My Loves

It is not often that I get a decent picture with my babies. They are getting so big!

Breaking Ground

Okay, so maybe that title is a bit deceiving, but we've been given a date that we can officially break ground for our new house.  Wait for it... August 15th. Boo!  I am ready to get this ball rolling.  We have to wait until the HOA approves our plans and their next meeting isn't until August 14th.  Papers have been submitted to the county for permits and hopefully we will start seeing some action soon.  I am not holding my breath that we will be in our new home by Thanksgiving and at this point I'm wondering if Christmas is pushing it.

Patience is a virtue...or so they say!

Random Ramblings...

• I want a tattoo, but no idea where or what I want
• I miss my husband
• I painted my nails for the first time in over 7 + years (minus my wedding day). They are hot pink
• I'm ready for our house to be built...I want to decorate
• My boy child only likes to nap for an hour now-a-days
• I need a vacation
• Saving money is kind of boring, we don't get out and do much these days
• At the same time, I'm excited to be saving money for our new house and I know it will be worth it in the end
• Dylan loves balloons
• My husband travels too much
• I want to go wine tasting
• I need a wine tasting buddy, my old one is currently knocked up
• I've been with Danny for 7 years as of June 10th
• Dylan is not a man of many words, but I'm pretty sure he said ass the other day
• I'm beginning to think when he says "ass" he really means eyes
• Marissa cried at the end of The Fox and The Hound the other night
• She literally melted our hearts
• Dylan needs a hair cut
• I need a pedicure
• Typing on a computer with a wiggly 17 month old and a green balloon in your face is harder than it looks

Hello, Out There!

We're still alive...but I just haven't had much time to blog, or much to say, really.  Dylan is turning into such a little man and Marissa is as sassy as ever.  She is so, so smart, but definitely pushing her limits and testing the waters.  I'm chalking it up to terrible two's mixed in with the almost three's (which I hear is often worse than two).  Plus moving and adjusting her whole life to her new surroundings.  She still melts our hearts on a daily basis, though.

Dylan is slowly coming along with more words.  He can say Momma, Dadda, ball, dog (and he barks, too!), up, uh-oh and a few other words.  He understands a lot and is very good at shaking his head yes or no.  He has a new love for juice (gatorade) and will eventually eat us out of house and home.  The boy can pack away some food.  Marissa better look out!

Not much else is new with us.  Just planning for our new house and getting ready for our first Disney vacation.  We're going with some friends, who also have two kids...we will have four kids under 3, so it should be interesting!  I'm not looking forward to the drive, but I am looking forward to a week away with the family.  We're not going until September but we did order our tickets and will hopefully get to book our hotel through the timeshare in July.  I hope Marissa enjoys seeing Mickey, Minnie and the Princesses!

Dylan turned 17 months old a few days ago.  It is hard to believe that he is now older than Marissa was when we brought him home from the hospital.  They are growing up way too fast!

Mother's Day Photo Bomb

All I really wanted for Mother's Day was a new family photo.  Of course I won't deny the 1 hour massage and facial, or breakfast in bed, or the nice refreshing margarita I ordered with dinner...but I really, really wanted a nice family photo.  The last photo we had together was for my birthday, last September.  

This is what we got...

...and this is precisely why we do not pay for professional portraits; because my kids just don't cooperate for the camera, no matter who is behind it.  Our usual camera ham (Dylan) wanted nothing to do with the camera.  

We actually did get a few good shots of Marissa, though (which is unusual)

Who is this little girl and what did she do with my baby?

Dylan was far too busy for pictures. He's turning in to quite the little man these days!

I did manage to capture this sweet moment of my babies holding hands.  

And my little snuggle bug after waking up from his nap...

So while I didn't get the "perfect" family portrait for Mother's Day, I did get pictures that I will cherish anyway.  

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all my mommy friends out there!  I'm thankful to have a wonderful mom and mother in law.

I'm also thankful for two beautiful children and my husband who are my whole world.

I woke up to breakfast and coffee in bed (and a little girl who wanted to sleep with mommy and daddy).  I also got a one hour massage, a facial and an aromatherapy gift card. I was not expecting that at all!  I treated myself to a pedicure yesterday with a friend so all in all it has been a pretty great Mother's day. And it isn't even 9 o'clock yet!

Emotions

This post was originally written 12 March, but for privacy reasons it was not published until now.

Not many people know, but Danny and I decided to list our house for sale mid-February.  We have been wanting a bigger house for over a year now and finally decided to take the plunge.  Very cautiously we called the realtor, signed the documents and put the for sale sign in the front yard.  Neither of us were very optimistic as the housing market is not that great.  We signed a 6 month contract with the realtor, which would bring us to about the August time frame.  If we didn't sell the house by then, we would re-evaluate our plan.  In the back of our minds we were ready to face the fact of being in this house for a few more years until the market picked back up.

So the process began.  Our house was listed on every real estate website known to man.  Pictures of our intimate lives, our bedrooms, our dining room where we our share meals was posted for anyone to see.  We made our beds every day, kept the dishes out of the sink and toys put away.  We vacuumed and dusted and put away pictures that made our house feel like a home.

And people started to come.  They inspected our house, walked through, probably judged our color choices and tried to picture themselves calling this house their home.

Within two and a half weeks we had an offer.  Not quite what we were expecting.  A little on the low side, so we started the negotiation process.  We countered, they countered...we came to an agreement and the ball has been rolling ever since.  We've made it through the home inspection and agreed upon some things to be fixed.  We have completed the septic cleaning and inspection.  Now we have the home appraisal, termite inspection and final walk through.  We've set a closing date of April 30th, which means we will have to be out before then to hand over the keys.  We have a lot of hoops to jump through before this whole thing is final, so we are very cautiously (hence not telling many people) moving forward.

We are looking at houses and have a hundred things on our to do list.  To say that I've been losing sleep is an understatement.

I am so excited to start this new chapter of our lives but at the same time I am overwhelmed with emotions of selling our first home.  This is the home that we bought after we got married.  This is the house that we brought our babies home to for the first time.  This is the home that we've invited friends and family into, celebrated holidays, birthdays and taken my first pregnancy test.  This is the home that we've fought in and had tears.  This is the home that we've grown closer as a couple in.  The house that we made into a home with little remodeling projects and decorations, two dogs and a family.  This has been our home, our safe haven, our little piece of this earth to call our own.  It will be a bittersweet day to hand over the keys to a new owner.  I will probably cry, no...I will cry.  Happy tears, sad tears.  I hope the new owners love this home as much as we did.  We will probably drive by from time to time.  Bring the kids back in a few years to show them where we used to live.

At this point, we do not have a new home lined up.  It makes me a little sad that until we find a new house, our kids won't have a place to call home (don't worry, we won't be living on the streets).  I know they are probably too young to understand, but I just want this whole process to be over as soon as possible!

So if you are reading this, everything went through with the sale!