Sick Ian

Ian has been sick - sore throat, coughing, headaches, that sort of stuff. He is a great sick kid because he doesn't do a lot of complaining. But he is very clingy. I went to drink coffee at the church with my mom one morning while he and daddy were still asleep. I was only gone for 30-45 minutes. When I got back home he had moved a chair in front of the door, brought his pillow and blanket, and was watching and waiting for me to get home. When I walked in the door he told me that he missed me. It made my heart melt. I love being a mom.

Spoiled

By the title you might think this post is about baby Kodah. Nope.
Although......that could be argued!

Really, I'm not complaining, really, just noticing some differences being in a small town. Like the internet speed. It was about 20 times faster in El Reno, Oklahoma. Many days I don't even want to post pictures because it takes SOOOO long for them to upload. I try to fight the 'me.me.me.now.now.now' culture we live in but I have caught myself being so impatient over this!!!!

So Good to be with Family

The kids have gotten to spend lots of time with Mema & Papa and cousins.

So good to be home!!!!!

The MOVE

From Old to New! We are so excited to be here in Spur! We walk to church, walk to the grocery store, my kids have seen family lots already and we are loving it! The move here was pretty smooth. My mom & dad came up and helped pack, load & unload. My dad is also helping with repairs to our new house (there is another post to come concerning this issue called "the money pit"). He is one special guy. And my mom helped with the kids during the move and has taken my kids several times in the last 4 weeks so that I could get some rest. God sure blessed me more than I deserve by giving me my parents. When we got to Spur to unload, Romeo's dad Romeo and his wife Debbie helped & our pastor and neighbor Rory helped. Thanks you guys!!!

So with not a whole lot of time to write and so much to say, I will just post some pictures of the move.

The OLD - We loved this house and will miss so many things about it!

The NEW - So different and needs SO much work.

Breakfast in Bed

I can't express the joy my daughter brings me. She has been telling me, "don't get up early tomorrow because I want to do something for you" for a couple days now. This morning at 7:00 a.m. I heard my cabinet doors opening and I knew what she was up too, however, that was just to0 early on a summer day so I told her to go back to bed for a while. An hour later I woke up to her bringing me breakfast in bed. Such a SWEETIE!

As you can tell it was Fruity Pebbles!

And then she helped me finish it.

Great Time & Great People

I have two very outspoken kids. They are not afraid of many things and they both REALLY love people. Every time any neighbor goes outside they want to go talk to them. We are close with about 5 different neighboring homes, which is so uncommon these days. One of our neighbors, Danny, was so kind and made them a swing. Nia also invited him to come watch her play t-ball and he did.

I will miss so much about this place. Especially the people God has placed in our path.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

This is NOT okay! Summer is not fun for most pregnant women but at least most of them can go home, turn the air conditioning down to 60 and be comfortable. NOT ME! Sometimes our air conditioner works and sometimes it doesn't, like now! The kids are even sweating. I hate to call a repair man a month before we move but I just don't know if I can make it another month like this!!! Here's proof!

Buying & Selling

Not only is our house here under contract, but today we went under contract on a house in Spur. For those of you who live in Spur and are wondering which house we are buying, it is Ms. Ennis's old house on the corner of 1st and Willard. Spur is a small town populated 1,000, so everyone knows everyone. We will be neighbors to the Baptist preacher and his family, the highway patrolman, & another family with kids the same age as our kids.

The sellers just advertised it on Thursday and we bought it today. Man, ours took 8 months to sell and theirs only 1 day. Reason is that there is absolutely nothing available in Spur, so when it comes along, you better grab it quick. The other absurd thing about this deal is that we bought it without actually looking at the house. My parents went over to the house yesterday and took pictures and sent them to me! Scarrrrry huh! It is an old house that will need some work but nothing in Spur doesn't need work.

Such exciting times.

One Step Closer

We are one step closer to selling our house. Our buyers are under contract with their buyers so we have set a closing date. July 31st is the official date. Baby is due 23rd of July so this will be interesting.

We have been busy lately so I updated my blog today with 7 or 8 new postings. HAVE FUN!

Good News on Our House

We got a great offer yesterday on our house and we accepted. Only bad thing is that the buyer's have to sell their house first and they haven't even put it on the market. Which could be really good for us because I don't really want to change doctors a week or so before I deliver the baby. So I am hoping it takes about 6 to 8 weeks to sell their house. But, if they sell their house soon, we will try to rent somewhere here (with very minimal furniture & such) until the baby comes. So we will be keeping our eyes and ears open to some sort of rent property just in case we need it.

Rain, Mud & Stains

With all this rain, we have had 3 t-ball games canceled and lots of mud! And while I love that my kids like to play in the mud and get all dirty, we are trying to sell our house and it is impossible to keep the house clean. We do have hardwood floors, thankfully, which makes it easier

My next issue - stains. Not only mud caked into jeans and shirts but markers and blueberries as well. I can't seem to get stains out of any of Nia's shirts. We do have stained play clothes but sometimes they don't get on the body before they get stained. There are some clothes that Nia INSISTED she wear to school but she comes home, 9 out of 10 times, with stains on them that I can't seem to get out. I use the spray Shout but it doesn't seem to work.

PLEASE HELP! Everything she has stained was either bought at Goodwill or a garage sale so it is really not that big of a deal but I still don't want them to go to waste if there is anything I can do to get rid of the stains.

I AM SO PROUD!

I have not felt good all day yesterday and today. I slept with my contacts in (I know, dumb idea) Wednesday night. I woke up Thursday with sever pain in my left eye. I thought it would get better throughout the day but it didn't. Thursday night was miserable - no sleep. I knew I had to see the doctor. The doctor gave me some antibiotic eye drops. I have been feeling a little better but still real drowsy - due to me rubbing, all the watery eyes, swelling behind my eye causing headaches, and of course the no sleep for 2 nights doesn't help.

But, life goes on right? My Realtor called today to tell me someone needs to show my house tomorrow morning. Well, you know how it goes, when moms sick, not much cleaning gets done. So, my house is in need of a good clean before tomorrow.

My kids are used to helping in that area so I just told them today we were going to focus on cleaning and tomorrow they could be kids and play outside! But to be honest I was not enthused about this because I just want to rest. I told the kids that and here's their response.

Nia: you can go sleep and me and Ian will watch TV. (WHAT?)
Ian: I have an idea!
Amy: let's hear it
Ian: you go take a nap and we will clean!
Nia: we will just do the small things.
Ian: no, I want to do everything!
Amy: I think you are on to something Ian!
Amy: I can't let you do all the work!
Nia: We want to do it all by ourselves!
Ian: Please!
Amy: Okay, 30 minutes and then we can all do what doesn't get done!

So guess what I am doing? Blogging while my kids clean my house! REALLY?

I am SO Proud!

First Offer! UPDATED

We got our first offer today! We were really excited about it but it was really low - 11,500 below the original list price to be exact. Of course we countered and then they countered back and then we countered again. Now it is in their hands and we should find out something by 6:00p.m. tomorrow night.

They are moving here because they are the new youth pastor's at a church near by. We really want them to have the house but they are not willing to budge at this point. They have been praying about it for a few days. Romeo and I have been praying about it as well.

The timing of this would be perfect because we would close on the last day of school for Nia. It would also mean that Nia would get to finish t-ball. It also means I wouldn't have to deliver the baby at the hospital here (heard bad things from friends). And, we would be living in Spur when the baby's born.

I will keep you updated!! Thanks for all your prayers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~ UPDATE: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No sell! The offer fell through. They really wanted the house at 11,500 below our original asking price. That would put us upside down in our note! So.. we wait some more.

The Events of the Day

It started at 5:40 am up with a sore throat. I had decided that I would go ahead and get ready for the day until I realized that the water pipes were frozen, again! I got Romeo and he got it all taken care of but it took until after 9:00 am for the water to start running again. This has happened about 5 times this winter.

Then off to my first Dr. appointment for my pregnancy. Everything looked great there and we learned that I was 14 weeks along and my due date is July 23rd. Very exciting until they MADE me go get blood drawn. I did ask if I could refuse it and of course I could but I was just being a little stubborn. So I went! I talked to the phlebotomist about my fear and she laughed at me and then told me that she was drawing 5 veils of blood!!! WHAT??? She got it on the first try and did a great job! I sang "Hallelujah" after it was over and then gave her a hug.

The roads here are still real icy and I learned that 2 people from our church were in a tragic car accident, killing one and leaving the other in the hospital. Please be in prayer for the family of Hank Stokes and Becky Carnell. (more about this below)

Supper time and Ian was helping me cook and ran his finger across a hot pan and sired his pinky finger. He said that it looked like a potato and he was scared we were going to eat it.

What an eventful day. I don't mean to just throw that tragic accident into just another day. DeLana Stokes (Hank's wife) is a very special lady. She and I did a Bible study together just recently and my heart just breaks for her. Nia was very loving towards Hank, hugging him every time she saw him. He will be truly missed. Becky Carnell I know because we were in the same Sunday school class for some time. She is okay but in the hospital with something broken and pain in her chest (not sure with all the detail so don't want to start any rumors with my info.). How does that happen, two people, in different vehicles, from the same church, get involved in the same accident? Please lift these families up in prayer.

Goodwill

I am a big fan of Goodwill stores. I buy a lot of mine and the kids clothes there. We have looked for Romeo but have rarely been successful. Yesterday I cleaned out the kids drawers, removing the clothes that they had outgrown. Nia, the poor child, is in desperate need of clothes. The problem is she does not fit a normal pant. What fits at the waist does not fit in length. And with the style of pants being "below the waist" it's tough to find a pair that stays at her waist - like they are supposed too. Okay, I got off track a little.

Back to Goodwill : )

There are cons to going to Goodwill for clothes. You need to have time and patience. Looking through every single article of clothing looking for the appropriate size is time consuming. Most times I spend at least an hour and that's only if I am looking for 1 person. And, since the clothes have been wore before, they have been washed & dried many times and some have shrunk so you really can't count on the size to fit like you would a new item. It does get a little frustrating. But, I will go through all of that for the great prices. You can really find treasures in there.


We went today, after a day with friends at the park, intending to find some much needed clothes for Nia. We found a couple clothes and then the kids saw 2 scooters hiding under a table. When they play outside with the neighbor kids, my kids are always on their scooters, and the other kids are climbing our trees. Nia has been asking for one for some time now. Sooo... I gave in to the $5/each price tag.

To see videos of the kids riding their scooters go here.

Was It Worth It?

All the scrubbing, painting, organizing, waxing, repairing, sweeping, vacuuming, dusting, staining, moping, and racking mixed with back pain, sore feet, heavy eyes, & exhaustion for only 2 people to show at today's open house. Was It Worth It? My body tells me !NO! But I do know this, God's plans are far above my plans and His timing is perfect. It just means another week (or however long) of continuous cleaning and for anyone who knows me knows that that is not my area of perfection and is especially hard with kids. (Am I whining?) It has only been on the market for 2 weeks and I am already going crazy!!! Hopefully, for everyone's sake, it sells sooner than later.

For Sale

IT IS FINALLY DONE! Our house is on the market. It has been one stressful process of getting the clutter out, deep cleaning done, & keeping it that way. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Last time we sold our house in Lubbock, TX we sold it in less than a week. If I had my way, I would pick this home up and move it to Spur. We have really enjoyed living here. Now I have to just keep it clean until it sells - okay maybe that weight hasn't entirely been lifted. I will be sad to leave this house but excited to go HOME! Go here if you are interested in pics.

More About Moving

You know how you use a permanent marker to mark the contents on all your boxes - well Ian discovered the marker and decided to mark himself. I thought he would be going to church like that but it came off really well.


I don't really know what to say about this next picture. I tried to think of something clever like "what's he want" or "slave driver" but the truth is.... He was being very kind and loving. He spent hours on this floor. It is a brick floor which is pretty but not easy to clean or easy on the feet. I have had my fair share of cleaning it so I was SUPER excited when he volunteered to do it. We worked hard yesterday on the house - this week we are listing it WITH a realtor, hopefully tomorrow.

Love - Hate Relationship

Fall is the most beautiful time of year to me. We live in an older neighborhood with lots of trees so I get to enjoy all the different colored leaves.

However, I do not enjoy raking up all the leaves. Saturday me and the kids raked and picked leaves up in our front yard and today, well .......

it's MOVING slowly

Moving!! Yeah, well, there is so much that goes into this process. Painting, repairs, major deep cleaning, de-cluttering, packing, yard work, and finding a place to store all our clutter until the house sells. This weekend we got a lot done but it's still hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. We showed the house twice yesterday and it's not even on the market yet. We have never done a FSBO so that is a little intimidating; however, if we don't sell it ourselves we will pay a huge chunk to a realtor. Hopefully we will be able to get some more accomplished this week.