So we've been trying to buy a house for exactly one year. Probably 90% of everything being sold in our area is a short sale; we put offers on many houses, were finally selected by the seller for a house in July, waited 6 months for the seller's bank to approve of the short sale, which in the end was rejected without a counter-offer. Which put us back to square one in December. This house came on the market then (another short sale) but our offer was quickly selected and has been moving at a good pace ever since. The closing date is between Feb 10-21. We're hoping all continues to go smoothly so we can finally enter the exciting, scary world of homeownership.
My apologies to anyone who isn't in our family: what follows is a lot of pictures that will likely bore you, but our family members (who all live far away) have been wanting to see them and this was just the easiest way to share.
Ok, for some reason I didn't take a picture of just the front of the house, so you'll have to piece it together from the next 3 photos.
Here's a view of the front door from the livingroom. What follows is what you'd see if you turned in a circle to your right.
Now we'll walk through that doorway from the picture above, and this is what you'd see--the dining area.
Now turn in a circle to your left, for the next 3 pictures.
Now we walk through that doorway from the picture above, and turn around to face that kitchen/dining area. The master bedroom is to the right of this picture, and that is a bathroom door on the left.
Here's the master bedroom, there is a bathroom to the left of this picture. The hot tub doesn't work and is supposed to be removed before we move in. Do you like their paint job? I think they just painted around their furniture :)
Master bathroom
One of the 3 kids' rooms.
The back yard
So that's it, we'll let you know if it actually goes through or falls through--if you think of us you can say a prayer that we will be making wise decisions!!
sandcastles with Dad
end of our day, but kids not ready to go back home
first time at the beach=love
this girl was in heaven! She was in her suit in the freezing water with an overcast/foggy morning, and loving it!
$15 bucks at a yard sale this morning. With the money I saved we'll be able to buy lots of earplugs.
What a treat to spend several hours with her and her kids--first at her Mom's house, and then they came to our house for the morning of S's birthday.
So I made S a panda cake for her 5th birthday. 
and cupcakes for both of her pre-school classes.
Everyone got into the Hungry Hippos game from the grandparents.
Bedtime popcorn snack
I guess this was R's idea of how to help P get in some reading time...
And finally, here's an idea for you...instead of either ignoring, or handing your money to the homeless person begging by the street corner, make up some of these bags and keep one in your car at all times to hand out. 
Here's the website of the folks who came up with the idea, http://h2obags.com/ The contents of the entire bag cost me $2.96, and includes a pair of black socks (presumably b/c they don't show dirt), a gospel tract, a few wet wipes, kleenex, water, food items and mints, and directions/info about our county's homeless shelter/mission.
Shortly after we moved the phone company was pouring some concrete after a repair for the sidewalk in front of our house. R was in heaven, watching the cement truck at work!
P chillin' in her chair-which used to be R's, which used to be S's...
R's 3rd Birthdsay--cake with crushed oreo's on top for dirt, and candles in the shape of excavators and dump trucks etc.
During the month of March, S's preschool class had a dress up day every
And here she is on Wacky dress up day.
One of the kids favorite dinnertime veggies is frozen peas...R helped himself this time, and got the mother lode.
happy girl
Easter morning
S carrying an egg on a spoon
Coloring eggs
A shot from our recent trip to Ohio, to meet Baby Lacey (the kids' new cousin)
The Sunday before Christmas--thanks Grammie for the kids fancy clothes! R has already removed his beautiful sweater--it is gray with white zig-zags on it, so R calls it his "lightning sweater"
And more Christmas clothes from Granna.
We bought our tree from Wal-mart this year--won't make that mistake again. It was dead after a week, and these are only some of the needles it had shed by the time we took it down on Christmas day.
This one is for Grammie and Aunt Stacy--remember the dress P is wearing?
Hat and scarf dress up time
"Rice time", aka "keep 'em busy while i get something done time."
Here's the answer to the quiz question--they are the arm covers to the car booster seat on the floor in the background. I had washed them (thus the laundry basket) and S found them and put them on her feet. Clever girl.
Here's a view of the front door from the livingroom. What follows is what you'd see if you turned in a circle to your right.
Now we'll walk through that doorway from the picture above, and this is what you'd see--the dining area.
Now turn in a circle to your left, for the next 3 pictures.
Now we walk through that doorway from the picture above, and turn around to face that kitchen/dining area. The master bedroom is to the right of this picture, and that is a bathroom door on the left.
Here's the master bedroom, there is a bathroom to the left of this picture. The hot tub doesn't work and is supposed to be removed before we move in. Do you like their paint job? I think they just painted around their furniture :)
Master bathroom
One of the 3 kids' rooms.
The back yard
So that's it, we'll let you know if it actually goes through or falls through--if you think of us you can say a prayer that we will be making wise decisions!!
