It's Beginning!

And so, we signed away our savings yesterday. But why bother saving if you don't intend to use it for your future?

Here is our future:

That dead tree is across where the house will go. Everything was so green and lush when we went out there yesterday that it was hard for me to figure out what pictures were what! I think I'm standing at the edge of the future house where the master bath will be and looking north.

This picture above is looking out to the road where we parked... but not from the house location. You can't see the car/road from where the house will be (300 some odd feet off the road). We met with Andrew (the tree clearing guy who is dropping a bulldozer there tomorrow), and our builders, to walk through the lot and talk about what gets cleared. We're trying to clear minimally... just the driveway and right around the house (30 feet off the sides and 60 feet off the front/back) so we'll still be nestled in a nice pocket of trees once we're done. We can always remove more later if we need to... it's a tad more difficult to put them back.

I "snuck" a picture of our builders standing at the house site. I am standing in the same spot as the first picture, just I turned right and that stake is the back right corner of our house, and looking out into the backyard. There are a few big trees out there that will have to be removed, but I think the clearing guy was happy there aren't other home sites to avoid with his dozer. We'll likely leave 10-30 feet between our property line and driveway, I think. The guy on the left is Ralph, and the guy on the right is Carl - we mostly deal with Carl since we're on his "half" of their area, but Ralph seems to tag along to most things, too. They have been really nice guys to work with so far, both have older kids (high school/college) and seem to have great family values and a plethora of funny stories.

So, since we closed on the construction to perm loan yesterday, some lot clearing equipment gets dropped off tomorrow and clearing guy (I think he has an assistant, so maybe it's a 2 man business) should start working on it Monday. The builders expect it to take 2-3 weeks to clear what we need. We have our engineered house plans and we'll see what we need to do next.

Apartment life - the pool opened up. Freaking freezing cold. We dipped our toes in one day, came back on another to "swim" and Mommy and Daddy refused to go past their knees. Mara and Isaac both accidentally stepped off the steps into "deep" (3 foot) water and Mommy had to rescue them. So both got soaked, and we made them go home after Mara was visibly shivering. They are excited about going back this weekend, and hopefully the water will be warmer. We dug up the floaties that Cherry brought and I hope Mara learns to swim this summer. She is very willing and excited!

Mara is a friend-magnet. Within a few minutes she had two different little boys sitting next to her. Haha. And her new teachers keep praising how mature and sweet and thoughful she is and how she reminds everyone to be safe (I think she gets that from me...).

Isaac prefers to spend time with this new awesome contraption:

 We were getting too lightheaded blowing so many bubbles in the evenings while prepping dinner that I splurged on this $10 bubble blower from Walmart. So far, so good.

 Bubble dance party!

 I flipped my phone camera around so Isaac could see us taking these pictures and he thought it was awesome. He yelled ISAAC MOMMY CHEESE!

His words and sentences are coming along! I think he can say maybe 4 discernible words in a string, but I usually know what he's talking/asking about. I LOVE this talking stage!

We also entertain ourselves with our indoor motorcycle racetrack/mini-truck arena. Isaac makes VROOM VROOM noises and rides this (or his toy motorcycle) around. Mara is eating salad from the colander in the background...

 While Zack was riding his motorcycle this past weekend, we tried out a local park. Mara thought these looked like giant glasses and posed herself for this pic.

 Where's Waldo? Amara?

 We made cupcakes for our new daycare that day, too. Isaac was such a helper, distributing the liners. Then, I turned my back and he switched tasks...

 He grabbed the bag of homemade cinnamon pretzel bites (see them beside the microwave in the pic above?) and decided those went in the cupcake tins better. Oh boy.

 We kept busy with art and movies and talking. It's been nice to have time to do this kind of stuff on the weekend. So different from the last MANY months of house prep/clean/sell/pack/move/etc. I alllllmost feel guilty for not working on a project like we had been... but this is so much more fun and I had been looking forward to spending more quality time with the kiddos once we had some breathing room.

 Hope you all had a great week. I have pink eye again and Zack used lots of my drops this past week when HE got it... ugh. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my doctor will let me refill my prescription.

Happy FRIDAY!

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!

Almost Outta Our House

Well, a lot can happen in a week and I've got time for another quick update while I eat my lunch at work.

We've been absorbing all the nice weather and taking advantage of the extra sunlight in the evenings to practice our cycling skills. Isaac will say "bike! bike! helmet!" He doesn't sit on the seat and glide, yet... but he is surprisingly quick at straddling his bike and walking it down the street. Plus, he's cute.

 Mara likes getting dirty and findings sticks and bugs and climbing trees and seems to be excited about living in the apartment, and building a new home, and starting a new school with new friends... she is taking it way better than me!

 Daddy fixed something under the house one time recently, and got semi-suck from Mara fiddling with the latch/lock on the crawlspace door. So now... Isaac goes to this vent and says "Daddy? Daddy? Stuck." I guess he thinks Daddy sneaks away to this secret hiding space and speaks through the vent. Yup. That's exactly how Daddy likes to spend his time.

 Monkey see, monkey do. I warned her the slide was wet and I didn't want to have to change all her clothes after playing. (We ran outside to play between the rain that day). She assured me she would change herself completely. And she did! I still had to change the boy, though.

 The boy likes trucks. And motors. And motorcycles. And being with Daddy.

 

 He also likes his snacks catered to him, even while in the tub. 

 We witnessed Hayden's baptism this past weekend and came away with a caterpillar to watch grow and change and turn into a butterfly (part of the kid's preparation for Easter story). He's sitting on our windowsill and getting fatter by the day. Kinda like how I feel... college freshman 15 ain't got nothing on home selling/moving/building pounds... yeah.

Our status:

• Signing the apartment lease tomorrow and getting the keys
• Moving the majority of our big items to the apartment on Saturday, and moving the remainder to the storage unit or smaller necessary items to the apartment over the next two weeks
• We started the construction to perm loan process with BB&T on Tuesday. Should be able to close within 30 days... so hopefully by May 1st we will have that ready to go!
• Expecting our official contract with our builder to come in this weekend with building specifications... so that the bank can do the appraisal on the future house/land.
• Engineered plans supposed to come in today. Builder is ready to apply for building permit but holding off until we close on house
• Expecting to hear back on the septic pricing situation... probably isn't going to be good
• Kids start new daycare/school on April 14th
• Close on current house April 16th
• Easter at the beach
• Sleep an entire weekend

Hope all my readers are good. 

Chrissy

Speed Update

Trying to do a quick update to keep everyone posted on our status and comings and goings.

We hunted for bugs.

 We raided the refrigerator cupcake stash.

 We visited the dentist.

 We went to Max's 3rd birthday party.

 Both Mara and Isaac would go down this slide.

 We needed a haircut.

 So Dad gave us his.

 And we had a pizza picnic outside in the 70 degree weather. Ignore my finger.

And we are preparing to uproot our life! In bullet points:

• Sold our house for sale by owner in 2 days. Inspection completed and repair requests done (fixing door swings, sink plumbing, . Waiting on buyer's appraisal. Closing April 16th. Saved $8k by not having sellers agent. Easy as pie.
• Toured apartments and signed up for a 2 bedroom/2 bathroom (1148 sq ft) terrace/basement level apartment. Will be a tight fit with our 2 kids (sharing a room) and 2 dogs. We can move in April 4th. We will have access to a pool when it opens this summer. Apartment is close to work/daycare.
• House plans nearly final. Waiting on engineered plans from the architect. House plans have been tweaked (bigger master closet and a few other changes).
• Lot has been surveyed and boxes for the home site and future (way in the future) detached garage have been flagged
• Currently talking to banks for construction to perm loans. Ideally, house would be move-in ready by end of August or early September. It will take 3 weeks to clear our lot for building. Septic quotes coming back astronomical (for sand LLP) so builder is contacting the environmental engineers and 2 other septic companies.
• Continuing to pack, little by little, so we can move big furniture the weekend of the 5th/6th. Our storage unit is filling up slowly. We will keep this through building.

Okay, gotta get back to work.

Long Hiatus

We've been a little busy and I'm about to get called away... but since I was downloading pictures from my old phone, I wanted to share a few recent ones for our devoted fans, if you are still hanging in there!

We struggle with everyday life. Sometimes the problems seem so huge they are immovable. Then you get a little help from a friend.

 Yes, there is a dog bigger than Arson.

 Beautiful lovebug. She's FOUR!

 Um. Beautiful... ladymanbug?

 It was fairy princess day in our household, okay? And little man was being a good sport about it. Nevermind that his sister put this on him and everything his sister does is 1000% awesome. So...

 Took a trip to the NC Museum of Science with Mara's friend Alexis. Alexis is older by 4 days. We were there 5 minutes and then a tornado warning forced us into the auditorium. Thankfully, didn't last long.

 Budding scientist.

 Dinosaur bones!

 We spent like 2.5 hours at the museum. Daddy and Isaac stayed home.

 

   

 Neon fish.

 Little man trying out his bike and helmet.

 Helmet may be a tidge big.

 The joy of receiving a present in the mail.

December update (sorry it's out of order). We went to Santa Train in Durham to meet Santa. I took better pics on my regular camera... these are all from my phone. Here's Isaac and fuzzy Daddy bundled up.

 Mara bundled up.

 Derica, Ian and Elam (and unborn Case) behind us on the train.

 Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer/camouflage leopard?

 Cherry, Mara, Claire and I took in Disney on Ice for Mara's birthday. Mara said "This is the best thing EVER!"

 We got a new member of our household. Meet minion.

 Snuggles galore.

 Common seating area.

 On Mara's ACTUAL birthday, I surprised her with a balloon at school. She knew I was bringing cookies and goody bags but the balloon was a surprise.

 Store bought cupcakes. With very bright icing...

 One of her gifts - the Robot. Whose name is... Robot.

 We spent Christmas up north. We got to visit with all my family except for Sean. Here are 3 of the currently 4 grandbabies.

 Only cell phone shot I had of the kids' Christmas Eve church outfits. There were two other girls at church wearing Mara's dress. It got sparkles EVERYWHERE but she looked so beautiful and was excited some other girls had the same dress. It snowed while we were at mass.

 Christmas morning excitement. Scale the mountain of presents.

 These legos have been one of her favorite toys.

 Isaac got a dirtbike. Just his size.

So that was a peek at the moments I capture via cell phone camera over the last couple of months. Sorry for the huge delay. We're readying our home for sale to prep for this next phase of our lives. I just finished painting the kids' bedrooms back to a neutral color and about cried... those were their first room colors! Kids have had roseola and one or two other things to be sent home from daycare and its not even February. Isaac's words are coming along and he actually strung 3 words together this evening - all done book. Mara looks taller and older every day. Our hearts don't seem capable of any more love, but they grow every day!

To be continued. Someday soon I hope!