Carnival Events Continue

Aside from the carnival rides, they have free kids events on Sunday that the boys participated in. With the help of cousin Brandon, Riley took 1st Place and Dylan 2nd place in their heat of the turtle race. The big prize was a can of pop! Wahoo!
Dylan was in the lead, until just inches before the finish line, his turtle took a detour and Riley's guy took the gold.



They weren't all that interested in the tractor pull, so saved up their energy for the Kiddie Parade. To get a second use out of their tuxedos from my brothers wedding, I dressed them up as Jake and Elroy "the Blues Brothers". My mom quick crafted some microphones out of tinfoil, construction paper and sunscreen bottles. They looked pretty cool, and took 3rd place winning Ribbons and $10 cash, along with a juice box and bag of M & M's for participating. Last year they won 2nd place as "Born 2 Be Wild". They had Doo-rags, jean jackets, shades, and rode their quads. Next year calls for 1st place I guess.

We're back from our little get away to at my parents... A very busy and fun filled 2 weeks. Dylan and Riley would describe the highlight of our "vacation" as the Erskine Water Carnival. Grandma bought them unlimited ride wristbands, and after 3 days of Dizzy Dragons, and Merry Go'Rounds, you'd think they'd be walking circles. Dylan loved... I mean loved the Dizzy Dragon Ride. He'd get it spinning and just giggle away. At one point toward the end of the weekend they were riding together and Riley was screaming at Dylan to stop spinning it, but Dylan just kept spinning and giggling. The next time they road seperately. Riley enjoyed this inflatable Tonka Truck slide, he'd climb up and bounce all the way down, crashing into the wall at the bottom. I drug Dylan up it once, but he wanted nothing to do with it. On the last day of rides, I was able to talk Riley into the Tilt-A-Whirl. So he and I went for a dizzy spin, and let the G-Forces lay us back into the seats. I could tell he didn't really like it, but he never cried or asked to get off. He just said to me as the ride was going "the Merry Go Round is much better than this."
Just one big melt down as we said good bye to the carnival rides... Riley didn't want to get off the motorcyles/jeeps so sat on the running board of the jeep pouting, until the Carnie came around again and gave him with a toothless grin. I threatened to leave him there with "the man" and that did the trick... although he crabbed the whole way home- it was definately nap time.
They promised Grandma they'd be back next year for the 54th Annual Water Carnival.

Tying up loose ends...

Brady and I visited Fargo these past 2 days, with a list of loose ends to tie up, and people to visit one last time. My dear friend Raelyn and her hubby Darin put us up for the night, and caught me up on all latest Fargo news. Nothing too exciting has been missed, but it did feel weird talking so much about Duluth as my home in our conversations. I cleaned out my office,turned in my badge and pager at work and had a little farewell lunch with my office/building mates. It wasn't as sad as I thought it should be... I think that being off for maternity leave played around with the emotions and actual process of leaving my job/co-workers? Apparently MeritCare got slammed with violations last month during their review, and along with huge penny pinching, sounds like I got out when the going was good.
Brady and I also met some girlfriend potential... Sohpia was born May 15th to my friend (and fellow Mom of twins) Stacey. Dylan and Riley have dibbs on her 2 older sisters Oliva and Mari, so everyone can now be happy when our families get together :-) Too bad we live so far apart... (Drew and Stacey, you're welcome to visit any time!)
Got 2 new tires put on the van (all the recent miles had the wires poking out!), took my wedding ring to Riddles for its routine warranty check, picked up pictures at Sears from our April photo shoot, got a new cut and color from my fav hairstylist, signed off the books at Children's Place and stopped by Dylan and Riley's old school for one last farewell before heading out of town.
Oh yeah, and I had to drive by our old house... On the way there I was a bit nervous... I didn't want to find the new carpet (that we're still paying for) lying on the curb or the boys play structure pulled apart and just a pile of lumber in the yard, or my gentlly trained grape vine ripped from the fence...thankfully there was none of that. Just a lone gal standing at the kitchen counter... didn't look like they had moved in yet, as there were no living room lights on, and the walls were bare... I just saw her standing there... in my house. It was so weird to see that image, as it still felt like my house... down the street I went, past my old neighbors... driving under the shade of the big tall oaks that line the streets... Goodbye old house...

Call Back

Yes... I got a call back from United Way! I am one of the top 2 for the position and have been invited back for interviewing with the Board of Directors on June 24th. I'm super excited, yet very nervous as the Board consists of some local Big Shots. I was hoping some of Brad's connections would be on this board but no luck there, guess I'll have to do it on my own ;-)
This time I'm getting prepared for the interview long in advance. I've bought a new outfit (that fits) and have it already ironed too. My interview is at 9:40am so thankfully Brad is able to just take the whole morning off, and can help wrangle the kids so I don't have to worry about them before I head off to the interview this time. Keep your fingers crossed... and wish for Big Bucks!! I've been doing some research on DayCare options and costs, and things aren't looking so cheap. (Can daycare and cheap even be used in the same sentence?) By the looks of it, we'll be spending close to $2000 a month at a daycare center, unless we can find a nice, clean and loving home daycare for the kids. YIKES thats a chunk of change. It was nice having preschoolers on a reduced rate... Infant child care is $195 a week!!

Off to the lake for some cozy time in the camper... looks like rain all week. Good thing Brady and I have made arrangements to stay with Raelyn in Fargo tomorrow night. Grandma and the big boys can have the camper to themselves.

Interview

Today was the big day... My United Way interview. If you've been following my life (our life) over the last few weeks you've seen that most things really haven't been as simple as they seem. And so why start today right?
Since the boys and I are staying at my parents this week and next, I was set up to get a call from United Way this morning at 11:30am. So I had my mom come home for a long lunch to look after the boys while I was on my interview call. 11:40, 11:45, 11:50 and no call. I began to wonder if I wasn't supposed to be the one calling in?! So called to see what the scoop was, and to my surprise the interview was cancelled??? One of the directors leading the interview was out ill (unexpectedly) today and the ball got dropped... as no one had called eariler to cancel. Ugh!! OK she'll call tomorrow and set up another day/time.
Well just an hour later as I'm chasing the big boys off to nap, and Brady cries to eat the phone rings so I answer it. Its the President of United Way, and she' like to interview me. Thankfully she caught on that it wasn't a good time to talk and asked that I call her back when I had a moment. So I got everyone off to lala land and made the important call. It went pretty well... first time ever doing a phone interview... tough stuff. Its hard to sell yourself, or talk yourself up over the phone, it just felt weird. She asked some really tough questions, and really focused on the administrative side to this position... dealing with budgets, databases and supervising staff. I feel confident in my performance, but couldn't get a sense of her interest in me or not? I should find out next week if I make the call back list...they want to sit down with the top 2 candidates for more interviewing. Unfortunately she was in the process of restructing the salary and wasn't able to comment on the hiring range, so I don't even know if all this worry is even gonna be worth it? All I can do now is sit and wait...

Wait, its not over yet...

Yippee Monday was closing day... or NOT!! On our way back to Fargo from Winnipeg on Monday morning we received a call from our realator with news that the appraiser wasn't satisfied with our work, just yet. The a*^%@)* wanted the engineer to come back out and inspect the work that Brad had done, and the shinglers weren't quite done when we went out that morning to do his walk through. SO our closing got bumped to Tuesday morning...meaning we had to pay for yet another nights stay in Fargo. This time we did upgrade hotels from the Super 8 and stayed at the Best Western Kelly Inn so the kids could have some pool fun all afternoon/evening. It seriously felt like we were doomed to never close on this house!! To relax a little I enjoyed a strawberry margarita poolside and had a nice visit with some friends (Jenn & Russ). I would have loved to of had about 14 margarita's but breastfeeding held me to only one.
Tuesday morning found us up and at 'em for a 9:00am closing. Grabbed a bite at the deluxe continental hotel breakfast and off we were. Of course timing couldn't have been any worse for Brady... he wanted to eat the second we walked in the door, and he just couldn't be put off any longer. So there I was nursing and signing away. Thankfully it was a women agent otherwise it could have been more ackward. Talk about a circus... I'm nursing, Brad's phone is ringing non-stop, Dylan was digging through the jelly beans and Riley was playing with a cup full of pens. Unfortunately we didn't really have any other choice but to bring them along- 15 minutes felt like hours in the tiny room.
After it was all said and done, we walked out with a big fat check in hand and smiles from ear to ear... it was officail, our house was SOLD!! In the 10 blocks to the bank we came up with several ways to foolishly spend a years salary, but grounded ourselves to depositing the check for safe keeping in a CD. Now we just need to fatten that thing up for a house in Duluth :-)
I couldn't complete this entry without a HUGE thank you and moment of recognition to our dear realator, Donna Berglund from Arnie & Mary Realty. Way back 6 years ago she helped us find this home, and through the years sent warm greetings on the various holidays and anniversaries. Smart marketing I thought, but after our experience working with her on selling the house, I've found that she is sincerly thoughtful and the all around agent you want on your side. Over the last month during her visits she's entertained the big boys, comforted a fussy baby, painted basement walls, scrapped the garage door, let us in the house when we were locked out, and been a shoulder to lean one when things kept getting thrown at us. Not many people go above and beyond their call of duty. I only wish we could take her with us to Duluth. If your in the market for a realator, look her up... you won't be disappointed.

Cha Ching- Money in the Bank!!

Yet another twist

It was yet another twist to the house selling process this past week. I received a call Wednesday afternoon from out Realtor in Fargo that she had finally received the report from the buyer's appraiser, listing projects that must be done on the house before they can approve the buyers loan~ which means no loan- no closing June 2nd- which means we'd have to make another mortgage payment. The ridiculous list of things included,
1- scrapping and painting the garage door,
2- scrapping and painting the storage room wall
3- re-shingling the house
4- install an electrical outlet in the bathroom
5- install a bathroom exhaust van
6- have the basement inspected by an structural engineer

OK, now thats quite the list to throw at us just 5 days before our closing date when they had all month to get this done!! But at this point what choice did we have but get on the ball and get these tasks completed in time to close the deal. We reached an agreement with the buyers to pay halfers on this list, but the stress was all ours. So Wednesday afternoon I hurried and packed the family up to head back to Fargo to look after these projects. However I was not only packing for this little emergency trip to Fargo, but our planned trip to Winnipeg for the weekend, then the 2 week stay we will have with my parents. Like a mad women I packed us all up in between Brady's feedings and we were on the road by 6:00pm. (thank God I had did laundry that morning).
Early Thursday morning we were off to Menard's to get our supplies and head on out for a long day at the house. Of course we forgot our keys in Duluth, so we had to wait until our realator got there to let us in. And then since I had the water shut off the boys had to pee on the tree and we snuck over to the neighbors backyard to wash our hands from the garden hose. (Thankfully I was able to hold it until we went for supper). So I spent the day scrapping and painting the garage as Brad worked away in the house, Brady watched from his car seat in the driveway and then the boys cheerfully played in the yard, they've so dearly missed. Our yard has been the hardest thing to live without, and I caught myself just gazing at it several times througout the day.
Back to the list... Believe it or not we got an electrician out there that afternoon, a roofer lined up for Friday and the structural engineer came around noon... Someone was certainly on our side as the engineer that came out was a friend of a friend, and helped us out a ton. Not only did he give very specific instructions to Brad as to what needed to be done, but he gave him the exact measurements and then invited Brad over to his home to cut the wood. Sandman's a great guy, and his friendly, familiar face was exactly what we needed in this unfortunate predicament.
Its hard to really describe the overwhelming stress and feelings of defeat that occurred during those 2 days, but we pulled it together (thanks to my determination) and are still on for closing tomorrow afternoon. Brad hasn't recovered from this event, as he's groucher that all get out still. We've certianly been a rollercoaster ride with selling the house, but its been shortlived and hopefully one we won't encounter again for quite some time. It could have been worse...