New Shoes

Our little princess pulled a good one today.

This morning as I put on her shoes, she fussed a little. I took off the shoe and checked to make sure there wasn't anything inside that would bother her. Everything looked ok so I put the shoe back on. She walked around the kitchen and we went out to get into the car and drive to school.
At school, I took her out of her car seat and carried her inside. Once inside, I put her on the floor so I could sign Brock into his class. She started limping. Then, she wouldn't put any weight at all onto her left foot. I took the shoe off again, checking the shoe and her foot. Everything appeared ok...again. The shoe went back on and she still refused to put any weight on it. I took them off and wanted to see if she would walk without the shoes. She was initially timid, but then started running around.
I guess we won't be wearing the shoes anymore!

Sure, kids outgrow shoes. Sure, sometimes parents don't always know it before the kids "tell" us. But now, the Aubree-factor. The child is fine in the morning when I could have swapped out her shoes for another pair at home. However, the princess decides she wants a new pair of shoes and to do that, we need to be as far from the house as possible. So the noble servant goes to get her Highness a new pair of shoes and drops them off at school at lunch.

Oh, Aubree...

Breaking for Blogging

It's been a while! We are moved in, and I'm not sure I've sat still this long in a few weeks. So, today, I'm taking a break for you! Time to catch up. I always find the longer I go between blog posts, the harder it is to start one. There is just too much that has gone on! We'll hit some highlights and hopefully I won't let so much time go by before the next post!

A Sad Goodbye
* We had to say goodbye to our dear friends and neighbors. Luckily, friendships like this don't end, so even though we're not across the street, we are only a 5 mile (and rather traffic-filled 281) drive away. I made the boys a photo book since they are the very best of friends. It captured pictures and memories since they were born. I LOVE IT!

(What a cute pair of brothers & sisters!)

House Closings

* Both got delayed. A wonderful new regulation caused us to wait 72 hours to think about our loan when the interest rate dropped. If that doesn't make sense to you, don't worry...it doesn't make sense to anyone! We can thank Washington D.C. for that one.
* Finally closed on the new house Monday (4/19). We had such wonderful helpers to load our truck, then unload into the new house and also unload both storage units! You always know true friends...they will work for not much more than a pat on the back...and perhaps some pizza and beer! :-)
* Still awaiting a closing on the old house. Yep, we currently own two houses. Someone told me this is the time to go to a reunion..."well, my OTHER house is...". Ha! I'd be just fine owning one.
* Learned today the mortgage processor for our buyers has been sitting on his rear and tried to throw our realtor under the bus for not getting this deal done. After our realtor provided plenty of paperwork and communication trails, and finished a conference call with the VP of the company, the mortgage processor no longer is employed. The VP is personally taking over the case and we should have some good news tomorrow.

St. Joseph
* Those of you who read my St. Joseph post knows we buried him in our yard and have prayed faithfully each day to help sell our house. After it sells, you are supposed to dig him up and put him in a place of honor in the new house. We have dug and dug and dug...we CANNOT FIND HIM! We can't figure out how we're missing him, but Tom has put a lot of effort into trying to locate our dear St. Joseph.
Even Aubree has tried to "help"?!?!?!?!




The BIG 3-1
* I spent my birthday this year a little sad since our closing had been delayed and we didn't get to move in for my birthday. However, we were able to celebrate my dear nephew's FIRST Birthday! Happy Birthday my dear Conner!
The only thing I was responsible for at the party was bringing my camera and taking pictures. Guess what I forgot in the haste of packing and moving? Yep! The camera. I think my sister has forgiven me, but I will say the pics I took with my mom's camera turned out pretty darn good anyways!





Soccer
* The Shooting Stars are in full swing for Spring YMCA Soccer! And this team mom is up for yet another challenging role of juggling work, kids, home, soccer, etc. THANK GOODNESS for my co-star, Tom!

Top 10 reasons you know you're about to move

I've waited for over a year, and it's here. It's almost time to day goodbye. Lots of goodbyes. Some I'm looking forward to saying. Others I'm not. The most surprising thing from this experience is that I've had just about every possible emotion known to man!
I'm happy, excited, thrilled, can't hardly wait!!!
I'm sad, hesitant, unsure.
I feel like I'm closing a chapter of my life. I won't re-hash the post I wrote a couple months ago, but this house definitely made us a FAMILY. A family that continues to grow and get stronger each day.

Every day the reality settles in a little more. And here's why!!!!!

Top 10 Reasons you know you're about to move!

10. You feel like you're back living in an apartment. (No house furnishings, cardboard table in the eating area, etc.)







9. You lose your garage space.







8. You buy the larger package of bubble wrap because it comes in a box!! (to use later)








7. You get quite creative in meals - NO grocery shopping until we move in!





6. The more you move out, the dirtier your house looks!



5. You let your 5-year-old use a black magic marker.









4. You ask yourself at least once an hour: "Why did I buy this?" "Where did this come from?"






3. Hide-and-go-seek places really start to become abundant.













2. You clean the oven. (for the first time EVER...note to self: Let Tom do it after the next 6 years!)






1. Your son gets a kick out of using the restroom because "it sounds funny in here". "echo...echo...echo..."

Texas Wildflowers

As move date gets closer, blog posts get shorter! But I just HAD to share a few beautiful pictures from this weekend in the amazing Texas Wildflowers!

We have dates!

I'm so excited we actually have dates to this big, upcoming move!!

Right now, if we stay on schedule, we'll be closing on our current house on Thursday, April 15th.

Then, on Friday, April 16th, we'll close on our new house!

Tom is off this week for spring break, so I took the week off too. We were originally planning to travel to Arkansas to see Craig, Cathy and my cutie-pie niece Avery, but then we got the offer...and all plans went out the window. :-)
Tom and I have spent the past few days packing...and actually ENJOYING ourselves! It's amazing how much fun you can have doing some of the simplest things...together. (And yes, we are still sending the kids to daycare!)

The New House!

I know everyone just wants to see pictures. I don't blame you. I just want to keep going over there to see it! Things are progressing well with the sale of both our current house and this new one. However, we're still praying daily for the process to continue on a smooth path. If everything goes well, we'll be moving in on my birthday! Happy birthday to me!!
A few details: The house is 12 years old, but looks brand new! The driveway is amazing...you could probably fit 4-6 vehicles in the driveway alone. (Drastically different than the 2 we can fit now!
It was built by Pulte. It is a whopping 3265 square feet! On the first floor, you'll find a Master Bedroom, Formal Dining, Family Room, 1/2 bath, Kitchen, Breakfast Room, Utility and huge Pantry!
Upstairs, you'll find three VERY LARGE Bedrooms, a Game Room, a Bathroom, a random Storage Room (about the size of a bathroom), and a Media Room.

Family Room - you can see the Master Bedroom off the front hallway.

Nice built-ins looking from the fireplace in the breakfast room into the family room.

Huge Kitchen!

Flat surface stove Double oven...this would probably be cooler if I cooked...

Love the fireplace in the eating area! (It doesn't take up a wallspace in the living room this way)

Looking into the Master bathroom.

Toilet, Garden Tub & Shower on the right.

His & Hers (large) vanity areas on the left, with a door to the closet.

At the top of the staircase is the gameroom. A door on the right goes to the largest bedroom.

Gameroom Standing in the gameroom area. Looking down the hall to the two other bedrooms and the bathroom. (The large bedroom is on the left wall here, and I'm standing at the door to the storage room.)
The upstairs bathroom opens into the Media room.

The HUGE media room. (off the bathroom) Standing in the Media Room. Looking into the bathroom, and a staircase that goes down to the Master Bedroom.

Nice LARGE GREENBELT behind us!! Tom has already picked out the location for the deer feeder.

His Plan

If I thought home-selling was stressful, the home buying process can put your stomach into knots!! But, in a GOOD WAY!! :-)

Let's see if I can go through the time line pretty quickly:

Monday - Receive verbal offer on our home
Tuesday - Sign contract & submit counter offer
Wednesday - Counter offer accepted and Contract signed!
Thursday - Contract makes it's way to the title company; inspection on our house.
Friday - day of rest?
Saturday - HOUSE HUNTING! (and so, our new story begins)
We saw 11 houses on Saturday. The 9th house was THE ONE. My stomach hurt, I wanted this house so badly! We looked at those two more afterward, just to be sure. We were SURE. Our Realtor started putting paperwork together. We went home to get pre-approved online.
Sunday - after Church, we meet the Realtor and go look at the house again with Mom & the kiddos. They loved it too! We sign the contract and it is submitted to the seller's agent.

* A couple things to note here. 1) This house had been on the market for SIX days when we saw it. 2) The day we received an offer on our house was the day this house went on the market. Coincidence? I don't think so. Thank you Lord! Thank you St. Joseph! *

We're still on Sunday...
We go back home and try to enjoy the rest of the day, eagerly awaiting word that our contract has been accepted. Around 5pm, our Realtor texts us and says to call him for an update. Yay! Well, he starts with "Don't Panic" Uh-oh! Apparently, on Sunday, there were FOUR CONTRACTS offered on this house! I couldn't believe it! He said two were thrown out immediately. Ours was still in the top two, and their agent had recommended they choose ours. Thank goodness we knew a good thing when we saw it and offered asking price, choosing to negotiate on closings costs instead. I hang up the phone, seriously tied up in knots.
Around 10pm, I get another text saying to call if it's not too late for an update. I call and he tells us that it looks as if they are going with our offer, but will probably be countering just a tad on our closing request. However, until we have a signed contract in hand, it's hard to rest easy!

Monday - (One week since we had first word of an offer on our house! WOW! this is happening fast!) 9:30am - our Realtor has a signed contract in hand! We're ready to move forward on this house! I'm continuing to pray at this point that the sale of our house progresses smoothly.
1:30pm - the inspection report comes back on our house and the ONLY thing our buyers want is for us to get the A/C serviced! Consider it DONE!!!

This afternoon we started asking questions about moving up our closing on the new house so we can move straight in. We'll get that figured out in the next few days. However, as God would have it, (and I alluded to in my previous post), we were blessed with a rent house to use for the interim period if needed!! For a mere $400/mo plus utilities, we can stay in this 5050 square foot mansion that is priced WAY out of our league!! While it would be quite neat to "live" in a place like that, I truly hope we are able to synch our closing dates so we only have to move ONCE. But if not, I choose NOT to complain. God has blessed us with more than we could imagine! We are so grateful!

While all this time, I knew God had a plan for us, I couldn't begin to imagine why in the world it took SO LONG for our house to sell! I sure would have preferred an email straight from Heaven saying "Lori, just hang in there till March '10...my plan will be revealed.", I now am beginning to see the perfect sequence of events only HE could have laid out so perfectly.



**I'll be sure to give an update on the house soon. I'll be at the inspection tomorrow and will take some pictures. :)