Let the hunt begin!

7 years ago Adam and I moved into our starter home. We knew it was small. We knew it was in the county. We knew that we were ONLY going to be in the house for 2-3 years, so it did not matter. I should have known that life would happen and the 2-3 years would not. Now do not get me wrong I am not unappreciative of our home, we just outgrew it and fast. I was pregnant with Zachary when we moved in and 3.5 years later we had 3 children in our tiny starter home. I managed to make it work. I think my organization skills have been tested in this house. We have moved furniture around so many times and bought tons of tubs and buckets to keep things from being scattered around the house. I DO NOT like clutter.

Finally, the timing was just right and God definitely showed us that our patience in our current home was going to pay off. Adam and I worked hard for about a month packing things up, removing pictures off of the walls, touching up on paint, laying mulch around the trees, and making everything as perfect as possible in a 30+ year old home. We put our house on the market late Monday night. I was hoping to have it on the market early Monday morning but it was cloudy and I wanted the "perfect" pictures. I wanted to make sure our house would sell fast.

I was not expecting to hear on Wed. that we got an offer on our house. What are you kidding me, 2 days on the market and we already got an offer? Not only did we get an offer but we got a full asking price offer. Praise the Lord! I prayed for a quick sale, but never thought it would happen that quickly.

"If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Matt. 21:22

On Wed. we had 3 different people come to look at our house, so we decided that we would take the time to look at some houses ourselves. We looked at one in Birkdale because it was on the same street as some close friends. Unfortunately that house did not work for us. Then, we went to look at a brand new model home in Brandy Oaks. It was perfect and I knew it would work for our family. Adam was ready to put a contract on the house that night. This was before we had heard anything about our house and I told Adam I wanted to look at more. Yes, the house was great, but there are tons of houses on the market and I knew we would have some choices.

Friday afternoon we left to go on vacation to MO. This was a well needed vacation. We had worked so hard getting our house ready the month before and we knew we could rest easy knowing that we had a contract on our house. My Mom, a realtor, began to send me some more house via email and I made a list of about 20 homes to look at. We drove home in one day and started our search again on July 4th. We had also learned on this day that the house in Brandy Oaks that we really liked had a contract on it. Adam was devastated and he knew we should have put a contract on it before we left for vacation.

We spent the next 2 days looking at houses. I was amazed at how dirty and cluttered some houses were. Do not get me wrong. I know MOST people are not as OCD as I am, but if somebody was coming to look at your house at least sweep the floors and wipe down the light switches. It really isn't that hard. Then, we found what we thought should be our house.

We went back to my Mom's office to write a contract on the house in Hampton Park. We were excited. We decided to ask for a little less as we felt it was a little overpriced and we needed the current home owners to pay for closing. We were not expecting the counter-offer that we got. They raised the priced and said they would pay for closing. We said we did not want to do that and made another offer and they decided that they were not going to budge. We walked away from the home.

The next day my Mom was looking at more houses to send us. I felt I had looked at the list a gazillion times and felt they were all looking the same. She had noticed that the second house we really liked in Brandy Oaks was back on the market. We had also decided that at this point it might be better for us to build because I could not handle moving into a dirty home.

The next day we went to a brand new home. It was nice and it was in our price range. The only bad thing is that we needed the 3rd floor (that would be the school room/playroom) to be finished and there wasn't a deck on the house yet. We knew that we would have to put more money into the home to finish it up. We then looked back at the house in Brandy Oaks and decided that was our home. We decided to put a contract on it that day. Let me tell you debating between the 2 houses took us 5 hours. Isn't that ridiculous? We just wanted to make sure we picked the perfect home for us because this time around we plan on being in this home for a LONG time.

We went back and forth a couple of times on our offer and got exactly what we wanted. We wanted the builder to pay for closing, pave the driveway, and lower the price a little to keep it in our budget. We could not be happier.

Now the only thing we are waiting on is our closing date. It is scheduled to be Aug. 12th, but that could change because the loan that the home buyers on our current home is using is behind about 2 weeks. This could change in the next couple of weeks, but for now Adam and I will continue to pack up our boxes and get ready for the BIG move. Who wants to help?

A Wild Week....

Whew...what a week? Here is our schedule for one wild week. If you feel the need to take a nap during the middle of this blog, please do so. I know I needed one. :)

Monday:
-HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ZACHARY! My firstborn turned 6! I can't believe it. sniff sniff! :(
-Made him special pancakes with a number 6, balloon, and heart
-Got the kids ready for the day
-Taught school
-Ate lunch
-Took naps/rested
-Left right after nap to pick up some of our friend's kids off of the school bus. Their Mom is in Indonesia on a mission trip and their Dad still has to work.
-Friend's Dad came home and we went out as a family of 5 to celebrate Zachary's Birthday at Red Robin...YUM
-Headed home to eat cake and open some presents
-Got a quick bath in and put the kids to bed late and on a sugar high




Tuesday:
-The kids are up and early
-Fixed breakfast and got them ready
-Taught a tiny bit of school
-Took Zachary to his co-op class
-Went shopping with the younger 3 in tow to find all of the necessities to make Zachary a robot cake for his birthday party on Sat.
-Picked up Zachary from his co-op class
-Drove home and ate lunch
-Took naps/rested
-Finish teaching school
-Oh wait Nicholas is coughing and it is getting worse. I have to take him to the doctor now
-Rush out the door to meet Adam to drop off two of the kids so he can take Lindsay to soccer practice
-Drive to the doctor's office with the most pitiful two year old in tow
-Finds out that he has a really bad ear infection and to put a steroid in his nebulizer treatment to help with the croupy cough
-Eat dinner at Sonic because nothing is prepared and it is now a little pass 6
-Rush home bath the kids and put them to bed late

He is smiling here after antibiotics have settled in and he is having a breathing treatment.



Wednesday:
-The kids wake up
-Fix breakfast and get them ready for the day
-Teach school
-Fix lunch
-nap/rest time
-Wake the kids up from their naps early because I have to get my friend's kids off of the school bus again
-Take my 3 and my friends 2 to church to eat dinner
-Teach 2 year old at church
-Head home
-Put the kids to bed late...Again

Lindsay has been waiting all year to learn the letter Ss. Zachary made a snake last year and she wanted to make one too.


Thursday:
-The kids wake up
-Fix breakfast and get them ready for the day
-Teach a tiny bit of school
-Take Lindsay to dance practice
-While we wait I teach Zachary some more school while the two little boys play in the playroom area
-Drive home and eat lunch
-Bake 24 cupcakes to start preparing the robot cake
-nap/rest time
-Finish teaching school
-Participated in a fun paint project with the kids. Zachary got some new paint for his birthday and wanted to test it out.
-Suppose to go take Zachary to soccer practice but it got canceled due to the rain. Thank you Lord we needed an evening at home.
- Fix and ate dinner at home
-Bath the kids and put them to bed...on time
-Iced cupcakes and prepped the cake the best I could before assembling it



Friday:
-Kid are up
-Get them dressed and fed very quickly
-Have to be out the door by 8:20 to get Zachary to his well check up by 9:00
-Shooting myself in the foot for trying to leave the house so early with 4 little kids
-Drive to the doctor's office
-Teach a tiny bit of school while there
- Decided that I should probably make goody bags for Zachary's party so run to party city after the doctor's visit
-Run a few more errands
-Meet sister for lunch
-Drive home
-nap/rest time
-Assemble goody bags
-Finish teaching school
-Head out the door for family night
-Drive back home VERY late
-Finish putting together Zachary's robot cake



Saturday:
-The kids are up
-Fix breakfast
-Get them ready for Zachary's and Lindsay's first soccer game of the Spring season
-Drive them to their soccer games
-I freeze while watching them play
-Run a few errands
-Grab some lunch
-Head home
-nap/rest time
-Wake the kids up
-Time to head out to Zachary's party at inflation nation
-Enjoy watching Zachary interact with his friends at his party
-Head home
-Go for a quick walk
-Eat ribs that have been smoking all afternoon while we were away
-Bath the kids
-Kids are in bed
-Set clocks forward...oh I needed an extra hour after this week





Sunday:
-The kids wake up
-Get them ready for church
-Head to church
-Eat out with some friend's afterwards
-Adam takes Zachary and Lindsay to a car show with some friends
-I take Nicholas home for a nap
-Nicholas and I have some one on one bonding time
-Fix us dinner
-Head back to church to meet Adam and the kids
-Church is over and we head home
-Put the kids to bed

Most of you know that I suffer with insomnia. Why is that I ask? After my day, I should hit the pillow and just crash.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthen me."
Pillilpians 4:13

100Th Day of School!

A few weeks ago we celebrated our 100Th day of school. Wow we made it that far!!!!! I can't say that homeschooling is always "easy peasy" (a quote from Zachary), but we take it one day at a time. Sometimes my house isn't as clean as I would like it to be and laundry is never completely done. My OCD won't allow piles of laundry to build up, but if you came to my house and opened the dryer there will more than likely be a load waiting in there. As you could tell blogging has also hit the back burner and I know I totally missed Christmas, but I just can't do it all these days. I am trying my best and the kids are learning a lot. I am amazed at how well Zachary is reading and how he loves it. Now handwriting is a different subject for him and we will be doing a summer school session with that. I was thinking about just doing it with Zachary but I am going to include Lindsay too. She has neater handwriting but she could also use some work.



Putting 100 M&M's on a cake


Adding 100 stickers to a chart!





I think they are going to look pretty good if they live to be 100!

****Now please do not judge me on how long the boy's hair is and how Lindsay could barely see because her bangs have gotten so long. The kids had scheduled haircuts and then decided that they would get the flu. They have had haircuts since these pictures and are looking much better. :)

Lindsay Dancing!

My sweet daughter LOVES to dance and I LOVE when we can go into the studio to watch and take pictures.

NEW YORK CITY!!!

Adam and I have always wanted to go to NYC. We almost went when I was pregnant with Lindsay for a mini get-away, but then my asthma started acting up (ended up in the hospital twice because of it), so we thought it would not be a good idea for us to go at that time of our lives. Now 3 kids later we decided to go around Christmastime to see the "big tree", go to some kid friendly shops, and eat some yummy food. The city was beautifully decorated and visiting Santa at Macy's was a huge treat. I was really shocked because the kids did not complain once about all of the walking we did. There were some complaints about the cold weather (me probably being the biggest) though. Overall we had a great time and awesome memories were made.





The kids taking their picture in front of the Santa's Land train at Macy's

The best cupcakes ever! I should have bought a box to bring home.


Probably Nicholas' favorite store...M&M store...he is my candy boy.

This how the kids slept each night. I know these days will quickly pass us and they will want their own beds. Why do they grow so fast?



Statue of Liberty!

Nicholas taking a nap in his stroller.



Lindsay waiting in line to get into American Girl. I have a feeling we are going to end up spending a lot money at that store when she gets a little older. We are already spending a lot at the store now just for bitty baby items.

Christmas Star!

This year it was Lindsay's turn to put the star on the Christmas tree. She was really excited at first.


Then she had to climb up the next step.


Then she really did not want to let go of the ladder, but she finally did.

Please smile for Mommy.



What a brave little girl she was.

I am thankful for creative thinking!

If truth be told Zachary and Lindsay do not like handwriting when it comes to schoolwork. I knew we were going to take most of Thanksgiving week off, but little did Zachary and Lindsay know they were still doing schoolwork. I can be so tricky sometimes. I talked to my Grandmother (she was hosting Thanksgiving this year) and asked her if the kids could make nameplates for everyone. She graciously said yes. I got some cute little stickers and cut out 19 pieces of card stock to make our nameplates. Zachary and Lindsay loved this activity so much they did not complain once they were writing.





The following day, I decided the kids were going to make thankful turkeys. I wanted to see exactly what they were thankful and of course have them write it down on the turkey feathers. Again, they did not complain about handwriting. I wasn't so hard on them about making the turkeys really neat, so they do look sloppy, but hey they were writing and did not complain.