just another afternoon :P

So I'm standing in the kitchen working on dinner when Jack comes in from the playroom.

"Mom, can I have some juice?"

"Sure, honey," I reply, and turn from the stove to help him out. 

And that's when I see it -- his eyes are locking on to a sippy cup on the counter next to the sink.  "No, Jack, don't!"

But it's too late.  For the third time this week, he has seized a sippy of rancid milk and taken a nice, big swig.

Why does he keep doing this????  And now he's standing there, spitting furiously with the most hilarious, disgusted, angry-at-the-sippy-betrayal face on as chunky milk spit cascades down his front.

"Jack!" I squeak, trying my very best not to laugh, "WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THAT????"

(spit, spit, cough, dribble, spit)  "I DON'T KNOW!!!!" 

the chilly entryway

The thing about owning your own home is that there isn't necessarily someone looking over your shoulder asking you the important questions like, "Are you sure the reason you're getting that TERRIBLE draft around your front door isn't -- just maybe -- because you didn't close the window to seal up your storm door's screen?  So the breeze has been blasting right through it?"

....Yeah.  I figured this out yesterday.  Once I sealed the storm door properly, the draft was *miraculously* gone!  Since it's still our first winter here (and barely officially started at that), I'm going to count it as a success that I noticed the open screen before spring rolled around!

meeting the cousins

Some, if not all, of my readers know that my sister Alison and her two kids recently moved to McMinnville (and more specifically, to a room in our house) for a few weeks/months while they get settled in Oregon and find their own apartment.

We've had four kids under five years old in the house! Hence the silence on the blog. ;)

Here's a quick video from the very first day when everyone was meeting each other. I figured I'd get the blogging-ball rolling again with this, and see if I can't get more posted tomorrow!

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

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!

play time!

Jack and I are having a silly afternoon at home, in which we do whatever comes into our heads. Jack figured out this amazingly cute game! I can't decide which video I like better. :)

organization

Jack has been helping a lot with chores recently. He will scrub the floor, sweep, wash walls, and so on. His favorite job is to Put Things Where They Go.

You may not have known:
Shoes go in the dryer.
Diaper inserts go in the bathroom.
ALL laundry goes in the hamper.
Dish towels go in the bag of clothes for Goodwill.
Pencils go in the knitting basket.

You'll notice there is actually a pretty good form of logic working here! :)

our apartment (pics!)

I've been getting some heckling about posting pictures of where we live. Okay, okay, here it is!

The view from the living room:

Our little dining space:

The dining room from the kitchen (I love this kind of half-wall in kitchen spaces!):

The kitchen from the dining area:

Washer and dryer. YES!!!!

Our bathroom, which is actually like eight miles deep. There are two more cabinet doors hidden behind the door frame!

Our entry, with the washer and dryer on the right:

And last but not least, the living room! This is definitely the reason I've taken so long to put these pictures up -- I kept trying to take a CLEAN picture but Jack wasn't interested in my plans. :)