baking green, with a cute helper

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I have not before done any cooking or baking projects with Wesley, but this week we needed something to do and he was all for it. It was a blast! He was a great helper. I love this cute kid.















The homemade frosting was DIVINE. It tasted SO GOOD and it was cool to know that we actually made it. Yay!

The Lucky Charms idea was so fun and came from Pinterest, of course. I will say, if you're going to do this at your house, you need to eat the cupcakes immediately, within a day. The cereal and marshmallows get soggy if they sit for too long. I'm not sure why, but it was gross. I actually scraped the toppings off and re-finished the cupcakes that we had around for a few days.

But overall, the cereal gives it an awesome crunch! I loved it!

I must also mention today is a BIG DAY in our house because it is Shane's birthday!! YAY! Happy birthday! We are celebrating by *gulp* going to a funeral and later Claim Jumper. I didn't buy him any gifts or make any cake (besides the aforementioned cupcakes, which were shared this week and are already gone). When we get into our new house, I told him he could get a Lazy Boy, so that is a great gift. Plus, um, he got a new car last month. Soooo I say he is all gifted out.

We love you Shane! Shamrock pancakes for breakfast anyone?

laurel, 3 months

It's been three months since this sweetie pie entered our life. She's amazing! I was just holding her and visiting with a friend, and she just fell asleep in my arms like a peaceful angel. This is a low-maintenance kid! I am blessed.

We are SO IN LOVE with Laurel. She is absolutely wonderful. My favorite parts are the smiles, the coos, and the 6- to 8-hour stretches of sleep at night! She even falls asleep on her own sometimes, wow. Girlie is a ROCK STAR. She's still nursing like a champ, sporting gorgeous chubby little cheeks. I love to hear her talk; I think she surprises herself when she makes noises. It's adorable.

To prove to you how wonderful it is, here is a video:



We have a lot of trouble in the car. She is usually mild mannered and protests very briefly when she has a problem, but if we are in the car and she is the teeniest bit annoyed at something, she goes nuts. Not thrilled. Poor lady. When I had one kid, I'd pull over and nurse in the parking lot. Now that I have two, I just pray for green lights so I can get home quicker.... and she cries. It's a bummer. Managing the disparate schedules of both kids is the toughest part about being a mother of two. I'm not yet the multi-tasking champion I thought I was.

Wesley is pretty hands off. The one thing he has mastered is saying her name. His first attempts sounded more like "rural," but now he really says Laurel. He's a sweet big brother who is quick to give his baby sister a pacifier :-)

Dressing her in cutesy girl clothes is awesome. Train shirts and dinosaur sleepers are fun, but there is nothing like flowery onesies and denim jumpers (Tommy Hilfiger, to boot!). Plus the headbands, shoes, tights with ruffles on the butt... ooh baby. Having a daughter is wonderful.

I'm finding I'm not taking nearly as many pictures as I should be. Doh! Slipping already!! I must be better. I need to document all the cute clothes, if anything!

My cool friend Jayne gave me a terrific baby shower gift -- a set of 12 onesies with ladybugs on them. They are for Laurel's monthly pictures, and the count of ladybugs on the onesies match her age! So cute! So far we've just had a few photo shoots....







I can't decide if I should reshoot the 3-month pictures so it's a full body shot? I was thinking I wanted them all to look a little bit different, but maybe not? Thoughts? She's definitely filling out in her cheeks huh!? LOVE that girl! And her eyes are so wide.

I can't believe she is 3 months old already.... and I hear her! Better run and get her from the crib!

house house house!

Guess what? We finally have a permanent place to live.

Our tale begins over the summer. Our realtor showed me a house, but I was skeptical at first since I didn't think I liked the neighborhood. However, when I went inside, I really liked it. I decided we needed to bring Shane back so he could see it for himself. It was in our price range and really nice. The second time we went, I liked it even more. Then it dawned on me that, no, I LOVED it, I really wanted this house. It was four bedrooms on a nice cul-de-sac. Two full baths upstairs, an island in the kitchen, updated quartz countertops, a great kitchen pantry, etc. LOTS of great ergonomic things for the Mom of the family. I'd be happy.

I drove by the house a bunch of times and even found a neighbor to talk to! He pointed out all the houses on the street and said who had the best lawn, who was really quiet, who threw wild Mexican parties every so often, who had kids. He was the nicest guy.

The downsides were that the house backed up against a busy street, well, semi-busy. You could hear cars buzzing by in the backyard. Hmmm. Plus, we also knew the siding on the house was a junky kind, and we'd for sure need to replace it eventually. The neighbor talked about living next to the street and maintaining the siding, as well. Behind his house, in fact, was a bus stop! Talk about busy.

We were naive and aggressive at that point, and we thought the seller was asking too much. We did our research and found out she bought it at auction several months before and put a buncha money into it. Our stipulations at first, in this house-hunting journey, were that Shane never wanted to do any work ever. The house we were to buy had to cosmetically and physically be perfect in every. single. way. And, we had to get it for a rock-bottom price because it was a buyer's market, right?

We quickly learned our parameters were unrealistic. We bid on a bunch of houses and lost them all, because we just didn't know what was going on. So in the context of this house I loved, even though we thought that investor was charging too much, she was probably right on for the neighborhood and state of the home. The house was also a regular sale (not a foreclosure), which is a good thing. Houses that are regular sales go for a small premium since dealing with banks is a headache.

PLUS, we had not yet sold our condo yet. The cards were stacked against us... we weren't in the position to buy this house over the summer. I loved it, I really did, but it wasn't meant to be. By the time our condo had an offer, someone else had bought the house. The story was over.

Or was it?

Basically, I compare every house to that house. That was the one I wanted, the one that "got away." Shane teases me though, because yes, it had issues. Backing up to a busy street? Not cool. Crappy siding? Less cool.

Fast forward to October, when we got an offer on our condo. We moved into a rental home in November and the condo sale closed in December. YAY. House hunting in January was depressing. There was not a lot on the market. After a particularly disappointing real estate viewing, I demanded that Shane drive by that house I loved. I wanted to make sure someone actually lived there. Maybe no one did and it was really still for sale and we could magically buy it. I was delusional.

Or was I? ...

When we got there, sure enough a car was in the driveway and the lights were on. Boo. But what else did we see? Just across the street a For Sale sign was up. On the same exact house, just in another spot. You could see from the layout of the home that it was identical in every way to the house I had wanted. We called up our realtor to inquire. Why hadn't he sent us this house? What was the story?



Well. It wasn't for sale yet. The sign and keybox were up, but it wasn't officially listed yet. It was a foreclosure, a Fannie Mae property. I was super excited! I imagined it would be listed and we'd offer on it immediately and no one could beat us out (since that had happened to us several times before already. Seriously we've offered on like 10 places by now).

Our realtor came over and let us in. The place looked decent. The countertops hadn't been updated like the last house, the carpet was in decent shape but not pristine, and there were assorted other goofy quirks per its foreclosure status (dirty grouting, a few broken windows, etc.). It was manageable. We had changed our position through this real estate buying journey and realized that it would be OK to buy a house less updated cosmetically. Since I knew that was the new approach (that maybe one day we could put in our own granite countertops), I was pleased with what we saw. The house is in good shape, really.

And it didn't back up to the busy street! It was a better house by all definitions!

We were so giddy, we went to the house like THREE TIMES before it even went on the market. We went once, and once our realtor went and did a pre-inspection for us, taking pictures of the crawl space and stuff. Finally, we took my dad and father-in-law when they were all here for Laurel's blessing. Dad had ideas on how to fix a few drainage issues, plus he looked at the breaker box which is important (*wink*). Dad is a professional electrician so I won't worry about that kinda stuff. If he flies to Seattle and I make him install a few ceiling fans he can write the trip off as a business expense! Haha. Anyway, we were definitely interested. We took lots of pictures and exerted a good reconnaissance effort.

It came on the market Tuesday, February 7. We offered on Thursday, February 9. We were told there were multiple offers maybe the next day, and the bank would review all offers Monday, February 13. We upped our offer a little bit and resubmitted.

We were told Thursday, February 16 that we didn't get it. I won't lie, I shed a tear. Our realtor said he really thought this was the one for us and was surprised. We had submitted a good offer. Sigh.

We found another house to consider, and it was OK. Woulda been a great house. We were considering it seriously, when we got another call from our realtor -- Tuesday, February 21 (like 2 weeks later by this point). Imagine my elation when he said negotiations with the first buyers of the house fell through, and the bank was extending the home to us! It was ours if we wanted it! GAH! OF COURSE I WANTED IT! We did a few rounds of negotiations, and had mutual acceptance by the end of the week. Not bad!

Our inspection was Monday, February 27. We were nervous. Really nervous. Justifiably so. In the first 20 minutes we learned the roof was completely shot and the siding needed to be replaced ASAP. Sheesh. Our inspector has a way of scaring the pants off of us (we have walked away from three houses before this one). The rest of the inspection was similarly daunting, but not too bad. The crawl space was pretty clean but a little moist in one spot, there are definitely some drainage issues outside making the yard soggy, the furnace needs to be serviced, etc.

Our initial thought was to walk away, again... but I basically said to my husband: Look, hon. If it's not this one, our only option is new construction. I'm not walking away from a house because of the inspection ever again.

So, we took a week and got bids to fix the issues (to see how bad it was) and went to view new construction homes. Surprisingly, the bids were not as high as we thought they'd be, and the new homes weren't as glamorous as we thought they'd be. Well, some of them were glamorous, but they were also $50k more in price.

We asked the bank for some concessions -- give us money off the purchase price or fix some things. It was obvious (from our realtor talking to their realtor) that the bank knew about some of these problems, like the roof. They offered to fix some things, but their offer was sorta lousy and we didn't want to go for it. Our realtor kept pushing for money back. In the end, we got a bit of money off the purchase price (yay!), but we decided to just take the house as is and fix everything ourselves. We knew some of these things might be issues, so we worked the cost into our offer, but we're nervous about paying for all the things now. We may be house-poor for awhile until we build our savings back up.

We finally decided March 5 -- almost an entire month after we offered on the house -- to go full speed ahead. Closing date is March 27. After that we'll clean the crawl space, clean the carpets, re-grout the bathrooms, and move in. Maybe April 7, the weekend of Easter? BIG NEWS.

Dealing with the bank has been... oy. But whatever! We got a good interest rate locked in, escrow has been opened, and things are progressing. We're moving!

The little cul-de-sac is great. The schools are incredible; I'm really pleased with the location to the freeways, our friends, and the places we're already used to going. It's technically the City of Edmonds, which is a little odd. It's in a new ward, so I'll make some new friends (and go back to afternoon Church!! ArgH!) I already know a handful of people in the ward, so it should be an easy transition. Our wards meet in the same building, even.

In short, wow. I'm so thrilled. I LOVE this house. I've already decided what goes in what room and what colors I want to paint some of the walls. I know things won't be perfect, and there will probably be things I want to change that we can't afford to do, but I can be patient. We want to be here for awhile! I'm really eager to meet the neighbors (see if that neighbor from the summer remembers me!!), and get settled in. And use all MY STUFF AGAIN!! (which has been sitting in boxes in the garage here).

Yay! Wish us happy financing!

a hurting heart

For several years, there was a family in our ward at Church. I first met the mom when I was organizing Enrichment activities, and she wanted to do one on card making or scrapbooking, since that was one of her hobbies. She is an AWESOME gal, and was a good friend. She helped me make Wesley's Jesus Book I am so proud of.

Her husband was hilarious. He is just a goof, but super spiritual and a wonderful man and father. He taught Gospel Doctrine in the ward for awhile, and he was also our home teacher. He was a great guy and a friend to Shane. I really appreciated the Spirit he brought into our home. It was at this time that he pondered a career change and went to the police academy, I think it was somewhere south, like Tacoma.

When they first moved in, they had two adorable daughters, who both looked so much like their dad. I had Wesley in May 2008, and they had a son in December 2008. It was BIG NEWS since on his side of the family, he and his brothers ALL HAD GIRLS. Not one brother had had a son! It was exciting. I took them dinner and a few cute boy onesies :-)

Last year, 2011, she had another daughter, and this pregnancy was super tough. I know how it feels to get kicked in the butt by a pregnancy! How happy I was when I heard she had delivered her baby girl.

They moved out last year, after selling their condo. They were like us -- busting out of the seams of their condo! They were so ready for their own four walls. They moved to Camano Island, and he got a job with the Marysville Police Department.

I've talked to them a few times since then; I called her to talk about preschool since I had considered putting Wesley in the same place her oldest daughters had gone. They were happy in their new place with new friends. I miss them, though, for sure.

We rarely watch the news in our house, but Shane was flipping channels on Saturday night when we saw a story about an accidental shooting in Stanwood, a city between Camano Island and Marysville. At first, I thought of another family I know who moved up to Stanwood, and thought, "boy, I hope it isn't them!" Their kids are a little crazy so it could have been possible. I didn't think of my Camano Island friends -- although the news segment showed the scene of the accidental shooting, which clearly showed their silver van, which I had seen many many times.

On Facebook and the news, the whole thing came together in a horrific way. The accidental shooting was in the van. The little boy got ahold of his dad's gun, and accidentally fired it, striking his sister, the oldest girl. We knew no other details, just that she was in serious condition. Everyone reading and posting was absolutely heartbroken. Heartbroken. Late at night, I kneeled and prayed and cried. Boy did I cry. I prayed for the little girl and her doctors, I prayed for her parents, I prayed for the little boy. And I felt like, I really felt like, she would be OK.

I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing with memories and sadness and anxiety. Sunday morning I texted a couple people from Church and learned she had passed away. At first I didn't believe it. I wanted the news to be wrong.

I just can't believe this! I can't! My heart hurts. I must say though, that I am grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that I know for one, families are forever. She was sealed to her wonderful parents. This life is a teeny blip on the continuum of our existence, and to live without her for the rest of the time we are here is really a short time if you look at it from the right perspective. Second, she was only 7, before the age of accountability. She wasn't baptized into the Church, because in the eyes of God she was perfect. I love this doctrine, and I know she'll be in the highest kingdom of heaven waiting for her family to join her.

This whole thing has made me incredibly patient with my children. I gave Wesley lots of hugs and kisses Sunday, amongst my tears. He kept asking, "Mom, are you sad?" I told him yes, I was sad. He doesn't know why. I guess I always feel like things happen for a reason. God has His plan. I don't know all the answers. I don't know why this had to happen, but perhaps her dying reinforces to the rest of us how precious life is and how precious the moments we have with our families are. I love my children, and now I realize it even more.

The thing that gets me is that this was so sudden, so accidental. Things like this happen every day, all the time, and death can result. We never know when our time is out. We must love like it's the last moment we have.

I'm sad today. I think I'll be sad for awhile. Her service is Saturday.

She used to wear sparkly shoes. Her and her sister had matching pairs. The two girls were the sweetest set of fashionistas you'd ever meet (blame it on their chic mom). A friend on Facebook had the idea that we should all buy sparkly shoes to wear to the service in honor of her. I bought my pair today. They are silver and just perfect. Every time I see my shoes I will remember that sweet girl. I will remember that families are forever. And I will remember to love each moment like it's my last.

happy

I feel so great right now. So great.

I can't tell you how many times it is the evening, or late at night, and I am holding my sweet sleeping little Laurel. I look down at her as she slumbers, and tears come to my eyes. She is so perfect. I am just so happy.

The other day we were all at the park together, as a family. I had Laurel in the baby carrier and Shane and Wesley were running around being goofy. There was one of those "telephone" contraptions, and Shane was leaning down, talking into the telephone to Wesley. He was giggling with excitement, listening to his Dad. Shane was laughing. I was just watching them, overjoyed at how precious a moment it was. I am just so happy.

Sure, we're still in our rental house. Our finances are crazy. I am worried about upcoming transitions. But my family? These three people who live with me? They are so wonderful. I am just so happy to be part of it.

That's all for today.