Merry Christmas...from the plumber?

Apparently Santa Claus comes in many forms. And this year, he came dressed as middle-aged, slightly cranky, overweight plumber. If you haven't heard, we had the blessing of greeting our local plumber not one, not two, but three times in one week. Ah the joys of home-ownership! Apparently, anytime I would run a load in the washing machine, water would spill out on the floor. Hmmm. Was it coming from the ridiculously old washing machine, or the ridiculously old cast iron pipe in the floor? After many hours spent staring at the back of my washer to catch the water culprit in action (I swore someone was playing a trick on me to see how many times I would stare at the back of my washer) I determined it was coming from the pipe. Hooray for not having to buy a new washer! Boo, for having to call the plumber.


So the plumber comes the first time, fixes it and leaves. The next day, more water. He comes back, fixes it and leaves. And wouldn't you know, I get up the next morning and there's water on the floor in the laundry room again. Only this time it's coming from the drain on the floor where the dehumidifier drains into. It's clogged. Really? I had to call him again. Seriously, this must be a joke.


So he comes a third time. In the middle of augering (yes, that's a new word I'm quite familiar with now), he comes out and says to me, "hey, you think it would be okay if I give the little guy something?" I'm thinking "yeah, sure, if you've got a McDonald's toy in your truck you're dying to give away, you can give it to him." So he goes out to his truck and comes back in with, and I'm not kidding, a 3 ft long Nylint die-cast 18-wheeler. "Do you think he would like this?" the plumber said. My jaw was on the floor. I was like "Uh, he would love this! Are you sure?" "Yeah," he says, "wrap it up for Christmas. It's just been sitting in our truck taking up space and he looks like he would really like it."

So thank you to our plumber Santa. We're going to have one very happy little boy come December 25th. But please, don't ever come back to our house!

Things I'm loving about the new house

1. The windows - I love being able to see outside and get natural light just about anywhere. We went from having a total of 4 windows to 13 windows. Hooray for seeing outside!
2. A real washing machine - okay, so it might be harvest gold (circa 1983 according to the plumber - that story later) but it's a full washing machine. That means I can actually do more than 1 pair of pants at a time. Blissful!
3. Only 2 bathrooms - While one might think that going from 3 to 2 bathrooms is a down-grade, I contend that it only means less time cleaning bathrooms and that's a plus for me.
4. The office - there are so many things that are great about this room - let me count thy ways. First, my cell phone works in the office, which is a victory since I need my phone while encouraging the moms of the world one conference program at a time. Second, the abundance of overhead light. If you were ever at our old place, it was a very dim little office room. And last, my treadmill. It fits! After begrudgingly storing it away when Caleb was born because of lack of space, it's finally made an appearance again so I can use it....but will I, that is the question!
5. The bathtub - one doesn't think about these things when they buy their first house, but in the old place we had shower doors instead of a shower curtain. Giving a kiddo a bath with shower doors stinks. Hooray for movable shower curtains!
6. The garage - this one is a given, of course, but I can't recall how long it has been since I've had the luxury of getting in a semi-warm v. frozen with ice car in the winter. Heaven!
7. Neighbors - yeah, they can be good and bad, but we've had our share of bad (anyone remember Tina and her Tiny Tots?), so I'm ecstatic with normal neighbors (no pun intended). Plus, we had one of our neighbors offer to give us their wooden outdoor playset for free. How awesome was that?! Not so awesome to move (not that I know, it was more of a guy type job and it took about 10 of them), but awesome for us to get for free.
8. A yard - another given, but Caleb just loves it. He even has "his tree".

I'm sure I could find more, but that's all for now! When are you coming to visit me?

Happy 2nd Birthday, Caleb!

What an amazing little boy we think you are! Daddy and I are so proud of the little man you are becoming. You are our little red-headed spitfire that we love having in our lives. I can't imagine a day without you. You are quite the ham and love to get a good laugh out of everyone. Everyday that goes by you are learning so much, putting words together, discovering new things and becoming more independent. You love to play with cars, but more importantly with CARS - anything Lightning McQueen. You've discovered music and love to play "marchin' band" with the trumpet that Daddy made for you. You're also becoming quite good at playing hide 'n' seek (which may haunt us later).

We're excited to see what the upcoming year brings into your little life. We thank God for you and how he put all of the good from your Daddy and I into one little person. We love you!

Hello? Poison Control?

Yeah, that's right. I made our first call to Poison Control yesterday. I want you to know that I handled it with a very cool head, if I do say so myself. Here's how the morning went. We got up, had breakfast and then Caleb watched a little Dinosaur Train on PBS (it's educational, so it must be okay) while I hit the treadmill. We go upstairs afterward so I can take a quick shower. This has never been a problem...ever...until yesterday. I get out of the shower, go into my room and see Caleb holding my little bottle of eye drops. This isn't terribly uncommon, as he likes to pretend to put eye drops in (with the cap on, of course). However, I noticed that he had really done a number on chewing up the bottle this time. When I went to pick it up, it only had about 1/4 of what was originally in there left. I looked at him and said, "Buddy, did you drink some of this?" and he stopped for a moment, looked out to the side like he really had to ponder the question and said "umm....yeah!"
So needless to say, I called Poison Control. She assured me that it was probably a very small amount, but that the active ingredients have the potential to make him vomit. Yeah. So after getting instructions to give him 4 ounces of milk, I hung up and whipped out the sippy cup. I'm happy to report there has been nothing to clean up. Hooray!

The New House!

Okay, so without further ado....here's the new house. We're officially in and we can call it ours, so I feel okay about posting a few pictures (pics have previous owners stuff - hey, we're still living among boxes...how unimpressive would those pictures be?!). Unpacking has been slow as some cold/flu-type symptoms have taken vengance upon our family. However, we're getting there! Moving day went great thanks to the Crusaders Moving Company (i.e. practically every member of our church) and our families. We had beautiful weather - thank goodness! Can't wait for everyone to come and visit!

Officially Homeless

Well, we're officially homeless. We closed on our house last night. Everything went really well, and we're feeling rich for about 4 days. Then we get to take it all to our closing on Friday and cry a little on the inside when we have to hand over that check.
It's kind of weird not owning a house. To literally be floating around in home ownership land for 4 days. But the people who bought our house have graciously allowed us to stay in our current house until we move next weekend (rent free - hallelujah!!!), so it's not too bad!

If you must live among boxes.....

...you might as well build a fort!!

House Update #2

We have official documents in our hands! We're moving on November 7th! Hooray! It's almost hard to believe. Gabe has a countdown going on his phone and I think we're down to 16 days. That doesn't seem like enough time! But we'll make it work. I'm currently in the process of calling all of the utilities and everyone in the world to give them our address change and to start and stop services. I don't think I could be having any less fun if I tried. But I'm almost through my list and what I don't have checked off is mostly phone calls that Gabe has to make. Gotta run, though. Caleb is still sleeping, which means I might get a few more calls in before he wakes up!

House Update

I realize it's been awhile since I've given an update on the house situation. Due to the fact that things have been changing daily, it didn't really seem worth posting anything, but now I feel I can.
I'm not sure where everyone is on knowing what has been going on, so I'll try to back-track to where I think I left most of you. All was well with the house that we planned to buy. The inspection came back great, so there are no worries there. Then the last step was to get the appraisal done.
Long story short, the appraisal was done and it came back $6000 under our negotiated sale price. Good for us, right? You would think. However the sellers decided that they were unhappy about the difference. They saw no problem with the actual appraisal, just that it wasn't the price they wanted. So this led to a variety of different offers on their part to make up that difference, which led to a variety of counter-offers that said "no" on our part. The last offer on the table, was that they wanted to get a second appraisal. They would pay for it, but we would have to switch banks. After much research and discussion, we said we would do this. In response to our agreement, they wanted us to use a specific mortgage company to find our new bank (gave us names, numbers, appt times, etc). This seemed fishy to us and would have required us to change loan officers which we did not want to do.
So on Saturday I drafted an email that gave the sellers 3 options - #1. sell it to us for the original appraisal price, #2. don't sell it to us at all, or #3. seek the second appraisal, but on our terms. This email went to them on Monday night with a deadline of 12pm on Wednesday.
It is now 1:30pm on Wednesday and here is how it turned out. I got a call on Tuesday morning from our real estate agent saying that the sellers were willing to sell it to us for the original appraisal if they could cut our agent's commission to $500. Uh.....that's crazy-talk! Our agent has done so much work for this house and has already taken a cut in his commission to do it. So I wholeheartedly told them "no." About 10 minutes later, my agent called back and said that we had lost the house. Immediate sobbing ensued. I had tried to mentally prepare myself for this, but alas, I lost it anyway.

Fast forward an hour. I'm sitting at home desperately wanting Gabe to come home for lunch so we can talk and so I can cry some more. My phone rings. It's my agent. He says, "how are your emotions right now?" I say, "well, I've pretty much been crying all morning." He continues to tell me that apparently we called their bluff, that they didn't think we'd walk away, and they're now going to sell it to us for the original appraisal price and the full commission for our agent. What????!!! I had to sit down. I almost didn't believe him. But it's true! Isn't God great!
So now we're being cautiously excited. We still haven't seen the actual paper copy of the new negotiated price with their signatures on it and until then, I don't think I can believe we have the house. I take nothing for granted now after this long process. But my hope is that I have no more updates to give you and that we're moving on November 7th!

Nothing New

I don't know anything new, other than that Caleb is starting to feel better. So here are some pics of the past week:

Aren't daddies great!

CHEESE!

He loves this blankie!

It's hard to go to the playground when you don't want to put down your juice or your George.

Cold weather means cute hats!

Under the weather

Caleb has been a bit under the weather the past couple of days. We came back from Highland on Sunday night and now his nose is constantly running and/or stuffy. In fact, I'm listening to my little one snoring right now over the monitor. Not sure what's up. I'm thinking it might be teeth? flucuation of the weather? Don't you love when you're the mom and you have no idea what's wrong with your kid?Doesn't he look so pathetic all curled up in the blanket with his mouth open so he can breathe?

What are these things?!

Is it just B-N? Or is everybody being attacked by these miniscule little bugs in the last week? It's becoming a problem by our house. We can't even go play outside because we come back covered in them. They just float through the air like dust, but they're bugs. And they're smaller than gnats, so you can't really swat them away Ugh! They are so gross! And just to prove that we have a problem, I took some pictures of the back part of our house. We have quite the plethora of spiders due to living right by weeds and the Trail, so these unpleasant little visitors seem to be getting caught very easily by the webs.

All the little black spots you see on the siding are swarms of the little bugs stuck to spider webs on the back part of our house. Classy! Good thing we're not trying to sell this place anymore!

Mama...potty?

We've recently made the dive into the potty-training world. Let me preface this by saying that I in no way really think that Caleb is ready for this. He's a boy, under the age of 2 - it's just not likely. So I'm trying not to get too hopeful.

However, since his 18 month doctor's appointment, we were given some literature from the dr. to start thinking about it and start using words, encouraging him in that area, etc. I haven't been making a real big effort, but he's given me some warning signs that have prompted me to buy the ever-so-classy "potty chair".

Warning Sign #1: A few days ago, he turned over one of his buckets, sat down, and said "Potty?"
Warning Sign #2: Last night, while having dinner guests (of course), he came over to me while we were playing, grabbed his diaper, and said "Mama...potty?" I asked him if he wanted to go potty and he shook his head yes and ran to the bathroom. I was a bit bewildered. We went in, I took his diaper off and had him sit on the big potty. He sat there, smiled all the while, touched the toilet paper and then sure enough, he had peed.

Gabe said he hadn't seen me this excited in a really long time. I'm not going to deny it, it was pretty cool. So we now have his own potty chair, which he helped me put together today. We've sat on it once, but no luck.

I'm trying not to be too hopeful...but oh, to be done with diapers!!!

Why I've been missing...

I apologize that I've been few and far between with my blog posts lately. I know how disappointing it is to go out to someone's blog hoping for something new and seeing the same old stuff for weeks at a time. So without further ado, the reason I've been missing is that WE BOUGHT A NEW HOUSE!!!

It's really been an unbelievable couple of weeks. I just feel like God has blessed us on so many levels of this decision. He helped us find a house we love, at a great price, in a great location. Gabe and I did not start out particularly looking for a house. We both had a desire in our hearts to be in a house someday - specifically something with a yard and a place that really felt like a home. Not sharing walls was a plus. Earlier this summer I drove by a cute little house on my way to the office and decided to look it up online when I got home. Gabe and I both liked it, so we asked our friend Dave, who is a realtor, to show it to us. And thus, the home search began.

It's almost hard to believe that we're doing this, as I never thought we would be able to find a house living on one income. But God certainly had different plans, knew the desires of our hearts and has blessed us so tremendously in the entire situation. He couldn't have made the decision any clearer or easier.

For anyone who has ever ventured into buying a house, you know what I mean when I use the words "exciting but stressful." Add the additional task of selling the house that you're living in, and you've got a migraine on the horizon. However, we couldn't have asked for more.

We found a beautiful home in the school district that Gabe teaches in. We're very excited about this, as it will cut down on drive time, as well as, meaning that Caleb and any future kiddos will be at Gabe's school. What kid wouldn't want to go to the music room after school and bang on the drums?

In addition, the people that we're working with are incredibly awesome, from the sellers to the buyers, to our real estate agent and our mortgage lender. We also were tremendously blessed with some unexpected money during this process, which we will forever be grateful for. Just another small (or big I should say) step in achieving the American dream of owning a house. My grandma also surprised us just a few days ago and told us we could have her lawnmower. Now that's awesome! That would have been our first major purchase once we were in the house - now we don't have to worry about it.

I also just have to point out the timeline of this thing. We put an offer on the house we're moving to on August 20th. By August 31st we had a signed purchase agreement in our hands for the house we're currently in. That's 11 days!! And we didn't even have to list it with an agent. Praise the Lord for no agent fees!!

So anyway, that's where I've been! It's been a crazy last couple of months, but we're excited! We're looking forward to being moved in (probaby end of October) so that you can all come and see the new place!

Pics from the last few weeks

Some cute pics from the last couple of weeks:

Can you believe our parents make us do things like this?

Contemplative

Sneakin'

Sophie's first day of kindergarten! Can you believe she's already 5? I can't!

Gracie, Caleb and Katharine all dressed up for church.

Sometimes playing with your trucks just wears you out!

Product Placement

I'm diverting away from my normal "Caleb" posts to bring you a quick post about 3 really great products that I think everyone should know about. I was talking to April the other day about these and how we had wished we knew earlier how great they are. So without further ado, I'm bringing them to you:

1. Mr. Clean Magic Eraser - oh my! If you haven't tried this, you're missing out. Those little suckers can clean ANYTHING! And they're especially wonderful on things like shower doors, wall scuffs, random marks on your floors. I cannot explain how it works because it seems like a normal sponge, but it's amazing!

2. Reynolds Slow Cooker Liners - This handy little bag has saved my sad little dishpan hands so many hours of work. If you use your crockpot for anything, these are worth picking up. You get 4 in a box for about $1.75 (at Wal-Mart). Basically, you just put the liner in your crockpot first and then prepare as normal. Then when you're done, you just take the liner out and throw it away. You still have to wash the pot, but we're talking a rinse, not a scourging.

3. CHI - okay, so I admit that I've racked my brain for another kitchen-type item to add to the list, but nothing was coming to mind. So I thought I'd just add another product that I've fallen in love with. If you do any straightening of your hair, the CHI is the absolute best! I don't know why the ceramic plates work so much better than my Revlon equivalent, but they do! It's an pricey endeavor, but if you straighten your hair everyday, I think it would be a worthy investment.

So hit me with some of your favorites!

Previous Post

So I made an attempt to put a slideshow on my blog and it didn't work out the way I had hoped. For one, the pictures below are in backwards order. And for another, none of my descriptions of the photos showed up. Whoops. So anyway, they are pics of our most recent vacation to the Dells - some family, some fun, some artsy...you get the picture!

A New Look

We finally painted our front room. I've been talking about doing it practically since we moved in, but I finally picked a color and we got it done. Here are before and after pics. It's hard to tell from pictures the exact color, so I guess that just means you'll have to come visit!

Now we just have to get our things back on the walls! I think it makes it look more home-y.
What do you think of my new do? It's shorter than I was expecting, but it's pretty fun for the summer.

Signs of Summer

We had a very rainy 4th of July, so Caleb and I had to watch the parade from the Jeep. (Gabe was playing his trumpet on a float)

I know that the parade was memorable, because now days later, he'll randomly say "clowns, beep-beep, tractors, trucks, wee-oh wee-oh, horse...."

At last! We're starting to eat our vegetables!

Check out the bike we scored at a garage sale for $5. He loves his bike!

And Caleb was recently given a new trumpet - handcrafted by Daddy.

Check out the buzz on this kid:

Wedding Extravaganza

To say we've been busy is an understatement. I feel like we've just finally landed back home and have been able to breathe for a couple of days. Here are some pics from our craziness:

Sara and Cody got married on Saturday. Here's a shot from the rehearsal. Aren't we lovely?

My camera's batteries died right before the wedding, so I don't have a single pic beyond this point (see Jenny's blog for better pictures).

Then on Sunday, Gabe's grandpa and Sue got married too. Must have been a good weekend for weddings. It was pretty cool to think that Caleb got to see his great-grandpa get married.

We had a lovely reception in Tom and Marilyn's backyard after the wedding. We took a minute to get a family shot since we couldn't get one at Sara's.

On to other important moments of the past week....Caleb got to meet Curious George! As soon as he walked in, he was yelling across the room "Hi! Hi! Hi!" and waving ecstatically. But when we went to get our picture taken, he seemed a little confused and slightly scared.

We're crazy

Yeah, we're crazy. We went camping with two 1-year olds this past week. I think if you're going to attempt anything like this, you have to have a checklist that looks something like this:

• A positive attitude
• A sense of humor
• An undying sense of adventure

They did great! We opted only to camp for one night with the option to pull up camp at any time and drive home. But we made it! Our friends Scott and Amie, and their daughter Katharine, went with us. The plan was to have the kids in their pack-n-plays in Scott and Amie's tent (aren't they generous?) and Gabe and I in our tiny 3-person tent.

Well, that was the plan anyway. Caleb chose not to sleep in his pack-n-play (no shocker there) which led Gabe to lay down with him in our tent on the air mattress. Long story short, he stayed there all night with us. I like to describe it as "half sweet...half sweaty". It was super-sweet to get to cuddle with him in bed, as he's never slept in bed with us. But the other half ended with him snuggling so close that his little head got sweaty. And whoever he wasn't cuddling with got two little feet in their ribs pretty much all night.

So we didn't sleep. But man, we had fun!