Lovin' where I'm at

We've had our house for sale for about 2 months now. I know, it's not that long. Many have had theirs listed for sooo much longer. But you always think it won't be like that for you. It's such a big decision to list it, to stick the sign out there (well, for some of us), that you think as soon as the sign goes out, people will be knocking on the door with an offer in hand.

Needless to say, that hasn't happened.

We decided to hold an open house the last two Sundays. We advertised in the paper, we had signs at the corners, we cleaned and decluttered and I rode around in the van for 3 hours with the kids and the dog. No one showed. Not one single person stopped to look at our house.

Okay, so now what? We decided to sign up on a website, For Sale By Owner. They had a feature where you could pay an additional fee and get an MLS # and your listing would go on other websites like Realtor.Com. We'll see if this does anything. I'm not trying to be pessimistic but I'm leaning that way. There is a fine line between pessimism and realism and I weave back and forth between the two.

So in the hopes of staying postive and realistic, I've decided to start thinking about what I love about this house. And what I would love to have the chance to miss if we were to move. :)

1. I love the yard. That is, after all, why we bought it. We had a party this weekend with 4 different families and there was plenty of space for everyone. We have a large, fenced-in yard and a large open side yard.

2. I love the garage. The garage easily fits our van and truck (although I have to go really slow when parking the truck in there) and there is lots of space for sports equipment, bikes, lawn mower, snow blower, etc. I know we will miss this if we downsize to a 2-car garage. Our current garage is the size of a 3-car garage but only has 2 garage doors. It also has an upstairs just for storage. I love having storage space.

3. I love our kitchen. We have so much storage in our beautiful new cupboards. The pantry is so well-designed (give myself a pat on the back for that one) and holds so much. The lay-out is efficient (give my brother-in-law a pat on the back for coming up with that) and I really enjoy being in there. There is a window over the sink looking out into the back yard so washing dishes is even enjoyable. I even love the hardware on the cupboards.

4. I love the location. We live right across from an old school with a huge yard and baseball diamond. There is a sidewalk that goes along there perfect for bike rides. There have been several pick-up ball games started over there. It's very close to town - about 5 minutes from any store or restaurant. It's sometimes a little too convenient to the restaurants. We didn't start a cash budget for eating out for nothing!

There are other things I appreciate about our house (and surroundings) but these are what I will miss the most. Or maybe we will live here longer than planned and I will get to appreciate them longer. Regardless of what happens, I want to try to stay focused on the positive and be thankful for what we have and not dwell on what we don't have. There is much to be thankful for.

Jinx

Two weeks ago: I was looking through the paper and happened to look through the car ads, just for fun. I saw a Honda Pilot advertised and it said "8 passenger seating" and "4-wheel drive". I thought, "Wow, I'd love to have an SUV with 8 passenger seating and 4-wheel drive and that doesn't look too huge." I mentioned it to Josh, who gave some kind of non-committal answer, and then said that I thought it'd be fun to go on a date and test drive some cars. His response was "why?". I said it would be free and it'd be nice to see what is out there and if we like it. It's certainly not realistic to take 4 children and 2 car seats with you to test drive a vehicle. He didn't see the point in even looking right now since we're not going to buy.

One week ago: Josh came home from work. He had taken our van in to get the air conditioner fixed. We noticed it wasn't working on one of those freaky warm days in March but knew we had awhile before it became a necessity. Then we forgot about it and had to drive without air 4 hours on a regular warm day. Not a good thing. So he had taken it in and I asked what the verdict was. He said, "Remember how you thought it would be fun to go test-drive some vehicles?" Uh-oh.

It turns out our ac wasn't just broke, it was beyond broke. Every single thing connected to the ac would have to be replaced and rebuilt and the poor mechanics (who are very well-qualified and have kept our truck running smoothly for 10 years now) were nervous to take on such a job. They were concerned that once they put it back together, other things would start leaking and falling apart because of all the work involved. And then he told me the cost. They had stopped estimating when they got to $2000 to see if we still wanted them to do it. They wondered how much we wanted to invest in a van that was only worth $5000 tops. $2000 wasn't even the final estimate.

We thought about it. Hmm, spend more than $2000 and hope nothing else breaks or falls apart or needs fixing. It didn't take long for us to decide that wasn't a good option.

So we started looking around on-line. As much as I love the idea of an SUV, I don't want to drive a beast. I don't want to deal with kids having to climb over car seats. I want more storage, not less. And I don't want to have to take out a loan to fill up with gas. That left us with another mini-van.

When life gives you lemons (in this case, having to drive a mini-van), make lemonade (get a cool one!) Because my brother-in-law is a manager at a dealership, he was able to get us an excellent deal on a 2007 Dodge Caravan with stow-n-go (yes, extra storage!), captain chairs in the middle (easier to get through), a dvd player (yes, quiet kids on long trips!), and a 6-disc cd changer! Hmm, I wonder if you can play that up front while the kids listen to the dvd player in the back? Not sure how that will work. I'll take quieter kids over listening to music though.

We go pick it up on Saturday and I am so excited! He offered to drive it up for us (from Indiana, no less!) but my parents are having the kids stay with them this weekend so it worked out for us to take a road trip down there to get it. We can do some shopping on the way and hang out with my sister and her husband for a bit. Then on Sunday we're having an open house so there is a lot going on this weekend. It will be nice being able to focus on what needs to be done while the kids are having fun at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Life lately

We had our annual garage sale last week and it went really well. It was organized and priced and ready to go by Wednesday at 4:30. I think that is the earliest I've ever been ready! Thursday morning we were out at 7:30 pulling tables out and we had our first stop at 8 (advertised to start at 9). Around 11:30 it started pouring but people were still stopping! It stopped raining around 12:30 and the sun came out for the rest of the afternoon. Friday was a lot slower but we did get rid of lots of clothes and only ended up with a few boxes left. The upstairs of our garage looks great and our basement is also cleaned out. And I have 7 empty storage tubs! Definitely worth the time and effort this year.

We had new flyers made advertising our house and had copies sitting out during the garage sale. We also had to keep filling the box attached to the sale sign. We're planning on doing a couple open houses soon to get some potential buyers in here.

Today for Mother's Day, we went out to Fazoli's after church and then I took a nap while Josh mowed lawn. I went to some stores by myself and then went for a run with a friend. I came home and hung out with the family and now am waiting for some fried pickles from a local restaurant and a fountain pop. My life is pretty darn good because this is actually a typical Sunday around here. I feel amazingly blessed to share this life with Josh and our 4 interesting and entertaining children.

Baby love

A couple of weeks ago, a friend came over with her kids and also a baby she cares for during the day. Rachel was immediately drawn to the baby and held her arms out saying "hold her". So I had her sit on the couch and helped her hold the baby.
















So sweet! It is not very often that I think about what it would be like to have more kids but when I see something like this, my mind just goes there. Rachel would be a good big sister. I think she'll have to settle for being a big cousin. And I should probably clarify that the baby was waiting for her bottle - she wasn't opposed to Rachel touching her face.

Random Cuteness!

These were taken by my dad a couple weeks ago on a beautiful spring day. I absolutely love their expressions! And it cracks me up that Rachel's face looks similar to the one from a year ago seen here. It's fun to look back and see how they have changed and what is still the same.

Doesn't he look so serious?

Peeking her head out the window

Ready to go!

I don't even know what to call this. :)

Book list updated

Here is what I have been reading since the last time I wrote this - this is more for my sake than anyone else's.

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (Yes! I finally finished one book off my list!)
Firefly Lane, Kristin Hannah
Cage of Stars, Jacquelyn Mitchard
Bel Canto, Ann Patchett

Hmm, I guess I have slowed down with my reading lately. I committed to finishing The Hobbit before starting something else and I know that was part of it. I enjoyed the book but wasn't always eager to pick it up. For one thing, it took me longer to read and I get impatient. I think I will re-read at some point now that I know the story and how it goes. Then I can read it quicker and also get more out of it the 2nd time around.

I'm glad I only picked 5 books as a goal for this year! At the rate I'm going, I might have a hard time finishing all of those.

Tori's birthday poem

The birthday girl! Please forgive the face paint - I am not an artist. I thought it would be simple but the poor kids who had me paint their face ended up looking like they had a disease. At least the ears were cool! And here is her birthday poem:

My name is Tori and I'm seven so I'll say

I'd like 100 dresses for my special day

Going outside is a wonderful thing

Dad gets me "busy" spinning on the swing

Basketball is the latest sport for me

Fightin' the big girl is my specialty

My best friend changes every other week

It's usually the last girl with whom I speak

I haven't met a dog that I don't like

And I'll always have training wheels on my bike

I've liked to go shopping since the day I was born

My Mom got me addicted to Target popcorn

Last thing for me that's become a trend

I can read a book from beginning to end!

Some background info: Tori says "busy" instead of "dizzy" , a few weeks ago she couldn't find a dress to wear to church and was very upset and said she wanted 100 dresses for her birthday, when she plays defense, she calls it "fighting". She constantly amuses us with what comes out of her mouth, even though, according to her, she is not funny! Josh captured her perfectly.

Birthday party

On Saturday evening, we had a birthday party for Josh, Tori and I with both our families. It was fun to hang out together and of course, open presents! :)

Can you tell that Tori was just a little bit excited about this gift? It was the movie, Madagascar 2. :) If you want to hear her excitement, watch the video below.

Baby shower pictures

On Saturday, we had a baby shower for my sister, Jenny, at my parents church. She is expecting a boy on June 4. My mom and I were a bit overwhelmed with all that needed to be done but it turned out really nice. It was fun to see so many friends and family and to see all the cute baby things!

The cute pregnant lady!

A special handmade blanket by our cousin Amy - it was made with material from Jenny, our mom and our grandma.

Jenny was given a piggy bank so someone came up with the idea to pass it around and fill it up with change. What a fun idea for a future shower!

The Cake

Here is Tori's birthday cake - it was not quite as simple as it looked. Okay, maybe it was that simple and I just really don't like messing with cakes. When I put the top layer of cake on, it started to crack across the top. Luckily, the frosting covered it up, although I did have some issues with the frosting scraping some of the cake off. I don't know why but frosting a cake really stresses me out. It did turn out cute though.

These were the "doggie" bags that each child took home. There was a bag of puppy chow, a dog bone cookie cutter, a doggie bowl and some peanut butter cups (because what is a doggie bag without some candy?). Each child also received a headband with puppy ears.

I decorated our dining room table with a table runner, stamped with paw prints and dog bones and then we had some stuffed dogs holding down the balloons.

Overall, it was a very fun party and Tori had a great time. I overestimated the length of time for the games and should have had more activities or a shorter party time. Now I know. :) I also had 3 good friends who stayed to help and I'm so grateful they were here. I'm also grateful it's only Friday night and the weekend is just beginning!