Our New Home

We both have forgotten about the hassles of buying a home. It is crazy. Plus in today's economy makes it even worse. We are constantly having to dig up more paperwork and gather more information. I even had to write a letter explaining my maternity leave! However, we are cruising and should probably close earlier than Oct. 30. Our broker is hoping for mid-October. We have the inspection this week and the appraisal shortly after. (We are quickly seeing the $$ signs racking up, but it is worth it.) I took some pictures off of the website since everyone is asking to see them. Here you go:

The four bedrooms and the office are upstairs. It also has two bathrooms upstairs and a powder room downstairs. It feeds into a really good elementary school, which is what we were looking for. We finally found out what ward we are in: Salem 4th. We don't know anyone there so it'll be an adventure. The part of Salem it is in is extremely hilly. I'll have to learn how to drive on hills, since I am used to the flat Keizer streets. My commute is going from 5 minutes to about 40 minutes (with dropping the girls off at Cleona's), and Doug's is going to go from 15 to 25. We'll adjust. We are so grateful that everything has worked out!

This Week's Adventures

-This week Doug dropped Madi and Braelyn off at daycare. Doug said, "Madi, say hello to Evan." She replied with, "Hi, boy!"
-On Wednesday, I stumbled into the bathroom in the middle of the night. I left all of the lights off because I was half asleep. I plopped down to use the bathroom. However, Doug, for the first time ever in our marriage, forgot to put the toliet seat down. I fell in the toliet. I'm sure for a fly on the wall it was pretty funny.
-Braelyn began sitting up by herself. Every once in a while she has a spill, but she is getting better each day.
-I was singing a Britney Spears song to my College Prep Writing class this week. This may seem strange, but I did have a point. I was teaching them about using commas. When I got to the part that said, "Oh, baby, baby!" another teacher walked by. He came into my classroom and said, "Excuse me?" It was quite hilarious, and yet another time that my face turned bright red.
-Doug's soccer team won a game and lost a game. Hopefully, things will go better this upcoming week in Redmond.

Well, as usual we've survived another week. It was a busy one, but that's our life!

Back to Life, Back to Reality

Let's just say we've had an interesting week and have learned a lot. Here are some of them:

1. Teachers have way too many meetings. I've had a meeting three out of the four days of school. Part of this is my fault for accepting a position on site council, but I am excited about that.
2. Designing curriculum out of thin air is quite difficult. So far I've survived two days. Students keep trying to get into my class, so I guess I am doing a good job with College Prep Writing.
3. Balancing teaching, going to school full time, and coaching soccer leaves very little down time.
4. It is extremely difficult going from living in a house back into an apartment. It is cramped, and we miss our yard and peace and quiet terribly.
5. We can hear the high school pep band and the crowd from our apartment during football games. This is something that we both enjoy.
6. The dishwasher in our apartment is horrible. We basically have to wash everything by hand first.
7. Having carpet is a huge plus.
8. Life with no television is extremely quiet. We have signed up for Netflix, because I refuse to pay $4.79 at Hollywood for one movie. We have watched 5 movies in a week, which is a record. Although I feel that I am not connected to the outside world because I can't watch the news, I would not get to hear things like the roar of the crowd and the crickets chirping at night if we had the tv. And heck, who doesn't want to save $50 a month?
9. Madi is heartbroken without Matilda. Sometimes she cries for the kitty. We never realized she was that attached.
10. Anyone who would have their child sleep in their room by choice is crazy. We have been getting about 5 hours of sleep a night because Braelyn makes strange noise while she sleeps. She also hears us tossing and turning and, in return, wakes up. Not fun!

With all this being said, we are thankful all of these things that give us experience. We have jobs, a place to sleep, and each other.

Good-Bye House

Today we said good-bye to our house. We went and picked up the few remaining things. Although we were really exciting to sell, it was kind of sad. We have made so many memories. Gosh, when we first bought the house, it was unlivable. I was completely grossed out, but Doug had a vision, and it was all we could really afford. With a lot of help and hard, physical labor, we made it our own. We learned a lot along the way.

A few years into our adventure of home ownership, we started a family. It definitely made home remodeling more difficult. Madi had her first room in that house; she knew it was hers. Shortly, after Braelyn entered our lives. We finally got all of the remodeling done when we put it on the market. (Only 2 1/2 years later than we originally anticipated.) Thankfully, our house sold in just 3 1/2 months. It has been a whirlwind after that.

As we sit in our crowded little apartment, we are thankful we made that decision to buy a dump four years ago. It put us in the position we are now-- looking for a bigger home. Madi loves the carpet of the apartment and already runs around like she owns the place. We have just relaxed and are slowly unpacking. (We have high hopes that we will find another place before we finish unpacking all of the boxes.) We have watched two movies already and will watch a third tonight. It is awfully quiet without the hum of the television; but we've had fun will adjust over the next few months. Madi and I danced in the living room as entertainment while Doug worked on some homework this afternoon. We've started a new chapter in our lives. It is sure to be an adventure!