WE BOUGHT A HOUSE!

Since we just moved our things in yesterday, it looks like a cyclone (with a fondness for cardboard) attacked the place. But stay tuned for pictures—I’ll post some as soon as we get things cleaned up.

The house is beautiful and I love it. We closed last Monday (the 23rd), and it was a relatively seamless event. I remember years ago when we bought our house in Chicago. After all the signatures were signed, I remember experiencing a horrible feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach. This was mostly due to both 1) our general fear being first time homebuyers and 2) the fact that as first time inexperienced homebuyers, we got fleeced pretty good.

But THIS time, Steven put in a lot of hours researching every possible detail, and we’re pretty sure we made a smart, solid investment. I walked out of the Closing feeling like I was walking on air. It was a beautiful thing.

The house is a two-story red-brick number with 4 bedrooms and 2 ½ baths. It has a good-sized backyard with lovely landscaping and even a lemon and key lime tree. It’s in a cute little neighborhood very close to the church building, and it has SIDEWALKS! Now I can take the kiddos out on their bikes without worrying they’ll be run over like Frogger. There’s also a nice little park down the street and a community swimming pool.

The only thing that’s REALLY going to take some getting used to is the STAIRS! Oh my gosh, you’d think I was a 400 lb, 85 year old woman to hear me huff and puff up those things.

My brother Adam came by a few days ago to check it out, and made the following comment: “Doesn’t it kind of feel like moving into a mansion?” he jokingly asked. I laughed. But in all seriousness—to me that’s exactly how it feels. This house is by NO MEANS mansion-esque. But I’ve never lived in a house this nice in my entire life—and so I guess that means I’ve got to figure out how to make sure it stays nice…a daunting thought but oh, so worth it.

Now to break out that snot-green paint!

End of Season

Stevie’s last two games of the season were last Saturday, and he did a great job. They don’t actually keep score, mind you, but nonetheless all the kids worked hard and had fun. After the last game, there was a little ceremony where the teams lined up and sat around the infield, and the coaches called the kiddos up one by one and handed them their trophies.

At every game, the coach gives out a “game ball” to a player who’s done a particularly good job. Stevie got the game ball at the last game because he was the played that showed the most improvement and “always plays hard” (which is definitely true---I’ve seen the kid chase after the ball with an almost scary look of determination on his face).


I’m really proud of him. He really listened, followed instructions and tried hard. And what’s more, he really enjoyed it. I think our first experience with organized sports was a success. Stay tuned to see what he does next!

Could it Be?

2 days in a row without any excrement-related accidents whatsoever. I know I may be jinxing it, but I think David may have gotten the hang of this whole potty-training thing. He's even been TELLING me when he has to use the bathroom--which is completely out of character.

Granted, he seldom wears pants nowadays (they seem to make him forgetful), but nonetheless, I'd say this was tremendous progress. And the thought of having NO DIAPERS TO CHANGE for an entire glorious 4 months before Jacob gets here is almost too much to bear. Seriously, I may be tearing up here.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAVID!

Writing About Myself…Just Me, Me, Me. So There.

Here are a few things I’ve been doing lately—

1) Obsessing about Ward Choir and Christmas music. I just love the ward choir and I’m insanely in love with all things Christmas, so this is a dangerous combination for me. Every time we sing in sacrament meeting, I get the biggest high---this could be because we have so many talented people at church, and so the choir sounds outrageously awesome.

2) Puzzling over the Coupon Dilemma. I have a friend who will literally walk into a Kroger and come out with a bagful of free groceries. How is it done? I’m trying to take a few tutorials and such, but it’s very bewildering. But dang-it all, I want my free bagful of groceries!

3) Desperately seeking a sewing instructor. I bought a new (very simple) sewing machine with the intent on using it to better my skills as a SAHM. So far, I’ve figured out how to thread it and that’s it. And don’t ask me what would happen if the thread broke—I just don’t know. At any rate, there are lots of projects out there that are currently too daunting for me due to their mention of top or back or sideways stitching or what have you. I’d like to overcome that. However, sewing instructors don’t just grow on trees, and I’m finding it rather difficult to find someone who will actually teach me instead of just doing it for me. I’m willing to fork out the dough, mind you.

4) Reading books. I finally found a few that were worth it, and I actually zoomed through two of them (Shanghai Girls and The Nanny Diaries) in two days. The other two (Fahrenheit 451 and Brick Lane) are a little weightier, so I’m trying to take some more time with them.

5) Killing fruit flies. For the past week, those little demons have been dive-bombing my face day and night. My hatred of them is past reason. Fortunately, I found their source yesterday--a potato had apparently fallen out of the bag in the back cupboard and started up a little colony there. I got rid of it (and doused the entire area with bleach).

6) Being lonely. I don’t know what it is, but lately I’ve been feeling a little “nobody-likes-me-everybody-hates-me-I’m-gonna-go-eat-worms.” I always mean to call up a friend or set up a play-date, but something always holds me back. It'll pass, it always does. But in the meantime, I’ve been treasuring any and all adult conversation as manna from heaven. It’s a good thing my boys keep me cracking up all the live-long day. They keep me from wallowing, the little stinkers.

Halloween

Good Grief. THE CANDY!!!!

There are currently three gallon-sized zip-locked bags sitting on our counter at this very minute holding the boys’ Halloween candy. And that’s not even counting all the crappy candy I just threw away because I knew none of us would ever eat it.

So needless to say, the boys got a great haul this year.

Trunk-or-Treat was really fun this year. We combined with South Shore and Kemah wards, so it was HUGE! There were tons of cars for the kids to visit, and some of them were really creative! I manned our “JAWS” trunk while Steven took the boys around from car to car. One of the guys from our ward even brought his juggling equipment, and was JUGGLING FIRE right in front of our car! It was amazing. Here’s a picture of the cuties—(and I was almost tempted to cut myself RIGHT OUT of this picture, because I look like death warmed over--that belt doesn't look so great under preggie-belly).


We took the boys trick-or-treating around the neighborhood on Halloween as well, and it was so much fun.


We just went door to door, circling a few blocks. We had to explain to the boys that we only went to houses where the front porch light was on. Lots of people in our neighborhood were waiting on their front porch, sitting in lawn chairs and handing out candy. It was just really nice, for some reason—it felt old-school. It was dark outside---you talked with the neighbors who you hardly ever see otherwise. It was great.

Afterwards, we headed back to the house to examine the haul. It was quite appalling, but the boys were pleased.



We let them stay up WAY too late as we all watched dumb Disney Halloween movies together. What a great night.