House for sale

On Friday March 18th 2016, we put our house on the market. After thinking things through following the Tuscan house, I decided I'd be most comfortable with our moving situation if we sold our house and I knew what we would be selling it for, prior to purchasing a new home. It was supposed to rain on Friday, so we decided to get pictures done on Thursday afternoon. Wednesday evening, I decided to take a few pics of the front of the house just in case we needed them.

On Thursday, the weather was perfect, but we could see storms rolling in and I had a feeling it'd rain right when we were supposed to take pictures. Unfortunately, just as the photographer pulled up, it started to rain. The outside pics didn't end up looking sunny or cheerful, which was a disappointment. We ended up really liking the way the inside pictures turned out.

Friday, we reviewed the listing with our agent Dan and decided to use the picture I took of the outside as the first and main picture. We cleaned the house up and then left on vacation. We were hoping to get a few showings while we were away, and it was good timing because we wouldn't have to clean up between showings.

On Saturday, 3/19 at 10:45am we had our first showing, and at 11:30 we had our second. We were pretty happy to hear that the first person that viewed the house asked for a second showing on Sunday, 3/20 at noon. We also had a showing on Sunday at 4pm. On Sunday night, we received our first written offer from the people that first viewed the home, and it was pretty close to our asking price. We were pretty happy with most of the terms, but had some questions which our realtor asked them on Monday morning. On Monday, while we were discussing our first offer, we got a second offer in which was slightly lower than the first offer. Our realtor Dan told them that we were well past that number and asked that they send in a written offer if they were serious and interested. Shortly thereafter the second offer family sent in a full price offer. We were tempted to just accept the full price offer, but decided to go back to the first person to see if they would be interested in offering more.

We sent both parties a note letting them know that we'd like their best final offer in the morning and that by Tuesday afternoon we would decide which offer to go with. Both parties ended up offering a bit more than the asking price. It was a really hard decision, and honestly both offers were good. We ended up going with the first family that viewed the house since they'd been very fair and professional throughout. They were the first family to see the house and were moving all the way from Utah. The inspection on the house happened today (3/26/2016) and it seemed to go fine. We're excited that we didn't have to make the house up for months and months at a time and that we got good activity and offers. We've got our fingers crossed that it doesn't fall through between now and closing!

There were a few pics we didn't end up using, which I decided to post below. We hadn't expected some of these rooms to be photographed, so they weren't exactly show-ready. Also, the rainy front pics weren't used in the listing, but I figured I'd post them anyways.

My Little Pony sleeping mask

The other night, Paige fell asleep and Andrea told me I had to go see her. She was wearing her "My Little Pony" sleeping mask and looked adorable. Andrea has been sleeping with a mask for a few years now and Paige likes to be just like Mommy.

The Tuscan House

We came very close to buying another house recently. We had been considering the "Bunny House" for a while and at the same time were looking at a house further back in Marsh Landing that we referred to as the "Tuscan House" due to the style of the exterior. We liked a lot of things about the house. It had an absolutely amazing view from the back, was in a nice part of the neighborhood, was brand new, had nice finishes, and had a floorplan that would probably work ok for us. Although it was at the top of our price range, it was a bit of a compromise though. It didn't have a circle drive, the loft was a bit too open and would be noisy, it was only a 4 bedroom house, and the pool wasn't exactly the way we would have wanted it. It was all still very nice and we ended up putting in an offer on it.

The offer ended up getting accepted, and while we were in the inspection phase, I decided that I wasn't really comfortable with the arrangement. We had negotiated a circle drive, and a few other things, but I started to get a lot of anxiety about how long it would take to sell our house, and how it would all work out. I discussed my feelings about everything with Andrea and thankfully she was supportive and we worked through it. At this time, we're getting our house ready to put it on the market and it should be listed in a few days. There's a lot more up in the air with this plan, however I believe it will be a bit safer and I'm hopeful it will all work out.

Inky Binky Bonky

Paige and I were doing "Story Time" the other night and were building some structures for the princesses to interact with. I was having trouble picking between a few things and Paige did a little song to help us choose. I was familiar with "Eenie Meenie Miney Moe" back in the day, but Paige did "Inky Binky Bonky", which was new to me. The song goes: "Inky binky bonky, Daddy had a Donkey. Donkey died, Daddy cried, inky binky bonky."

I had her do it again on video and she didn't exactly end it perfectly, but it was cute.

Football party - Connor's 9th birthday party

On Friday afternoon, we celebrated Connor's 9th birthday with a football party. Connor has still been in to football, even a month after the Superbowl. Andrea ordered lots of football decorations, a Happy Birthday Connor football banner, and a cute football themed cake too. The cake was supposed to have a big yellow upright on it, but it broke when the cake designer tried to poke it in after she delivered it. The cake was still cute, but should have been a little cuter. Andrea also found some footballs that we used as party decorations and which were also perfect party favors for the boys.

Before the party started, we got a few pictures of Connor with everything.

The party was supposed to start at 4:30, but it took a while for everyone to show up at the neighborhood park. A few parents had actually forgotten, but thankfully Andrea reminded them and they were able to make it. As they arrived, we played a football drive game. I would typically pick one boy and have him choose two other boys to play on offense with him.  Everyone else had to try and stop them before they went about 20 yards down field. They all wore flags, which we'd gotten for the party, and quite a few of the boys had played flag football so it was competitive and exciting. Most drives they were able to score in 4 downs, and I tried to spread the ball around evenly. I was really impressed with the athleticism on display. All the boys took it very seriously and went all out on every play.

Eventually we did a few skill contests.

First up was a race. They all pushed hard, but Simeon was just too fast to catch.

Next, they each took a turn trying for the longest punt and longest place kick.

The last game was a passing accuracy game. I set up a big red bucket and each boy had four balls and tried to make at least one. The first spot was fairly close, the second spot was fairly difficult, and the last spot was almost impossible. The last spot was about 20 yards away, and most boys couldn't even throw that far. I was starting to think nobody would make it and then Lomax did a nice straight throw that landed about two yards short. He collapsed on the ground in defeat, just as the ball bounced and went in. It was a pretty exciting and memorable moment.

Andrea and Paige left a little early to pick up pizzas and I drove all the boys back to the house after the football was done.

Everyone was ready for some cake, and I snapped a few pics of it before we sliced it up.

Connor had a lot of fun and I think the party was a success. We love our little man so much and I'm glad we were able to make his party a fun one doing what he likes best.

Connor's 9th birthday

Connor's 9th birthday fell in the middle of the week on a Wednesday. Not the ideal day for a celebration, but we wanted to make it special for him. Andrea asked him what he wanted to bring to his school classroom for a treat and Connor wanted Dunkin Donuts. We all went there in the morning and had a doughnut for breakfast and then we got a bunch of donuts for his class too. Andrea dropped him off afterwards and Connor said the doughnuts all went over well and everyone enjoyed them. 

After school, Connor went to tennis practice and on the way home Andrea picked up some Burger King for him (his request). That evening he opened some presents. Andrea picked out some toys from our stash of goodies that we have saved up, and Paige put them in a gift bag along with the cards that she made for him. Paige loved having something to give to big brother on his birthday.

We also gave him some of his favorite football stuffed characters as well. He has all the teams at this point, except for 6. 

Connor was thrilled to get the Ravens and Titans.

Hard to believe our little man is already 9! It was a fun day for a celebration and we hope we made it fun for him.