Thursday, April 28, 2011

homeowners!

At 1:59 p.m. today, with my lovely baby girl snoring quietly on me in the rocking chair and my lovely young son snoring loudly on the couch, I got the call that all the paperwork is done and filed, and we are officially homeowners!

WOoooOOOOoooooOOOOO!!!!! :)

Due to the aforementioned napping offsprings, that will have to suffice for cheering at the moment. :D

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter, continued

After our egg hunt and breakfast at home, the kids and I went over to Chris's farm for a gorgeous day of fun! We did another egg hunt out in the orchard and by the barn. We played with nine other kids who were also Easter-ing at the farm! We ate delicious goat and scalloped potatoes. And in between things we actually snuck home for a nap!

At the end of the day we all went outside again to admire the animals and get some sunshine. Jack and the other kids probably had the most fun tromping around in the pig pen together. After that we were all exhausted in an I-couldn't-possibly-sleep kind of way, so we watched a movie. Now everybody is packing off to bed. It really has been a wonderful day!

Happy Easter!

We had a really fun Easter. Alex is a bit under the weather this weekend so I didn't get too many pictures, but here are a few of Jack enjoying his morning egg hunt. :)



Saturday, April 23, 2011

Jack on clock hands

"The little stick is the big one's brother!"

Dreams

Jack says there's a bad bird in his bed. It is a seagull, and it bited him, and he needs to sleep in mommydaddy's bed. Well, when you put it that way... come snuggle! :)

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Where is the house?

We've been working on buying a house for about two months now.... For the last week or two it has been pretty rough. I keep thinking we're all set and then another problem crops up. We were shooting for the 15th as a close date and we're now being told that it may be as late as the 26th or 27th.

I'm not usually a complainer; I prefer to just hold my tongue and work out a way to fix the problem. This time, however, I am really losing my patience! There have been several rounds of repairs, paperwork, etc., needed, and the sellers' realtor has not been the most reliable or responsible with helping to get the sale completed. (Exhibit A: he told us that missing gutters had been replaced, when they hadn't, so we wasted a lot of time having an incomplete repair job re-inspected.... Long story, but I think re-hashing it will just make me grumpy.)

I planted a whole lot of seeds in little pots to give my future veggie garden a head start, and they are now filling up our dining table, getting leggy and dying off one by one. I'm not sure if it's the lack of adequate direct sunlight, the dry air from our heaters, or too much/not enough water, but they are not doing well. I want to get them in the ground as quickly as I can. The weather is finally turning away from winter's constant rain, and I'm told we'll even see sun later this week! Time to get some plants in the ground, just as soon as we have a yard!

We found out today that we may not be in the house by Easter, which was previously my big "consolation prize" after having missed the deadline to move by the 15th. I was looking forward to doing an egg hunt in our new back yard for Jack. Well, I'm hoping we can work something out with the sellers so we can still move in by Easter, even if we haven't officially closed the sale by then.

In summary, and in an attempt to regain some of my usual optimistic outlook:
Yes, the house appraised much lower than our agreed-upon price and that added some time to the negotiations, but thankfully we have motivated sellers. That means we chopped a significant chunk off the price we're paying, instead of losing the sale entirely.
Yes, the bank appraiser is being exceptionally strict on her requirements for certain repairs and upgrades that are needed before we can close, but that means there will be less for us to take care of after we move in.

That's about all I can file in the "optimism" column for now. Time to go to bed. Tomorrow we'll keep working on our gradual packing and hope that we get a firm close date worked out ASAP so we don't end up with everything packed and no place to go. I've already stalled on the packing quite a bit. It's hard to know that you'll be moving within a week or so, and not be able to get things boxed up and ready. However, the difference between moving in 3 or 10 days is rather big, especially when you have two young children to account for!

Is this normal for the house-buying procedure? I feel like most people have a close date, and that is the date they actually close the sale!! Please wish us luck and think happy thoughts about the Bowlings moving SOON!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

tummy time!




Naptime

This is why they don't get to lie down facing the same direction at naptime!

"You're so cool!"

"Yes, Mommy, of course we're resting!"

Monday, April 4, 2011

Bedtime

When Evie is asleep, her face goes all tranquil and serene.... It's hard to look at my angelic sleeping baby without forgiving her for the six hours of teething we endured earlier today!

Holding the baby!

Evie has finally gotten big enough that Jack can hold her all by himself! He is wild with excitement over this development. It's all he wants to do, at this point. :P



I love how they're heading inexorably sideways and Jack is just as determined to hang on!