House Pictures!

Okay, so i promised house pics once the photographer came in to take them... so here they are. Our house will probably NEVER again look this great, but i am enjoying while i can! So far we have had 4 showings in 3 days, so i am exhausted already. Everyone was right when they said selling a house wasn't for the faint hearted! Hopefully it won't be on the market too awfully long!

For Sale!

Well, it's official- our first house is up for sale! We met with the realtor last night & he listed it around midnight last night. And then when i came home from getting Jackson from preschool, we had the official sign in the yard. I took a picture of course!! And then once i went inside, i checked the messages & there was a call for a showing in an hour! I got busy cleaning up from the day (since my dear friend, Randi came over to help me paint the boys room this very morning!!!) I was shaking i was so nervous!! But I had to tell myself that the house will never be perfect!! Hopefully the house will sell quickly, but if not- at least it will look nice for us for a change! Randy has worked so hard in the yard (& inside) & i have boxed up & boxed up & organized & reorganized & cleaned out & yard saled & ebayed until i am just plum exhausted. So at least most of the hard work is behind us. Wish us luck & say a prayer! Once we get the pictures taken for the listing, i will post them if i can get a copy of them! So stay tuned...

Ughhhh

So this is what the house has been looking like over the past several weeks. It is driving me N.U.T.S!!! But hopefully after Monday, things will be much better, because it is the official date to put the house on the market. We have only a few things left to do before the big day, but they are big things, like painting the boys room, mulching the entire front yard, & deep cleaning now that most of the storing & staging is done. So, i will post pictures once all the projects are completed & the house is officially up for grabs. We have worked super hard & we hope it will pay off. I told Randy that it is a shame that the house is finally looking just like it should have always looked & it's for someone elses' benefit. It really is looking quite cute over here! Our bedroom doesn't even look like our bedroom anymore, the kids playroom has been turned into an "office" for staging purposes, & the living room has totally been rearranged per the stagers instructions to open it up make it look larger. So it all feels quite different! But hopefully someone else will like enough to make an offer!

The great outdoors

Look who has become an outdoor kitty! Lola absolutely LOVES the great outdoors now that she isn't terrified of every leaf that blows! She meows incessantly to go out & has a ball chasing the bugs at night. At first, she would only go in & out for me.... and then she started coming in when Jackson would call her. And FINALLY, she will now go past Randy to get out & come in when he opens the door. She is so quirky, but we love her. She is really warming up to Randy & (shhhhh!) i think he is warming up to her too! (now that she isn't in the closet or under the bed tearing up things at night like she was!) I think she just needed to go exploring & get some energy out before bedtime, so now she is much better behaved at night! She mainly sticks to the back yard since i think she feels safer there since no dogs can get in there or any other large animal. Although, i did see one cat back there once, but he was eating the food i left out for her during her "transition" so to speak. So that shouldn't be a problem now since the food is inside!

So congratulations to Lola for being a brave girl & taking the plunge!!

Insults & Lock outs!

I have a few posts to get up in the next week if i can stay focused, but before i take the time to upload the pictures for those posts, i will go ahead & tell you one quick story from today. I was insulted by a 5 year old & completely locked out of the house by a 2 year old (who was inside!).

On the way to preschool this morning, we passed the park that Mema & Grandad take the boys to sometimes & Jackson excitedly says, "There's Mema's park!" So this led to this conversation:
Mom: Yep, there is the park mema takes you to.
Jackson: (pondering.....) What is the weather going to be like tomorrow (their day at Mema's house).
Mom: I don't know buddy.
Jackson: Can we ask Daddy when he gets home?
Mom: Sure, we can ask. (Then me pondering...) But i am not sure he will know either. (He asked me this because i always ask Randy to look up the weather for me when i need to know)
Jackson: Well, i think him will know. My daddy knows lots of things.
Mom: Yes, your daddy knows a lot.
Jackson: (quiet for a moment)..... Yep, he knows lots of things. He knows more things than you.
Mom: (deflated & quiet..... i just rolled with it & said to myself "thanks there, buddy!")

So then, after we got home from grocery shopping before we had to go get Jackson from school, I get a call from Randy's buddy from his old job. There was a mix up with UPS & a shipment was shipped to the old job instead of to Randy's home address. So, i was really trying to hear the information that Shawn was telling me & Eli all of the sudden (basically as soon as i said, Hello, on the phone!) starts screaming like a chimpanzee because something isn't going his way. And i mean, he was going bananas- i couldn't hear MYSELF, much less shawn. So, i knew that Eli wasn't going to get into anything & he was basically just frustrated & not letting me help him, so i stepped out onto the front porch. A few minutes later when i tried to get back in, he had locked the glass door. Arghh! So i seriously had to talk him through trying to unlock it while he was giggling. The front door wasn't happening, but when i walked around to the back door & tapped on it to bring him back there, he was able to undo the deadbolt & open it for me. Whew! That was a close one. Note to self: Don't go out on the porch without Eli again! Ha!

Doughnuts with Grandad.....

Friday mornings Mema & Grandad don't have any little ones to watch between our kids or the boys cousin, Kaleb. And so last Friday morning, Grandad had a little sympathy for Eli who begged for "mema house" all morning. Seriously, the child goes to Mema's two days a week & the other 3 he begs for more! Some days it hurts my feelings, and other days i think it is sweet how much he loves to go there. This morning, i wasn't feeling too warm & fuzzy & was just tired of hearing "wan go mema house" for 2 solid hours & so i called their house! I wasn't going to take him there, but i needed them to tell him they were busy or SOMETHING to make him stop asking! So, Grandad explained that Mema wasn't home, but he offered to bring dogghnuts for a late breakfast! It did the trick & i didn't hear another word about Mema! (Sorry, mema!) So, after 2 hours of hearing whining at my feet, i didn't care WHAT grandad brought to eat!

Guess What?

Well Lola has decided that if we are going anywhere.... she is going with us!! And it is a good thing because we have decided to put our house on the market (scary, i know)! We have been wanting to move for several years, but have just now decided to actually put ourselves out there to make it happen. We need more than 1300 sq feet if we are going to live in **harmony** over here with 2 active boys & no space! We have no storage space, so i personally feel like i am going out of my mind with too much stuff surrounding me! Our bedroom has become our storage so i am just over that! So our goal (after meeting with a great local real estate agent) is to have it on the market in two weeks. So.... say lots of prayers that this house will appeal to some young couple in need of a starter home & wish us luck!

A New Discovery

Could my kid be on a commercial ad or what? This week we discovered a new love of food (not that Eli needed that!) I have purposefully never bought Nutella because i have heard how wonderfully delicious it is & how addictive it can be. They weren't lyin'!
I bought i because i am going to try it in cupcakes from a recipe i found, but before i did that, i tried it on a banana. Can i just say, i am in L-O-V-E? Yummy.
So when the speech therapist (ms. Leigh) came over, i asked her if she had ever tried it & she hadn't. So i got a spoon & gave her a taste on the end of it (she loved it too!) The boys saw me do this & they wanted to try it too. So i also gave them a tiny taste on a spoon. Well, Eli managed to turn a little taste into a big mess as usual. But he looked so cute, that i had to take a picture. I personally think Nutella could use this cute little face for an ad.... maybe i should email them.... hmmmmm

Disney Awaits....

We went over to Rebecca's house this weekend because Grandaddy & Grandma Tee & Kenneth came up to talk about disney stuff & we all watched a disney vacation video. The kids got pumped & so did we! It is only about 6 weeks away & we are preparing like crazy! Rebecca has been embroidering up a storm at her house. We have made special blankets with the kids names in the Disney font for the trip down there in the car (but they can also use them in the hotel) & also each kid is getting their own pillow case with their initials & a disney character embroidered on it! We have bought shirts to make that will have the kids names on it with the mickey ears too! I even bought the boys Disney crocs for the trip (well not really, they needed them for the summer & they were on clearance for 9.99!) But we ARE saving them for the trip so they will seem like a souvenier! My plan is to NOT buy a lot of souveniers at the park, but instead have these before the trip to keep as "remembrances". I am thinking about giving Jackson a disposable camera too so he can chronicle what he wants to remember from the trip. So i have been thinking ahead for how to save money yet still have "souvenier" type things. Don't get me wrong, they will get a souvenier, but we aren't blowing our budget on silly gadgets! Ya know?? And i am so blessed that a friends from church (thanks, Sally & Jana) have offered us their vans to drive to FL. I was worried about the trip in the Jeep since we won't have a lot of extra room (if any) but now i am feeling a lot less stressed since there will be a DVD player & a back seat to fold down for extra storage! We can't wait for DISNEY!

She's ALL OURS!!

Woooo Hooooooo!!! It's official- the Jeep is ours! Randy & I have been working hard on our debt over here for about 18 months & the beginning of March, we got the Jeep paid off. It no longer belongs to the bank, but now is officially a Moss! It is such a great feeling to be paying down debt. It is amazing how freeing it is to not owe anyone any money other than a mortgage & utilities. Now, we aren't there yet, but maybe by the end of this year we will be. We only have my student loans left & then we will be debt free (other than a mortgage!) I can't wait!
So i took a picture of the title when it arrived.....And the letter telling us that the loan was PAID IN FULL......And then i added it to the title to Randy's truck in the file cabinet & went about my day..... Hopefully the engine won't flop on us anytime soon, because i love the car even more since it is free. (well virtually, right?)