inspections

Well--the last big humps in the house process have been crossed today. We had inspections on both houses, and signed papers with the lender. Everything seems to be in place. I haven't got the results from the inspection here--but I did hear the inspector tell the buyer that there was nothing major wrong with structure or major systems--so if there are any repairs, they will be minor. The buyer was taking pictures and measuring for curtains after the inspection--so I'll take that as a good sign. At the new house, there was a shingle loose--and the inspector said the furnace should be serviced, but that was all, and the seller will take care of those things. So...I think we're in good shape. I'll feel better after we get the official reports, but I'm not expecting anything too drastic. The buyer did say they really liked the house because it was in a great neighborhood and had been obviously taken care of so well, so that was a nice compliment.
Trevor left today--he called from the hotel--I guess there's a nice little kitchen in his room with a few dishes, etc., toaster, full-sized fridge, stove, microwave, etc. We went shopping at Walmart last night for some easy-to-fix, but fairly nutritious groceries for him to take down with him. I'm praying for extra patience to get through the next month without him. At least he'll come home on weekends! Now I need to really start packing!
We did put up our christmas tree and some of the nativity sets and santa claus collection, but not too much. Still, it looks festive. Sam has asked me several times today if it was Christmas yet. Hard for a kid to understand that it is still several weeks away. Ginny keep pulling all the ornaments off the tree and rearranging the nativity sets. She's fascinated.

Found a house!

We found a really great house in Pacific, MO. It wasn't even one of the houses on my list, but we knew when we saw it that it was just right. The only drawback is that it's a little further away from work and church than we were hoping to be--butthe houses that were closer and in our price range were just too small, or in need of major repairs. This house, though, has 4 bedrooms, a huge yard, a 2 car garage, and is only nine years old. The roof was is very good shape. The basement was beautifully finished, and it has main floor laundry and a much bigger kitchen. Also a screened porch, and a walk-out basement with patio. Perfect. We're really excited.
Yesterday morning I had fun watching Emily and Ginny before school. Ginny was sitting in Emily's lap, and they were laughing and giggling as Emily sang little songs and rhymes to her as she bounced her on her knee. Very satisfying.
Last night we put up christmas decorations for our first christmas family home evening of the year. We read a christmas story, sang carols, and decorated the tree. we put up some of our decorations, but not very many since we are moving. Still, the kids were excited to see the christmas things up. It really is a magical time of year.
At work, Trevor's co-workers gave him a going away party yesterday. He was quite touched. They had pizza and cake for lunch, and gave him a gift of a swiss pocket knife with flash drive attached. He thought that was really cool.
I guess that's it!
Both home inspections are tomorrow. I hope they'll go smoothly.

SOLD!!!

Yippee!! We're definitely doing a happy dance today! They accepted our offer of 122,900 and agreed to drop the contingency if we would buy a home warranty. Great! We feel so blessed to have sold so quickly. Now we can go to St. Louis next weekend and start looking for houses down there! We have been SO blessed by the Lord every step of the way in this move.
I feel like His blessings have been poured down so that there was not room enough to receive it--just like it says in the scriptures. I'm just feeling so grateful!

offer

We got an offer on our house yesterday, but it was quite low, so we're still negotiating. I'm really glad we got a realtor because I definitely do not have a very good poker face. I'm not patient enough, and frankly, I'm REALLY anxious to sell!
This has been a better week at home. I'm not as stressed out, and I've been able to spend more time with the kids. Only two weeks now, and Trevor will be leaving for St. Louis.

St. Louis

We went to St. Louis yesterday and saw the music store where Trevor will be working and drove through some different neighborhoods. The store owner was really nice It seemed like Trevor would get along well with the other people in the store. The area was really nice, but the housing is expensive. I hope we'll be able to find a house we can afford. Also, I'm worried about finding Trevor a place to stay. NOne of the apartments we visited would accept a short-term lease. Definitely a big city. Lots of traffic, and not as many parks, etc. as we have in Normal. I suppose we'll get used to living in the big city. I"m not sure about what I want to do there, either. Maybe I'll take some time off before teaching again.
It's a lot to think about. If only our house will sell...

For Sale

Our house is finally up on the market. We finished most things up this weekend and signed the papers on Monday afternoon. So far we've have 5 people come through, which the realtor says is a good sign, but we'll see if anyone is seriously interested. When someone calls to come through, you pretty much just have to pack everything up and head out. Last night we ran out while I was in the middle of making dinner, which I was too exhausted to finish when we got home at 8:00 so we had cold cereal for dinner.
I praying so hard for the house to sell quickly. That would be such a blessing! But maybe we'll have to be patient on this one. I'm trying not to panic yet--after all the house has only been on the market for a few days.
The kids have been pretty good sports. Max and Emily are helping me to keep things clean, and Sam and Ginny have been fairly cheerful about spending lots of time at friends' houses so I can work on the house.
Once again, I have been blessed with many good friends who have helped me with cleaning, watching kids, laundry, and even dinner one night. It makes me sad to leave all these people we love.
We're going to St. Louis this weekend. We'll be trying to find Trevor a place to stay while we are in transition.
I think that will help us get more excited about things on the other end.

Ginny's Birthday

Happy Birthday Ginny!
Oh somebody has a birthday,
this dear little Ginny here
May Father in Heaven bless her
Through all the coming year.
Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday
May all that you wish come true.
Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday.
We're wishing dear Ginny for you.

We had just a small party for ginny at home with the family. We got take-out dinner from QDoba and McDonalds and had a birthday chocolate cream pie. She worked pretty hard at blowing out her candles! Then we gave her two new toys for presents. A fun hammer and ball game, and a unique little building set. We all played with the toys for awhile and had a lot of fun. Ginny kept saying "Toys! Toys!" Her brothers and sister were having so much fun with the new things that Ginny could hardly get a turn!
She's such a cutie, and we're so glad to have her in our family.

The rest of the day was spent painting, cleaning, taking stuff to Goodwill, trips to Menards, etc. I'm so exhausted from working so much every day to get the house ready to put on the market. It's so much work! And it doesn't help that we are already burned out from the roof.

Moving!

Well, it's official. We're moving. I think I'm getting excited, although I definitely have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I just love so many things about living in Bloomington/Normal--it will be so hard to leave! I am so attached to our ward family. So many good friends. So many people have been so kind to us during the seven years we have lived here. It's hard to live so far away from our famlies, but our ward has really become our family. On Sunday during church, I was so sad thinking about leaving all of these people that we love so much. It's hard for the kids to leave their friends--and the things that are so familiar--Oakdale school, our neighborhood, dance, preschool, Tae Kwon Do, etc. I have such a good situation with my music classes and lessons here--and it will take me time to work out things in my own career in a new area. I'll particularly miss the fun children's music classes that I teach at Parks and Rec. I've really got a good situation there--I don't know if I'll ever be able to find something as good again. I guess we'll see. To say nothing about leaving our cute house! I love this house! I've had two sweet babies here--and we've really worked hard to make this place cute--lots of painting, repairs, putting in new flooring, the ROOF! remodeling bathrooms, etc. I'm very attached to the house, and now we have to get it up for sale right away. I'm very stressed out thinking about all things I have to do immediately in order to get the house on the market as soon as possible. Trevor has agreed to start on December 1st. The plan is for Trevor to go to St. Louis then, but I'll stay here with the kids until the house sells. It will be hard, so I hope the house will sell quickly.
I have all these worries, but Trevor is really, really excited. The job will be interesting and challenging for him--combining instrument repair with computer work. A nice change--and a little higher pay as well. I really do feel good about it. I fell like Heavenly Father has blessed our family in so many ways recently. I'm just going to have to take things one day at a time during this stressful transitional time.

roof!

Well, it's done. Mostly anyway. We ran out of the ridge pieces that go at the very top , so we had to cover the last 8 feet with a tarp until we can get some more. But we finished at 9:00 p.m. and it started to rain around midnight. Last night my muscles were aching so badly that I could barely move. I took some ibuprofen and Trevor gave me a back rub, and I do feel a little better this morning. It was SO much work, but I will say that it is empowering to think that we could accomplish something like that.
We prayed before we started for Heavenly Father to bless us that we would be able to do the work in safety and that we would do it correctly, and we hAD SO many blessings throughout the week. The greatest blessing was that of our friends who helped us. The Lowe family spent 3 whole days up there helping us shovel shingles, and Chad helped Trevor to know how to do things correctly. Julie W. watched my kids for days on end, even when Ginny was sick, bless her heart. Her husband, Dave spent many hours on the roof with us, including in the crunch time last night when Trevor had to go to work, and the roof had to be done because of the impending rain. The Lowe family's neighbor, Nick, brought over some tools to help us, and then ended up staying for several hours to help us do things correctly. (He is a contractor by profession.) Then, on Monday, when it started to rain, he came back over with a friend to help us quickly get the tar paper up. On Saturday we had many, many people from the ward come over to help us for a few hours, and last night, just when we really needed it, Chris A. from the civil war band came over to help us finish up. My step-cousin Genny came over in a crunch time to watch the kids, and my new friend Wendy took the kids one day as well. It just seems like every time we had a crisis, someone would show up to help. I am just so grateful for so much service to be shared with our family. I know the Lord truly watches out for us, and has blessed us through these friends. I feel like the promise of the Lord about tithing has been truly fulfilled, where he promises that he will pour out a blessing and there will not be room enough to receive it. I'm just so grateful, to all of these sweet people, and to the Lord.

Now that it's raining, I guess we'll find out if we did it correctly! I think we did pretty well. I'm so glad we had some people who really know what they are doing to help us.
Max liked getting up on the roof. He helped pick up shingles and helped get toos, etc. He wanted to use the power tools, but of course we didn't think that was a very good idea. Emily helped on the roof some as well, and she helped watch her brothers and sisters and made dinner, etc. inside the house. We let Sam come up a couple of times just to see the view. That kid has no fear. It was definitely a family project.
Well, the book club is coming over here tonight, so I guess I better get to work cleaning up inside, now!

Civil War re-enactment

We just got back from a very lovely weekend in Princeton, IL where we attended a reenactment called Shadows of the Blue and Grey. It was very cold the first day, but pleasant today. The boys were especially excited to attend. Max brought his own money to purchase a confederate hat, so he can pretend to be a soldier from both sides of the conflict, depending on his mood. We all dressed up—which is fun. Emily has grown quite a bit. I’m not sure her dress will make it through another season. Trevor’s band played concerts throughout the day, so we listened, and walked through the camps. They had a scavenger hunt for kids to find things from the period, so we talked to all the reenactors and learned some new things. The kids were also thrilled that the hotel had a pool.
This weekend, Sam noticed the Abraham Lincoln re-enactor. He was absolutely fascinated, and said, “It’s really him, see his beard!” I explained that it was a man pretending to be Abraham Lincoln because Abraham Lincoln lived a long time ago but we wanted to remember the important things he did. Sam said, “Is he dead?” In confirmed that, yes, Abraham Lincoln died a long time ago. So then the next day, when Sam saw the same re-enactor in the camp parade, Sam turned to me very seriously and said, “Mom, I told you that Abraham Lincoln was NOT DEAD!” I attempted to explain again, but am not certain that the idea was understood.W

This and that

We're getting ready to do our roof. I got the building permit yesterday, so I guess we're committed. Sister Ruch is going to help us with ordering the materials through her contracting business, which will save us some money. I checked out some books from the library, so we could study up on how to do it. Yikes! I'm afraid we're getting in over our heads (literally), but I guess we'll just go for it and hope for the best! We'll have to have it inspected by the city when we're done, too, so I hope we'll do it right!
My classes started this week--I have two good-sized classes on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Nice kids and fairly participatory parents. Should be a good session.
I don't know why, but I just don't seem to be able to stick to my diet these days. I need to quit having "just one more treat" and get back to getting up early in the morning to exercise. I don't want to gain back all that I lost last year.
This weekend we're going to Princeton for a re-enactment. The kids can't wait. Max especially. Tomorrow the kids are out of school, so I think we are going to go to Funks grove to wander the nature trails and play at the nature center. Should be nice weather.
I had a really nice birthday on Tuesday. The kids brought me breakfast in bed, and Trevor had made me a card which he left on my dresser for me to find first thing in the morning. There was a package in the mail from Tutu and Papasan, and a card from a friend. Wendy came by later with a birthday card and a chocolate treat, my dad and nancy called to sing to me, and we made my favorite Hawaiian ice cream for dessert. Very nice birthday. 35! Yikes!

conference

General Conference was really good this weekend. There were lots of messages about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith. Especially Pres. Hinckleys challenge to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. I've been working on that, but am behind. I'll try to catch up though.
We're getting ready to do our roof next week. Yikes! I'm nervous about it, because we really don't have a clue what we are doing. I guess we'll figure it out!
Trevor has a job interview in St. Louis this week. I don't know what I think about that, either.

snowflakes

Sam's breakfast request the other day was for "Sugar snowflakes". I surmised he meant frosted cornflakes. Too cute!

ginny talking

So Ginny is finally talking. Which is great, and really darling, except now we're discovering how demanding she is! Cup! Cup! Juice Juice! Bubbles (candy) Pease (please) ! Swimsuit! (She has decided she doesn't want to wear clothes, just swimsuits.) No!
She's singing a few more songs--head shoulders knees and toes, jump little froggy, and the Say BOO song from veggie tales.
She has also learned how to say Sam's name, and Emily's name. We're still learning on getting her to say Max's name.
Also, she likes to color in little notebooks, then she'll proudly hold up her picture and say, "See!" In fact anytime she has done something she is proud of she says, "See!" It's really cute!

happy moments

I was talking with a friend about happiness, and how since that is the goal of our existence, why is it that I always feel more stressed out or worried than happy. The scriptures say that man is that we might have joy. They also say that keeping the commandments brings us joy. Now, I think I do a pretty good job of keeping the commandments and living the gospel--not perfect, but I do try pretty hard. So, I got thinking about the first commandment, to love the Lord with all my might, mind, and strength, and I think that I need to work on letting go of all of the busyness and stress of the world, and re-focus on spiritual things, taking care of my relationship with God and family. Also, my friend said that she thought it was important to take a few minutes to recognize our happy moments. So here goes--my top ten, recent happy moments.

1. Sam giving me a huge hug and saying, "I have the best mommy in the whole world!"
2. Talking to Max on the phone, and hearing him tell me all the details about how he had earned his Tae Kwon Do belt (camo). He was so proud and happy--and knew that he had worked hard for a goal and accomplished it.
3. Putting Ginny to bed, and have her snuggle her head on my shoulder as I sang to her.
4. Emily's happy chatter, telling me about her stories and computer game as I wash dishes.
5. Visiting my sisters in Provo--holding Nancy's sweet baby, and hugs and kisses from my nieces and nephew.
6. Coming home from my trip, to the hugs and kisses of my own kids. And, finding the house clean and an apple pie!
7. A nice conversation with Trevor, discussing the books we were both reading--about Joseph Smith and Abraham Lincoln
8. Attending the RS session of conference, and discussing the principles afterward with a friend.
9. Playing the piano--I was practicing a lot to play for a wedding. But it was really fun to spend a lot of time at the piano.
10. Playing games with the kids--lite bright, puzzles, and coloring with Sam and Ginny--reading with Max, uno and upwords with Emily.