Life Changes Update Part 984732766

Hi, everyone! Here's another quick update/summary of our recent weeks. I think most of the whirlwind has died down, and we're seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

We met with the bank on April 1st to start the construction to perm loan process.

We moved into the apartment April 4-April 13, although started sleeping/commuting from the apartment on April 5th. It's a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, basement level unit that overlooks woods and a walking trail. I'll have to take a picture of the patio view... but here's an idea of the main living area. In the second picture, I'm standing in the kitchen. I'll post more pictures as we unpack and clean.

Kids started their new daycare April 14th. The daycare has web-monitoring so I can log into a secure website online and see what the kiddos are up to! Mara has mentioned missing her friends Anissa, Bristol and Sophia, but I remind her that she's made some new friends and she agrees. This daycare is on a more convenient route from the apartment and from the future home, it was a little less expensive than our last one, and the facilities/teachers seemed great.

We closed on Kingston Ridge house on April 16th, got our payment same day. (Bye bye to the first home my kids knew!) For sale by owner process complete! And mega-easy for the huge savings. I've helped at least 2 other people do the same thing, and no regrets1

After closing on the house, we spent Easter at the beach with Cherry and Grahampa. Isaac has a major sweet tooth (evidence below - chocolate bunny not even being unwrapped)

  

  

You can see our princess and the pea above, as well as the loot from the Easter Bunny (who happened to hide all the eggs INSIDE the house this year. It was so rainy and windy outside, the bunny was afraid things would blow away and that his/her bunny fur would get wet).

Isaac is craaaaaaaaaaaazy about bubbles. That's ALL he wants to talk about or do. But I love him.

Isaac's talking is coming along quickly and we're so proud of him when he strings words together. We deal with nightly tantrums over him not eating his dinner b/c he wants to blow bubbles, or him not getting what he wants. But we hope this phase will end soon. His favorite things to talk about are trucks, bubbles, motorcycles, airplanes (which we get to experience a LOT of in Morrisville), and going to the playground.

We argued with the bank for awhile over various stupid things that shouldn't have had to happen with their job experience. Whatever. Received loan approval and are set to close on the loan May 8th.

Our butterfly hatched that we received during the church service for Hayden Butler's baptism. We released him/her on a warm sunny day.

I think we finally finished updating addresses on our bills, mail, subscriptions, drivers license, concealed carry permit (had to go downtown for that one). Our evenings are currently spent on the patio blowing bubbles, watching movies borrowed from the apartment office, taking the dogs out on leashes for their business (oh what a pain), speculating what the "stompers" and their dog are actually doing above us, and making frequent trips to the apartment playground and mailboxes.

  I got a horrible case of conjunctivitis. It was this bad for about a week, and I had to turn off my office lights and dim my monitors to be able to function. Now I'm on some different eye drops and the whites of my eyes are white again; I can see!

   Even in the apartment complex, we discover little treasures here and there!

 

 Whether it's a turtle, or a boulder!

 Isaac is loving having the dogs inside with us now (as they had been in the Kingston Ridge garage for like 6 months while we prepped to sell.). Isaac follows the dogs making kissing noises, perches his rag on their backs and giggles when it falls, and he snuggles.

 Good boy, Arson.

 And believe it or not, I've seen at least 2 dogs who are bigger than ours living in the complexes - a huge Akita with a BIG bark, and a Great Dane who looked like a person staring down at us from his 2nd floor balcony (standing on his hind legs).

I've squished a few bugs, and expect many more since we're on the basement level. I've become an expert at packing the puzzle of the teeeeny freezer. We have to run the miniature dishwasher daily. We got a new washer and dryer (since the buyers wanted our old ones) and I'm so grateful for them! The first week we moved into the apartment, the dog got sick, and Isaac got sick... and we really needed those cleaning machines!

Mara has gotten SO SLOW at eating recently - I think she's chewing her food, and chewing over her thoughts. She asked me during breakfast this morning if I knew Grahampa before he was so wrinkly. (sorry Graham). She's got a great imagination and we role played at the park yesterday - first she was Mario and I was Luigi (because you're bigger, Mommy), and then she was Elsa and I was Ana (from Frozen) and I chased her all over the playground, begging for her to come back and unfreeze the world. She is so fun!

Anyway, it's Friday and we have a clear weekend ahead of us. Hope yours is wonderful! Maybe next post, I'll have pictures of our lot being cleared!