Our (soon to be) House

About a month ago Nate and I went up to Cleveland to find a house. I was worried that we wouldn't be able to find one in just one weekend, or that we wouldn't be able to afford anything in the area we felt was best for the kids schooling and for proximity to Nate's work. After seeing close to 30 houses we seemed to keep coming back to this one. I liked it, but it wasn't my dream home nor did it have the wonderful kitchen I had envisioned would be in my home. But it was the one we felt good about and the one that fit all our most important criteria. We are still in the process of getting all the kinks worked out, but our offer has been accepted and they have agreed to fixing the things found in the inspection and everything looks good. SO we will keep our fingers crossed that it works out financially!! Here it is: I am not in love with the way it looks on the outside, but the kids like it and call it the "gingerbread" house.

There is very limited counter and cabinet space so we are going to have to change the breakfast nook area into an extension of the kitchen and get a butcher block or some other things to give me enough room in the kitchen. (Keep in mind I couldn't zoom out with this camera to get a good view of everything so it all looks a lot smaller that it really was.)

But the house was just recently redone and ALL the kitchen appliances are new!! :)!! (Except there is no microwave! )

The formal dinning room will have to be the eating area and maybe the office as well, we will have to see. The living room was really big, although it is hard to tell from the pictures.

We are all excited to actually have a fireplace!! Now I can FINALLY hang my stockings on the fireplace ;)!

There is also a half bath on the main floor and an entry way but I ran out of room to post picture. As you walk up the stairs, before you make it all the way to the top, there is a little sun room off to the left. I love this room!! (Again you can't get a good idea from the pictures but the whole room in windows and it is big enough to be a play room, an office or a sewing room. I am so excited to get there and figure out which way it works best!)

The main bathroom is very nicely redone, too bad they put in pedestal sinks so I need to get something for storage in the bathrooms.

There are three bedrooms on the second floor with the bathroom. I didn't have great pictures of them, so here is just one. The other two are about the same, one is painted light green and the other is yellowish. The closets all need bars or shelves, and they are small, but we'll make due. :)

I have to say one of my favorite things about this house is the third floor. It is one big open room. It is huge, you can't tell from the pictures but I could fit both my girls up there with room for more and make it the play room. I love that room!

We just have to find a way to make the stairway safer, if the kids climbed up on the walls, which lets face it they will try, they would break their necks. The stairs are THAT steep. But Nate has some ideas of how to fix it. I just hope they work... I don't want to visit the hospital unless we are just visiting Nate at work :)!

The basement is another bonus. There is room for Nate to have a workout/whatever kind of work room he wants on one side, a craft room for me on the other and then in the back is the laundry area. It's great!

The back yard is going to be re-seeded before we move in, which is good. But even still it wasn't bad. There is room on the side and behind the garage to put a play set and build a garden! I am so excited about that! I just have to see about getting a fence to keep the kids in and animals out.

There is a nice big two car garage too, which will be nice with all the snow they get up there.

So there you have it. This is our new home, as long as everything goes through ;)! I really do love it and am excited to get started on making it ours! (Hopefully I will get some better pictures soon and then I can really show it off!!)

How do you describe sick?

I am not sure about the rest of the United States, but here in WV there has been a terrible plague going around. At least half of the kids school had either strep or the stomach bug this last week and many friends from other school districts reported the same at their schools. That means we have had a lot of vomit, diarrhea and super high fevers to deal with for the last week and a half. Lily was lucky enough to skip the throwing up part and went straight to the high fever. As long as we kept on top of her meds she wasn't bad. Last night as it was getting time to give her another dose she came up to me and said, "Mom, I'm feeling UGLY! I don't want to feel ugly again!!" I know I shouldn't laugh, but I couldn't help it, she has such an interesting way of interpreting the world and the way she feels!

Washington D.C.

Things have been a little stressful around here. Not that my life is falling apart or anything, but there has just been a lot of stress. I think the Lord knew that I needed a break, because He provided one in the form of an amazing weekend "getaway". Some wonderful girlfriends invited me to D.C. to relax, have fun and do whatever we wanted. We left Friday and got to our hotel just before dinner time. Our hotel happened to be on Pennsylvania Avenue, ya the same street as the White House. This was the view from our window. Just a few blocks down from "El Presidente"! We went to a play the first night, called "An Ideal Husband" which was a fun experience. We had fun walking all over down town as well and found a cute cupcake shop that everone raves about. It was called the "Red Velvet" ,but was closed by the time we got there. Kristen and her friend Alicia were super troopers and got up at 6 am Saturday morning to stand in line and get us tickets to go up in the Washington Monument, which I had never done before. I did NOT get up, as it is my ONLY morning to sleep in. (Sorry, but the kids aren't the only ones who have a hard time getting up for seminary...) But they got all of us tickets!!! (Alicia, me, DeNae and Riann)

The view from up in the monument is amazing. I took a ton of shots, but you can see the DC temple way in the distance in this one!!

DC has so many amazing looking buildings, I never knew that before.

This is the old post office building. I was really impressed with all the history I never bothered to notice before. I guess that is what happens when you don't have kids with you while you are visiting!! :)

We did a lot of other things but I didn't take pictures of it. After looking at some of the monuments it started pouring rain on us. DeNae, Ri and I went back to the hotel and while Ri-Ri took a nap, DeNae and I soaked in the hot tub. It was sooooo nice, expecially because I didn't have Nate telling me how gross and bacteria infested the hot tub was ;)!! We went out to eat and then walked and walked and walked and went back to Red Velvet and had the BEST cupcake I have ever eaten. Seriously it was THAT good. We had a lot of fun and I was sooooo grateful to get to go!! Thanks ladies!!! And now back to reality.... ;)!

Milestones and New Hobbies

A few days ago Gabby came home from school so excited... she had her first loose tooth. She has been patiently waiting for the first little signs of wiggle in those teeth. Most of her friends have lost at least one or two by now and she was getting worried she'd never lose one! I knew better! She didn't get her first tooth until she was almost 15 months old, so I was not at all surprised that she was a little later in loosing teeth as well. Her tooth was still pretty well attached when I sent her to school yesterday, but when I came to get her and Luke from school she had it in a little baggie. Apparently she had wiggled it ALL day until it came out... with a lot of blood. I think it would have held on a little longer, but she was DETERMINED to have that thing out NOW! It is so tiny! She is so proud and was even more excited when she found the tooth fairy had come during the night. (You see, Luke told her he heard from kids at school that the tooth fairy wasn't real, that is was just your parents. She was devastated. SO I did what any good parent would do and told her if Luke and his friend believed that then they wouldn't get ANYTHING from the tooth fairy ever again. That was all she needed, she was on board to believe again. I did have to tell Luke he was right, but I also told him to not tell his sisters when he discovered stuff like that. Just talk to me first. Ya, he still believes in Santa. I haven't had the heart to tear that belief away just yet... I bet he is going to be the ONLY 3rd grader in Cleveland to still believe. )

Last week my friend Elizabeth, who is super talented and crafty, showed me how to make these cute little chocolate suckers. I can't believe I never learned this before!!! I am hooked and think I found a fun new hobby!! (Not that I don't have enough of those already...) Now I just need to find people to give these to!!

Lily and Gabby

Sometimes I just love to sit and listen to my kids talk to each other. They say the funniest things sometimes!! Yesterday Gabby and Lily were getting ready to go outside to play. This is what I heard Lily- "Come on guys!" Gabby-"I'm not a guy! I'm a girl." Lily-"Come on guys-girl" Gabby-"I'm not a guy-girl. I am just a girl. Well I am a Gabby girl." Lily-"Oh, right." Gabby-"Do you even know what a Gabby-girl means??" Lily-"Yes!" Gabby-"What?!" Lily-"....I don't know...." Gabby-"It means 'talkie'. You know, I am a 'talkie' girl, cause I like to talk. That's why I am a Gabby-girl." Lily-"...Oh..." If only I had a tape recorder for all of the things they say, I am constantly entertained! (maybe that is just because they are my kids, but I think they are funny!!)

Ahhhhhh Spring!!!

On Friday Nate got off work early and the weather outside was so warm! We decided to take the kids to the park and have a picnic for dinner. (How's that for date night?! ;)) It was so nice and so much fun! We ran around the little pond there and of course the kids wanted to stop and have me take a picture of them on this bench! (What have a done to them?!) It amazes me how much kids LOVE parks! I mean I remember liking them, but I had no idea how handy they were for parents. Easy, cheap entertainment, perfect!

Nate being Nate couldn't just sit and enjoy the nice family time, he had to do a few sets of pull ups. Always looking for ways to exercise. (He tells me it is a good stress reliever, I'll take his word for it! ;)!)

Lily took off her shoes and practically rolled around in the dirt, but she loved it so how could I get frustrated?

We stayed until it started raining and then headed home, got the kids in bed and watched "Date Night" together. I love it when we get to have those days. They are few and far between, but when they happen they make everything else more bearable. I love my family and am so lucky to have them!!!

Soccer, Dentist and life

It is that time again. Time for indoor soccer. Luke had so much fun last year doing it and BEGGED to be able to do it again this year. We weren't going to let him, simply because of finances, but I decided I'd just make it work some how. And of course it wasn't fair to just let Luke do something, so we asked Gabby if she wanted to take a class at the YMCA too. They offered dance, cheer and a bunch of other things I thought she'd want to do, but she wanted to do soccer. So we signed them both up, and they ended up on the same team. I'm not sure how, but they did. Most of the other kids on the team at 8, Gabby is the smallest on the team by far, but she holds her own pretty well. They had their first game on Saturday that they won! Luke scored two goals and Gabby almost made one, but took an elbow to the side of her head and missed. I'll have to post video of the game later, but here is some pictures of practice.Here is Gabby in here pink shin guards, I can always find her that way. Luke is really good at getting in there and kicking the ball. He isn't so good at the rules yet, the coach was trying to get them to stay in their area, but Luke just follows the ball. But they have so much fun!

Lily feels super left out and wants to get out there with the kids, so I try to make it up to her by taking her to the park when the kids are at school. She is so cute!

I took all the kids to the dentist....for the first time. I know, I know, but I HATE the dentist so I just never took them. (That and we've never had dental insurance...) But I decided after both Luke and Gabby told me their teachers at school say they should go twice a year that I ought to at least take them once. I was nervous about their condition, but I am happy to report not a one of them has anything wrong with any of their teeth!! YAY!!! The best part of the whole experience is that our good friend Elizabeth got to be the one who cleaned their teeth!! She is great! In fact she is the one who final got me to take them all in... What are friends for!

I just wanted to say thanks to those who offered words of encouragement to me when I had my little public meltdown. I had no idea this whole process could be so frustrating and hard. We still haven't figured it out yet, but I am at least calmed down. I think my emotions just got a little out of whack. They still are, but we're working on that. I had my hysterosalpingogram done and now I guess we'll see what they want to do next. I can't be going through menopause already so lets hope they find out soon what is up with my stupid body, because I want one less thing to stress about as I try to find somewhere for us to live!! :)