Just Kidding...

A not so funny thing happened to us today...

Turns out we ARE NOT going to be getting that house in the previous post!

The house is a foreclosure, and it is owned by HUD.  We placed a bid on the house, and our bid was the winning bid, which is why we thought we were going to be getting it.  We also thought we would be able to get it under contract in time to get that $8,000 tax credit.  We only like the house for it's potential to become something great.  It needs a lot of work, so coming out of med school with basically nothing, we needed that tax credit to be able to do the work and make it what we want.  

Well, realtor called the HUD office where she was going to be sending the contract to be signed and asked them if it would be signed by this Friday (last day to get the tax credit) and she said there was no way it would be.  There are about 300-400 contracts ahead of ours waiting to be signed and it will take up to 4 weeks.  

So we decided this is not the house for us.  We won't lose anything, (earnest money, etc.) because we haven't sent it off yet.  Which is a good thing!  

We are sad about it.  We were starting to think about all the things we wanted to do with this house, and saw a lot of great potential in it.

Maybe it's a blessing in disguise...either way, it must not have been the house for us!

Back to house hunting we go! 

Home, Sweet Home...

Just over a week ago, Nate and I went on a little weekend house hunting trip to Colorado Springs.

Things were not working in our favor!  We got there on Friday night and met up with the realtor on Saturday morning to find out that many of the homes we wanted to see had offers in on them and were pending.  

Huge disappointment!  

On top of that, it was really foggy and kinda drizzling rain almost all day.  We couldn't see the city much at all, couldn't see the mountains, really just couldn't see much at all!  

We found some homes we like, but there seemed to be something about each of them that we didn't like.

First house was really nice with new carpet and paint, probably would have bought it, but the neighborhood was the problem, just kinda run down.

Another house we liked looked really great, but then we walked into the backyard to find that there was an old swimming pool filled in with dirt that they were trying to disguise as landscaping.  Pretty much no backyard for the kids to play in and no way to fix it.

On the next one, Nate and the realtor were walking around, after the initial look through, talking about what would need to be done with it, and I went to check out the backyard some more.  I looked out of the sliding glass door and saw some huge dogs in the neighbors backyard.  I opened the door and 3 huge... I mean HUGE! great danes run over to the fence and jump up on it and start barking.  The fence was about 6 feet tall, wooden and waving a bit under the weight of those dogs!  

Really??  No wonder that house hasn't sold!  Could you imagine Brynlee, my child who is afraid of puppies?  She would fear that backyard!  Those dogs scared me, and they are 3 times the size of Brynlee!  Pretty sure that wouldn't work!

On Sunday we set out to look some more.  This time the weather was much better, we could see the city and the mountains, and we found 2 houses we liked! 

We ended up having time to walk around the Garden of the Gods that evening.

On Monday, Nate and I went to the hospital so he could sign some paperwork.  Then we went to a storage unit to decide if we wanted to rent one.  Then we drove around for a bit checking things out.

It was fun to get home to see Brynlee and Gracen!  We have some awesome friends here that took them for the weekend for us...and spoiled them while they had them!

I haven't spent much time away from my kids.  It may have been harder on me than it was on them!  I am grateful that they handled it well, and seemed to have been pretty well behaved!

Big thanks to our friends who helped us out by taking them!

Finally, we decided this past week on a house we wanted to put an offer on.  We found out today that we got it!!  It was done on a bid type offer, it's a foreclosure, so it will need new carpet and paint.  It needs a little cosmetic work in the bathrooms and kitchen.  

Brynlee giggled at the fact that it has a PINK toilet!  

We thought she might like it, but we decided not to keep it. 

We definitely have a little work to do, but we're excited to make it our own!  Some other great things about it are that it is just a few miles away from the hospital, and on the west side of town near the entrance to Garden of the Gods.

This is it!  Looks a little different in person...better than the picture!  It has a nice yard, and big backyard for the kids!  We're pretty excited!

Nate starts his residency the end of June.  We are moving from Sandusky in just over a week and will be storing our stuff in a storage unit while we visit family in Utah until after we close and get the work done on the house that we want to.

We're so excited (and a bit nervous) to finally have a home!

~FIVE~

On April 14th, my little girl turned FIVE!  

I can't believe I have a five year old!  She is so precious to me and I can't imagine what life would be like without her!  It was kind of a rough week for me, I was feeling kinda sad that she has grown up so fast!  I was fighting back the tears a few times on her birthday as I thought about her life and how much joy she has brought into mine.  It seems like just yesterday I was holding her in my arms for the very first time.
How can she be five!?

She is one sweet, sassy, and smart little girl!

She is very loving and tenderhearted.  She loves preschool and dance.  

Nate and I have been working on teaching her to read, add and subtract.  It makes me smile when she comes up to one of us and asks if she can do some homework!  

Some of her favorite things to do are:  play with her babies, do mommy's hair, dress up, play barbies, color, draw, play with her friends, sing, and dance.

The big 5 year old!

I woke up bright and early on her birthday to make cupcakes for her to take to preschool.  She had requested some butterfly cupcakes we saw online one day, so I did my best.

Here is what we got...

Then we headed out to Osborne park to meet up with Brynlee's best friend Lauren, and Susan, Leanne and Owen.  We played and had lunch.

Brynlee and Lauren! 

 These two have been the best of friends pretty much from the moment we moved to Sandusky!

After the park, it was time for preschool.  

Here is Brynlee at preschool with her butterfly cupcakes!

I didn't plan a big party for Brynlee this year.  I figure every other year is plenty!  So we just invited a few close friends over to help us sing happy birthday and eat cake!

Brynlee wanted a barbie cake.  We saw one at walmart one day and that's what she wanted.  I thought it would be simple enough to make, the cake part wasn't so bad, but frosting the barbie was a bit trickier than I thought it would be.  After all those butterflies, I was burnt out, so this is what we got...

Brynlee thought she was beautiful!  Me-not so much, but Brynlee was happy and that's what matters!

Here, everyone is singing to her...I'm lovin the candles coming out the side of the barbie!

Then, we finish singing, and Gracen swoops in and steals Brynlee's thunder...

Sneaky little guy!  He was on those candles so fast, we didn't have time to stop him!  I wish I would have had the video camera going, the look on Brynlee's face was priceless!  Her little jaw just dropped!  Poor girl!

Gracen L.O.V.E.S birthdays, didn't realize it was Brynlee's special day, and was a little sad when we got after him about it.  He ran straight to his room, Nate went and got him and explained it was okay, but it's Brynlee's birthday.

So we lit the candles, held Gracen back, and let Brynlee give it one more shot!

Seriously couldn't stop laughing about Gracen blowing out those candles though!  Too funny!

All of the kids (except Owen, he didn't want to squeeze in there)

Worn out little girl getting a bedtime story!

Love these two kids!

Brynlee trying out one of her gifts.  She actually fell asleep with that thing on!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRYNLEE!

Thanks to everyone who joined us in celebration of this little girl's birthday...for the calls, cards, gifts, and birthday wishes!

Amy and Shyley come to visit!

Finally some visitors!

And just in time before we move!

My sister Amy and her daughter Shyley came to visit us here in Sandusky!  We were so excited to have them come spend a week with us!
I had lots of plans, most of them involved being outdoors, and the weather decided to ruin some of those plans, but we had fun anyway!

Brynlee and Gracen loved having Shyley read them bedtime stories every night.

We went up to Marblehead to see the light house and to Lakeside to walk around and let the kids play.

Everything is starting to get green and there were tons of flowers to see.

Playing in the sand!

 Gracen was trying to fill up his bucket and not intentionally getting wet, but the waves would come up and get him.  This kid could live at the beach!


Amy, Shyley, Brynlee and I went to Kalahari!

Brynlee was afraid of pretty much everything for the first 2 hours.  Once I got to the point where I was ready to take her home and go back without her she finally started having fun!

Shyley even came into the small kid area and played with her!

Shyley's back bend.

Gracen's back bend!

Me and my sister!
Thanks Amy and Shyley for coming to visit!  We loved having you here!

Easter

With all of the moving plans underway, Easter was pretty low key this year.

The Easter Bunny came!

Easter Egg hunt with friends...

Gracen decided he was going to keep hiding and finding his eggs.

Wearing Cambri's bunny ears.

Brynlee and George coloring with sidewalk chalk.

We had a pretty good Easter.  Baskets in the morning, conference, egg hunt, conference, and then a yummy dinner with good friends!

Gracen's Big Boy Bed

A while back, I decided it was time to make the switch from crib to toddler bed.  I was worried about him being able to get out of bed, but it was time. 

He was so excited!  Brynlee was too!

The first morning, she came upstairs and when she saw him, she asked in the sweetest

little voice, "Gracen, did you sleep good in your new bed?"

I loved how excited she was for him to reach this milestone!

True sibling love!

Gracen did well with it for the first couple weeks.  

He wouldn't even get out of bed until I told him he could.

Then...

One night after we put the kids to bed, I left to get some groceries.

I came back at about 9:45 and Gracen's door flew open.  He comes running out.

He said, "Mommy, I come out now?"  All excited like I would actually say yes!

Seriously?!  I asked Nate what was going on, and it turns out

Gracen had been playing quietly in his room, without Nate's knowledge,

for about and hour until he came out and said,

"Daddy....I built a boat!"

He was so excited about it too!

From then on, bedtime has been a little more difficult.  

As I am writing this, he is supposed to be napping, but instead,

He's up there talking to himself, giggling at who know's what, 

and NOT napping!

At least he's in his room, right???

Stylin'

Brynlee has had some interesting clothing choices these days.

Just wanted to share a few pictures of how interesting it gets....

This is where it all began!

I asked her to go get ready for dance, and this is what she came out in.

Her little leotard shorts thing over top of her pants.

She was really thinking she looked so cute and I felt too bad to inform her that 

really, it wasn't so cute, so she wore it to dance like this...

I hoped it would be a one time thing, but she came out ready for bed like this...

And another night, this...

I'm sure there were other interesting choices that I didn't get a picture of,

but you get the idea.

I had to finally break it to her on the next dance day that the shorts over the

pants looked silly.  She was a little sad about it,

but went and put it on right.

I still have to laugh a little when I see these pictures!  

Funny Girl!

~Goodbye Winter~

Winter in Sandusky wasn't too bad this year.  We didn't have nearly as many

below zero days as we did last year and the amount of snow we got seemed pretty normal.

We still avoided the outdoors on those days that were too cold,

and here are a few things we did...

Painted and glued things to paper...they were quite entertained by this!

Brynlee and Gracen came up with a new game.

It's called "Vacation."

I was upstairs one morning changing out the sheets on our beds,

about 15 mins tops, and I come down to my kitchen filled with EVERYTHING

they "needed" to take with them on their vacation!

I think they over packed!

This game was played many times throughout the winter, and when it came time 

to clean up, it was quite a fight!

We visited the Rain Forest at the zoo for free with our zoo passes.

Lots of play dates with friends.  

George, Brynlee, Gracen, Owen, and Cambri

Painted some more!

Brynlee and George.  George loves Brynlee, and it's pretty cute!  

She loves the attention she gets from him, and she calls him her boyfriend.

HELLO SPRING!!  

We visited the zoo with friends once the weather got nice in March!  

Brynlee and George going down the slide.

Smelling the first flowers we came across this spring!  

We also spent lots of time at the library, and of course, the mall play area.  

I'm happy to report that spring is in full bloom here (has been for a few weeks now)

and we're loving it!