Writing her name!

I was blown away by Julia this week.

She has started writing her name!!!!

I am not sure how she picked it up. I don't think preschool is teaching her it. I really think it is from the worksheets I print off for her. I have a font in my Word program that will print everything in dotted lines, so Julia can trace it. I have been printing off worksheets of Julia's name for her to trace. I really did not think she was getting it, because she gets frustrated so fast and is not very careful when she does trace her name.

But this week she definitely wrote her name! She forgot the "u" and put in an extra "a", but I knew what she was trying to write. I was impressed.

I will definitely be having her practice it more and more.

Back to house hunting

The house deal fell through. Basically, once we reviewed the contract, there were several things we did not like about it. Unfortunately, it just did not work out.

BUT... It is a buyers market out there and there are plenty of other houses that will fit our needs. We actually have our eye on one now.

It is stressful and I have not been sleeping well, but I know it will eventually all work out.

House answers

I guess my post about selling our house confused several people, so I thought I would clarify.

We had been planning on selling for a few years now. The original plan was to build a new house, but that got thrown out the window when I lost my job.

We still wanted to move/sell, but decided that it had to happen this Spring for numerous reasons. The biggest ones being that we wanted Julia to go to Miami East school, we wanted her to start there. We also wanted to live closer to family. Currently it is a 50 minute drive to my parent's and a 35-40 minute drive to Jerrod's parent's. I also really wanted to get out of the city. I am just not made for city life. Too many people and lights. Our current house really has no good place for the kids to play at outside. We really wanted something with a yard. One of other major reasons the move is happening now, is because with me being unemployed, our mortgage is just too high. We wanted to reduce our payments.

At first, we thought this meant we were going to have to live in an apartment for a year or two, but then a great opportunity came up! Jerrod's parent's found a house not far from them up for sale on land contract. Basically, you make a down payment, pay rent for 5 years (rent goes towards the principal on the house), and then at the end of the 5 years you get a loan for the remainder of the principal and you own the house!

We looked at the house. Other than the house being pretty small, it was everything else we could have wanted. It is in the country on almost an acre of land, it is in Miami East SD, it is MUCH closer to family, it is a house, not an apartment, and it really reduces our monthly payment! We liked it so much that we asked the seller if we paid the down payment, would he hold it for us up to 6 months so we have time to sell our house. He agreed!

So.... We should have our house ready to sell by spring and we have a new house waiting on us!

Like I said, the house is small, it is only 2 bedrooms, but it is something we can deal with for several years. It does have 2 full baths. There is a sunroom that could actually be a third bedroom or a playroom. It has an oversized 2-car garage (we currently so not have a garage and I HATE that on snowy days), it also have a HUGE barn in the back. So storage is not an issue.

The new house is stuck in the 70's with it's decor, as in gold/yellow kitchen sink and countertops and one bedroom has purple shag carpet! The kitchen/dining room has green carpet, but the seller said he would replace it at his cost. I even get to pick out what I want it replaced with! I will replace it with pergo flooring, not carpet! The house has good construction, so I can deal with the decor. It is minor and can be changed later.

Speaking of changes. The seller said we could make any changes to the house we wanted, even add onto it if we wanted. All we have to do is run the changes past him first.

The seller was super nice and could tell he really had a soft heart. (He lives next door and has a business next door. This was his parent's house.) We talked/discussed a lot of things with him and found him very caring and understanding to our needs. We explained that we are quiet people and the most they would hear from us would be our kids screaming/playing and toys everywhere. He said nothing would warm his heart more than to look over and see kids playing in the yard.

He had one set of renters in the house before that he ended up having to evict, so he was leery of people wanting the house now, but he said that he felt really good about us and could tell that we would not give him any trouble.

Here are a few pictures of the new place.



There you can see the barn in the back.


The tiny kitchen! (It will be the FIRST major change I make.)



The purple shag.... Julia LOVES it!


The main bath, with a FULL sized tub. (We have a smaller than normal tub now.)


The BIG utility room/second bath.


We are excited and rushing to get our house ready to sell.

Internet/Interstate

Every time I drive on the interstate, Julia says "I don't want to go on the internet!"

She means the interstate, but for some reason she always calls it the internet.

We never even heard on the internet when we were her age. (Was it even invented yet?)

Baby dolls

Julia loves her baby dolls. She has 3 of them that have to sleep with her every night. However, the first one she ever got is still her favorite. I spied this the other night.....

Happy boy

I really think Jude would have to be seriously sick or unconscious before his disposition changes.

This weekend he came down with croup. By Monday his cough was really barky and his breathing was labored. I almost took him to the ER, but was able to get into the dr.'s office. Dr. added a steroid to his breathing treatments.

Through it all Jude was smiling and laughing. You could tell he was really sick, but he did not show it. He is just so happy all the time. He even likes his breathing treatments! (Julia took the first two pictures!)



See him smiling behind the mask?

Getting ready to sell

Jerry, Debbie and I walked through the house today to make a list of all that needs to be done before our house can be put on the market. It was quite a list. Most of it was minor stuff, but it is still going to take time. I really hope we can have it ready in 3 months time. Spring is the perfect time to sell this house. It is on a wooded lot and it is gorgeous here in the Spring time with everything blooming.

In the meantime, I will start boxing up items we down immediately use so we can reduce the clutter in the house. So now I need boxes. Lots and lots of boxes. Luckily, we have a place to store all this stuff.

Gingerbread house

Last year Julia and I made a Gingerbread house. She had so much fun doing it, that I thought we would do it again.

This year's kit was a little different from last year's, but we made it work. Julia especially liked sampling the icing.

She is showing it off with icing on her face and showing everyone her gingerbread man tattoo.

Must be a boy thing...

You would think I never watch my kids with all the mischief Jude gets into. I think it is a boy thing. Julia was NEVER like this as a baby/toddler. It must just be a boy thing. I am glad I only have one boy. My poor sister has THREE boys! I don't know how she is not completely grey by now!

Up to his usual antics!