The Tupperware "Drawer"...

Look who found a new favorite place to play in the kitchen...the tupperware closet... :)As many of you know, Owen LOVES hiding. This makes this spot perfect for combining his two favorite things...hiding and unloading cupboards. ;)

Hails has joined him now. As you can see, they both fit in said closet!

Owen has now moved on...after a good posed picture by my almost 4-year old DIVA, I can put away all the tupperware.

Shouldn't ever turn my back on this kid...he's now un-done all of my re-organizing... ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!

First of all, yes...we're all alive and well. As you can imagine it's been a VERY busy last month or so between moving, Christmas festivities, and all the craziness that comes with a 2-kid household. :)

Here are the kids this morning...all ready to rip into their presents! Here's what Hailey picked for her brother...a personalized backpack... :)
And here's what Santa brought Owen...his own drum set...without batteries...oh, shoot! ;)

And here's what Santa brought for Hailey...a "Strawberry Shortcake house from Target". She didn't tell Santa about this item, as she discovered it days after we'd seen him, BUT...he came through anyways and made for a very excited little girl at our house.

And here's the aftermath...

We had a wonderful morning, a yummy breakfast, and are now having quite the relaxing day watching basketball, playing with fun new toys and picking lots of our "previously loved" ones to donate to kids without toys.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS! :)

Oh, Christmas Tree...

Here's the tree...all decked out. You can't quite see all the fun ornaments, but I'm loving the new color scheme for this year's tree! It's turquoise, apple green, silver and white...with TONS of glitter. Conveniently matching my living room decor. ;)

All we need is a tree skirt and we'll be set! Hmmm...maybe I'll get some fabric and make something??

Craftiness to come... :)

ETA: My tree did not come to look like this by itself...nor by my own craftiness. Thanks, Christy!! ;)

life in fife...

So, we're all settled in here at our new place in Fife. We won't be here forever, but while we are here we're going to LOVE it! Our rental is a brick house built in the 40's. It's a little over 3000 square feet (I know, it's HUGE) and has tons of character.

Here's Hailey's room. It's huge. And you should see the closet. She can play in it.Here's Owen's room. It's probably twice the size of his old room.

Owen loves our closet. It's a cool place to hide out! :)

Here's our room. It's a little smaller than our last master, but still fits our furniture really well.

And here's maybe my favorite room in the house. The kitchen. It might be original. With bright yellow and blue tile.

Here's everyone resting after a long day of moving. Todd and Mike were extra sore after playing in the turkey bowl yesterday morning. Don't feel too sorry for them. That's what you get when you're the only two 30-somethings playing tackle football with no pads with a bunch of high school and college kids.

Here's the view of the living room from the dining room. As you can see, Todd is really excited about posing for my picture. ;)

And here is Hailey's favorite room. When we first came to look at the place, she walked in here and screamed, "IT'S PINK!" and from then on out referred to it as "the house with the pink bathroom". She loves it here.

And here's the rec room in the basement. It's also HUGE and connected to the room we'll be using for our office.

In the words of Little Orphan Annie, "I think I'm gonna like it heeeeeeeeeere!!"

The Boy

Here's the boy. He lights up our life. Isn't that a song from the 70's??Here he is hiding in his recent favorite spot. He goes behind the door of the inside office and just waits. Unlike his sister who jumps out from her hiding spots before you even get into the room! :)

And here's Mr. Independent. Who must feed himself now.

(and yes, that's a chocolate donut on his tray...Todd went to the store for breakfast this morning and came back with what he refers to as "the breakfast of champions". :)

He has also perfected his "cheese" face when I'm snapping pics.

Oh, well. At least he gets bathed more regularly now. ;)

Oh, and sorry for the lack of pictures of Hails. She's going through a strong-willed phase and will NOT allow her picture to be taken right now. Let's be honest...this phase could last the rest of her life. ;)

Packing, Packing, Packing...

Well, after a whirlwind last several weeks my house is beginning to look a lot like we're moving out. In fact, we're starting to move some stuff into the garage of our rental house TOMORROW! The brunt of the moving will happen on Friday, though.

I've really taken the opportunity to plan well and move smart this time around. I've carefully planned the packing in each room so that we know exactly what boxes are to be stored in the basement and which ones will be unpacked. Honestly, I'm so happy to live more simply! We've purged, sorted, donated and down-sized. It feels really good.

I'll post pics of our rental house all decked out soon. I love it. It's got some serious character...and by character, I mean bright yellow and blue tile on the kitchen counter and pink and black tile in the main bathroom more than half-way up the walls!! It's got immaculate hardwood floors throughout the main story and is so well taken care of by the owners. Best part? The 1500 square foot basement that has a huge bedroom for some much needed office space, large rec room, and more storage than you could EVER NEED!!

We covet your prayers right now...this time is very busy and a little stressful, but we're also really excited about the future...more specifically, very excited to live about 90 seconds away from Chris, Christy, CASE & MAGGIE!!! :)

Under contract...

50 flyers

6 days on the market

1 showing

1 full-price offer

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!
(pending the appraisal, of course)

***

Let me anticipate your questions and answer them, okay?

1. Where are you going to move??
We are planning to buy a lot and build a house, but as you know that can take a while so we're going to rent a house in the mean time.

2. Are you freaking out??
Yes, a little. We anticipated having our house on the market for months, so we were beyond shocked to have this happen so quickly. I know that God has a plan, so that is what I'm clinging to at the moment.

3. How soon will you close?
The people want to close ASAP, so their offer reads "December 17th or sooner", so we could potentially be moving by the end of the month.


Well, that's all I know...please pray for us, if you think of it, that the appraisal would come through right so everything goes through. And that the Lord would keep me from being anxious. And for Hails...she seems a bit stressed about moving.