2 weeks and 3 days later....

Well we finally made the big move to Cincinnati 2 weeks and 3 days ago. As far as moves go, it went really smoothly. The kids were super, the actual movers were fantastic, and the new house is great. We still have a LOT of unpacking and picture hanging to do before the house looks its best, but it definitely feels like home.

Jake has adjusted to his new school. He says that he loves his new teacher and has made lots of friends. He has a lot more homework than he did in Dexter, but he only really fights me on Sunday nights to get it done. They have weekly spelling tests, an upcoming play, and a report on Alligators due the beginning of May. Sometimes it seems like a lot for a 1st grader, but then I see how quick he gets through it and I realize its just a lot for me to keep track of and just the right amount for him to do.

Brenden has made a few new friends. Our neighbors have 4 girls and their 6 year old, Annie, comes by daily to see if Brenden wants to play. They have had a lot of fun playing and I think it makes Brenden feel good to have someone come to the house for him instead of Jake each day. There is also a boy, Connor, that lives very close that will be in Kindergarten in the fall that Brenden has played with a few times. He also enjoys having his quiet time and playing with the other neighbor girls.

Rylan is also making friends. In the 4 girls next door, Greta is 17 months and Avery will be 3 at the end of May (the 4th, Ella, is 7 and in 1st grade at Jake's school but not in the same class). Rylan has been having a blast going down to their house to play outside. They have tons of outside toys like scooters, cars, slides, etc. and Rylan has loved all of them. She is also learning a lot more about sharing. I have to say so far she is not a fan. She gets really upset when one of the other girls goes after whatever Rylan has her  eye on, we've seen more than our fair share of tantrums, but in the long run its good for her to be learning how to play with other children.

Chris has been traveling tons. Since moving here he has had to go back to Michigan 4 times for either work or moving stuff. He has spent as much time at our old house as he has at the new house. And when he is home its been lots of work getting the house in order. He hasn't had much time to just take it all in and enjoy. He does really like the house, but until the beginning of May he's not going to have much chance to enjoy it.

And for me. I LOVE the house and have felt at home since day one. I feel comfortable getting around the area and I haven't had any trouble finding things outside of Anderson. I had an interview at a local country club and am waiting to hear back. I have also talked with another coach in the area about coaching opportunities with year round programs. I've enjoyed my small break, but it would be nice to find something to get me out a bit and to make some money since I'm pretty broke at the moment :)

And here are LOTS of pictures of the house with our stuff - Please don't mind all the messes and boxes, we just moved in for pete's sake! ;)

The House!

 The Neighbors down the hill - They have 4 girls, 7, 6, almost 3, and 17 months and their parents own 25-30 acres of woods behind them so we don't have to worry about new houses going in!

 

 The Entry Way

To the Right of the Entry is the Dining Room - I eventually want to take off the lower wallpaper and repaint the entire room

To the Left of the Entry is the Formal Living Room - We are currently using this as Chris's office and we eventually want to make it a library/sitting room - Lots still to unpack in here!

Through the Living room is the Family Room - We still need to hook up our 2nd TV on the shelf to the right of the Fireplace TV and decide what else we will do on the shelving, but the rest is set and we're loving it

Kitchen - The cabinets are new, but we are going to update the appliances SOON and eventually change the corian counters to granite, but that will have to wait awhile most likely.

1/2 Bath off the Kitchen and Mudroom/Laundry Room - Isn't the bath gorgeous? ;) No immediate plans for that, but likely to remove wallpaper and paint. Mudroom/Laundry room we're planning to build in cubbies/lockers on the right wall and put in storage and a bench on the left wall. You can't see it, but there is a door off the mudroom that leads out to the deck.

Heading upstairs - Exciting, huh?

Jake's Room - We had it painted Green when we moved in and gave him our old guest bed and my old dresser, such a big boy room!

 Brenden's Room - We had wallpaper removed and the room painted Blue before we moved in. Brenden got to keep the Bunk bed and got the desk from our office in our old house.

Rylan's Room - There is a door that joins it to the Master Bedroom that we will eventually fill in and make a bigger closet, but thought it might be good to have for now if we have another baby. We have a twin bed set up for Rylan, but she's still in the crib for now.

Kids Bathroom - it had newspaper wallpaper and was SO dark so we had it painted before we moved in and hopefully we'll be able to replace the vanity for a 2 sink vanity at some point, thinking with 3 or 4 kids it'll be nice to have an extra sink.

 Master Bedroom and Bathroom - We are replacing the ceiling fan and will close off the door to Rylan's room as I mentioned, but that's it for these rooms. I did get new dressers and bedside tables for Chris and I from Ikea - Nothing but the best for us! :)

Basement - Lots of room and nothing we have to do, YAY!

Guest room/nook in Basement - Its not closed off and its small, but its off to the left away from the other stuff in the basement and there's a half bath behind the bar so at least anyone staying down there has a toilet and sink.I like to think it's cozy :)

 Our beautiful outside! 2 decks, a hot tub, and TREES EVERY DIRECTION!

 So there you have it, Home Sweet Home! Hope you like it as much as we do!

Closing Time

Tomorrow is our closing date for our house here in Michigan and next Monday, March 26th, will be our closing on our new home in Cincinnati.

I'm sad to be saying goodbye to our home here, but happy to finally be at the end of this long process and looking forward to starting a new chapter for our family in Cincinnati. To back track a little, we did end up with Plan B from my last post. The potential major problems turned out to be one minor problem that will be fixed soon - something about flashing with the deck to prevent water from coming into the basement. I am very happy with Plan B - as one dear friend said, the B must be for better :)

Everything has been moving ahead steadily. We have mentally been deciding where everything will go and what we can bring and what we can leave behind. I have become intimate friends with Craigslist in an attempt to sell some of the things we won't need anymore. The biggest hurdle seems to be finding a new home for our pool table, so if you know anyone interested PLEASE let me know!

We have our movers scheduled to arrive here on April 4th and unload in Cincinnati the morning of April 6th. We aren't able to take possession of our house until April 5th so we will have one night in Michigan on the floor and one night in Cincinnati on the floor, it should be interesting with the kids! At least we have the Pack n' Play for Rylan to sleep in, I can't imagine trying to get her to sleep on the floor!

And here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for....Pictures of  Plan B! 

The Front

Basement

Pool Table will stay - why we need to get rid of the one we already have!

        

 Family Room 

Planning to take out the wall behind the love seat that separates the family room from the Kitchen

 Kitchen

Living Room and Dining Room 

For the time being, the Living Room will be Chris's office, there are sliding french doors that we will close to separate the rooms until Chris gets an office in Cincinnati

Master Bedroom and Bathroom

 Decks

Walk out to the lower deck from  Basement

Upper decks walk out from Kitchen and Mudroom

So that's we have so far. Obviously these are pictures from the previous owners, when we get our stuff in and more settled I'm sure I'll add more. We are very excited and can't wait to be there!

The New Home Update

So Chris and I went down to Cincinnati two weekends ago to find our perfect house. We had 13 houses scheduled to look at and saw 10 of them in one day. Luckily, that was all we needed to see. We found not one, but two houses we would be very happy with.

This was choice #1. It is PERFECT. It has 4 bedrooms upstairs, a completely remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, and finished basement. The yard is tiered and surrounded by woods. The owners accepted our offer on the contingency that their Short Sale they were trying to buy got its final bank approval. It was a done deal...until it wasn't. 

The sellers were doing everything they could to get the bank's final signature, they had their dream home in their grasp and so did we. After 3 days of getting the run around we finally got the word that the owner's of the short sale had completely stripped the house - cabinets, appliances, doors, etc. had all been taken. And then the bank had the nerve to ask for more money than they had originally approved. So the buyer's (our sellers) walked. And I can't blame them. But since they were only moving because their dream opportunity had arisen they decided to take their house off the market and we were on to plan b.

Plan B is on the same street, just off on a private drive with 2 other houses behind the main street. It is the EXACT same floor plan as the first house, but with obvious differences in what has been updated and how it has been updated. The main differences are that kitchen has been updated, but not fully remodeled, the only bathroom that has been updated is the master (nice new tub for me - YAY!) And although the basement has been updated and finished, it does not have a spare bedroom like the first house had.

We are very happy that this house was still available and we know it has a lot of potential after seeing what our first choice looked like. We just know that it'll take a bit longer, and some money, before it'll be just the way we want it. But some of the fun of buying a new house is putting your own stamp on it.

Chris, the kids, and I all went down today for the inspection. It was quite a long day, but I think very worthwhile in the end. The kids got a chance to see where were moving so now they have a picture in their minds when we talk about the move. I got a chance to refresh my memory and get a better feel for what we could leave behind in the move and see just what we want to get done in the future. We also had a few contractors out to go through the house to give us bids on a few projects we want done soon. We don't think we'll be able to do all three projects we had bid, but it'll be good to know how close or far off it'll be to do them all. 

The inspection wasn't perfect so this still isn't a done deal. There were 2 possible major issues that we need to get more information about and then negotiate with the owners. If they agree to whatever needs to be done then we should be fine and we're hoping to know more and have it all settled by the end of the week or early next week at the very latest.

It has all been very crazy and stressful, but Chris and I are confident that no matter what happens it'll all be as it's supposed to be whether its with this house or another house. Fingers crossed that it will be this house though ;)

The Birthday Boys

Jake turned 7 on January 23rd and Brenden turned 5 on February 1st, where does the time go? For some reason their ages now make them seem so much older. Like somehow going from 6 to 7 and 4 to 5 there's some magical transformation from little boy to young man. I'm sure a big part of it is that by the fall both boys will be in school. Whatever it is, they both seem so grown up and its making this momma a little sad.

Both boys had very nice birthdays that lasted much more than just the one day. Since Jake's Birthday fell on a Monday he had 5 friends over for his "party" on Saturday before. I say "party" because it wasn't much of a big deal. Jake only wanted 2 friends from school and 2 friends that live on our street to come over. The boys had pizza and brownies, played the wii, and played with Jake's new toys in the basement until it was time for everyone to go home. Jake had a wonderful time.
                                                                          

On Sunday Jake got to continue his celebration by spending some time at my dad's house for lunch, presents, and cake. Later we had my dad, brother (he was in town), Aunt, and Uncle over for cake. We all sang Happy Birthday and enjoyed Jake's cake. I also made Jake's favorite meal, chicken picatta, for dinner.

And his celebration finally came to a close on Monday on his actual birthday. We had hoped to bring a treat in for school, but the school has recently changed its policy to not allow outside treats, but Rylan and I were invited to come in to read a story to Jake's class and answer questions about Jake. It was very nice to see Jake in his class and I think he enjoyed having us there. After school he got to open his presents from us and my mom. We also skyped with my mom and talked with Chris and Grandman (Chris'sdad) on the phone. Unfortunately, Chris had to leave Saturday until Wednesday for work. 

Brenden can have a hard time waiting for his birthday with Jake's being only 9 days before his. I get a lot of "is it my birthday, yet? Is it tomorrow? The next day?" And this year was no different. However, even though his birthday could not possibly come soon enough he at least had his very first birthday party to look forward to that would be 5 days before his actual birthday.

Long ago, Chris and I decided not to have birthday parties for the kids until they turned 5. It seemed like 5 was something of milestone and we didn't feel like we needed to go crazy with parties every year when they didn't have a lot of friends. So with Brenden turning 5 this year it was time for his first real birthday party with friends and all of the hoopla. We decided to rent out Xtreme Bounce Zone, which I'm sure there's a variation of these everywhere. Anyway, as the name suggests its all giant inflatable bounce things and we invited Brenden's friends from DK. He had about 10-15 kids from class come and they had a blast. They bounced for about an hour and a half and then we did pizza, cupcakes, and presents. Brenden had a great time and it was so nice to see my middle child get to be the center of attention for once :)

Brenden got to continue his birthday celebration through the week with presents and cake on Wednesday for his actual birthday. We also made brownies to take into DK to share and celebrate with his class. He was so happy that he got to take the first bite since it was his birthday - he had been talking about this for what seemed like weeks. And like Jake, he also got to go to my dad's house for a few hours on Saturday for lunch, cake, and more presents. It was a very nice birthday week for the B Man.

                                                       Brenden Bouncing it up at his party

                         Rylan enjoying the bounce zone as well, she wouldn't stop going even for a picture!

And now I am very happy to be done with cakes and presents for a LONG time. Over the past 2 weeks we've had 2 chocolate cakes, brownies, cupcakes, candy, you name it in the house and my back side has had enough! And as much as I love seeing the looks on the boys faces when they get new presents, I am SO ready for the present explosion that occurs for a month from Christmas to their birthdays to finally end.