Grandma & Papa

Here are some random, fun memories we have made with Grandma and Papa over the past several months.  We're lucky to live so close to them.  We get to have Sunday lunch with them every week, and then the kids get to see them here and there throughout the week.  

Making hot chocolate after playing in the snow:

and playing cards...

and reading books... Papa reads a lot of books:

And b-day lunch for Grandma at El Toro

And going to the petting zoo at the school:

And Grandma hosted a tea party for all of the girls:

I'm not always the best at taking pictures when we're with Grandma and Papa.  I think I take it for granted because we're with them so often.  I hope the kids always remember how much time their grandparents spent with them!

Hannah Softball

Hannah had a great softball season.  She and two of her teammates from last year were drafted on a team with six of the girls who beat her team in the league championship last year.  

She really missed getting to be on Anna's team this year!

Hannah is a good batter but gets in her head sometimes.  Her best hit of the season could not have come at a better time though.  Her team was down by 8 for the 2nd game in a row in the tournament.  Hannah hit a 3 run in-the-park home run in the bottom of the 5th to take the lead!

Her team did not lose a single game the entire season.... until the league championship.... the final game of the year.  They got blown out by a team they had beat earlier in the season.  It just wasn't our day.  Hannah was so upset.

Mommy took her out for a steak lunch after the game to cheer her up.  It was a tough loss for sure.

Here's to next year!

Jacob's Summer Baseball

Jacob had fun playing rookie baseball this year for the first time after three years of t-ball.  Especially for being his first year,  he did really well!  He got to bat 2nd in the line-up and played 2nd base.  He had some great hits!  He also got hit a few times, once in the head, which his mama did not like!    

His team finished in 3rd place for the season, so going into the tournament, we were thinking that we could be playing all week.  Sadly, their season came to an abrupt end after just one game.  We lost 6-5 to a team that we had easily beat earlier in the season.  I was not even totally prepared with my camera or anything.  It wasn't really on my radar that it would be the last game, and it was also a very busy time for us.  It was the day that we closed on the old house, and after 9 days of moving and cleaning, we were exhausted!

Jacob also got to play on an all-star tournament team one weekend.  It was during our move, so I only got to go to one game which I really hated, but it was either that or not let him play.  Josh was with him though.  He had a good time.  Another mom snapped this picture for me!

Jacob has a true love for baseball, and I can see him wanting to play for many years to come!

12 Years at Drew Court

On July 9th, 2018, we sold our home of over 12 years.  It was hard to leave; I was feeling very sentimental.  It was such a great house and served us well for a long time.  We bought this house when we were 23 with no kids.  And then we brought 4 kids into that home.  We have so many memories there.  And there were so many things we loved about the house.  But, we knew it was the right decision.  Just for sentimental purposes, here is the ad that I wrote up and shared on facebook with those who were interested (I still can't believe how easily and quickly we sold it!):

HOUSE COMING TO THE MARKET SOON: 106 DREW COURT, CATLIN - Ranch style 3 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom, 1626 sq. ft. plus basement, living room, family room, dining room, kitchen, 2 car attached garage, ideal location in Catlin-nice neighborhood, quiet street, no traffic, end of dead end, large backyard with a privacy fence. New in the last couple of years: Furnace, A/C, water heater, master bathtub/shower surround, back doors, bathroom vanities/sinks, toilets, custom living room blinds. Kitchen has also been renovated with Amish built cherry cabinets and stainless steel appliances. All light fixtures, ceiling fans, and windows have been updated as well as some flooring. Bedrooms and dining room have original hardwoods. This house has great storage space in the basement, garage, attic, shed, and 4 extra closets (outside of the bedrooms). The basement contains the laundry room, lots of storage space, and fun recreational space (has been used as a 4th bedroom by previous owners). We are looking to close mid-summer, and we wanted to see if anyone was interested before listing it with a realtor. Please private message me for more details, and please share with your friends!

We really loved the location of this house.  It was quiet, on a dead end street, yet right in the middle of town.  It was a safe place to let our kids play outside.  Also, it had a big fenced in yard.  The storage space was great.  We loved the red room (family room).  We loved having multiple bathrooms.  We loved our kitchen cabinets, especially the pantry full of pull-outs.  The front porch with the swing was awesome.  The garage was great.  I actually loved the laundry in the basement.  And we had fantastic neighbors.  This all made it hard to leave!  

Good-bye, Drew Court.  We'll miss you!

Our New House - The Decision to Move

Our biggest news of the year - we bought a new house!!!  If you know Josh and I, you know that this decision did NOT come easily.  We think things over and analyze and discuss and explore options and rethink and second guess and take our time and rediscuss.  Usually this does not play in your favor when it comes to the housing market.  But in this case, it did.  The conversation of a bigger house probably started in 2012, maybe 2011.  I started keeping my eye on the market, going to open houses, researching adding on, researching building, talking to people who were selling, etc.  For several years, we thought about our options.  We looked into things and relooked into things.  There aren't a lot of options in Catlin.  But still, nothing felt right.  

In the fall of 2016, my friend Sandy saw that this house was possibly going to be for sale.  We did not know the owners, but she connected us.  We scheduled a time to come and see it.  We really liked it, but we (mainly Josh) felt that the price was too high for us.  We talked about it A LOT.  We told the owners our top price.  But the house that they had their eye on had sold, so they weren't willing to drop in price at that time because they had no where to go.  We decided to let it go.  

Over the next year and a half, the owners and I kept in touch here and there.  We discussed adding onto our old house again.  We got a quote (it was high!).  We looked into building (it was high!).  We actually looked at a house two doors down from this new house and were interested.  The price was high, but we were told that they wanted an offer - any offer.  But it sold while we were on vacation before we could get back for a second viewing.  So we continued our patient waiting.

In the spring of 2018, I randomly drove by this house again.  It wasn't on my way to anywhere.  I just drove around the block with my kids.  I said out loud, "I just still really feel like that is our house."  I don't even know why I said that; I kind of surprised myself when I did.  And the kids were like, "What?!"  

I told Josh I was thinking about it again.  He told me that I better start praying that they drop the price.  So I did. (By the way, this house was never "listed" or officially on the market.)

Seriously, about a week later, we were sitting at Texas Roadhouse, and I got a text from the owners saying that they had found a new house and wondered if we were interested for the price we had mentioned in 2016.  We hadn't talked in months.  Umm, yes, we were still interested.  Problem was, Josh hardly remembered the house.  So we went to look at it again.

Dinner at Texas Roadhouse

We looked at it in between two birthday parties for Aleah, one of which I was hosting in our home that night - a full blown home cooked meal for 20+.  By the time we could talk, we were too tired to talk.  We both decided we couldn't even discuss it because we were so stinking tired.

The next day, Josh and I were conversing through e-mail while he was at work.  I asked him what he thought.  He said he wanted to know what I thought first.  So I sent him my thoughts.  And then he told me to go for it.  I was shocked.  He doesn't ever say that.  It almost scared me.  But by the end of the day, we had made a no contingency offer to buy the house in 2.5 months.  

Talk about scary.  While we had talked about this for years, we were in no way ready to sell our house.  We didn't know anything about the process.  We were overwhelmed.  I had no idea how much work it was going to be, and as smoothly as everything went, it was crazy.  It was so.much.work.  But it was the right move, and we are so glad we did it.  

Moving day ended up being the 4th of July!  We had an amazing support team!  It was HOT, and we had over 30 people show up to help us move.  We needed all of them.  They were amazing!

We had our first dinner on the floor because our only table was being refinished.

Several neighbors brought us cookies, etc.  It was such a blessing.  One night, I think we had brownies for dinner.  We were working our butts off and were exhausted!

The two main things we were excited about with the new house was extra bedroom space and extra entertaining space.  In the old house, we had 4 kids sharing two small bedrooms.  In this house, all of the kids can have their own room eventually if they want.  Right now the boys sleep upstairs with the girls, but we're sure that will change some day.  We also were aching for entertaining space.  Our extended family had gotten so big that we could hardly host at the old house.  Even doing one side of the family at a time had gotten out of control and we were hosting 3 parties for our kids' birthdays at times.  It was nuts.  And honestly, with the things that needed work at the old house and with the equity that we had in it, the price difference between the two houses just made sense.  It was crazy but it was right and good and we feel so blessed!

PS-As smoothly as the process went, it did not go without a hitch.  Literally while we were negotiating, my kids had the worst case of the stomach flu I have ever seen.  It was MISERABLE.  During this time, I managed to get ulcers on my corneas, and I couldn't even go to the eye doctor for a few weeks because my kids were so sick.  It was MISERABLE.  After we signed the contract on the new house, the in ground pool cracked and had to be removed.  We had to rethink everything.  We weren't sure if the deal was going to go through.  (We were both sad and relieved by the pool being gone.)  At the old house, termites were discovered in the mulch!  We had to pay $900 to remedy that.  We had a lawyer who drug his feet on everything.  I had to push him along each step of the way.  I had So.Many.Meetings.  Most of them with kids in tow.  Lawyers, Lenders, Insurance Agents, Real Estate Research, Prospective Buyers, and on and on and on.  There are so many details that go with buying and selling.  And we didn't use a real estate agent on either side.  In some ways it was easier; in some ways it was harder.  But it saved A TON of money, and honestly made the deal possible.  With our personalities, we over-analyzed everything.  The entire process.  But in the end, we felt good about the decisions that we made and the deals that we made.

Very sick kids!

We thought we were getting this....

We got this... like I said... sad and relieved...

My poor eyes