Round 4 of House Hunting

The week after Spring Break found Trent and I back in Atlanta for another round of house hunting.  And this time, we had a little traveling buddy with us! 

Don't let her cuteness fool you.  She was a little a little she-devil on the plane ride over.  She was throwing temper tantrums left and right!  I packed an entire backpack full of stuff for her to do on the plane ride.  She blew through all of it within the first hour.  I had a whole bunch of movies downloaded onto my iPad, and I thought surely that would keep her occupied.  Well, she wasn't interested.  I should have listened to my husband's sage advice and spent the twenty bucks to download "Shaun the Sheep", which is her all-time favorite show in the whole universe.  I was feeling a little cheap though.  Let me tell you, one of the first things I did the next day was cough up the twenty dollars to download "Shaun the Sheep" on the iPad.  It was worth every penny.  And we have definitely gotten our moneys worth.

Funny story about the hotel.  Our plane got in at about 10:30 that night.  After picking up the rental car, we got Jillian a fresh, clean diaper, and put her pajamas on.  I didn't want to have to wake her up to change her once we got to the hotel.  By the time we got the car, changed Jilly, and drove to the hotel, it was after midnight, and Trent and I were completely exhausted.  There was a ton of traffic (yes, at 12:00 at night) because the Final Four was going on the weekend we flew into Atlanta.  We couldn't wait to rest our weary bodies on a nice soft Marriott mattress.  (They have the best beds!)  We pulled up to the hotel and Trent went inside to check us in while I waited in the car with Jillian.  About ten minutes later he came back out to the car to let me know that there was no reservation for us.  Anyway, being that it was the Final Four that weekend, there were exactly zero rooms available.  So Trent pulled out his handy dandy iPad and found another Marriott close by and booked a room.  We got to that hotel, Trent went inside to check us in, and they have no reservation for him.  He booked it for the next day!  Argh!  Well, it just so happens that this hotel had only one room available right then.  The lady at the front desk told Trent that she had had a feeling she needed to keep one room available in case of an emergency.  Well, it turns out we were the emergency!  It's amazing how the Lord took care of us in our hour of need.  Talk about tender mercies.  Because I was not looking forward to living out of our rental car for any period of time.  Especially with a toddler in tow.

 The next day Trent, Jilly and I did some driving around to check out a few areas.  We were there at a time when everything was starting to bloom.  The dogwoods and azaleas were all out in full force.  Talk about beautiful!

I went out with our realtor three days in a row and looked at about 45 houses while I was there.  And Jilly was with me the whole time.  After the plane ride experience we had, I was really worried she was going to be a little turkey during our trip.  But she changed her tune.  She was a complete angel the whole time we were there.  Even with all of the getting in and out of the car constantly.  And we spent tons of time in the car.  She was such a trooper.

 We did take a break in-between looking at houses the second day and went back for a rest at the hotel, and Jillian watched a little bit of her favorite show.  I have to admit, I quite like "Shaun the Sheep" myself.

 On the third day of house hunting, we had another break between appointments, so Jilly and I took a little jaunt over to the temple.  

The flowers were in full bloom, and Jilly had to touch every one of them.  She was really good not to pick them though, which surprised me.

 A little cheese action.

 Not sure what this was all about, but every time we went inside the hotel, Jillian would hug all of the pillars and make this kind of kitten mewling sound.  It cracked me up!

Anyway, after looking at houses for three days straight, I narrowed the list down to five for Trent to come and look at with me.  And there was also a plot of land that we had gone and looked at and really liked.  After looking at the five houses together, we decided on one and put an offer in that night.  Well, so did four other people!  We were pretty confident with our offer, but as a back up, we went to meet with the builder who owned the lot that we really liked.  Well, turns out, the sellers of the home we put an offer on liked someone else's offer better, so we decided to sign a contract with David (the builder) and wait for our house to be built.

Which means that now we have to find a place to rent in the meantime.  I tell you what, I just can't wait to feel settled somewhere again.  I feel like we have been in limbo ever since we sold our house last year.  But, it could be so much worse.  So really, I can't complain.  We have a roof over our heads, we have food to eat, Trent has a job, I get to stay home with the kids, and all our needs are met.  So I guess there is nothing left to do except be grateful for our many blessings.  And that's just what I'm going to do.

While we were gone, the grandmas were so nice to take care of our four older kids.  Trenton and Colson stayed with Janet, and Vivi and Preston stayed with my mom.

 Vivi had some sewing lessons while at grandma's and made herself a new apron.  Didn't it turn out so cute?!

 Buds and Vivi had a little grandpa/grandma pants moment.  (That's what my kids call it when you pull your pants up past your belly button.  Something they learned from their grandpa Stock. Lol!)

 The day Jilly and I left to fly back home, we left for the airport at 5 in the morning.  I was a little nervous about our return flight home considering how she had been on the flight over, especially since I wouldn't have Trent's help this time.  He had to stay in Atlanta for a few more days of training.  I got Jilly and I all checked in and through security then found a place we could get some breakfast.  I grabbed us a fruit and yogurt parfait, and a cup of fruit from a snack stand, then we made our way to the gate.  After getting there, I broke open the food.  Jilly was about 10 bites in when she started choking.  The poor girl turned blue and went completely limp in my arms.  I screamed for help then started doing the Heimlich on her.  It took a few pounds on the back, but luckily it came up.  A blueberry was the culprit.  Any tiredness I had felt at that point from having to get up at four in the morning had completely vanished.  I was wide awake!  And had adrenaline coursing through every vein in my body.  That is the second time I have had to give Jillian the Heimlich, and I hope I never have to again.  Scared me to death!  And her too.  It sure made me grateful for the CPR classes I had taken, even if they were forever ago.  The rest of our airport/plane adventure went much smoother.  Jillian and I got settled on the plane and I turned "Shaun the Sheep" on for her.  And that was that.  She didn't make a peep the entire plane ride.  She even fell asleep for the last 45 minutes.  She didn't wake up until I went to put her in her stroller once we got out into the jetway.

Jilly was so happy to see her brothers and sister when they got home from school that day.

 And they were thrilled to see her!  It was an eventful trip, and we were all so glad to be back home together.

So, here is the lot we signed a contract on.  It is almost an acre and as you can see, there are a ton of trees!  And it is at the and of a cul-de-sac.  Can't wait until the house is done so we can move in!

March 2013

I'm getting there with this whole catching up business.

March 2013:

Colson finished up his science experiment.  He built four types of bridges, then put weights on them to see which one could hold the most weight.  In case you were wondering, it was the arch that could hold the most weight.  Which is not the bridge shown above.

Jilly taught herself some new tricks.  She fell out once, and now just likes to hang precariously on the edge.  Her other trick is to get her legs stuck between the slats.  And I mean stuck.  I have had to use cooking spray on a few occasions to get her legs unstuck!  I'm sure it doesn't help that her legs are so chubby.  :)

The kids and I got to meet up with my cousin Nakole and her darling family at Red Robin.  They were in town for a few days.  It was lovely to see her and meet her kids.  I hadn't seen her and her husband since our grandpa Gubler's funeral over 9 years ago.  It had been way too long!

Our kids all had a blast getting to know each other!

We went with Vivi's teacher, Mr. Kennedy, and a few of her classmates to the fire station/police department to deliver some goodies.

Funny story.  The firefighter in this picture and his crew are the ones that saved Jilly when she was a mere 7 weeks old.  Story found here.

I read this fabulous book.  I highly recommend it!  I keep lists of the books I read by the year.  I was looking at my list from last year and noticed I had only read 6 books.  6 books!  The whole year!!!  I used to read a book a week.  (Although that was before having my third child.  It's been a while!)  It wasn't one of my better years for reading.  Of course having 5 kids doesn't seem to leave much time for reading.  And by the time I go to bed at night, I'm way too tired to be able to keep my eyes open long enough to read a few sentences.  My goal this year is to at least read more books than I did last year.  I'm setting the bar pretty high.  Hopefully I can do it.  ;)

This is my errand buddy.  And this is a pretty accurate picture of what she usually looks like by the time we get done with our errands.  Poor girl!

Trent went to Amsterdam, grew his hair out, and dyed it green.  Just kidding.  It's a wig if you couldn't tell.

He was only there a few days and most of that was spent in meetings, but his coworkers convinced him to go take a walk through the Red Light District with them.

During daylight I might add.  When there was no craziness going on.  His mom told him not to, but he just wouldn't listen.  ;)

Trenton got his braces off!  He was so excited!  And a few days that, he cut his hair short.  Between braces off, and a new haircut, he looked so grown up!  Like he had aged another year or two in just a few days!  And his voice is changing.  Stop growing I say!

These two have been as goofy as ever.  Preston got in the car one day after school and for some unknown reason was yelling out, "Pumpkin farts! Pumpkin farts!"  To which Vivi responded, "When a pumpkin farts, does it smell like pumpkin pie?"  Good question Viv.

We spent a day over at grandma and grandpa's a couple weeks after grandma Stock had her total knee surgery.  Grandma said she was getting sick of herself and needed some company.  We were happy to oblige.  Vivi showed Jilly how to dress the Barbies and Jilly loved every minute of it.

And Preston and Vivi thought grandpa was their pony for the day.

I tried my darnedest to get caught up on our whole laundry situation.  I was semi-successful.  For about a day.  Then it looked like this again.  A friend of mine suggested starting a nudist colony.  So, so tempting.

Jilly stole Trenton's dinner one night.  And he let her.  Cause he's an awesome big brother like that.  No wonder she loves him so much.  I'm pretty sure he would do anything for her.

Vivi acquired the nickname Fred.  Cause Jilly used to call her friend.  And it sounded kinda like Fred.

Trenton and I made an apple pie for him to take and share with his class for pi day.  We made pumpkin too.  His personal favorites.

A birthday text for Uncle Ryan.  Cause we love him.

Easter Sunday.  These are the dresses my mom made for them this Easter.  She is one amazing seamstress!

We had Easter dinner with all the family the day before Easter.  On Easter Sunday, we ended going over to my dear friend Michelle's house.  And this is the only picture I have from either day.

Trent took another trip over to Atlanta to do some house hunting.  He found a house that we loved!  It was on two acres, there was a pool in the yard, a playground, it was completely updated, and my favorite part... it had a 5 car garage!  We put an offer on it immediately.  And so did 4 other people.  Needless to say, we did not win that bidding war.  So he took another trip a couple weeks later and found another house.  But after getting the inspection done, and learning about all of the fire hazards going on in the basement (they finished it themselves) and finding out we would have to pretty much rip out the basement to fix it, we backed out of that deal.  Then we found another house.  The lot was amazing!!!  To say the least.  It was an acre and a half lot.  It backed to a lake, had it's own dock, a playground and basketball hoop in the back yard, and huge, beautiful pine trees to shade it all.  And the owners said they would leave us their paddle boat and fishing boat.  We pretty much were buying the house for the lot.  Because the house itself was less than fabulous.  First of all, it was small.  But with the beautiful yard, I was willing to look past that.  Second of all, the house was pink.  The whole thing, inside and out.  Carpet, blinds, tile, you name it.  All in various shades of pink from fuchsia to baby pink.  I was willing to look past that too.  It wasn't anything a little paint, new flooring, and some elbow grease couldn't fix.  But then we got down to the nitty grittiness of the situation.  It needed all new pipes, we would have to add a bathroom to the basement, and it needed all new siding.  That added to all of the other work we were going to have to do, the house was proving to be a money pit.  But the yard!  We were blinded to the house at first because we loved the yard so much.  It was that nice!  But after thinking it through, we backed out of that deal too.  And pushed our move date back another month.  And increased our level of anxiety.  Oh well... such is life.

January

Oh man, if I ever get even remotely close to being caught up on this blog, it will be a miracle.  I just can't seem to get my act together.  I guess it could have something to do with the fact that since I have 5 offspring, my life just isn't my own.  Which is fine.  I love them to pieces.  It's just the season I'm in right now.  Or it could also do with the fact that my husband doesn't seem to be in town more than a day or two at a time.  That will soon change though.  In January Trent got a new job.  Same company, new position.  He's making the move to marketing after being in sales the last 8 years.  And while he will still have to travel occasionally, it will be nothing like it has been.  Hallelujah for that.  But with the new job comes new living arrangements. Come May, we will be moving to Atlanta, GA.  While we will miss all of our family and friends here in Colorado, it will be a fun and exciting new adventure!

Alright, on to catching up!  The highlights from the month of January:

I bought this fabulous garbage can, that in no small way has saved a portion of my sanity.  You see, it has a lid that locks, which means that Jillian can't get into it.  I have never known a more gross baby than Jillian.  (You don't even want to know about the episodes she has had with the toilets, trust me!)  On several occasions I found her pulling things out of the garbage can and eating them!  Or I would find things in the garbage can that didn't belong there.  Needless to say, this wonderful, lid-locking beauty has brought me some peace of mind.  At least a little bit.  Now if I could just find a way to keep her out of the toilets, we'd be in business!

The last week and a half of January is birthday central in our family.

 Preston's birthday comes first.  He was so excited to finally turn six.  His siblings were so cute to give him some gifts.  Colson passed along his old alarm clock he doesn't use any more.  :)

Vivi of course wrote him a note with attached gum and candy.  (I love her notes!)

The long awaited for Skylanders Giants.

 Donuts for breakfast!

There was no school the day of his birthday as it fell on Martin Luther King Jr. day this year, so the grandmas came and got him for a special birthday date to Build-A-Bear.  He chose a monkey that of course he named... Monkey!  :) 

Giving monkey a bath.

 That night, the whole family came over for dinner, birthday cake and ice cream.  Preston had been sick several days preceding his birthday, but thankfully woke up his birthday morning feeling 100%.  Thank the dear Lord of small favors.  :)  We were so glad he wasn't sick on his birthday.

 Next up was my birthday, then Steve's.  All the family celebrated together at Janet and Steve's, along with the Salerno's.

 There is nothing quite like my mom's German chocolate cake.  It is out of this world delicious!

 A rare picture of my sweetheart and I.  We need more of those.

 Preston was a little disapointed that we weren't celebrating his birthday again, but he got over it.

 And as always, the balloon launch.

 And what would a family gathering be without uncle Dustin wrestling the kids into submission? :D

The night also wouldn't be complete without a Joker grin from dad.  It was another wonderful birthday!

Poor Viv has had more trouble with her allergies/asthma than normal, so the Dr. sent her in to an allergist for some testing.

 You can't see it very well, but she was pretty welted up from the scratch tests.  This girl is quite allergic to the environment.  Needless to say, they prescribed her an inhaler.  Thank heavens, because between environmental allergies and exercise, this girl has some breathing issues!

And finally, our shining moment of the month... Drumroll please.  Jillian started singing "Gangnam Style".  It was a proud moment for sure.  And here she is, dancing to it. 

January flew by in a wink!  This new year is already going by ridiculously fast.