Pssst....

we're going to sign paperwork tonight, we have a deal. I'm still so nervous that the inspection or appraisal will go poorly. But I have to keep telling myself, if it's meant to be, it will. But it's hard to not get too excited when even my level headed Gram keeps asking me "Are you excited?" "Are you happy?"

On the DQ swimming front. Her coach gave her a very great compliment yesterday. She told her she's probably one of the most improved swimmers on the team and that her times are proving that. She also mentioned that they might move her up to practice with the older kids because the younger group is slowing her down a bit because they all chat and goof around. She's 7 and she's afraid to swim with the older kids because "they're too fast mama!" So even if they offer, she'll continue to practice with the younger kids because we want her to enjoy swim team and have fun, not just work. But it's still exciting that the coach thinks she's doing so well. I was very proud of her before, but now, wow!

Also, we received a note from her art teacher yesterday. A piece of her artwork will be on display at the local heritage museum! She's so excited and couldn't help but tell the world (OK, maybe not the world but everyone in her path at the YMCA) that her artwork was in the museum. Due to her level of excitement, many people thought she meant THE museum in "the big city" near where we live. She even said "I always knew my art work would be in the museum, but I didn't think it would happen when I was in first grade!" Now do you see why I love that girl so much? She definitely keeps me on my toes.

We did it!

It's for real, we put an offer in on a house on Friday and the sellers have already countered our offer and we are now countering their counter offer. Did ya get all that? This is all going much faster than I had played it out a million times in my head. We haven't physically walked through a ton of houses, but for the price range that we're looking in, the school districts we're willing to send our kids to, and our need for at least 3 bedrooms we can't expect perfection. This house I believe is as close to perfection as we're going to get.

So, here's the rundown....
-3 bedroom ranch
-1.5 bathrooms
-1479 sq ft (the current house we're renting has barely 900 sq ft)
-almost 3/4 of an acre
-easy highway access for hubby going to work
-the same school district that we're in now, although Drama Queen would have to switch elementary schools
-lots of living space (the bedrooms are on the smaller side, but currently the girls have a large bedroom and they're always on top of us in our small living room
-quiet neighborhood with lots of swingsets in backyards

So, fingers crossed they bank accepts our counter offer today and we'll be busy with the inspection process very soon. I'm so nervous and excited all at once!

Daydreaming about the house...

we haven't even put an offer on yet. We saw an awesome house on Friday. It needs a lot of help, but it doesn't appear to be anything Hubby can't handle.

We've been looking at window and cabinet websites and there's a lot of fun stuff out there! Someday I will have a garden window over my kitchen sink like this....






Wouldn't that be awesome to grow my own herbs in and when recipe calls for fresh rosemary, I could trim a bit from my cute little pots like these...



There was also an awesome pull out that had skinny shelves to put things like bottles of cooking oils, spices, and the sorts. I can't remember what it was called, so I can't get a picture to share, but it was pretty neat.

Well, I'm off to daydream up some ideas for the kids' play room. There was a walk in attic area that we immediately both agreed would be the perfect play space for the kids. The ceiling is sloped a lot, so I'm thinking bean bag chairs and lots of throw pillows would be the perfect way to furnish that space. And just so you don't think I'm going to make my kids play in a dark attic, there are windows in this attic and it would probably be the only room in the house with full carpeting since there would be lots of crawling and play wrestling going on in there. Think Hubby would agree to something like this to cover the floor?



This space is obviously bigger than the area I've got to work with, but it'd be fun to make a tumble gym sorta space... I wouldn't really do this, but it's fun to day dream

Drama Queen Phelps?

My oldest daughter is a swimmer. I signed her up for the local YMCA swim team in October not expecting her to take it seriously, just hoping that more regular physical activity would help trim her down a bit with out having to do the ugly "D" word. She LOVES it. She gets to practice 3 times a week and begs for more. A lot of weeks she talks her Daddy into taking her to practice some more because Daddy was a swimmer in high school and helps her polish up her skills. She had a swim meet yesterday and she did AWESOME! She shaved off 20 seconds off her 25 meter freestyle! Seriously, TWENTY seconds!!! She also swam her first 50 meter race, which required swimming 2 lengths of pool so she had to do her first flip turn outside of practice....it was cute. Definitely a skill that needs polishing, but she's 7 she has time on her side to improve. Will she be an Olympic gold medalist like Phelps someday? Probably not, but for the time being it makes my heart swell with pride watching my little girl do a sport she loves. It was so awesome to see her excited little body jumping up and down when Daddy told her how fast she was.

By the way, slimming down...it's working. Between August and December she got almost a full inch taller and lost 3 pounds! Clothes that she was outgrowing in the tummy area fit her better than they ever did now. I'm so glad we got her into something that helps her to be healthier that she has so much fun with.

She had her little video camera there yesterday ready to interview all of her friends. Unfortunately the "electronics" batteries my hubby bought for it wouldn't work. *sigh* But, she has another meet in 2 weeks, so I'll be sure to get the right batteries for that one.

It must be a sign right?

The house I'm infatuated with right now just dropped it's asking price a lot! We're going to see it Friday. Fingers crossed that it's as great in person as the pictures make it out to be! There's another house that we sort of like, but the one that we didn't like as much was technically the "better" buy (More square footage, bigger yard, and extra .5 bath) But now that they're the same price and the one we think we like more is actually what we think it is....can you tell I'm way too emotionally involved with this?

On a side note....I wonder if my hubby's tastes have evolved or if my cooking has. Last night he told me I've become quite a good cook. I however feel like I'm in a cooking rut. Care to share your fave recipe with me?

Meet my Home

A home isn't the building we live in, it's all of the parts of it that make it your own. I have 3 kiddos, a husband and a Border Collie named Tasha....they're the heart of my home. We're currently looking for a house that's the perfect container for our home. I'm so sick of renting and being surrounded by walls that are a reflection of someone else. I can't wait to be able to take pictures of my house that will tell OUR story.

DQ (drama queen) is my oldest daughter, she's 7 and in the first grade. She loves to swim, play dress up and man does that girl have an active imagination! Almost daily I'm confused by something she says because she walks up to me and starts talking about her imaginary story line that she's dreaming up at the moment.

My middle child might let you call her Rosie, if you're special. She's currently 2, but she'll be 3 in March. As challenging as they are, I really love the toddler years. Watching her develop her sense of self and become her own person is amazing. She's a mama's girl through and through and secretly I love it until she throws a fit that she only wants mama to do things for her. I'm sorry, but changing her diaper is NOT fun and she doesn't get to choose who she wants to do it since it will almost always be me.

Then there's my Baby Dude. He was born in May of 2008. Currently he's just mobile enough to get himself in to trouble and just vocal enough to convince us that he said "Hi Dada" the other morning. Just the other day he scootched himself across the living room floor and dumped the dog's water bowl all over himself. He thought it was hilarious, he giggled his butt off!

The hubby is a union electrician. I love that man a lot and he must love me to stick around all these years. We met back in high school. He was a junior and I was sophomore and almost 14 years later, he's still the one. He's all sort of sexy....good with his hands, strong, rugged, a great daddy, and super smart. Joe likes to game, read sci-fi, and read up on the latest technology. He's so cute during all of this house searching stuff. As I daydream about how we'll decorate it, he's got the graph paper out trying to figure out the exact lay out before we've been in any given house.

Our dog is a Border Collie. It's so funny to see classic Border Collie behavior come out of her. BC's were bread to be sheep herders. Tasha loves to herd my children. Last spring when I was super pregnant with the Baby Dude, I watched with dismay as my barely 2 year old escaped out the back door. I waddled as fast as I could, but she was able to toddle much faster since she had a head start of about 10 feet. Tasha was outside already. She ran up to Rosie, knocked her down and stood over her wagging her tale at her latest catch until I was able to apprehend the suspect!

Oh and then there's me. As you probably suspected my driver's license doesn't say Mama, but with 3 little ones running around, I don't get called by my driver's license name very often. I enjoy playing play-doh, long trips to the playground and pretty much anything else that will ensure my kids are tired enough for bed. In my "off" time, I like to chat with my friends on message boards, attempt to be crafty, read, and day dream about the house we'll hopefully buy soon.