March Comes in Like a Lion

A few weekends ago, David and I treated my entire family to dinner at Olive Garden for helping us move out of our house so quickly. We love their salad and Harbor has developed a taste for black olives, so it is a great place for us to take him.

My parents also recently hosted a birthday party for my grandmother, Joyce. We had ice cream and Italian Cream Cake. It is always fun to spend time with our regular "crew".  : )

Harbor is 16 months old and getting funnier every day. He really has a great sense of humor and a perfect belly-laugh once he gets tickled. We love entertaining him, though he usually ends up entertaining us. He is talking a bit more- saying "momma, bye-bye, fish, and good." He still does his animal sounds, but is also babbling a little bit more. He is very agressive- already kicking balls, stacking blocks, and separating toys in containers.

After looking through these pictures, it seems my parents hosted a plethora of events this past month! They also had the crew over last weekend for a Ski Trip 2010 meeting to discuss our upcoming visit to Keystone and Breckenridge. My dad is a lot ike me- type A personality. He had a typed itenerary for every person going with driving directions, times and departure cities, and even a finalized menu for every night at the cabin. He also had a DVD slideshow compiled to show everyone our driving routes and what we can expect to see along the way. With Harbor going, we have decided to drive and take it slow, taking two full days to get to our cabin. We are picking up Ashley in Denver at the airport and meeting up with two of the girls' friends, Blake and Chase, who are driving in from Omaha. We will have a crowd, but that, to me, is what makes skiing fun. Though we have no intentions of putting Harbor on skiis, we have ski goggles for him for some photo ops when we get there. David also bought me some new skiis this year, but i'm a bit hesitant to use them. David and my parents own their own skis and boots and I am the only one who rents every year. I know it is a pain for them to stop to let me rent when they have what they need loaded and ready to go. But the skiis David bought are really long and skinny- I prefer the wider, curved ski rental types. : ) I'm not sure if I will like the new skiis or not. Does any one else ski on the "real" skinny skis?

We have been spending lots of time playing at the park- there was one week we went four days in a row. Harbor is at the perfect age to slide and really enjoy it, but the weather has, unfortunately, turned off cold again.

Many of you have asked about our future plans for finding a new place to live. We are currently staying with my parents since Harbor already has a fully operable nursery and my mom keeps him for me anyway during the work week. The room that HW uses opens to a Jack-and-Jill bathroom and they have an empty guest room which ajoins. It is a great space for us. With Benchmark testing around the corner, this is the busiest time of year for me. We have decided to stay put and keep life simple with summer approaching, and when school starts back, make a decision about buying or building. David wants to build again, but I would love the convenience of finding something move-in ready. After the stress of moving and selling so quickly, we have mutually agreed to have a nice summer with Harbor and then look at our options. Thanks to all who have expressed interest in our little family. : )

April is our 9 year anniversary, May is the last full month of school, and then summer begins! Things are happy and content, and I am excited about flipflops, jean capris, big sunglasses, and breaking out the swim diapers. : ) 

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!  : )