Outside

After the longest, coldest and snowiest winter ever, it was finally warming up (Its in the low 40's today) so we hit Bens favorite park.

Look at those cool dudes.

Sam only fell off the slide once!

Ben is super rad!

Improvement???

Mall time

The kids and I met Jon at the mall on a rainy Monday last week.  Since we didn't have any food in the house, we hit Panera for some bagels for lunch.  Since boxes were all over the house, a stop at the play area as a must!

We're back!

After a last minute delay and a crazy amount of drama, we're moved and the internet is up and running!  I'll post more about the house later, but I made it a point to take pictures to update the blog so I want to get some of those up.  

We headed to the Easter egg hunt on what should have been moving day.  Ellie wasn't interested in pictures, but she was very excited for candy!

The boys spent that weekend with Gram so we were short two kids while we did dome shopping, hung out at Corries and had a cookout that night.

MIA

Well, after finding out we weren't moving last week we were on a mad dash to make sure our utilities weren't shut off as scheduled.  We got to all of them but AT&T.  I guess if we had to lose one utility early the phone and internet was the one to lose.  Unfortunately, that means no blog updates until we move.  I was going to mooch off Corries internet and sneak in a quick update, but I'm having trouble with AOL (I had to e mail pictures to myself from my phone) so no updates for anyone.  Maybe next week....

Beyond livid

Well, I was going to post about how its looking like we're going to have to delay our move by 1 week. Every time I start thinking about it I get more and more mad.  The incompetence of people amazes me sometimes.  I have no desire to get into the story again right now.  For now, please pray that people start using their brains and have some compassion for 2 families that are completely ready to move this weekend.

Goofs

I stole these pictures from Corries facebook page. Thanks for taking these great pics and hanging out with us at lunch!

Boxes

We are surrounded by boxes.  They're everywhere.  We have little pathways around some of the furniture, which the kids think is cool.  At the same time, they've significantly cut down the amount of play space the kids are used to having.  That means they are always right by our sides.  I love these kids, but I'm really looking forward to having room to move around and not trip over kids.  14 days!

Wordless Wednesday: Gangster Zach

Letters

I've been going back and forth on home schooling lately. We definitely had good reasons for starting and those reasons are still valid, but we struggle a lot.  I don't know if its the stress of packing and moving, maybe its not a good curriculum match, maybe its just not for Ben anymore. We've lightened the load since Christmas.  Its going a lot better than it was, but we still have our moments.  Those moments are consistent enough to make me wonder what kind of change needs to happen.
We happened to find a friend who is a third grade teacher in the Olmsted district.  She and Ben chatted for a few minutes about what the school day is like and she suggested he write a letter to one of her students to get more info.  Instead of one student writing him back, he got 17 responses!  The letters are adorable.  They talked about recess (which is everyones favorite subject), what the play ground looks like, who the cool teachers are etc.  I think all but one or two kids said if they could do school at home, they wouldn't want to do it.  I was kind of surprised by that.
Unfortunately, Ben is equally torn.  After reading the letters he was all for going to school.  Then we broke down the day, how much time you get for lunch and recess and how long you have for your other subjects. His school day would be 6hrs and 25min. We finish our school day in 2 hrs or less. It would also mean no ice skating next year, no more breakfast dates with Miss Debbie, lunch dates with gram or play dates with Liam.  He wasn't too excited about all that. We have some thinking and praying to do.

Congrats

Corrie moved into her new home yesterday.  She's spent the past two weeks replacing floors, painting, shopping, hanging curtains, blinds and fans and making great plans for the future.  We all love her new place (especially Ben who might be moving in!) and are so glad we got to be there for the big day.  We can't wait to see how you "rearrange" and make it your home!

Another one bites the dust

After a week of Jon trying to pull Bens crooked hick tooth, Gram was finally able to get it out tonight.  This tooth fairy thing is getting expensive!

10!

Jon and I have been married for 10 years today.  Where did the last 10 years go?  It seems like just the other day we were living in Cherry Tree, sleeping at least until 8am and heading out at a moments notice. 10 years later, we have to plan our dates at least a week in advance to ensure a babysitter.  We rarely have a quiet house.  Sleeping until 7am is a luxury we rarely see and fighting toddlers are our main source of entertainment!  I still don't know how we got here...4 kids.  We weren't sure we'd have any and now we have 4! We're moving to Olmsted Twp in 3 weeks.  I never thought I'd live so "far" away.  I'm a stay at home, home schooling mom. What?  That was never in my game plan.  Its amazing to see how much both of us, our lives, our family has changed.  Based on the last 10 years, I can only image where the next 10 will take us!

Ice skating

A friend of ours found out about an ice skating class for kids that are home schooled.  They did the winter session and had a lot of fun so I got the boys signed up for the spring session which started today.  Sam needed a tiny bit of bribing.  Once he got on the ice, he forgot about any concerns he had.

A practice run before the lessons started.

Caoilin pushing Sam around.  Sam wondering how he's going to get off of the cone!

After one lesson they're "awesome at skating!"

Wordless Wednesday: Laundry time

Random

I feel like I've been neglecting some of the little things lately.  We've started packing up the house and I've spent many hours helping Corrie out at her new place over the past several days.  I found these pictures on my phone and decided they were too cute not to post.

Officially official

We got a call from our realtor tonight.  The appraisal on our house came back ok.  We don't know the amount the appraiser came back with, and I don't really care.  All I know is that was the last hurdle in selling the house and we have cleared it! 30 days to go!

Um...ok

One word for our living room is definitely not bright. Apparently Ben disagreed.  I wish we would have got a picture of him five minutes later when he had his umbrella out as a shade!

Rend

Last night Jon, his mom and I went to see Kari Jobe and Rend Collective Experience with a group of friends. While Kari was the main attraction, we were all there to see Rend.  I realized on the way there, this was my first Christian concert.  It was definitely different from a regular concert, but just as much fun.  Warren Barfield was also there.  I've never heard of him and he told more stories then singing, but he was pretty funny.  He also did a great job of promoting Compassion International.  We didn't have the best seats, but its a small venue so they really don't have any bad seats.  The whole price of admission was worth hearing Rend sing "Build Your Kingdom Here" and yes, play the jingling johnny!  I'll definitely be looking forward to seeing them again when they're headlining.

Wordless Wednesday: Corrie!

My little hick

One down and one still loose!

Boys!

Inspection day

We had the house inspection today.  When we had our home inspection they seemed to base the amount of time it would take on the square feet.  Our first inspection took over four hours.  The second took a little over 3hrs. Since this house is bigger than our current home I was expecting a 3 hour inspection minimum. Apparently we picked the right guy.  He was in and out in 2hrs and 15min.  At first I was worried he was just skimping on things, but he looked at and checked everything in the house and our realtor had nothing but wonderful things to say about it.  Shes worked with him on many houses over the years.
We have 3 things that we are asking to be fixed.  The major issue is the stove.  Its leaking a significant amount of carbon monoxide.  He said it should be at 20ppm and it was at 180ppm!  However, he thinks its just animal hair clogging the vents.
The second thing is pretty minor, a storm drain pipe is cracked and not covered.  We are just asking that they cover it.
Finally, he found 2 hairline cracks in the foundation of the basement.  He said they can cost $300-500 to repair so I really hope they still have a warranty on the foundation.
That was it aside from some dust and dirt.  I'm really looking forward to being able to go in there and just clean. We're also going to have to touch up some paint, but its nothing significant.  I think the majority of the spots I found are actually just dirt.  We might have to invest in some magic eraser stock in the next month. I'm glad we have a month to purge and pack our house, but a month feels like forever right now.  We took measurements today and have a list of things to buy that I'm anxious to get started on.

Wordless Wednesday: (We're in) So. Much. Trouble.

Offer

We went to look at the house in Ridgeville this morning.  I was really nervous last night.  I had just got used to the idea of living in Olmsted Twp.  Its a city I know little about and didn't imagine living in, but it was really growing on me. I was afraid I would really like the Ridgeville house and then be really torn.  Like I said before, the idea of living out there hasn't grown on me even with the perks of lower taxes and being on a cul de sac.  

When we walked in, I knew almost instantly that it wasn't the house for us.  It was nice, but it was bland. The bedrooms were smaller, the basement wasn't as nice and I just knew.  I was relieved to be standing in the middle of the basement and hear Jon say he didn't like it better than the Olmsted house.  

We headed back to the Olmsted house and did another walk through.  Gram was with us this time so we showed her around and were able to enjoy seeing her reaction to this house versus the other.  Corrie came out again and was also able to give some great, new perspectives this time through.  

I'm starting to picture our furniture there, the little things we need to buy, the kids riding bikes in the summer. I'm getting excited.  We made an offer, they countered and we accepted!  We bought a house today. 

Making myself crazy

Its another house post, just to warn you.  I feel like houses are all I've talked about this week.  So I've been taking a closer look at the other house we found and are going to look at on Saturday.  I've compared it to the house in Olmsted Twp and in a lot of ways its sounding better than the Olmsted house, on paper anyways.  Then I think about the fact that its in North Ridgeville.  I want to live in Ridgeville, less than I want to live in Olmsted.  I've only been there once and that one time didn't go well.  The schools are also terrible. I don't know if we'll home school forever, but I don't think I could put them in school out there.  The middle and high school got a state rating of 5 out of 10 (olmsted got a 9 and 10).  The house however, looks like a house I would live in.  The kitchens in the two houses are almost identical.  However, the Ridgeville house already has a beautiful patio, is on a cul de sac (which I love), has a little more square feet, an extra room and lower taxes.  Based on the pictures, it doesn't blow the Olmsted house out of the water.  Like I said it sounds good on paper, but I already see things I'd want to change, like paint in one room, light fixtures and carpet in the dining room. It also has an unfinished basement so it will be interesting to see what that looks like.  They are both actually the same distance to Corrie and to Lakewood which is very important!  I really hope when we walk in the other house on Saturday that we just know which way we're supposed to go.

Wordless Wednesday: Blue and Gold dinner

Looking better

I went back to the house in Olmsted Twp with Corrie and a good friend of mine yesterday.  I needed a fresh set of eyes to point out pros and cons and give their opinion. They really liked the house.
One concern was the outside of the house.  I thought it was a bit busy.  They pointed out that all the houses have something going on like that.  So while its odd, they're all odd.  They also loved the kitchen and thought the 2nd floor laundry was amazing.  They pointed some things out that I didn't think of the first time around and really got me feeling even better about the house.
On our way out we saw a neighbor and started picking her brain about the neighborhood, while in the freezing cold. She was a trooper.  She really made me feel better about being in Olmsted Twp.  While they don't have all the excitement of Lakewood (but really we're just not going to find another Lakewood), they have a real sense of community there.  Everyone seems to know everyone and kids are everywhere, and I mean everywhere!  They also have a crazy amount of family/kid events every week.  It was great to hear and made me feel a lot better about being so far away from "civilization."  We're going back 1 last time on Sat to check out a few more things.  We're also going to look at one other house then make a decision. I'm really looking forward to Saturday!

More snow

We got more snow last night.  We're really paying for the past few years.  We've had some really mild winters, but this year its relentless.  It just keeps coming.  Sadly, its been so cold the kids haven't spent much time outside. However, today its actually close to 30 degrees so I dressed the kids up and kicked them out.

This was the only smile I got from them all morning.  They went out and screamed because the snow was so deep they couldn't walk.

The boys made trails to the swing set, but the babies weren't budging.  They headed inside and let the big boys get busy playing.

I'm glad they got out for a bit and had fun, but I'm ready for it to be over.  We're running out of places to put the snow.  Its thigh high in the front yard and getting in and out of the driveway is becoming a challenge. How many days until spring???

Typical

Does this mean we don't have to move his bed?

Torn

Well, we looked at four houses yesterday.  One was way too small and we immediately ruled it out.  2 were nice, but the bedrooms were too small.  For now, we still want to keep the 3 boys together and we couldn't do that in those. The last one was pretty good.  It has a great kitchen, amazing bedrooms, the master closet could be another room.  It has a second floor laundry room and a little bit of woods in the back yard.  It met all of Bens criteria and almost all of ours.  The house is only 2 years old.  They built it and are now relocating for a job.  The basement isn't finished, but its in really good shape and would be easy to finish.  It doesn't have a deck or patio so we would want to do something out there, but Jon is a pro now so he's not too concerned about that.  The things that are really holding us back are first: the location.  Its in Olmsted Twp. Yesterday was the second time I've been there, ever. The first time was a month ago to look at another house. I don't know the area at all and there doesn't seem to be anything around there.  We'll have to do more exploring, but it looks like 98% residential and the other 2 % are gas stations, an IGA and a couple crappy restaurants.  Not my ideal location.  Second, the taxes are $3,000 more than we pay now and they have a HOA fee. That would add a decent chunk to the mortgage.  The third thing is a little silly, but still important.  The outside of the house is not the most attractive thing I've ever seen.  Its not hideous, but it has 3 different things going on.  It has some brick and 2 different kinds of siding.  Its just odd.  We love the inside of the house, the problems is everything else.  That is the only house on the market right now worth considering.  So do we go for a house that has just about everything we wanted and more, but has a few setbacks in other ways or do we wait for a better location with less taxes and hope it has everything this one has?  Oh, another way they are trying to sweeten the deal--they have an FHA loan which can be transferred.  They are willing to just let us take over their mortgage at their 3% fixed interest rate.  Jon has amazing credit and he couldn't get 3%!

Crisis averted

We got a little bit of good news yesterday that had me panicking for about 30 seconds.  Apparently one of the buyers had an issue with a previous house.  Because of this issue, they have to wait a certain amount of time before they can apply for a new mortgage.  They are unable to officially apply until March 3rd. Because of that small delay, they will have to extend their apartment lease for a bit or make other arrangements. Which means we have to delay the appraisal until then, but we can delay our move for a week or two.   I think having an extra week or two will help us immensely.  We're heading out to look at 4 houses today. None of them scream dream house, but you never know!

Take 2

Well, we've sold our house...again, but for real this time!  I still don't think I'll believe it until we're actually moving out, but so far so good.  We had 3 second showings in one week.  One couple asked 1,001 questions, one couple initially hated our house.  Ours was one of the first ones they looked at and apparently had never been in a Lakewood home before.  They gave some not so friendly feedback.  A month later, they were comparing every house they saw to ours and wanted to see it again.  The third couple squeaked in and made an offer.  We wheeled and dealed and accepted the offer last Thursday.  We only told 2 people. We've been nervous especially after the last offer fell through.  We wanted to wait and see how the inspection went. They were here Tuesday afternoon.  They completely ruined nap time, but it was worth 1 day of interrupted sleep.  They got the report Wednesday and the radon results this morning.  We didn't realize they didn't have them right away and have been going crazy wondering what they were waiting for. We have a couple things to fix, but honestly the list is so minor I'm shocked! We also have the appraisal on Monday.  I'm trying not to worry about that, but the market is just starting to recover and apparently its still messing with housing prices.  We're just going to have to trust God and our realtor on this one!
It looks like we've passed the huge hurdle of selling the house.  Now comes the fun part.  The buyers are in an apartment and the lease is up April 1st.  That means we need to be out at the end of March.  Where we're going is the big question.  We're going to check out a couple houses at some point.  I told our realtor I didn't want to look at anything until this was a done deal.  None of the houses scream dream house from the pictures, but they're nice so we'll take a look and hope they wow us in person. Otherwise, things might get interesting around here!

Mustache

Gram got the boys temporary tattoo mustaches.  Saying they're a hit is an understatement!

Birthday boy...3 days ago!

Monday was Jons birthday, but we've had a couple mini celebrations for him over the past week.  It started with his favorite dinner of crab legs when his mom was up for her birthday 2 weekends ago.  She spent another weekend with us last weekend which gave Jon and I a chance to go to a hockey game.  It was kind of a boring game.  We won 1-0, but a hockey game with out any fights just isn't a real hockey game!

Jons mom cooked us dinner Sat night.  As soon as we went to bed, we were woke up by not 1, but 2 vomiting kids. We were kept busy on Sunday recovering from illnesses, preparing for a second showing for the house and Superbowl festivities.    

We were pretty low key on Monday.  Jon requested Arbys for his birthday dinner.  We followed it up with cookies then I was out the door for Bible study.  The kids were kind enough to pass on their illness to me yesterday and to Jon today.  I think someone being sick for Jons birthday has become a tradition that I'd like to skip next year!

I hope you enjoyed your day.  We love you baby!

Superstar

Sam took first prize in his private swim lesson!

Train time

Jon won a train ride with the Cuyahoga Valley Rail Way. Not only was it a train ride, but a wine tasting trip! My first thought when hearing this was semi classy, grown up kind of night.  I was very wrong!  We sat down and the announcements started.  They planned music, dancing, drinking and lots of disorderly conduct. 

We "sampled" 5 south american wines and had an hours d' oeuvre to go with each wine. I've never been to a wine tasting where a sample consisted of a full glass of wine and refills if you like, but we went with the flow. The wines were good, but I think I was expecting a little more exotic flavors.  The food was ok, if you like your food to look like doll hair.

Once we got into the swing of things, it actually turned out to be a fun night.  It probably would've been boring if we didn't have the music and dancing.

I would definitely do it again, but I would definitely bring a (spit) bucket next time!

Birthday Gram

Yesterday was Grams birthday.  She's on vacation this week and is spending half of it in Cleveland.  

Jon just happened to find some crab legs on sale so half the group feasted on crab legs for dinner last night and the other half of us had some stuffed shells made by Corrie.  

Gram blew out her candle before we all enjoyed some AMAZING creme brulee also made made by Corrie.

The boy who despises mashed potatoes, ate 2 stuffed shells and enjoyed every minute of his "pudding."

You can't take a picture of Zach and not take one of Ellie!

Happy birthday Gram.  We hope it was "grown sexy" enough for you!

No bites

We've officially had the house on the market for 1 month. We've had a ridiculous amount of showings and have received all kinds of feedback.  The house is too big, the rooms are too small.  They don't like the kitchen, they don't want to live by a duplex.  My wife loves it, but I don't.  My husband loves it, but I don't want to live in Lakewood.  You name it, we've heard it.  We dropped the price by $5k.  We wont go any lower than that right now.  Once we sell the house, we'll lose close to $20k in realtor fees, taxes and insurance.  It wont be worth selling the house if we can't at least break even.  I was hoping since the market is smaller in winter, we'd have an easier time selling. Lakewood is full of 3 bedroom houses with less square feet, but apparently nicer kitchens.  The nicer kitchens seem to be winning.  I know its only been a month and I know it will be perfect for someone, I just wish we'd find them sooner than later.  Although, there's still nothing out there that we like so we'd be in a jam if we did sell the house now.  Its great to have to luxury of not being rushed or in a must sell situation.  I want our next house to be it for us and I'm happy to be extremely picky and wait for the perfect house.  For now, we'll keep the house much cleaner than the kids would like and say a little prayer every time someone comes through and we'll trust that God is getting our perfect house ready for us.

Good morning

Bowling

Cross Point had a bowling night last weekend to say thank you to the leaders in the church.  We all took a dessert to share, spent some time chatting and eating and then got down to business.  

The kids had bumpers and both boys had their highest games ever.  They were both in the 70's.

Ellie refused to smile for a picture.  She spent most of the night sitting in my lap and looking miserable.  I didn't realize she was actually "sick" until she threw up about 5 minutes after this picture was taken!

I say "sick" because she was almost back to normal after she threw up.  She slept 12 hours that night, which never happens. She woke up the next morning completely normal--eating like a champ, running laps around the dining room table and acting like her usual ornery self.