Moving On....!

Not completely every " T" is crossed and "I" 's dotted, but we are MOVING!

Front of our new home!

We sold our house after twenty days on the market. A little negotiating but ultimately we ended up selling for what we were hoping to get it. Immediately, we whipped around and began looking at houses. Seven days later, we saw and put an offer in right away on the house above. We were very pleased the seller was willing to accept our "contigency" that we had with our house, and rightly so as we did offer him his full asking price!

So, we are moving THIS WEEK! We were able to get our closings a week apart - we were trying to get them as close as possible, to prevent moving twice and having to rent in between. Since our buyers are planning to rent our house out (and therefore won't be having anyone move in rig ht away), they were gracious to grant us a week's stay so we could just move right into our new home without anything in between. One move, thank goodness!

We are so happy that everything worked out the way we had hoped - selling fast, moving fairly early in the summer so we could have a pool to enjoy (yes, our very own pool!) and then time to get hopefully, mostly settled before school begins again for the boys the end of July. Of course as well, we for sure wanted to be moved before little Preston's arrival so everyone had their own rooms (which they will!) Very pleased. Inspections and dealings with both our buyers and seller have gone very well, everyone has been friendly. No major fixes to houses, both are in good shape. Our new home is not far at all from our current one, which is a major plus for us since we love our location now. The boys will be able to continue at the same school, though we're perhaps maybe a few extra feet away. There really isn't any negatives to our new home, unless we discover a scorpion hill and don't have good neighbors - but hopefully none of that!

We're very excited to move to enjoy the new surroundings, more space, pool...the only thing for me, as I'm pretty certain I've already said before a few times probably, is that our house has become pretty sentimental. A neighborhood where I've lived pretty much since 9th grade, my best friend who is only a block away (!), so many good memories, neighbors, no bugs!...just nothing but positive, good things. Makes me a bit sad to cut ties. Honestly, when we found out our buyers were planning to rent out, we were a little worried. Our buyers have proven to be good people, so we just hope the new tenants will be people who will take care of our home. Knowing that these are the last few days in our current home is a bit surreal after 10+ years in it.

But, cheers to new beginnings! I do know a few friends in our new development. One has even offered to host sort of a "welcoming" party with some neighbors for us to meet. Having been at our new house a few times already, nearby neighbors have waved to us. At the very least, we know our old development won't be more than three minutes away to visit (literally just down the road) so that's a relief some :) Gosh it's not like we're changing cities or states... :p

While our new digs are in pretty good shape, I'll have to keep updated with all the different personal preference ideas we want to do!We just love house projects.

Summer Series : Week 1.5 :)

The boys ended school on a Tuesday, so they had a partial week of vacation plus one whole week so far (and now we're beginning the second whole week!) Here's what the first ten days of break have been like so far -

Early morning jaunt to the park. First and last time we're doing that, it is hot!

We had family on vacation so we watched over our niece and nephew doggies

Marshmallow treats one afternoon

...after the bouncing fun we had

More niece and nephew doggies we took for a walk . It was nice to have doggies back at our house for a bit, the boys enjoyed  helping take care of them.

During the short holiday week, the boys both went to Tumbleweed Rec Center for camp every morning!

Nathan very much in particular liked that they had a schedule of activities up each day

Nate had been asking for me to create another "dramatic play" activity. So, I put together one for us to play restaurant!

It was great practice for Aaron to write down my order...

...until he got tired and became a customer too

Pool time!

Lazy River

Yes, now I have a schedule of daily activities! It saves Nate having to ask me fifty times a day what we'll be up to :/

The boys also went to a dollar movie and have been to their grandparents' house to swim a few times. There's also something else big we've been up to.... ;)

Last Day of School!

We are already just about a week out of school for summer! Holy cow. The boys, as every year, are very excited to be on an extended break.

Aaron's last day of Pre-K!

Not sure why, since we do have another child on the way so technically Aaron isn't our "baby", but I had a more difficult time with Aaron having his last day of Pre-K than I did with Nathan (or maybe I can blame the pesky pregnancy hormones too?) He has grown so much. We did his kinder test (to determine if he qualifies for advanced kinder next year or not), and the teachers all agreed that he was very ready for Kindergarten. In fact, there IS a chance he may make accelerated kinder (we'll find out in a few weeks). He knows so much.

Outside his class the last day

Surprised him with balloons and a few new cars (always exciting!)

Nathan had some nice last days of school too. Movie watching, party filled with games, crafts, root beer floats and the kids signed t-shirts for each other.

I decided to take Nate out early the last day of school and we went and got sno cones. Then, once we got home I had these waiting for the boys -

Summer books and pool toys! (more on that in another post ;) )

Stay tuned for other exciting news and our annual summer week series!

All About 5 Year Old Aaron!

Here he is, our big birthday boy last week! It happened to take place a day he did not have preschool, so we had a day of fun!

First, it started with him letting him choose a box of cereal - Lucky Charms. We took brother to school and then headed to a park of his choosing - unfortunately Arizona has decided it is time to be in the
90's and 100 degrees already so we didn't stay too long. But, that was alright as we played some at home and before we knew it, it was time to pickup brother at school! (Shhh...I let big bro skip out early so he could join us in birthday fun). We had lunch together with Nana, Pap Pap and Aunt Kristen.

Picked this place purposely for dessert - one of Aaron's favorites is cotton candy!

To no big surprise, cars and Legos were received with glee

The boys had time to play with Aaron's new toys before it was time to join more family for dinner at the the birthday boy's choosing - good ol Chuck E Cheese.

Hot Wheels cake with the birthday dude's favorite, vanilla

We ate pizza in all its glory, played games, had cake for a few hours...we knew again we'd have to allow more time to play with the newest toys before bed. So, that was his day! He seemed pretty happy.

Just yesterday, we used Aunt Angie's gift - it's fun to do activities  than just receive presents and toys all the time I think - we got to do an animal interaction at the zoo!

We had a light breakfast followed by elephant related crafts, then we also got to go inside the elephants' enclosure and hide treats for them. Once we were done, they let the elephants inside so we could watch them find our goodies. Aaron also got a free carousel ride and a stuffed elephant as we left the zoo. Fun few hours in the morning before it got warm (again!)

The day after his birthday we celebrated in his preschool class.

First, he was read a birthday poem

Then, some birthday prizes

Lastly, some birthday treats! Two other girls were celebrating their birthday's too.

Now, some tidbits about our newly five year old!

--If it wasn't obvious before, he is still very much into cars and art. He's so predictable :)

--He's my definite bird eater. I can't really get him to eat any huge meal, it's more snack-y. He still is my boy with the wider "palette" I guess you could say. Meaning, he'll eat a wider range of vegetables and fruit! Other than pepperoni, bacon and hot dogs, I can't get him to eat any other meat still yet.

--His favorite drinks (I should say, that I allow) are milk and some tea. The boys have especially discovered soda in the last year but...special occasions :p Not too many juice boxes either.

--He is still my Cuddle Bug. Last week he said he would forever be that way. I sure hope so. Out of the blue he will give me hugs and snuggles. He prefers for me to tuck him in bed. He'll deliver me a kiss and hug before he enters his classroom at school. I'm taking it all in since I won't have him with me a majority of days starting the next school year :(

--And speaking of which, he'll be in Kindergarten next year when we begin the end of July! Which means in our district he will go all day just like big brother, from 8:35am- 3pm. Last week we had his Kindergarten Storytime. He's had a few instances now of starting to ease into what will go on next year.

Principal reading stories

Working with a buddy in a kinder class

--Still does do a good job of entertaining himself, but loves to play with brother and daddy especially. Mommy will do too if no one else is around.

--Starting to be more independent. Nathan warned him that he would need to start practicing how to dress himself, as mommy will be busy with baby brother in a few months ;)

--Still generally an outside boy. But, if inside is what we need to do he particularly enjoys going to the movie theater. He digs that whole experience!

--My left handed boy. I think that's so interesting! His teacher said he is definitely ready for kinder, that at his age/level he knows quite a bit, and that he has consistently been using his left hand to write, cut,etc.

--I would generally say both my boys are sweet and considerate.

--Aaron changes his mind on a daily basis on what his favorite color, food, anything is :) I couldn't say what his favorite show or movie is, game...other than I can officially say what his favorite toys are (above).

--To me he's just a lover of all things - playing with brother, swimming, museums, art time, we can even get his help with some baking. He's adventurous and pretty much up for anything I'd say.

Happy 5th Birthday sweet Aaron! And I hope you hold your Cuddle Bug promise!

It's A....

BOY! We found out almost two weeks ago the gender of our little one, when we got my 20 week ultrasound done. Baby boy is perfect, growing as he should, parts looking good. We had Nate and Aaron with us to find out.

Yes, everyone was a little disappointed at first, but, we sat down together and all pitched in and agreed  on a name for the newest brother - Preston. We're still working on a middle name.

We've already done some shopping (real surprise) for some new outfits for baby brother. Aaron is already giving baby brother hugs. Feels like now a huge burden has been lifted off our shoulders, now that we know :)

April Fun

April turned out to be a pretty  busy month! Showing our house was a part of it for sure but the boys had a lot of things going on this past month too.

We had a dance at school (sorry, pictures outside in the dark not so great!) which really got upped this year with food trucks, a game truck and other outside inflatable games. Fun evening.

The boys had Field Day! This was Aaron's first year getting to participate - there were hurdles, tug of war, an inflatable water slide, etc. Thank goodness the boys had it in the morning before it got too unbearable outside.

They also had their Spring Boy Scout campout! Perfect timing for them to be with dad in some cooler weather while we were still showing the house (and yes, mommy got to enjoy some quiet time! Sure was nice).

Campsite

Crawfish! The scouts collected eight pounds worth.

Having fun!

Fishing for crawfish

In their spare time the boys took advantage of all the open space to scoot around

The last week of the month Nathan was able to join daddy in Take Your Child to Work Day!

Kids have to be eight years old to partake. He got to have breakfast and lunch with Josh before joining the other kids in activities, such as being able to be driven around the race track! I think that was a highlight for him. It only lasted a half day.

The same day, that night, Nathan's grade level put on a play called "Bugz". He dressed up like a bumblebee. There was a little bit of speaking but it was mostly just songs, not any longer than a half hour or so, if that. I know the kids had been working hard memorizing all the songs and they created their backdrops. We went out for some frozen yogurt afterwards.

In the middle, under the "u" in Bugz

"Yeah, yeah mom, hurry up and take the picture"

Can't talk now but I think we're in for an even more exciting May! ; )

House for Sale!

Yippee! After almost 3.5 months of constant projects and cleaning, our house is now up for sale! Actually, it has been on sale now for a week. While we haven't received any offers yet, the good news is we are getting a fairly stream amount of traffic! We've had at least one showing a day, if not two. We're tentatively having our first Open House this upcoming weekend.

It has been somewhat difficult to keep the house tidy and as pretty as our pictures have looked, but as long as I'm sort of constantly staying on top of things it hasn't been too bad. We've also asked to have at least a two hour window of notice, which most realtors have been acceptable of, so that helps. The boys understand that the tidier the house looks, the better chances of selling, and the faster chance of us looking for our next home! Fingers crossed the right clients come along soon.

Pregnancy update : I am now 17 weeks along. Everything looked well at my visit two weeks ago. I am, however, waiting until the 20 week mark (the first week of May) until I see the OB again and we have our US for gender. It's probably a good thing we have this house selling going on right now to distract me a little bit, as I am sooooo anxious for the next appointment! I've been getting bummed seeing girl/boy items go on sale and I have to sort of sit on my hands, not buying anything since we don't know what we're having yet.

This year is full of waiting games - here's to hoping some will be over soon!

An Angel's Birthday

A few days ago was what would have been our darling Lily's 11th birthday. I think it goes without saying that it was a sad day for us, though we tried to smile and hope that maybe heaven had awesome things in store for her on her big day.

Of course leading up to this day, I began to think about what we could do to honor her. I always seem to go back to the idea of  animal shelters. I was able to find out who some of the long standing dogs were that are still waiting for new homes.

Jake and Neeterrman - one of which who has been waiting since November : (

We decided to sponsor (pay) their adoption fees, so whomever decides to adopt one of these two cute dogs will discover that they will get them for free. My heart in a way wishes we could do the ultimate great thing and just adopt a new pup, but I know we just aren't ultimately ready yet.

For awhile now I've been meaning to write how sweet and sensitive the boys continue to be. Our roses are growing like crazy now and anytime we begin to talk about that the boys mention we should cut some and take them to "Lily's spirit" . One day not too long ago we did.

About once a month I'd say, Nathan continues to remind me that we need to mark October 30 (the day Lily passed) on our calendar as being busy, calling it "Lily Remembrance Day".

We still reminisce a lot - "remember when...."  Or the boys will see other dogs and talk about looking forward to doing  "such and so" with our new dog.

Nathan has still been into magic some, and wishes his magic was strong enough to bring Lily back.

Besides Lily's birthday this month,  this month will also mark the six month anniversary of her passing. It's hard to believe it has already been half a year. I'm hoping the next six months somehow brings us more peace.

Easter Day

I didn't do too many fun Easter events leading up to the holiday this year. However, last year we went to a local restaurant that had brunch as well as a meet-and-greet with Mr E.B. so I decided to do that again this year. It's such a nice brunch and we don't have to wait in lines to meet the bunny. There's also a craft table usually and this year the fire department came with a truck for the kids to check out. Unfortunately daddy missed out on the fun this year since house duties called.

That same day we celebrated the holiday as well as our niece's birthday with Josh's side of the family.

On the actual day this year, we went to church --

And the boys proceeded to anxiously check out their baskets --

Not too much candy and their big gift was an activity pass to museums, a rock gym, bounce place, sports events, etc.

With there being a good chance this will be our last major holiday in our current home, I decided to host lunch for my family. 

Chocolate cake for the boys

Carrot for the girls

We did an inside egg hunt and otherwise had a nice day just relaxing and chatting. That night, my mom hosted us all for cheese fondue (yum!) and games.

As much as I'm going to miss our little home, I'm also looking forward to hosting more gatherings in a bigger home with a larger kitchen!