Christmas 2013

So we are one of those families that has about four Christmases.  So come along with us on our Christmas Spree!

Christmas Eve Eve - Extended Family
Unfortunately I have no pictures from this evening.  I just didn't even think about it.  It was a lot of fun.  Olivia toddled about a bit, got held and fawned over by almost everyone, and enjoyed opening her gifts.  Naomi had a blast running around with everyone, hanging out with her cousins, opening gifts and stealing a car.  Okay, so it wasn't a real car.  She hijacked an RC car that one of her cousins got.  She loved it so much!

Christmas Eve - Dinner with Emily, Alex, Terah and Nick
We were privileged to get to host Christmas Eve dinner.  We cooked up a beautiful tenderloin with a mushroom wine sauce, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and spicy cheese bread.  Olivia was feeling really clingy so we didn't manage to get it served at the time that we had planned on, but it was delicious nevertheless.  I did think to take some pics this time.

 Nick's AT-AT Imitation

 He was so excited about his new toy!

 The girls loved playing with their new stuff. 

Christmas Morning
We've begun the tradition of reserving Christmas morning for just the four of us.  We stay in our PJs (except Olivia because her diaper leaked over her matching Christmas PJs) and we enjoyed a leisurely time opening and playing with gifts and eating breakfast.  Comically, Naomi zipped right past her Santa gifts and went right over to a gift that she'd gotten the night before and apparently had been dreaming of all night.

Christmas Dinner
My mom and stepdad came over and we had a lovely dinner and opened gifts.  They also helped assemble one of the gifts that Santa apparently had some difficulty delivering assembled (a Cozy Coupe).  Good times and pics below...

Our last Christmas was delayed since my brother Derek was sick, but we had a great time a week later and it was kinda nice to get to hold on to Christmas a bit longer.  Here are some pics...

Oh and we had one final little mini-Christmas opening the girls' gifts from their Grandpa Ken and Grandma Gloria (they live MI - UPers).  (Please ignore the state of Naomi's hair - it was a very laid back kinda day).  

It was a great Christmas! 

Lots of Updates to the Blog

I've done a lot of blog catch-up.  

So, in case you've missed it, here are links to all the retro posts, just click on the title of each post:

Olivia's Birthday Invitation

Naomi's First Haircut

Fall Festival 2013

College Football Season

Pumpkin Pickin' Playdate

Halloween 2013

Selling Our House

New House

Another Fun Day at the Zoo

Bye Bye Pacis


I'm hoping to get the rest of the way caught up soon.  :)  I love having this has our family's little digital scrapbook (and printing out a hard copy book each year), so I'm determined to get back on it.  
 

 

Bye Bye Pacis!

We are now a pacifier free house!  Yippee! 

Let me start with an ode to Paci:
Paci, oh how I've loved you.  You were so very useful for calming my sweet little ones (at least as long as you weren't missing).  You saved my sanity on multiple occassions.  I'm so glad you were invented and I don't care who wants to judge me for using you.  You were a godsend.  But those days are over and so we must bid you a fond farewell. 

Yes, I'm silly. 

We had long ago restricted Naomi's paci usage to just the crib and had recently done the same for Olivia.  Naomi had been quite attached to hers though I new she no longer "needed" it and I could tell that Olivia was beginning to develop an attachment as well.  It was time to get rid of it all around.  I just wanted to rip off the band aid with both kids at once and be done with it once and for all.  Plus, I suspected that if I just took Naomi's away, she would just go retrieve Olivia's and it would just cause drama. 
So here is a breakdown of how it went for each kid:

Naomi
Age - about 2.75 years old
Temperament - A little on the spirited side
Method - The Paci Fairy - We decorated up a box to put the pacis in and place outside her room at night.  We had talked about the Paci fairy coming to take her pacis to babies in need and leaving her a treat in return.  Once she could explain it back to us, we figured it was a go. 
Results - Night one, no issues.  Morning one, yay for her Paci Fairy loot!  Night two, she asked for her pacis, we reminded her where they went, she went to check Olivia's bed to snag one of hers (proving to me that I know my girl pretty well, she's resourceful), and she had some slight bedtime issues.  Night three, she asked and we reminded her but really went pretty well.  At this point, it's all good. 

Olivia
Age - about 15 months
Temperament -  Tends to be more laid back
Method - Mostly just cold turkey - We did the paci fairy with her as well just to be consistent and so Naomi could see that Olivia was giving hers up too.  Olivia was too young to really get it though so really it was just a cold turkey and deal with it kind of thing. 
Results - Several nights and naps of crying for several minutes before giving up and going to sleep.  Basically, it just plain sucked for several days, but she was over it by the end of the week. 

So, there you have it.  All in all, it wasn't too bad and I'm glad to have it done. 

If you're planning to get rid of Paci's soon too, then good luck to you! 

Oh, and PS, another idea for older toddlers (like Naomi's age) that I really liked involves taking the pacis to the store and using them to "buy" a cool toy or big kid item like a tricycle, bicycle or scooter type of thing.  They pick out their thing and give the box of pacis to the sales associate.  I heard of this idea after we'd already gone down the paci fairy road, but I think I like it slightly better and is especially good for those parents who steer clear of all things "not real" like Santa, tooth fairy, etc (clearly, I'm not one of those parents, but I have several friends who prefer that and I get it and respect it). 

Another Fun Day at the Zoo

This last year, we got a family zoo membership.  So we took another fun trip to the zoo.  We happened to bump into some friends of ours from church as soon as we got there.  They have a little girl Naomi's age, so it was fun to pal around the zoo with them for the morning.  

This trip we went back to the Africa side specifically so we could feed the giraffes (who weren't hungry the last time we visited) and then went to check out the Children's zoo area.  The girls had so much fun that they passed out in the car on the way home despite all our best efforts to keep them awake.  

New House

This post will be a lot shorter than the one about selling our old house.  

About a month before we were really ready to sell our house, we saw a house on Zillow that we thought would be perfect for us.  (We had been stalking Zillow for over 6 months at this point.)  It was on the upper end of our range, but it had what we wanted and was in one of our preferred neighborhoods.  When we called our agent to ask about a showing, we found out that it was already under contract.  Bummer!  Every house that we looked at after that was compared to the elusive "Honeysuckle" house (that was the name of the street it was on). 

Our agent set us up to get notified of listings matching our criteria as soon as they hit MLS and we got a log-in to Ebby's house search feature.  We checked and waited.  One day a house popped up that seemed to be a good fit and was in one of our preferred areas, so we asked for a showing.  The morning of the showing another house also popped up that seemed really nice.  It's in a really nice neighborhood near us that we had kind of ruled out for a few reasons, but we were interested enough that we called our agent and asked if we could also pop over and see that one as well.  He got it all arranged - yay!  And, one Saturday morning we set out for our first day of "real" house shopping. 

We met our agent at the first house and he explained that the house was listed at an artificially low price to generate a bunch of offers which would be selected from at the end of their offer period.  Weird, but okay.  We walked around the house and there were just a lot of things that weren't quite right and some things that needed to be fixed.  The dialogue went something like this, "Well, mmm... maybe we could move this door, close off this wall.  The washer and dryer are in the garage, huh, okay.  Why are there shoes in the pantry?  Wow, that's a lot of concrete out back and we don't have a boat like they do.  Oh, yeah, with that giant black stain, this carpet will have to be replaced.  Oh, and the banister is loose."  As we left that house we thought, yeah, I guess we could make it work.  We could fit ourselves in there.  

We went on to the second house.  The curb appeal was better.  We walked in and instantly felt like it was a vast improvement over the first house.  We walked around and checked things off of our list.  Office space, check.  Formal dining room, nice to have.  Gas range and fireplace, yippee!  Good closet and storage space, check.  Extra room for play space, check.  Guest bedroom, check.  Cute rooms for the girls, check.  The sellers actually had two girls, so it was so easy to picture our girls there. Neighborhood pools, parks, and a jogging/walking trail, check, check, check.  Nice backyard with a covered patio, mostly check (patio is a bit small and could go for a build out).  There's neutral paint colors throughout the house (other than the girls rooms whose cutesy paint jobs actually really work for us).  This house is really move in ready for us and we love it.  We sit in the living room of the house and tell our agent that we want it. 

In an effort to get our offer in as soon as possible, we get our pre-approval for our loan.  We put a non-contingent contract on the house.  For those that may not know, this means that our purchase of the home is not contingent on our house selling.  After a little back and forth on some price and terms, we have a contract.  Very exciting and very nerve racking - the race is on to sell our house.  

Fortunately, everything worked out.  Inspections, appraisals, requested maintenance, closing on the other house, loan stuff... it all works out.  Praise the Lord!  

We are in our new house and love it.  It has been such a blessing to us.  The girls love their rooms.  I am so excited for our little family to grow up here.  It's been a lot of answered prayers.  

Home Sweet Home!

Selling Our Old House

I'll start with a little history.  Brian bought our old house a couple of months before we met.  He chose to buy a house rather than a car as he figured it would make him more marketable to women.  Smart Guy!  We came home to that house after we married and brought two beautiful babies home to that house.  A lot of great memories...

After we had Olivia, our cozy little house started feeling a little too cozy.  For a long time, there had been a handful of little things that we didn't really love about our house, but we were good with staying.  At some point last year, that changed for us and it just became very apparent that a move was in our future.  We had eliminated the rarely used guest room to turn it into Naomi's room.  Then, determined to not disrupt sleep habits, we moved our office into our bedroom to convert that room into Olivia's room.  Then Brian's job became a primarily work from home job; a huge blessing, but bringing our need for a little more space to the forefront.

So, throughout last year we began preparing ourselves.  First, we began saving like crazy.  We had about 2/3 of the inside of the house repainted (a long overdue thing, as in I'd been talking about it since we first married).  Then we had our real estate agent over for a very preliminary walk through of our house.  We discussed the price point for our house, how it would be marketed, and the process in general.  We discussed other obvious cosmetic touch ups and decluttering activities that would help our house sell.  And in the following months, we busted rump to get it all done.  The decluttering was obviously the hardest part. I wish that I had taken some before and after pictures as the change was dramatic, but suffice to say people were astonished and also wondering where all the toys went (more on that later). 

But, what really kicked the process off was finding the perfect house and putting a non-contingent contract on it. By the time our agent came to do a staging walk through to prep for the photographer, we only had to move a couple more pieces of furniture out to the garage and re-arrange things.  I was very pleased to get lots of compliments on how well we did getting the place ready on our own.  

Our house was only on the market for a couple of days when we got an offer.  We accepted the offer with a couple of changes to the contract, but I never had a good feeling about it.  Without going into too much detail, I just didn't feel that the buyer had the money to really make the deal go through.  Whether that was the case or it was something else, I'll never really know, but the deal fell through during the offer period.  

Our house went back on the market and again within days, we had another offer.  This one was a much more solid offer.  The inspection turned up hail damage on the roof (can't say that I'd been up there, well ever really) to the extent that we had to replace the roof prior to the sale.  Fortunately we were able to file it under our insurance and only had to pay our deductible but it was a bit of a hit to the bottomline of our home sale - bummer, but nothing we really could have done anything about. 

Everything closed on time.  Whew!  On October 30th, the movers came and by the 31st we were officially out of the house in which our little family had formed and grown. 

Home Sale Tips 

1. Get a good agent!  Even Dave Ramsey (click here) doesn't support saving a buck in this area and I'll tell you a handful of reasons why not. 
• This is a stressful enough process without an expert in your corner.  I think mine had to talk me down from the crazy ledge several times. 
• They know how to price your house to maximize traffic and profits at the same time.  It is possible to both over and under price your property.  Your agent can help you find that sweet spot.  
• Marketing, marketing, marketing...
• Contracts - your agent can make sure that yours works for you.  
• Staging and professional photos - our agent did both and if yours doesn't, consider a different agent.  
2. Prep your house!  Take a good objective look at your house.  Are there any obvious repairs that clearly need to be made.  A potential buyer will either be completely turned off or will be just adding up the dollar signs as they walk around.  Plus, chances are pretty good that they'll just end up asking for these repairs in a contract addendum following the inspection anyway.  
3. Staging - you do not live in a house the same way that you stage it.  Our agent made a point of saying this to us and it definitely holds true.  You will put furniture in your garage and you will pre-pack things that you don't use as often.  Be prepared to feel a little like a guest in your own home.  This also helps the detachment process so that you're not so sad when it's time to go. 
4. Deep Clean!  My vote, spend the money and hire someone to do a good deep clean of your house the week before you put it on the market.  If you've got pets and carpet, plan for carpet cleaning too. 
5. Speaking of pets, you don't want your buyer talking about your pets.  In most cases, simply keeping it clean and smell free is sufficient, but it really is ideal to just not have your pet there during the process.  When Brian's brother was selling his house, his dogs stayed at our house.  When we sold ours, our cats stayed at my cousins house.  We took them over the same day we had our carpets cleaned.  No dog poo in the yard and no stinky litterboxes.  
6. If you've got small kids, it's a little extra challenging.  Schedules will be messed up.  Keep emergency rations (diapers, snacks, travel potty seat, etc) and entertainment in the car or near the door for quick exits.  And, really scale down the toys.  Be prepared to wrestle your kids on the clean floor like never before.  Can you say, "Tickle Tackle!"  Enlist nearby friends'/families' houses, libraries, parks, playscapes, etc for a place to camp out during showings. 
7. Be prepared to gain weight.  Okay, so with proper planning, this isn't necessary, but most likely you will eat out more than you normally do throughout the process and weight gain does happen.  (Hello 5 lbs, I remember losing you earlier this year, bummed out that we've met again.)
8. Make sure that you have extra money set aside for closing costs and any repairs that may come up during inspection.  If you don't end up using it, then you've got a decorating budget in your new home.  But, if you do need it, you'll be so glad to have it.  
9. And, lastly, keep your eye on the prize.  I say this because "have fun!" wasn't really an appropriate sentiment.  You just need to keep the end in mind and keep marching forward.  

Halloween

Our new neighborhood is so family oriented and great for trick or treating.  We got the girls dressed up, our bucket ready and sat outside in our chairs.  After a while we took the girls around the cul-de-sac for a quick little trick or treat time and so that we could meet and greet our new neighbors.  (This was also when we learned that the days of leaving your bucket unattended are very over.)  

Here are just a couple little snapshots: