Right Now: May Edition

Reading: I'm doing my best to stay caught up in reading blog posts from my friends, but I'm even slacking in doing that. Otherwise, it is only a bedtime book every night with the kids.

Watching: America's Got Talent just started, but I'm not sure I'll actually be able to watch the whole season with us moving soon. I'm also watching a Hallmark movie occasionally.

Listening: At this very moment I'm listening to Pooh's Heffalump Movie. The kids are watching it for  a little quiet time.

Drinking: Water. I've been doing a little better at drinking my water lately. I'm not quite getting my 100 oz in every day, but I am getting at least 64 oz, which is a lot better than what I had been drinking.

Eating: Strawberries! Our Community Playgroup met at a local farm this morning to play and pick strawberries. This was Ayden and Rylee's first time picking strawberries. I was REALLY impressed that they didn't just try to eat them all! In fact, they asked before eating any at all. I was proud of them for actually putting the strawberries in their buckets!

Wearing: Softball pajama pants (I had to change out of my jeans when we got home. I needed to be more comfortable!), and a blue Finder's Records t-shirt that I was gifted from a fellow infertility friend I met through blogging several years ago.

Loving: My new running shoes! I have been walking/running 3-4 times a week, but have been struggling with super tight achilles and calves. I haven't had a new pair of running shoes since well before the kids were born, so it's been at least a good 5 years! I'm hoping my new shoes will help. I've also been foam rolling and icing. I NEED to be able to run 20 miles for the Hood to Coast relay in August. I need to be injury free!

Anticipating: So much! Getting settled into our new house. They FINALLY accepted our offer! I am sooooo looking forward to this being our last move for a long, long time. I'm also looking forward to our trip to Montana this summer. The kids and I (and maaaaaaybe Tony?) will be traveling with Sis and her family to Montana to visit our other sister. You can read about our first trip to Montana to meet Baby Sis here, here, and here. 

Hoping: That everything continues to go smoothly with the sale of our house, and the buying of our next house. We just found out tonight that our house passed appraisal, so as long as the buyers stay on track on their end, we are golden. Inspection is scheduled for next Friday for our new house, and the appraisal will be ordered sometime early next week. We really love that house, so hopefully everything will go just as smoothly with buying it, as it has been with selling this one.

Following: To be honest, I never stopped following the housing market even after we bought this house. It became a habit to look for the perfect house. Maybe because this one was kind of our only option at the time, and not one we were really planning to stay in for more than a couple years (which turned out to only be one year). I'm going to continue looking for new houses to come on the market until we at least close on the new house, just in case something falls through somewhere along the line. And, as I said, it's just become a habit!

Wondering: If we will ever kick this sick season! Ayden and Rylee both felt much better within about 12 hours (2 doses) of starting their antibiotics for strep throat last week. But then Tony came down with it on Saturday. He went to urgent care on Sunday and got an official diagnosis of strep and meds, but still wasn't feeling even remotely better after 3 days, so back to the doctor he went. He got a new prescription for stronger meds and hopefully that will kick in by tomorrow. Please let this be our last round.

Trying: As much as I'd like to focus on packing and getting ready for our big move, I am trying to make sure I get the kids out to do fun stuff during the day as well. Even if it's only making a trip to the park, I think they need things to stay as normal as possible throughout this process. They still need the chance to be kids, especially now that preschool is over for the summer (which makes packing quite the challenge with two 4 year olds trying to "help").

Worrying: About Sis and her family. They are going through some challenges right now. My oldest niece and nephew are especially struggling. I wish that we were able to help more, and were closer to see them more often.

Planning: Our move! Trying to coordinate dates with those that will be helping us.

Contemplating: What colors we are going to be painting in the new house! Also contemplating how we will arrange furniture, and what we will do with the extra little "guest room" we will have outside. Tony wants to make it HIS very own space, which will never happen, lol. The room is fully insulated and is even set up for cable! We are thinking we'd like to put a treadmill out there, and then make it a craft/project room of sorts.

This and That

Rylee had her very first ballet recital last weekend. I maaaaaay have gotten a little teary eyed, watching our little princess on stage. There's always that one little dancer that steals the show and makes everyone giggle at some point. Rylee was the one! She was at the end of the line as her group was exiting the stage, but just before going behind the curtain, she hung back and was searching the audience for us. She stood there for quite some time looking, and I imagine her teacher was on the other side of the curtain trying to prompt her into leave the stage. It was beyond adorable. Ayden was pretty adorable too. There were a few hip hop and jazz dance numbers in addition to the ballet, and Ayden was dancing in front of his seat!

Before the show

With Grandma and Grandpa

The recital was on Saturday, and on Sunday we went and looked at a few houses. We made an offer on one! We got kind of lucky (or so we thought) to see this house, as it's not officially on the market yet. We know the realtor that (will be) listing the house, and between her and my MIL, who is our realtor, we were able to see the house first. It had been our understanding that this would be to the sellers advantage as well, since they wouldn't need to get the house ready for listing and showings. We offered a $1000 over their asking price as kind of a thank you. Well, we have yet to received an answer from them! Super frustrating. After a full week of waiting, yesterday they finally said that they would be prepared to make a decision today. We decided to up our offer by another $3000, because we think it will appraise higher anyway, and maybe that would help them with their decision. Nope, we STILL have not heard anything!!! We are looking at another house tomorrow. Even though we would really like this house, we are continuing to look. There is not a lot on the market right now though. It also just plain sucks when you feel like you've found "the one" and are being kept in limbo. I wish there was more options out there and we could just walk away from this one.

In other moving news, the inspection on our house here (that we are selling. Confused yet?) went extremely well. And when I say extremely, I mean EXTREMELY! Apparently the guy doing the inspection said that we have a very "clean" house. The only thing we are being asked to do is change the air filter. Easy peasy! The appraisal was also done on the same day, although we won't here back from that for another week or two. The buyers actually want to close and move in early, which I take as a good sign that things are progressing smoothly, but we are holding out till the end of June. Tony needs to work here until at least that point anyway, and it just means less time living with the in-laws. And more time to pack. Have I mentioned how much I hate packing? I do.

The kids had their end of the year program/graduation on Wednesday night. Oh man, oh man, were they adorable! I am so thankful that my kiddos are so outgoing. Maybe one, or both, will end up doing drama in high school, as they both seem to love being on stage!

Thursday was their official last day of school and there was a party/field day of fun planned, but I ended up having to keep the kids home from school and make a doctor's appointment instead. After a miserable night of Ayden waking up crying every 30-60 minutes all night long, as soon as he woke up that morning, he told me he was thirsty and that his mouth hurt. I knew instantly that he had strep throat, because we had just gone through this exact same thing only a month prior! Rylee had been acting a little puny a few days before that, and had woken up a few mornings with a raspy voice, so once we got the official diagnosis that Ayden did for sure have strep, the doctor agreed to treat Rylee too. We didn't actually have her tested, because it would have required an official office visit for her too, and our insurance sucks. It would have cost us an additional $300, for a total of $600, just to get an official diagnosis for both of them, because our insurance sucks. And now tonight, Tony has a sore throat and we are pretty sure he has strep as well, so he gets to make a trip to urgent care tomorrow, which will cost us at least another $300. Don't even get me started on how much I hate the health care system in our country. The kids are sad they missed out on the water balloon fight for their last day of school. They also don't understand the concept of summer break, because they keep asking me if they get to go to school tomorrow.

Looking chipper, despite not feeling very good.

On another note, Ayden and Rylee have been pretty opinionated about what they should wear these days. Until just recently, I could typically guide them in their choices, but now they are downright adamant about what they want to wear. I'm having to work really, really hard at letting go of that control, and my desire for them to match. Not to match each other, but to at least match what they each are personally wearing!

He was convinced that his shorts and shirt matched. Maybe because they were both plaid??? He's super cute, even if his outfit choice was questionable. LOL

And then Miss Rylee chose this outfit today...

I've been doing a lot of walking this past month. I had been doing a walk/run combo, but then I somehow managed to injure my achilles. Even going up and down our stairs was painful, so I had to dial it way back to just doing leisurely walks. I've also pulled out my foam roller and have been doing more stretching, which I should have been doing anyway. I need to be able to run 20 miles in just three short months, so backing off completely is not an option. My achilles is feeling a lot better now after taking it easy, but it's still a little tender and my muscles feel really tight, so I'm continuing to take it slow at this point.

Oh! And I got the kids registered for their new preschool for next year! I debated between several, but finally narrowed it down to one. I really hope I made the right decision.

Bullet Points

It seems to be a thing that this time of year, I don't get much blogging done. Hmmmm, could it have something to do with us moving three years in a row around this time? Life is crazy, made even crazier by the fact that we are moving yet again. I know I've mentioned this before, but it's worth saying again... This will be our FIFTH move in THREE years!!!! Not that I'm keeping track...

• The sale of our house is officially pending. It only took four days on the market. Wahoo! And it was the first couple that saw our house, too. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly and nothing happens to derail the sale. The inspection is scheduled for Tuesday.

• We had a great family day for Mother's Day. Tony does an exceptional job of making it a special day for me. Him and the kids picked out a flower basket (at my request) and a card for me. They made me breakfast. Tony did all the dishes and made a picnic lunch for our day at the beach. We did a short hike that I would have liked to be a bit longer, but the kids were DYING to get to the beach. Then we had a nice dinner out so nobody had to cook. It was perfect.

A pic from our hike

• The kids didn't have school on Wednesday, so we took advantage of that time to travel (to the town we will be moving to) and check out potential preschools for next year. We visited three different schools, and have it narrowed down to two. There's another preschool that I think would be my top choice, but it is already full for next year. After visiting the schools, we had a picnic lunch at a park. Then we had an appointment to look at a house to potentially buy (it wasn't the one for us). After that, we went to pick up our taxes from the tax lady (we had filed an extension). Then we zoomed home (it's a 1.5 hour drive), ate a quick dinner, and then got Rylee to her first dress rehearsal for her ballet recital that is this weekend.

Playing at the park

Dress rehearsal

• Yesterday, we had a field trip with our Playgroup friends to a Public Works event. The kids had so much fun! I was also really impressed with how interested Ayden was in actually learning at the different booths set up, such as the different parts used to clean out irrigation ditches and sewers.

Checking out the fire truck

Talking to each other through the headsets

Giving Lily the Frog a hug

• Tonight is Rylee's very first ballet recital! She is beyond excited that she gets to perform on a real stage! Then tomorrow we have an appointment to look at another house to possibly buy. We are really hoping that this will be the house for us. We love the neighborhood and the price is right, so we will see. Then I have a wedding to go to for one of my softball girls that I used to coach.

• Assuming everything goes through on the sale of our current house, we will be closing and turning over possession by June 30th. We are anticipating having to move in with the in-laws for a few weeks, if not a few months, depending on how our house hunting goes. Tony's parents are in the process of having a house built on their property (they currently are in a manufacture house), and have purchased a storage pod that we will be able to use in the interim. Then when we are done with it, they will use it themselves, because their manufacture house will be hauled off.

• The kids only have one more week of school left! They will have an end of the year celebration/performance to close out a great year. We are sad to be leaving this preschool.

• Tony's been working long hours and then was gone for a few days this week. He's feeling overworked, sleep deprived, and is missing the kids, but he has basically made a quarter of his annual income in just the past three weeks. Hopefully his schedule will be slowing down soon, because he becomes a real bear when he works this kind of schedule! Besides the fact that we are moving soon...

Moving/buying/selling a house is such a stressful process. So far, I'm keeping my head above water, but it was a challenge last week. I'm thankful that we found a buyer so quickly, because keeping the house show ready with two 4 year olds underfoot is beyond frustrating! I would make a bed, and five minutes later I'd find them snuggled inside and I'd have to make it again! And the toys. Gah! Get it all cleaned up only to have more toys drug out again. Staying on top of the dishes constantly is nearly impossible when you are home for three meals a day, plus snacks! We are plugging along though.

Microblog Monday: On the Market

Our house is officially listed and on the market! Last week I worked like mad to get the house presentable enough to have pictures taken for the listing - painted the floor board trim, painted the kitchen, cleaned up a lot of the clutter around the house (I'd love to say it all got cleaned up, but I'm still working on that), weeded and edged the front yard, and washed all the window tracks around the house. Oh, and on top of all that, I got ready for our neighborhood garage sale that was held on Saturday! Phew! We were able to sell a lot of junk. Didn't make a lot of money ($130), but that is to be expected when you sell a lot of things for just a quarter! I'm happy to have made a little bit of extra money while getting rid of stuff, instead of just taking it to Goodwill.

Now it's the wait and see game. Everyone I've talked to says our house should sell no problem! There's not a lot on the market right now, so it's definitely a seller's market. It make me feel very anxious waiting for showings, and needing to keep the house impeccably clean. That feels like an overwhelming task, especially with two four year old tornados that go behind you and undo whatever you've just cleaned! Actually, they do a pretty good job of picking up their toys when we ask them to, but man alive, I am really tired of making our beds a thousand times a day. They loooooooove to crawl under all the blankets and hide, and it is driving me absolutely bonkers!

There is a new subdivision being built in the town we are moving to, and we should be finding out this week if we will be going that route and getting into a brand new house. We are hoping to see the floor plans this week, so we can make a decision on whether that's what we want to do or not. We also need to find and decide on a new preschool or the kids. So much to do!

I hate this process. This will be our 5th move in just three short years. Shoot. Me. Now. But this is it. Unless something crazy happens, we will be staying put for the long haul now. We just need to get to the other side of selling, buying, and moving!


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