We're Moving!

... and fast! So I thought I posted earlier than this, I guess not. The sellers accepted our first offer on the house. What an incredible process. To sell a house, to view a house, and to buy a house all in 3 days has been pretty crazy. I have about 8" of paperwork stacked high, and trying to coordinate the move for us to be out in time for our buyer to get in, but not be homeless has been terrible.

Our house looks like a disaster zone, but we'll only have to deal with that for 2 more weeks. (We have a total of 24 days to get out). It's very exciting to move into a new house. I cannot believe how lucky we've been.

I'll post some new pictures.

Putting in a Bid

So we visited the house that I posted about earlier. I'm pretty sure that this is my DREAM house. Aside from the fact that we'll have to buy a microwave and a refrigerator, it's the perfect house. The walk in closet is the size of Ares bedroom, the two ovens are convection ovens, there's a nice sized pantry, the cabinets are even more beautiful that I though, an I LOVE the carpeting in the basement. Adam has a perfect place to build a bar in the basement and to top things off, it's not just a 3 car garage, it's a 3.5 car garage! WOW! The only bad thing is when you're in the back yard, it's a little loud because of the road and the back yard is a wind tunnel. I'm hoping once the two houses on either side are built, it will get better.

An offer will be put in today, I hope we have a new place soon. Here's some pics of the kitchen.

~~~ S O L D ~~~

Our house was sold last night! We are PSYCHED! We got a reasonable bid, countered with what we'd be comfortable 'giving it away' for, and she accepted our counter! Whoo Hooo!!! We must be out by 2/4, and we're going to Florida for 5 days (in 5 days)!! Yay for 2011. I found our house, I'm hoping we can go through it and put a bid on it soon.

It's quite a bit more expensive than I wanted to pay (payment is OK, but down payment will be VERY tight), but it is the most perfect house EVER. Double oven and gas stove for Adam, 3 car garage for Adam, tile floor and granite counter tops for Adam, beautiful patio, and already finished basement for Adam. You ask, what do I like? Walk in Closet for me, glamour bathroom, 5 bedrooms, an office, and a den - oh, and a pantry.

What don't I like? 1) the back of the house faces a road that isn't part of the development, it's not terribly busy, but it still has a road behind it. 2) No fireplace 3) the living room is tile, not carpet Update: At the time I thought this, but it isn't tile, it's carpet. 4) I have to paint the whole house because it's still the original builder white, and 5) I don't like the fact that I've fallen in love with this house and I haven't even walked through it yet. I hope it doesn't sell before we go through it!

Merry Christmas

What a year! I cannot believe how much fun Christmas is with a child!

We had him out for hours after his bedtime numerous nights in a row. He was so good, telling people "Merry Christmas" (or more like 'Merry mismash'), showering people with kisses (lucky he didn't get sick, as he gave every single person at Grandma/Grandpa Walter's house at least one kiss), opening up gifts when it was his turn, and playing very well by himself, as well as with the adults.

He ate very well too. But of course, he always does. He was so good, and talked so well that one of my cousins actually thought he was 3. lol. (He doesn't have kids.) Ares' vocabulary is absolutely insane, and to make matters worse (well, better, actually) the kid knows Spanish. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, they are teaching Spanish at his school, and he can count to 6 in Spanish. (I think better than in English). He still talks in full sentences (of mostly jibberish), but there is almost always one or two words that I can pick out so I know what he's saying.

Thank goodness for DVR. After having 5 days off with him, I needed to plop him down in front of the TV to get some things done around the house. I always waited until he asked for 'Mishy Mouse peeeease" or "Mommy, TV, Mishy Mouse", but they were always after Playhouse Disney was over. We are tired of the same 3 episodes we have recorded. That, paired up with 2 'Chuggeeeeton', I'm ready for some new episodes/series. At least they're readily available on my DVR, and I don't have to pay money to buy a DVD or VHS tape.

I think his favorite gift this year was the racetrack you can see in this picture. It was a whopping $17, and he has already played with it for over 6 hours. He always uses the red track, because it's slightly faster than the blue one (surprising because blue is his favorite color), although, his favorite car is the slower one, so usually the vehicles come down at the same time.

He got a few tool sets, (3 altogether), lots of cars, tickets to a Captains game (AA baseball), books (which he hasn't even opened yet, he got so many gifts), a Crayola coloring thing, wow, so much I can't even remember it all. What a great few days, we are so lucky to have everything that we do. Ares was such a great kid, and I loved having him around all day. To be back at work today kinda sucks. At least it's an abbreviated day for me! (I leave at 3:15)

Year in Review

Compliments of Facebook

Christmas Card

House Update 3

We found the house that we want to buy. We got pre-approved for a loan. Very exciting. My credit score is in the 800's. Adam's is close (cuz the Jeep is the most recent purchase, and it's only in his name). We ROCK.

It's beautiful, we wouldn't even have to paint much, as the colors are great. It's only 11 years old, brick front, perfect kitchen, a great price, woods for Ares to play in... buuuuut, there was another couple looking at the house on the same day as us, and our house hasn't sold yet. So we dropped the price of our house another 5%. This means, anyone with a part-time, minimum-wage job can buy our house. At least, it seems like it's that cheap now. We're a good $15k less than what we built it for, AND we did upgrades on the house since we bought it (mantle, finished basement, bought appliances that will likely stay with the house). Quite depressing. We haven't even had any bites since we dropped the price. My guess is that by the time our house is sold, the one I want will be sold too. Blah.

We bought a St.Joseph to try and help sell the house. There's too much snow to bury him and we have no potted plants in the house, so I hid him upside down in the garland that goes up our stairwell. Is that sacrilegious?

December fun

We've had a bit of snow these past 3 days. Adam's Jeep, (which we all know I hate) has a broken starter, so not only do we have 20" of snow, he's been driving his little old convertible around town. The traffic and travel have been terrible, and he's not made it to work on time, or gotten home at a reasonable time yet this week.

Ares had a fever last Friday, so I kept him home from school, and we enjoyed the day off. Saturday/Sunday and Monday I was sick, so I had a 4 day weekend. It wasn't fun. My throat hurt so bad, that I didn't eat for 4 days. Ares is not a fan of the snow if he's in it, but when driving, he constantly says "prit-tee! prit-tee!" it's quite cute. He's starting to put words together for short sentences, however, I think since he's been in this new classroom, that he has stopped pronouncing words as well. I wonder if the older kids talk for him.

We're heading to Cinci this weekend. I was excited all week, but now we're supposed to get another blast of snow Friday evening, and then the entire Ohio Valley is going to get blasted on Sunday, which means all of our driving is going to be in the snow. Wonderful.

My Country Tis of Thee....

... oh my. My kid is in his 'Independent' stage, and it may just kill me. It took 8 minutes to walk from my car to Target last night. When I asked him if I can pick him up, he says 'no'. 'Do you want carried?' 'Nope!' OMG.

The kid wants to put his clothes on by himself, his shoes on all by himself, coat, he wants to tie his shoes by himself, clip his seat belt by himself.... never mind the fact that he can't do ANY of this stuff. In fact, he doesn't even know how to take his clothes OFF, let alone put them on. He's mastered taking his coat off so long as someone else unzips it (which, he won't let anyone do, because he's too damned independent).

Oh Lord, please grant me some patience during this phase. I asked a mom here at work who has kids slightly older, when this phase ends, and someone else pipped in "in 27 years". Yikes!

Random Holiday Pics

Unfortunately, this outfit is a 2T and WAAAAY too big for him. I tried to take it to Gymboree to exchange it, and they didn't have any more, nor did they even have ANYTHING cute at all for the holiday. I hope he is in a 2T next year!

Our only Christmas Tree. Because our house is for sale, we couldn't put a real one up because it takes up too much space. So far, we've only had our tree up twice in the six year's we've lived there, due to the dog or the baby or moving =( My next house we will have AT LEAST one Christmas tree, if not more! Ares had a good time decorating it though.