Moving Day

Here are some pictures from our big moving day. Daddy and Brady are already tuckered out, as we wait for the movers to come back from lunch. It was a busy day of heavy traffic so to keep the big boys out of the way and occupied they got to watch endless hours of SpongeBob. Through out the day they bounced from room to room with the TV to keep out from under the movers feet. They got a kick outta the fancy TV stand (box). I thought the hardest part of that day, would be saying goodbye to the house. But we were in such a hurry to get on the road, in hopes of landing in Duluth before dark (the deer are in herds along that highway at night) and Dylan and Riley were over due for a nap (it was 4:00) that we literally scrambled out the door, and there was no looking back. Brady had just ate and so we have to use every minute in between feedings!! So my tears were shed at various points along the long drive east. We'll stop back in to say goodbye to the now vacant house before heading off to the title company for our closing on June 2nd. There are still a few memories I need to capture on camera before letting it go... Like the spot above Dylan's bed were he would randomly peel the wallpaper boarder off his wall and the painted dog prints on the wall in what used to be Bauer's room. Ahhh... so many memories (and babies ;-) were made in that house. Its hard to say goodbye, but we've got so much ahead of us, so I hold my chin up and say "The Sun will come out, tomorrow..."

Round 2

So after the home inspection from our first offer, the buyer had these ridiculous requests for repairs and further inspections on our home- which would cost us about $12,000-$15,000 to do. So needless to say that offer fell through when we declined her requests. But it wasn't more than a day before we had our next offer :-) which is a young couple excited to buy their first home (much like us when we bought the place). They had their home inspector out to the house this afternoon, and now we wait to see what they found, and/or want addressed before sealing the deal. We are very lucky to have such interested parties, but all the times we've been asked to leave OUR HOUSE for showings, open houses and inspections is wearing me thin. Thankfully for Dino Land and the Food Court at the mall otherwise I don't know what the boys and I would have done all those times. Hopefully today was the last time and we get good news from our Realtor this weekend that will list this place as SOLD!

Brad has had a very busy week at work, and has been dearly missed back home. Although at first the silence was probably a nice retreat, I know he's missing us all like crazy. Yesterday morning Dylan asked me, "When's my daddy coming home?" and thankfully I could tell him in just 2 more days. Its been a long week without Daddy. His parent's have been staying with us since last Thursday, and have kept me alive for the past week... they have looked after all of us. Mum has been a packing machine! She certainly has things moving and is really getting things done around here. Between Brady's 2 hr feedings and the basic needs of the other two, and myself, I couldn't get anything else accomplished. And trust me, I'm not the only one loving their presence either... Dylan and Riley are having a blast with their Nana and Papa being here. The first thing they ask every morning when the wake up is "are Nana and Papa still here?" Pa has been in charge the men takes them around in his truck, which is the coolest to them. I'd be dying without them here!
Now I just fear next week, when I'm in Duluth trying to unpack without the help?... Anyone up for a road trip?

Shrine Circus

Here's a picture of me and the BIG boys at the Circus from last weekend. Brad's parents were in town, so they watch Brady while we took some much needed fun time with just Dylan and Riley. It felt so good to be out with just them and give them 100% of my attention. I think I was excited as them! But my excitement wasn't the circus...it was being with them. Its soooo hard to juggle everyones needs~ this was exactly what we all needed :-)

Homeless No More

After a lengthy 2 day hunt for a decent rental property in Duluth we found one that'll do. Duluth certainly doesn't have the new growth and properties like Fargo does, so my expectations were quickly shattered. We saw some places I wouldn't even dare to live in as a naive, party animal college student... YIKES!! And the dumb people that would even suggest we come see the place, when they hear we have 3 young kids and are looking for a family friendly place... not some parole place.

Any way we have found a 3 bedroom townhouse in a newer area of Duluth.
Our new address is...
4742C Matternhorn Circle
Duluth, MN 55811

Its opened in Jan 2007 and is conveniently located near Target, Wal-Mart and the mall :-) Unfortunately we don't have much for a yard, but thankfully we are surrounded by trees and on a secluded dead-end street, so unless you live there you would never be near our home. After being a home owner for 6 years its hard to go back to rental life. I'm stressing about where everything will go, with such little space and storage it'll be a challenge. It sounds like the complex has many of other families with younger kids, and with a nice playground at the end of the street we hope to meet some new friends for the kids.
We were stuck signing a one year lease, but will begin our house hunting as soon as things settle down a little, and then when our parents come for a visit we can leave the kids with them and actually go see some places. You should have seen the circus on wheels this week, when we had all 3 in tow as we were looking at the rental places... The poor boys were so bored, Brady was tired of being in a car seat, I was cramped up from nursing him on the floor of the van all day, Brad was annoyed with the car seats, and the van was starting to smell funky from the 5 of us basically living in it for 2 days. We were all glad to get home Friday night.

Now that we aren't homeless any longer, we've scheduled the movers and will move out of our North Fargo home Monday April 28th, and take residence in MN Tuesday April 29th. Poor Brad has to head out there tomorrow night and will stay at the house, as he's got to put in a full weeks work. We've been putting together a survival kit for him to take along... The house is empty! So with a blow up mattress, clothes, bag chair, TV (with no cable yet) and plastic cutlery he'll officially move into our new place tomorrow night. I was smart to pack cleaning supplies so he'll have something to do while he waits for the cable to get connected :-)

We'd love to have visitors this summer :-) so be sure to look us up... However we unfortunately don't have the space to put you up :-(

P.S.
I think in the next day or 2 Brad will be changing his cell phone number to a Duluth number, but I'll keep my the same for at least the next few weeks, and I'll be sure to post the new numbers when we get them.

Sharp Dressed Man

After 7 years of a hubby whose job has been a "hands on" kind of gig, he's now a BIG SHOT whose gotta look the part. So over the past week we(I) have gone on some shopping sprees to upgrade his wardrobe. After several hundred dollars later, Brad is all spiffed out and looking good. I've always been turned on by a man dressed to the T...sporting the nice slacks, crisp dress shirt, and smooth shoes... so to finally be able to kiss that man goodbye every morning will be fun :-) And NO, this won't lead to baby #4... We're DONE!!!!
Oh, and I can't forget the new casual wardrobe he's sporting these days. I hit a huge sale at JC Penny last month and came home with 10 new casual shirts for the man. With his totally new wardrobe, he's looking good, and more stylish than me. However it wouldn't take much to top my extensive wear of sweats and runners these days. But seriously somethings wrong here... I'm on leave, shopping for him?!! Guess I'll have to save my shopping spree's for a few trips to Minneapolis, now that we'll only be 2 hrs away :-) But first lets whip this body back into shape...

SOLD!!!

After a quick week (exactly) of our house being on the market we got an offer last Thursday. After a more reasonable counter offer, have an agreement for purchase (pending a home inspection this afternoon) and closing date of May 13th!! I know- can you believe it!! What a huge sigh of relief. And just as a back up plan our agent had another open house today, in case our first offer should change her mind after the home inspection (unlikely, but you never know). So today we had lovely weather and 18 parties come through our home, with a 2-3 that would possibly be interested in making an offer if our first one falls through. With all that said I think its pretty safe to assume our house is SOLD!! It was literally on the market for only 7 days!

I am so excited to not have an immaculate home any more. The stress and exhaustion of constantly cleaning was too much. Every time we left the house I had to make sure things were in order, in case someone wanted to stop by while we were out. Dylan and Riley will be glad to have me off their back as well... hopefully they learned a thing or two over the past week about keeping a clean room?

Last thursday I also met with my boss, and discussed my resignation. She is said to see me go, since I've been a loyal employee for the past 7 years. Not sure when my "last day" will be, but I do know that at least I don't have to go back into the office to work my last day. I just need to pick a day to close my file :-(

Today I busy myself with laundry and packing suitcases for our trip out to Duluth Tuesday. Unfortunately, Brad didn't get a chance to check out any rental places last week so we are all heading out there this week for a couple of days of rental house hunting and more meetings for Brad. Good thing the hotel has a pool that will keep the big boys entertained, as Duluth hasn't been having the nice weather we have had here in Fargo. Last Friday, Duluth got a blizzard that dropped 12-16" of snow and completely shut down the city...the mail service was even stopped. Not sure how much snow is still there, but we'll soon find out. Here in Fargo its supposed to get close to the 70's today and tomorrow? I was hoping to get a prettier and greener picture of Duluth... this muddy snow and dirty dusty streets just don't do it justice. THINK SPRING!!!

What does a stay at home mom do all day?...

Are you one of those working moms that ponders the question... What do stay at home mom's do all day? The must have the life, of dining with friends, playdates in the park and stolling the mall. Well I once was, and although maternity leave is a questionable classifcation for being a stay at home mom, its only taken me 3 short weeks to come up with some conclusions that answer my curiousity, and bust my myth of the luxery that comes to being home from work with your kids.
In the past few days I've ran into some interesting scenerios that just make me shake my head and giggle. It never fails that Dylan and Riley need my attention the most, when I'm busy feeding Brady. So what does a good mom do?... She multi-tasks! I like to pride myself in my multi-tasking abilities and wish more people in this world (like my hubby) had this trait, life could be so much simpilar. It wasn't just once, but twice yesterday, I found myslef being called to the bathroom for assistance. Yup~ there I am wiping a poopy butt with a baby latched on~ that was twice in one day. And then there's the umpteen phone calls all day long. If we weren't trying to sell our house, I'd ignore them like I usually do, but I don't want to miss a potential buyer's call. So I answer the phone and try to have a conversation while again nursing a noisy baby (sounds like a squeeling pig) and refreeing the fights between the big boys. My friend Angie had called yesterday and was witness to this chaos in the background. Thankfully she has 4 boys (twins incl) and understands that phone calls aren't for socializing during the daylight hours and ended the call. Sometimes the dirty look just won't stop a brawl. But long before all this afternoon chaos, I had the challenge of getting Dylan and Riley out the door in time for breakfast at daycare at 8:30, while trying to hold Brady over for a feeding until after dropping them off. We then spent the rest of the morning shopping... for Brad, who needed "nice" work clothes for his meetings this week, and then squeezed in a record 15 minute grocery store trip before getting the boys at 12:30. When you've got to stop every 2-3 hrs to feed a baby, the day flies by and really I've got nothing tangible to show for it. Well OK.. if I can count, that we were all fed, dressed, clean and smiling by the end of the day as a successful day, then I can probably pull off this stay at home mom thing a little while longer.