We're under contract!

Ah, the excitement. I've spent far too much time on the phone lately, but finally... we found a house, made an offer, accepted their counter offer, and we're under contract! So very cool. I copied/saved photos, just to give you a little mini tour, but first, some details. It's 6 miles from town, nine miles to work for Blaine. There are five acres, with which we hope to grow a large garden, get some chickens soon, and maybe more animals later. And now, if you don't mind my copied realtor photos...



front of house from road


Driveway/front

back of houseliving room

fireplace off of living room
kitchen/dining room
kitchen sink - just because it's pretty :) Or maybe it's the light that's pretty, I'm not sure. Either way, I'll get to look at it often, since we have to buy a dishwasher, and Blaine tells me that's not real high on the priority list for the moment!

bedroom - only one photo but it has two bedrooms - and they both look alike
porch off side of house - the sliding doors are off of the kitchen - This is where we think we'll add on another bedroom/bathroom - someday.
The bedrooms are above the garage - these stairs go up to the bedrooms.

Likely to be Blaine's fun - a shop, and a big one at that.
Yes, it's only two bedrooms. But it was the closest thing we found to what we wanted, where we wanted it. We hope to add a master bedroom and bathroom on in a few years - before Sterling gets too big to share a room with his sisters! In the meantime, we're very excited. Very. Hope to close the end of May. Oh - and in the meantime, the seller is putting a new roof on it, because those wavy photos - the roof is pretty wavy too. That porch shot isn't just camera problems... or maybe "isn't the camera's problem" is a better way to say that.

Why, oh why?

Why, when my children starting "playing church", do they open up to, of all things, Song of Solomon? Then why, when they start giggling, didn't I keep my back turned and ignore all? Instead, Liberty sees my mortification, asks why my face looks like that, and I have to answer. "Um, Song of Solomon is about husbands and wives." "But they are talking about kissing! and breasts!" "Yes, that's part of being married." I'm barely keeping a straight face. So not a conversation I am having with my five and six year old daughters. Not now. Not like this. "Oh." Breath, Momma. And then... they kept reading. Kept giggling.

Hey, looking at the bright side, they didn't have friends over and Momma didn't have to explain to another mother why... oh dear. And another bright spot - I'll have less explaining to do when the time comes. Can't think of a more romantic book that I... well, I'd rather them not read right now, but someday - when they're thirty or something, you know. They can read it. And learn. Except right now, Liberty's reading like she's in the middle of the best book she's ever read. I have a feeling more questions are coming. Seriously, it's a small book in the middle of a huge book. What are the chances???

Ah, nothing like potty training and spring to supply blog material!

Ruby's doing... I'm not sure. She's holding it until she has something on her behind. Does that count? It shows she's ready, but other than that, little successes. I gave her chocolate milk to spur her to go - is that bad??? She did go - a tiny bit on a chair, stopped herself, and finished in the potty. Hmmm.

Then Ruby went outside with a chocolate chip cookie. And a bird left something not quite - but close - resembling a chocolate chip cookie, and Ru tried to eat it. Twice. Remind me not to kiss that girl. Apparently bird poo tastes bad though, because she spit it out with a grimace. Oh, I'm gagging just writing about it. Eww.

I had three loaves of banana bread and six dozen chocolate chip cookies baked by 10:30am this morning. How did that happen?? Oh, and a haircut. The mo' went. I wasn't sure if I liked it when Sterling got up this morning, Blaine said he wasn't so sure either, and so off it went. Fun while it lasted, but not quite my style.

Liberty lost her first tooth yesterday! It was knocked loose Monday, after she bit into a candy necklace from her Easter basket. I tried to get her to pull it out, I tried to get her to let me pull it, but no. Certainly not. Then a friend from church suggested the doorknob/string method, and Liberty wanted to try it. By all means! We tried, but couldn't get the thread to stay on the tooth. My best slip knot just wanted to slip, not knot. You know. So I helped the tooth along a little and Liberty - shocked - pulled it out of her mouth. Ah, fun times. Now she looks to big though! Nothing like a gap in your teeth to show progression of age... or lack of good dental care, one of the two.

Sterling got a new look.

Little Man has the roundest head possible, needed a haircut, and I was curious. So...




I think he pulls it off quite nicely. At age two. And when I'm sick of it, we'll 1/4" the rest of it. I did get a "rebellious" comment - never occurred to me that it is rebellious, but maybe. Either way, I cut it like this:And Blaine took it even shorter, to this:


So if it is rebellious, I'm not the only one.

Used up the last of my carpet spray cleaner Monday. Started potty training Ruby Tuesday. (Wow, did that come out funny. Leaving it.) Wondered Wednesday if she's too young. Put a diaper on her before bed after no accidents all day (that I found...). She drenched her diaper just minutes later. I think she might actually understand. The holler from Eden when she headed for bed said she gets it all right. Dear Miss Ruby climbed onto Eden's bed to pee. Oh, she gets it. Started Friday out with a definite need for carpet cleaner. Right outside the bathroom. A trip to Walmart for carpet cleaner just got added to the days' plans. I hate potty training.

Grand revelations of what I really don't know.

Went to MOPS today. The speaker talked about the 5 love languages, then we each took a "quiz" to name our own love languages. Turns out, your love language changes when you have kids. Somewhere along the line "Acts of Service" hit the top of my list, when it was at the bottom before. Seemed odd to me.

Even odder was when I explained the five possibilities and asked my girls to choose theirs, after making my own choices for them. Eden, without hesitation, declared "Hugs!" - not a real big shocker for that lover girl. Liberty paused a second and named my own choice for her. "Gifts." Yep, glad to know I know my kids. But a bit disturbed they both could name theirs without a doubt, when "Acts of Service" topping my own list shocked me.

Ruby, during the two hours at MOPS, serenaded Grandma Jean with her powerful vocal chords, all the while displaying her impressive temper and anger at being left there, again. I then displayed that I really don't know as much as I think I do on the way home. My normal route was closed due to an accident, and I decided to take a road that headed in the right direction, ignoring my chances to get back on track once I'd passed the accident section. Twice. Then I turned the wrong way. Twice. Almost landed back where I'd started. Apparently my little "I'm getting to know Springfield" moment I'd had last week with Blaine was one big fat lie. I didn't know it at the time, but today proves me wrong. Wow. Sterling and Ruby got good long naps on the way home though, if you want a bright side. The trip home took a long time.

We didn't get the house we made the offer on. We didn't want to pay what they wanted for it. Nine properties later, we've seen most of the options currently on the market. Found a perfect one Saturday. Perfect until mold and rotten floor joists in the crawlspace. Jacking up the entire backside of the house, cutting out rotted wood, replacing it, setting the house back to rights and hoping the walls didn't crack and the doors still close properly... oh, nevermind.