Good Morning Good Friday

Everyone woke up with new attitudes. It's still early, but I hope to have a new foundation of respect established. We've got a full week at home together. My goal, repair the frustrations, relax and enjoy our time together.

Holy Thursday Struggle

Today started out alright, average. I felt tested as the day went on. Big test with house hunting. More to come when the kids came home. They were so thrilled and happy, excited for spring break. I really wanted us all to attend mass. Our church was having a pot luck before mass. We never get to go together. N is always at work and misses out. Tonight was a great opportunity to attend as a family. I am happy to report we made it. Eight didn't want to go. I feel I've failed him. Tonight, I felt like I failed all each of them. They were all tired, in tears at bedtime. No one wanted to go to bed. 9:30 and it's just now quiet. What a struggle. Overtired. We were up at 5am. Makes for a long day. I can't help but think how much easier it would be to be with my family. I thought I'd put all this behind me. I am trying so hard and it all comes back to being alone. House hunting is at a halt. The falcon house won't work out, nor will the doll house. There isn't anything meeting our criteria out there now. I feel fine about it. The right house will come. It's a big decision, one I want done right. I will continue to plug away at making believers out of my children. Each week I take them to mass, alone. One of these days they will get it. I think Seven has and does, but in his own way. I'm not so sure about Eight. Five doesn't. Baby Girl is all about exploring. I continue to carry my cross. All that I have, all that I offer.

Monday is MY day

Dragging my feet today. Baby Girl is ready to go back to bed, I am too. Alas, that is something I never do. On with the day! This first cup of coffee better get me on go. We looked at 5 houses yesterday. The first was fancy, small and over priced. The second was old, smelly and had room for all the toys we could wish for. The fourth and fifth were brand new. Yes, wonderful and would have been perfect if not for the location. One was too small, never would have considered it. The other was great and really had me thinking. The location is next to a busy highway. It's a decent distance to the highway with a carpet store in between. They created a big hill for sound barrier. I loved the house, but it will be the 2nd house into a new subdivision. That means all the traffic for the million homes they are going to build, would drive right past our house. I don't want to be on such a busy corner/street. As tempting as it was, I don't think so. Just didn't convince me when there are great houses in our current neighborhood. The last house is one we looked at last year. N is in love. Never did I think he'd want it more than me, but I believe that is the case. It's great. It's beautiful. All the things that bugged him last year no longer do. I wish the bedrooms were bigger, eat in kitchen instead of dining room and more walk in closets. These are all things I can live with/without. The kitchen is beautiful with 4 stools at the bar. Kids can eat there on a daily basis. The formal dining isn't too formal, it will be fine. Now on to paper work. We try to agree on a price and we'll see how that goes. Seven says it looks too much like a doll house. It has some great additions to the front making it unique. There is also a great playground and shed N is thrilled to have. If this one doesn't work, I'd like the other house in the neighborhood. The other is true to our town with the school colors, white with green shutters. I would love this one too, but the other is more move in ready. This Falcon house would need paint all upstairs, a good carpet steam clean as they have a dog and cat. I had to take a zyrtec after being in there. The yard doesn't have a privacy fence, just a short, white picket fence. N wasn't crazy about all the neighbors being right there and no privacy. I didn't mind. No extra parking. All walk in closets. Eat in kitchen. Finished basement. Only three bedrooms. We will see how it works out. I am remarkably calm about it and not worried if it falls through. Why you might ask? Not sure. I just have faith that the right house will work out without fretting over everything. I learned this a very long time ago. Let go, give it all to the Lord. He'll work it out for us and it will be fine. Of course, I am not the one on the phone with the seller, mortgage company, getting insurance quotes, banks, realtors, etc. N has been doing all of that and is rather stressed out over it. Last night we talked to Daffodil and that really put him at ease about the entire situation. He asked if I'd call her. Then five minutes later he asked if I got in touch with her yet. So I gave her a call. He was pacing. I put her on speaker and he was able to explain his concerns. We value her opinion and it helped tremendously to talk to her. We will see where this for sale by owner takes us. We are ready. We know what we want. We've been keeping an eye on things for over a year. It's time. I love Mondays. It's just Baby Girl and I. Today we are supposed to start pricing garage sale stuff. It's 9 and I still haven't been in the shower. Our partner is coming to price in 30 minutes. Better get a move on.

Palm Sunday and Open Houses

The house situation is growing. We're looking at two homes, both for sale by owner. We aren't thrilled with the realtor the mortgage company assigned us and will probably seek help elsewhere. Our realtor in TX has been fantastic at helping us out. She answers all our questions and responds immediately. Both houses are on bird named streets, go figure. Just continuing with our theme I guess. Both are original owners, one the actual builder. House 1 we looked at last year. It was beautiful then and I am sure is still beautiful now. It has a big kitchen, nice size living room and formal dining area. We don't really need a formal dining area, but that is the only place for a table. The kitchen has more cabinets than I could dream for, a large island and bar with 4 or 5 stools. Really nice! Real cherry wood floors, new carpet in the living room. Unfinished basement is not so great, but I guess it will be ok. Half bath on the main floor, large pantry and laundry on the way to the garage. Upstairs are three bedrooms, two baths and a bonus room over the garage. I think to start we would maybe continue with a boy room and girl room, leaving the bonus room for a playroom. Eventually I would put boys in the bonus room, give each girl their own room and finish the basement for a play room. We will see. Just ideas. House 2 has a huge living room and kitchen. I loved them! Ceramic tile kitchen, island, top notch dish washer and new paint. Nice half bath and separate laundry room. Finished basement with large family room. Its in an L shape. The back part of the L could be finished off to make another bedroom. Nice big room for storage. Upstairs no rooms were painted. Master was decent size with small full bath. One kid room was bigger than the other, but had a smaller walk in closet. All bedrooms had walk in closets. The smaller bedroom had a huge closet. I think I would put the boys in their and they could have a Lego room in their closet. It fits a dresser and much more! Time is up. Gotta get the troops ready for church. We're going to 4 open houses today, if we can fit them all in and if N gets off work early. Should be interesting.

Sleeplessness again

Fever time. Low grade, and only later during the day or evening, yuk. Poor Baby Girl. Even though she was sick, she was still pleasant and happy. Two sleepless nights for me. Last night was much better. I think she's on the mend. Hopefully tonight will be back to normal. We're nearly done with our second set of bunk beds in our house. N has been working on them. I painted yesterday and am almost finished. He made trundles to go under the beds. Five is so excited. She doesn't know it yet, but I have new bedding for her new beds! I can't wait to give them to her. They are blue, purple and lime green, just the colors she wanted. Fate stepped in by directing me to two comforters on clearance for $21. Just the right colors and price. We hung her new pictures and letters. We just need to finish the beds, set them up and we will have a new girl room! Just in time for my family to come for a visit. We are very excited for their arrival in April. Seven will make his first holy communion and confirmation. Of all my kids, he is really prepared for these sacraments. Well, in some ways, others I tend to wonder. I struggle with him paying attention to mass during the consecration. Other than that, the Holy Spirit is already with him. We finished his booklet this weekend. He knew all the answers before we even read the sheets. "Oh Zachaieus, I know Zachaieus." I really enjoyed his prep lessons and look forward to his big days. On another note, we're meeting with a Realtor on Wednesday to look at 4 houses. Pretty exciting for us. It's taken us awhile to prepare for purchasing another home. We'll see how it goes. There are around 8 total we'd like to look at. As always, it's difficult to determine needs and wants. I think we need 4 bedrooms and 2 full baths minimum. Could one bedroom be in the basement, certainly. Which may be the case as there are not too many 4 bedroom houses for sale in our area and price range. Two happen to be two streets down from where we are now. I can see their rooftops from our current living room window. Those are the two I think I am most interested in. As silly as it may be, I'd really like to stay on this side of town. That isn't a need, but a want. I am flexible. I'd also like to have city water. Not that it is so great, but I just don't care for well water. We also live down river from a major chemical company. Who knows whats in the ground around here. N wants land and space. I'm afraid he'll have to compromise with that this time around. Lots with land are rare around here, especially in our price range. I'd also like to stay closer to town. The district spreads out, quite far south. I don't want to worry about a long bus ride. That will just lead to me taking them in instead. I love that bus that comes right to our driveway and safely takes my children to school. I don't want to be on a busy road. I don't want to be on the river. We want a newer home, nothing older than us. N has his eyes set on one with three garages. It's across the river. Daisy was thrilled to hear about it. There was a house on her road a few months ago, I would have moved right into that house. We were not quite ready then and missed that sale. We are also looking at who the builder of our new house may have been. We haven't been too impressed with some of the builders around here and wouldn't want to buy one of their homes. Time is up. Better get lunches made, breakfast on the table and so begins another day. I have a parent teacher conference with Fives teacher this morning. Baby Girl has been asleep since 4am. Looking forward to a great day with my children.

Seven

Oh my dear Seven, how his comments lately have made me smile. It started with N's dad's birthday gift. I made a gift that showed all the birthdays in the family. Turns out, October is the only month with no birthday. My kids were baffled by this. Seven then gets the idea that we could get a baby in October. I simply say, oh no. We are done getting babies at our house. He looks at me so serious and says "I'm gonna pray for another baby." Lord help me, he's working against me! On my birthday, he was determined to make it special, not like any other day. I was beginning to load the dishwasher when he raced over to me and said "Show me how to do it. Do the spoons go up or down?" He didn't want me loading the DW on my birthday. I also asked them to clean up all of the little things off of the living room floor. He looked at me and said "You are going to vacuum? Today? Make dad do it." At the end of the day, he asked multiple times if I had a great birthday. I did. I feel so blessed to have such a great boy. We've had our share of frustrations, but in the end I think he's on the right track.

Haven't seen you in awhile

Not sure what is the root of my lack for blogging lately. Could it be that Baby Girl is still giving me a hard time sleeping? Not sure. I just do not have the motivation. I had her under control, and then she got sick. I feel like I'm starting all over again. Exhausting. I put the second coat of varnish on our second set of bunk beds. These do not come apart. We should have them in the girl room in no time! I am so very excited. Just two more boards to cut and varnish. I scored two matching comforters for them last week. I wasn't planning on purchasing bedding. Grandma keeps us up to date with nice, new blankets. These were the exact colors we were looking for. We have a blue dresser and lime green curtains. She loves purple and these contained all the colors we needed. To make it even more of a bonus, they were marked down from $32.95 to $21! I was able to get one for each bunk. She still doesn't know about them yet. I figured when we put the beds together, then I would pull them out. G and G are coming in one month. We are very excited for their arrival, but I have so much to do before that. Speaking of, guess I better get started. I'm trying to wrap up projects this weekend. The bunk beds being number one on the list.

Now that the dust has settled....

The small town drama has ceased for now. On to bigger and better things. Today was slightly rough as it began at 5am. Yesterday I found myself taking a nearly 2 hr nap. I rarely nap, let alone for 2 hours! Baby Girl is great. She's in to everything. She's gone from pulling the ziplocs out of the drawer to carrying cups around the house. I find bowls in the living room. Yesterday she actually put a cup back! She's also learning about her diaper. Twice I've caught her with a new diaper when she needed it. She would open and close the diaper, then stair between her legs in awe of how to make this work. She's a magnet for the stairs anytime there is an opportunity. Her vocabulary is growing. She says da da, mama and hi. She will waive bye. Her speed is increasing as well. At Sams the other day, she kept the same pace as an old man pushing a cart on the way out. Today we had lunch at the school. She loves the kids. Last night she came to RE. She walked the halls peaking in windows, thrilled they were at her level and she could see more kids. She's loving my friends more and more every day. She brings happiness everywhere she goes. What ever would we do without her.