of fighting we settled on the pictures snapped between the sobs and the one of Andrew pushing Spencer out of the frame. What a joy. I was sweating and Derek was grouchy. The fun didn't end there. When we came back to choose pictures we found that the photographer had taken nearly EVERY shot from a distance, and most were landscape instead of portrait. So that basically meant that to get what we needed, every sheet was 3 times more money than it should have been! Ughhh...he knew I wasn't about to ask him to redo the entire session!! Darn salesman!

Here is Andrew with a round pillow for a hat.

Blanket Factory

For the past couple of years I have been making baby blankets (not just for my babies) I love to crochet around flannel. It makes the best blankets! During my most recent trip to WY I spent some time talking with my Aunt Barbara about this (she makes these blankets too.) She told me all about hemstitching. Hemstitching is very specific kind of stitch (you need a special machine) used to make holes in the fabric, the holes are perfect for a crochet hook. So, I sent some fabric to the lady that does my Aunts hemstitching. As soon as I got them back I went crochet crazy. I found that it is so much easier/faster than how I did it before. I can now do an entire blanket in an afternoon! Here are some pictures of my favorites (lots of girl blankets 'cause I never get to make those. ;)

Then & Now

I was looking through some old pictures of Andrew and stumbled upon this one of him helping me with dishes.

Oh...cute...right? (Well of course I think it's cute)

Now fast forward a couple of years and see what baby number two can do...

Knives.....nice. The interesting thing is that I'm not sure if this reflects more on the personality differences of the boys or on my change in parenting style after two kids.

Self cleaning oven?

Hmmmm...this is a mystery to me. I decided to clean my oven today. First I wiped it out...that wasn't gonna cut it. Then I used my steam cleaner with the help of Andrew. That was good, but not good enough, so I got out the owners manual and read. It said not to use oven cleaner because it's a self cleaning oven...sounds easy, right? So , I followed the instructions for a three hour cleaning cycle. Then I lit a couple candles. Then I turned on every fan in the house!! Still the funky smell prevailed! When the cycle was about half way done Andrew started coughing (He was back in the playroom) and I knew I should get the kids out of the house. I stopped to consider the danger of leaving the house while this "cleaning" process continued, but decided the health of my children was more important to me than the rare chance of something exploding in my kitchen. So we went to Target (naturally) to waste the afternoon. So here is the mysterious part... Where did all the burned on spots go?? All the gunk I couldn't even budge with a steamer???? I thought I would at least have to wipe something out when it finished, but no, it was perfect! The oven looked brand new. So I guess it really is self cleaning and if you survive the funky smell it's worth it.

Social Eating

This adorable little one is Spencer. He is 9 months old and loves to eat. Anytime anyone around him is eating, he thinks the food is for him. He is not picky at all, he likes anything from green beans to ice cream. As far as I know, he hasn't yet met a food he didn't like.

Join the fun!

Okay, fine... Everyone is doing it. I guess it's time to start my own blog. :P I'm not so sure that I will have a lot to say, but kids usually keep life interesting enough. Now, I will go try to figue out how to post pictures before my boys wake up from nap time.