Busy Bee

Aside from moving and packing, I have been filling a few orders. I made 15 custom black gate-fold cards with a centered middle pocket for a local middle school cheerleading squad. Each one included a vellum "end of year" newsletter over a black and white photo and each girl's name written in gold. They turned out really fun and I hope they will see them and think of the fun times they had this school year. 

I also recently shipped a finished tile to a fellow blogger who has a new baby girl on the way! Her bedding was the "Spring Bouquet" line from Pottery Barn- super girly and sweet!

I've been spending as much time as possible with my little fella', Harbor. As of today, he is two weeks paci' free. He is so incredibly laid back that I haven't had a rough night with him yet. He usually "talks" to himself for a few minutes before falling asleep- I feel very blessed that it was not a huge fight to break him.

My parents graciously kept little Harbor for us on Valentine's Day night so we could spend a few hours alone together. We did a little shopping at Big Lots (exciting, I know!!) and then saw Sherlock Holmes. It was nice to reconnect and get some time to really talk and listen to what is going on in each other's lives.

Harbor is doing really well. A few of you know that he had a little surgical procedure on the 10th of this month- they discovered he was a bit tongue tied and we made the decision to have it clipped. He is very quiet by nature and not much of a talker at all. They think he may start to babble a bit more now that his tongue has some more range of movement. He is proudly sticking it out every chance he gets, which is a new trick. : ) As a parent, you always want to do all you can to ensure your child's success as they grow older. Being a parent is not always easy, but it is always a reward and blessing.

We are just plugging along here. I am knee deep in parent teacher conferences this week and am looking forward to Spring Break. David is as busy as ever and we are so thankful to have good jobs in this unstable economy. I think we all know or know "of" people who have lost their jobs or foreclosed on their homes. We should all hit our knees in a spirit of Thanksgiving to have a roof over our head, food in our pantries, and families who love us. Life is about the simple things. I hope you have taken the time to count your blessings! The news on television can be so depressing sometimes. I prefer to rock my baby and read "Goodnight Gorilla."  : )  Have a great weekend!

Exciting Times

In 2007, David and I wrapped up construction on our custom built home. It took us nine months to build and we feel so blessed to have been able to build our "dream" house. At the time, I was in my 3rd year of teaching, and David was wrapping up his senior year as an Industrial Engineer. Life was busy.

This past November, we made the decision to put our house for sale by owner. In this housing market, we know most homes in our price range stay on the market for upwards of a year, if not longer. Though we love our home, we just felt as though God was nudging us to list. We decided, however, to strictly list by owner and not use a realtor. Really, we just trusted that if God wanted it to sell, it would. We felt no urgency to sell in any time frame.

Eight weeks later, we had our first showing on New Year's Eve. Within days we accepted a full appraisal offer. We have been really blessed to have bought (and built) three homes and have been able to sell them all by owner to the first family who has looked at them. This was no excpetion. The family was moving in from out of state and needed to be in quicky. With four children and a father working as a local pharamisict, making a very long commute each week to Louisianna, we knew we needed to pack quickly. And we did! We completely packed and moved out of our home in only one week. How we did this, I am still not sure. Neither of us took a single day off from work. With a 15 month old son, it took some creative scheduling. The family moved in immediately and rented from us for two weeks at a prorate while we waited to close.

Moving from a home you built and designed from the ground up is a bit emotional. It feels different knowing that before you came, it was only a patch of land with a few trees. We are, however, looking forward to finding a new place to live (and decorate!!)

Today was our closing date. We are very excited about our future, though, to be quite honest, we are unsure of what lies ahead. We are considering building again and have a floorplan ready to go.... but, with the market flooded with great investments, we are also considering buying. Our primary reason for selling is mainly due to location. When we built, David was still in school, and now that he is settled in a career, his 50 minute commute is taking a toll on our family time. We are hopeful that God will reveal His perfect plan and work all things out according to His timing.

I am teaching tomorrow, which is Saturday. Our district is working two Saturdays AND two days of Spring Break due to all the snow we have received. I am, fortunately, approved to take a full Spring Break due to a previous planned ski trip we are taking as a family. I look forward to a little R&R in the mountains with all the hustle and bustle of these last few weeks. My closest friends know that I have been a hard lady to track down with all that has been on my plate! 

Have a great weekend! I hope to keep in touch a bit better now that I can find my own toothbrush!  : )

Where Do You Store Christmas?

When we built our home, we knew that we could never have enough storage! We are so happy to have a room in our basement off of our garage to hold all of our goodies! Now that Christmas is put away, I am dreaming of the coming summer and warm, late night walks.  : ) My storage room is not organized perfectly, but it works really well for us. I label all of my boxes and I can easily find what I want when I need it.

A Stitch in Time

It was just a stitch in time, to make and create a little Christmas shirt for my son, but in my heart, all the wonderful memories of this holiday season will live forever.

And Harbor William wore it on the eve of Christmas Eve....

And then we hurried and washed it and he wore it to my dad's side of the family for Christmas....

And we stayed up late washing and drying it for David's family....

And did a quick load of laundry for the next morning for my family...

That shirt has now been cleaned, ironed, and tucked away into Harbor's hopechest with a little handwritten letter from me telling him just how important he was to us this Christmas season. I always save my favorite outfits of his from every season as he outgrows. I iron them and put them away in his hopechest with little notes explaining how and what I felt during whatever occasion we were celebrating.  I want him to know that in my memories, when I envision Christmas 2009, that little shirt will always represent so many good and wonderful things- family being one of them!